Spotlight

• Suit for man’s drowning leads to safety changes in sport of rowing

Recent Cases

Admiralty

• Jones Act violations where man struck by spud cable during respooling aboard barge
  James DePasquale, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Attorneys

• Law firms’ objectively unreasonable behavior and failure to disclose warrant sanctions
• Fraud, theft of services where company refuses to pay officer’s defense attorney fees

Automobile Accidents

• Vicarious liability for driver’s grossly negligent conduct
• Improper Turn
• Negligent operation of vehicle
• Negligent allowance of “skitching”
• Failure to obey stop sign

Aviation

• Failure to provide adequate medical care for passenger suffering DVT-induced stroke

Civil Rights

• City’s policy concerning use of dogs in arresting or apprehending suspects is lawful

Commercial Litigation

• Courts must consider whether persons of ordinary skill in area would find patent obvious
• Trademark infringement where car dealership used similar name, logo as nearby dealership

Consumer Protection

• Mortgage holder’s false negative credit reporting damages homeowners’ credit scores
• RICO does not require that associated-in-fact enterprise have ascertainable organizational structure

Damages

• Agency that withheld information about adopted child’s family history is not liable for punitive damages

Employment Law

• Prison officers sexually harassed female officer by allegedly spreading false rumors
• Racial discrimination where African American firefighter subjected to racial jokes, transfers
• Sex discrimination where officials fail to discipline inmates harassing prison nurses
• Parole board director demoted after reporting that parolee was being given special treatment

Evidence

• Courts may consider whether expert’s opinion was prepared for litigation when determining reliability
• Court erred in denying litigious plaintiff new trial where jury ignored uncontradicted evidence

Family Law

• State Equal Rights Amendment permits women to challenge inclusion of name on birth certificate

Insurance

• Breach of contract, covenant of good faith where insurer refused to pay for stolen pickup truck
• Suit against insurers may proceed even though insured failed to give timely notice of claim

Intentional Torts

• Trespass, abuse of process where rental property evicted military member serving in Iraq

Medical Negligence

• Failure to refer burn patient to specialist
• Negligent handling of fetal distress
• Failure to properly treat brain infection
• Plaintiff may discover what privileges hospital granted to physician but not peer-review committee records
• Hospital physician is not good samaritan immune from suit arising out of emergency surgery
• Sexual assault of patient by nurse

Negligence

• Elevator service company failed to keep proper service records of elevator with leveling problem
• Negligent hiring, retention of bouncer who allegedly beat up bar patron
• Failure to supervise, correct dangerous situation where inmate killed by other inmates
• Failure to maintain roadway, clear standing water where woman trapped in truck drowns

Practice & Procedure

• Videotape created at behest of defendant’s insurer was not protected work product

Premises Liability

• Passenger thrown from motorcycle after flooding in road caused by hotel pumping pool water
• Improper placement of slip-resistant mats on wet tiles outside gas station

Products Liability

• Expert testimony on stickball bat defect created fact issue defeating summary judgment
• Federal law does not preempt inadequate warning claim against generic drug manufacturer
• Dangerously long cord on electric wok
• Beryllium exposure plaintiffs may not recover for subclinical damage
• Failure to warn of dangers posed by equipment’s asbestos insulation
• Vaccine Act claimant need not eliminate alternative causes of injury

Professional Negligence

• Rape of minors by youth minister
• Alleged sexual molestation by priests
• Failure to diagnose molar abscess
• Failure to inform insured of major policy change
• Misrepresentation to client regarding viability of defamation case
• Death certificate is not conclusive proof of facts surrounding person’s death

Railroads

• Failure to conduct ergonomic analysis of worksite

Schools

• University could be liable for constitutional violations arising out of coach’s inappropriate comments

Utilities

• Failure to screen canal pipe’s inlet where child drowns in irrigation canal

Workplace Safety

• Failure to have falling object protection structure on mining vehicle
• Reckless failure to fix guard system on paper mill’s pulp pit
• Failure to provide layout information about power lines, trees where cable installer strikes power line

In this Issue

• Articles
• Updates
• Court Documents