Spotlight

• Juror psychology helps win verdict for assault victim with mental disability

Recent Cases

Admiralty

• Jones Act violations where commercial diver suffers collapsed lung

Attorneys

• Suspension is appropriate sanction for secret agreement with clients’ adversary
• Lawyer’s communication with opposing side’s employee is not ethics violation

Automobile Accidents

• Improper lookout
• Vicarious liability where tractor-trailer fails to stop
• Negligent driving of SUV
• Failure to maintain lane

Aviation

• Racial profiling of passenger removed from flight before takeoff

Civil Rights

• Section 1983 case not barred as long as it would not negate plaintiff’s underlying conviction
• Freedom of speech violation where protesters are arrested without probable cause

Commercial Litigation

• Breach of contract where resort company rescinds marketing contract
• Contractor that used brochure to copy house design misappropriated copyrighted design

Consumer Protection

• Clause prohibiting class action litigation or arbitration is unconscionable

Damages

• Tenants can recover emotional distress damages for landlord’s failure to make certain repairs
• Injured baseball player must prove only reasonable certainty of future lost earnings

Employment Law

• First Amendment violations where juvenile officer was demoted after asserting failure to report abuse
• Invasion of privacy where man put camera in office where coworkers undressed
• Disability discrimination suit may proceed absent proof of different treatment for other disabled employees

Evidence

• Evidence of prior DWI convictions is relevant in civil case involving accident caused by drunk driver
• Manner of death may be used to prove survivor’s mental anguish in wrongful death action

Family Law

• Courts may review waiver of attorney fees in marital agreement for unconscionability

Government Liability

• Negligent hiring, supervision where teenager was raped by police officer
• Inverse condemnation where city’s road project causes catastrophic damage to private home

Insurance

• Failure to pay homeowners’ Hurricane Katrina claim
• Breach of contract, bad faith where insurer refuses to pay claim, delays appraisal
• Lawyer defendant wins declaratory relief against malpractice insurance provider

Intentional Torts

• Defamation where columnist accused judge of offering leniency for political favor
• Assault, battery where unlicensed plastic surgeon removes breast tissue after implant complications

Medical Negligence

• Failure to diagnose genetic disorder
• Negligent treatment of postoperative infection
• Failure to timely diagnose squamous cell carcinoma
• Improper treatment of infected penis
• Negligent handling of shoulder dystocia
• Failure to timely diagnose subacute bacterial endocarditis
• Improper response to uterine hyperstimulation

Negligence

• Service of alcohol to intoxicated bar patron
• Negligent parking of ice cream truck
• Failure to provide reasonable care where Special Olympics volunteer sexually assaults participants

Practice & Procedure

• Communications with therapist not discoverable where plaintiff did not seek distress damages

Premises Liability

• Dangerous condition, failure to warn where truck overturns in ditch on shortcut road
• Failure to maintain parking lot in safe condition
• Failure to install anti-tipping device on apartment’s stove

Products

• Defective design of surgical stapler

Products Liability

• West Virginia rejects learned intermediary doctrine
• Federal law does not preempt state law claims against manufacturer of artificial spinal disk
• Jury’s findings in case involving improper bicycle pedal attachment were not inconsistent
• Failure to warn of serious cardiovascular risks from taking Vioxx
• Defective gear teeth in seatback recliner mechanism

Professional Negligence

• Negligent supervision of hospital employee
• Failure to prevent pressure sores
• Daughter-in-law’s signature did not bind nursing home resident to arbitration agreement
• Failure to implement proper care plan for nursing home resident with Alzheimer’s
• Failure to provide qualified nursing home employees
• Law firm is liable for attorney fees and litigation expenses incurred by client forced to relitigate
• Sexual abuse of group home residents

Railroads

• FELA liability where conducter was runover by train during rail switch

Schools

• Schools have duty of reasonable care to supervise students during dismissal

Toxic Torts

• CERCLA violation where munitions plant operator allegedly polluted site with perchlorate

Workplace Safety

• Failure to provide fall protection where construction worker falls off house trusses
• Failure to secure, inspect where steel vault door falls on worker
• Failure to warn, provide respiratory protection to worker exposed to asbestos
• Negligent driving where truck runs over landscaper’s foot

In this Issue

• Articles
• Updates
• Court Documents