Spotlight

• Counsel achieves recognition for lawyer who died on September 11 as volunteer firefighter

Recent Cases

Admiralty

• Jones Act violations where seaman injured aboard tug while handling fire hose
• Engineer burned by boiling water in ship's escape trunk

Attorneys

• Attorney's duty of care to client charges him with knowledge of client's partnership status

Automobile Accidents

• Failure to mark tractor-trailer with sufficient conspicuity tape
• Improper lookout, lane change
• Vehicle crosses center line, strikes car head-on
• Failure to heed red light, maintain control
• Truck strikes pedestrian on sidewalk

Aviation

• Passenger injured during flight by falling cargo may sue under FAA for violations of standards of care

Civil Rights

• First Amendment violation where parole officer required religion-based drug treatment program
• Title III of ADA does not require administrative exhaustion to file claim

Commercial Litigation

• Medical records company breached contract by charging fees in excess of those mandated by law
• Fraud where bank fails to secure SBA guarantee on business equipment loan

Consumer Protection

• TILA requires disclosure statements to specifically state payment period of loans

Damages

• Punitive damages award of $1 billion is not excessive where defendants refused to reveal income

Employment Law

• Gender discrimination, defamation where female financial advisor not given lucrative agreement
• Racial harassment where African American workers were subjected to slurs, nooses
• Pornographic photos sent to female police officer by coworkers

Evidence

• Frye admissibility standard does not apply to expert testimony causally linking trauma to fibromyalgia
• Default judgment appropriate where Web site willfully spoliated evidence regarding copyright infringement

Family Law

• Putative father's rights not violated by obligation to provide support for child born out of wedlock

Government Liability

• Government contractor defense does not preempt claims against contractor for U.S. military
• Failure to repair defect results in woman’s fall down subway station stairs

Insurance

• Breach of contract where liability insurer rescinds policy after insured’s shareholders sue directors
• Alienation of affections claim falls under intentional tort exemption in personal liability policy

Intentional Torts

• Abuse of process where college falsely sues head of booster club for conversion
• Unlawful eviction where apartment manager throws out tenant’s belongings in tenant’s absence

Medical Negligence

• Negligent endoscopic transnasal biopsy
• Failure to timely report postoperative pain symptoms
• Unnecessary HIV treatment
• Improper performance of spinal injection
• Improper treatment of preeclampsia
• Failure to properly examine, hospitalize patient with blood clot symptoms
• Negligent performance of laparoscopic surgery

Negligence

• Parking lot tram moves during boarding process, drags woman along road
• Truck’s burning cargo sets nearby farmland on fire, resulting in lost crop, profit
• Failure to enforce consistent rules where teen suffers quadriplegia after diving into shallow part of lake

Practice & Procedure

• Witness statements made to self-insured store’s claims department are discoverable
• Preponderance of evidence standard applies where amount in controversy is ambiguous
• E-mails sent from and stored on employer’s e-mail server are not covered by attorney-client privilege

Premises

• Failure to keep premises safe where woman trips over concrete block outside cafe
• Private landowners may be liable for foliage that extends into public right-of-way

Products Liability

• Failure to warn of dangers associated with exposure to welding fumes
• Negligent design and manufacturing of minivan with insufficient side-impact protection
• Lack of means of rear egress in tractor-trailer cab
• Federal law preempts state tort claims challenging the safety of FDA-approved medical devices
• Oregon high court reinstates punitive damages award in tobacco case, citing independent state grounds
• Court may not consider corporate subsidiaries' activities when determining diversity jurisdiction
• No federal preemption of defective glazing claims

Professional Negligence

• Removal of permanent tooth during wisdom tooth extraction
• Extraction of wrong tooth
• Improper supervision of home health care client
• Inadequate staffing at nursing home
• Improper care of nursing home resident
• Retail pharmacy may be liable under warranty theory for allegedly contaminated nutritional solution
• Indiana's wrongful death statute applies to claim by estate of patient who died postoperatively in facility
• Vendors to corporation that released misleading financial statements are not liable to investors

Railroads

• Failure to warn, negligence where train cars were released downhill for coupling

Schools

• Unescorted boy hit while crossing street after exiting bus

Toxic Torts

• Lead content suppliers may be 'arrangers' under CERCLA and liable for damaged site's recovery costs

Workplace Safety

• Failure to investigate, protect employees where mentally unstable employee shoots coworkers
• Employee suffers serious burns after explosives in boiler send fireball through plant

In this Issue

• Articles
• Updates
• Court Documents