Case Summaries

Commercial Law

[02/05] Travelers Indem. Co. v. Dammann & Co., Inc.
In plaintiff-insurer's action seeking a declaration in federal court that it was not obligated to cover any claims asserted against its insured, a raw food producer, by a manufacturer, denial of manufacturer's motion to leave to assert various crossclaims against the insured is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the manufacturer's request with respect to the products liability claim as the New Jersey Supreme Court predictably would hold that the product liability crossclaim for what is clearly economic loss sounds in contract is therefore barred by the economic loss doctrine; 2) the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the manufacturer's request for leave to assert an express indemnification crossclaim; and 3) district court's holding that the manufacturer failed to state an implied indemnification claim for third-party damages is affirmed.

[02/05] Sharabianlou v. Karp
In plaintiff's action seeking rescission of a commercial real estate transaction and tort damages, the portion of the trial court's judgment awarding damages to the original property owners is reversed as the trial court's award goes well beyond the types of damages permitted.

[02/04] Cincinnati Ins. Co. v. Beazer Homes Inv., LLC
In plaintiff-insurance company's declaratory-judgment action to establish that it was not obligated to cover the costs that defendant incurred in repairing water damage to several houses that defendant had built as a general contractor, grant of 's judgment on the pleadings is affirmed where: 1) collateral estoppel is not applicable to the case and plaintiff is free to contest whether the policies cover the costs that defendant incurred; 2) a general contractor cannot claim CGL insurance coverage for the costs it incurs in repairing houses that are subsequently damaged due to the faulty workmanship of its own subcontractors; and 3) the district court's consideration of an alleged fungus exclusion was harmless.

[02/03] Clear Channel Outdoor, Inc. v. City of N.Y.
In a group of billboard owners' First Amendment challenge to provisions of New York City's Zoning Resolution, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where: 1) the city was not required to adopt the "least restrictive means" of advancing its asserted interests; 2) the city did not violate the protections afforded commercial speech when it distinguished between plaintiffs' signs or billboards and those located on government property; and 3) the New York Constitution did not provide broader protection for commercial speech than the First Amendment.

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Elder Law

[02/05] Villano v. Waterman Convalescent Hosp., Inc.
In plaintiff's action against a convalescent hospital claiming she was admitted without her consent, judgment of the trial court is affirmed where, although a stipulated judgment is appealable, plaintiff cannot show that allegedly erroneous rulings were prejudicial.

[12/22] Massey v. Mercy Med. Center Redding
In plaintiff's negligence action against a nurse and the hospital that employed the nurse alleging that he sustained injury after falling from a walker because the nurse placed the plaintiff on the walker and left him unattended, judgment of the trial court is reversed in part where: 1) the question of nurse's alleged negligence for the fall poses a question of common knowledge, and therefore does not require expert opinion testimony; and 2) trial court's judgment that denied plaintiff's attempt to amend his complaint to add causes of action for battery, fraud and elder abuse is affirmed.

[12/21] Grace Healthcare of Benton v. US Dept. of Health & Hum. Servs.
In a petition for review of a civil monetary penalty imposed by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on petitioner nursing home for an "immediate jeopardy" violation of 42 C.F.R. section 483.13(c), which required nursing homes to thoroughly investigate all allegations of resident neglect or abuse, including injuries of unknown sources, the petition is granted where the Secretary's finding of the likely harm necessary to warrant an immediate-jeopardy-level finding was based on pure speculation and not supported by substantial evidence in the administrative record as a whole.

[12/01] Yarick v. Pacificare of California
In plaintiff-estate's suit against defendant health care providers and health care benefits providers alleging that the events resulting in decedent's death happened because of the financial pressures and incentive that arose from the care providers' contracts with the defendants, trial court's order sustaining defendants' demurrer is affirmed as: 1) federal law expressly preempts applications of state laws where standards for Medicare Advantage plans are established pursuant to the Medicare law; and 2) to the extent the plaintiff seeks to allege causes of action based on state common law concepts of duty independent of the Health and Safety Code provisions cited, those common law causes of action are preempted.

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Insurance Law

[02/08] Ward v. Dixie Nat'l Life Ins. Co.
In a class action lawsuit against multiple insurance companies alleging that defendants violated a contractual promise under insurance policies to pay policyholders the "actual charges" of cancer treatments, judgment in favor of the plaintiffs is affirmed where: 1) under the three-step retroactivity analysis, the presumption against retroactivity operates to bar the application of the South Carolina statute to the claims in this case; and 2) defendants' remaining arguments are meritless.

[01/14] Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Comp. Ass'n v. Dep't of Admin. Hearings
In a consolidated medical malpractice action, involving the Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Plan established by the legislature, the decision by the Second District is quashed and remanded where, in order to satisfy the notice requirement of section 766.316, Florida Statutes, both participating physicians and hospitals with participating physicians on staff must provide obstetrical patients with notice of their participating in the plan.

[12/11] Metro Allied Ins. Agency, Inc. v. Lin
In plaintiff's action against an insurance company for negligence and a violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) for failure to procure a commercial general liability (CGL) policy, the judgment of the court of appeals in favor of the plaintiff is reversed and remanded is the causation standard for a claimed failure to procure insurance under a negligence theory and under the DTPA requires proof of the availability of some insurance that would have covered the plaintiff's damages.

[12/11] D.R. Horton-Texas, Ltd. v. Markel Int'l Ins. Co., Ltd.
In an action brought by a general contractor seeking a defense and coverage from the commercial general liability insurer for alleged construction defects, judgment of the court of appeals is affirmed in part and reversed in part and remanded where: 1) the duty to indemnify is not dependent on the duty to defend and an insurer may have a duty to indemnify its insured even if the duty to defend never arises; and 2) in determining coverage, a matter dependent on the facts and circumstances of the alleged injury-causing event, parties may introduce evidence during coverage litigation to establish or refute the duty to indemnify.

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Professional Malpractice

[02/04] Elam v. Menzies
In plaintiff's suit claiming negligence in a heart operation that defendant-doctor performed, summary judgment for doctor on the ground that Kentucky's one year statute of limitations for medical malpractice suits had run is reversed and remanded as there is a factual dispute as to whether plaintiff knew or should have known he had a claim after the conversation with a second doctor, and thus, this issue should be referred to the jury.

[02/02] Clark v. Baka
In an action for damages for physical and neurological injuries plaintiffs' grandchild allegedly sustained during his birth, plaintiffs' appeal from summary judgment for defendant-hospital management company is dismissed where the district court abused its discretion in certifying the action for appeal because the court of appeals was unable to discern how or why plaintiffs would face hardship or injustice by waiting to appeal until their claims against all defendants were fully resolved by the district court.

[01/25] Stein v. York
In plaintiff's legal malpractice action against her attorney, trial court's entry judgment of $2.65 million in favor of the plaintiff is reversed where: 1) a default judgment for an amount greater than that stated in the complaint is void; 2) constructive notice of potential liability does not satisfy Code of Civil Procedure section 580; 3) the judgment is void and vacated as plaintiff did not comply with the notice requirement; and 4) plaintiff's motion to dismiss the appeal is denied.

[01/21] Truong v. Glasser
In plaintiffs' legal malpractice action against his former attorney arising out of his purported negligent advice in a real estate transaction, grant of attorney's motion for summary judgment is affirmed where: 1) under prior case law, the trial court correctly found plaintiffs first sustained actual injury when they obtained and obligated to pay new counsel to file a lawsuit seeking to escape the consequences of their signing the lease, and therefore sustained actual injury more than one year before the malpractice action was filed; 2) trial court did not abuse its discretion by declining to reject the summary judgment motion based on the absence of headings within the Separate Statement of Material Facts; and 3) under the circumstances, plaintiffs have demonstrated neither that the trial court abused its discretion in considering the evidence submitted by defendant nor that any alleged error was prejudicial.

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Workers' Comp

[01/29] Firemans' Fund Ins. Co. v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd.
An order of the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) denying Fireman's Fund Insurance Company's petition for reconsideration regarding a stipulation entered into by plaintiff and the California Insurance Guarantee Association in 2001 is annulled and the matter is remanded where: 1) CIGA's stipulations and a subsequently entered order on the stipulations were not a nullity and void; and 2) the WCAB improperly exercised its discretion under the Labor Code section 5803 to set aside the order entered on the stipulations on the ground of illegality and public policy.

[11/25] Duncan v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd.
Plaintiff's petition for review of a decision by the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board is granted and the Board's decision annulled as the cost of living adjustment pursuant to Labor Code section 4659(c) for life pensions and total disability indemnity are added to those payments, per the words of the statute, starting January 1, 2004, and every January 1 thereafter.

[11/13] Gelson's Markets, Inc. v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd.
Workers' Compensation Appeals Board's decision and award finding the employer liable for discrimination against an industrially injured employee because the employer did not accept a physician's release to allow the employee to return to work is annulled as the employee did not establish a prima facie showing of employer's liability for discrimination in violation of Labor Code section 132a, and as such, the burden did not shift to the employer to establish an affirmative defense.

[11/04] Liberty Mut. ins. Co. v. Hurlbut
In a constitutional challenge to two amendments to the New York Workers' Compensation Law, the district court's judgment abstaining from the case is affirmed where Burford abstention was appropriate because federal court intervention would be disruptive of a carefully established state system, and might also yield inconsistent and therefore conflicting results.

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