U.S. Supreme Court

Arkansas Dep't of Health & Human Servs. v. Ahlborn (05/01/06 - No. 04–1506)

Federal Medicaid law does not authorize a state's department of health services to assert a lien on a settlement in an amount exceeding the portion of the tort claimant's settlement constituting reimbursement for medical payments made, and a federal anti-lien provision affirmatively prohibits it from doing so. State third-party liability provisions are unenforceable insofar as they compel a different conclusion.

http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/us/000/041506.html

Marshall v. Marshall (05/01/06 - No. 04–1544)

A determination by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the probate exception applied so as to bar petitioner-Anna Nicole Smith's tortious interference claim is reversed where the Ninth Circuit had no warrant from Congress, or from decisions of the Supreme Court, for its sweeping extension of the probate exception.

http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/us/000/041544.html

U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals

Muntaqim v. Coombe (05/04/06 - No. 01-7260)

Appeal from dismissal of claim that New York Election Law section 5-106, which denies the right to vote to incarcerated or paroled felons, violates section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. section 1973, is dismissed where plaintiff lacks standing and, consequently, there is no subject matter jurisdiction.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/2nd/017260p.pdf

U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals

Couden v. Duffy (05/01/06 - No. 04-1732)

Summary judgment for defendants in a civil rights action, involving undercover law enforcement officers' mistakenly identifying plaintiff's son as a fugitive, is reversed in part as to plaintiffs' section 1983 claims against certain defendants and a Bivens claim, where the district court erred in failing to consider the facts in the light most favorable to plaintiffs in its constitutional rights analysis.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/3rd/041732p.pdf

Ferrostaal, Inc. v. M/V Sea Phoenix (05/03/06 - No. 05-1837)

The fair opportunity doctrine has no place in the application of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA). In a dispute involving goods damaged in transit, grant of partial summary judgment to defendants holding that COGSA limited their liability to plaintiff to $500 per package is affirmed where the district court correctly analyzed a choice of law question, and the fair opportunity doctrine is inconsistent with COGSA.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/3rd/051837p.pdf

U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals

South Carolina State Bd. of Dentistry v. Federal Trade Comm'n (05/01/06 - No. 04-2006)

Appeal from FTC's refusal to grant "state action anti-trust immunity," based on State Board's regulation of oral hygienists in school settings, is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction where denial of Parker protection is not an immediately appealable collateral order.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/4th/042006p.pdf

U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals

Patterson v. Dean Morris, L.L.P. (05/03/06 - No. 06-30215)

Orders remanding class actions to state court for want of jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) and on the ground of equitable remand in bankruptcy is affirmed as to the remand order under CAFA where, for purposes of their suit's commencement date, plaintiffs had timely paid their filing fees. Appeals of other remand orders are dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/5th/0630215cv1p.pdf

Texaco Exploration & Prod., Inc. v. Amclyde Engineered Prods. Co., Inc. (05/05/06 - No. 03-31208)

Judgment in a case arising out of an accident during the construction of an oil and gas production facility in the Gulf of Mexico is reversed in part as to a products liability action arising from the loss of a portion of a compliant tower where the district court erred in determining its subject matter jurisdiction and the applicable substantive law.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/5th/0331208cv0p.pdf

U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Fischer v. Cingular Wireless, LLC (05/01/06 - No. 05-3391)

Dismissal of case against employer is affirmed where the court did not have to warn a pro se plaintiff before dismissal for failure to prosecute when: 1) defendant had requested dismissal if plaintiff disregarded further discovery deadlines; 2) the case had been dismissed once for failure to prosecute; and 3) plaintiff could not defend her delay.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/053391p.pdf

Freedom From Religion Found. v. Chao (05/03/06 - No. 05-1130)

Petition for rehearing with suggestion of rehearing en banc in a taxpayer standing case is denied where the majority of the active members of the Court voted against the petition.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/051130p.pdf

Hays v. Bryan Cave, LLP (05/03/06 - No. 05-2154)

Removal to federal court of a legal malpractice claim by a convicted federal defendant is vacated and remanded where the claim arose under state law, and the fact that interpretation of federal law would be an issue in the case did not render it removable.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/052154p.pdf

Tagliere v. Harrah's Illinois Corp. (05/03/06 - No. 05-2637)

Dismissal of a personal injury suit filed under admiralty law for lack of admiralty jurisdiction is reversed where no determination was made as to whether the riverboat gambling ship on which the plaintiff suffered her injuries was indefinitely moored, and thus a "vessel" for purposes of admiralty law.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/052637p.pdf

Moore v. Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp. (05/04/06 - No. 05-2941)

Judgment granting summary judgment for plaintiff-bank in a foreclosure action, but not awarding any relief, is affirmed where the rule that a judgment cannot be altered in favor of a party who did not appeal has no exceptions.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/052941p.pdf

Andrews v. E.I. du Pont de Mours & Co. (05/05/06 - No. 04-2882)

Denial of second motion to alter or amend judgment as untimely in a personal injury case is affirmed where the first denial changed nothing about the original summary judgment and the filing of the second motion occurred more than ten days after entry of summary judgment.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/042882p.pdf

U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals

Bartman v. Comm'r Internal Revenue (05/02/06 - No. 04-2771)

A tax court order finding that it did not have jurisdiction over a petition for review of a denial by the IRS of petitioner's refund request for a particular tax year is affirmed, and a finding that petitioner was time-barred from receiving a refund for another tax year is vacated due to a lack of jurisdiction over the issue.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/8th/042771p.pdf

Elnashar v. Speedway SuperAmerica, LLC (05/03/06 - No. 04-3973)

In a suit brought by a former employee against his former employer involving claims that he was subjected to a hostile work environment and wrongfully disciplined because of his religion and national origin, plaintiff's appeal from a discovery order is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/8th/043973p.pdf

Elnashar v. US Dep't of Justice (05/03/06 - No. 04-3980)

Judgment on the pleadings in favor of defendants, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), on claims under the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act is affirmed over plaintiff's meritless claims of error in a suit seeking expungement of plaintiff's record, access to his record, and damages relating to the release of his record.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/8th/043980p.pdf

Stringer v. St. James R-1 Sch. Dist. (05/03/06 - No. 05-1182)

Dismissal for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted of plaintiffs' claims brought under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is affirmed where there was no error in the dismissals, and an agency's failure to provide plaintiffs with an electronic record in lieu of a written transcript of a hearing was harmless error which did not require reversal.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/8th/051182p.pdf

U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

E. & J. Gallo Winery v. Andina Licores S.A. (05/01/06 - No. 05-16504)

Denial of a preliminary injunction, sought by a California winery to enjoin a wine and liquor distributor headquartered in Ecuador from proceeding with foreign litigation regarding a distributorship agreement, is reversed where the district court abused its discretion in the denial, as defendant had involved plaintiff in messy, protracted, and potentially fraudulent foreign litigation in direct contravention of a valid and enforceable forum selection clause.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0516504p.pdf

Patel v. Del Taco, Inc. (05/02/06 - No. 04-16208, 04-16604)

In a dispute involving the alleged breach of a franchise agreement in the restaurant industry, an order granting defendant-franchisor's motion to remand a petition to confirm an arbitration award and awarding it attorney's fees is affirmed, and an appeal from an order staying plaintiffs' fraud and civil rights claims and compelling arbitration of those claims is dismissed.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0416208p.pdf

Mattel, Inc. v. Bryant (05/02/06 - No. 05-55696)

An order denying plaintiff-former employer's motion to remand a tort and contract action to the state court in which it had begun its suit against defendant-former employee is affirmed where diversity jurisdiction was not defeated by the intervention, as a defendant, of a non-diverse corporation which was not an indispensable party.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0555696p.pdf

Gorospe v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue (05/03/06 - No. 04-73277)

Congress did not authorize the Tax Court to hear appeals of the IRS Office of Appeals's determinations in trust fund recovery penalty cases. The Tax Court lacks jurisdiction over collection due process (CDP) appeals where it would lack jurisdiction over the underlying tax liability.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0473277p.pdf

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. v. ENC Corp. (05/04/06 - No. 04-16401, 04-16503, 04-16538)

In an interpleader action, a decision of the district court awarding funds in dispute to a class of human rights victims represented by an individual is affirmed with modification where the Republic of the Philippines and the Presidential Commission on Good Government (the PCGG) were not indispensable parties under Fed. R. Civ. P. 19(b).

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0416401p.pdf

Smelt v. County of Orange (05/05/06 - No. 05-56040)

In a case brought by two California men who wished to marry each other, orders abstaining as to constitutional claims attacking state laws and ruling adversely to plaintiffs on federal constitutional claims are affirmed and reversed in part where plaintiffs lacked standing for their attacks on the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, and the district court properly abstained from deciding their constitutional attacks on state laws precluding them from obtaining a marriage license.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0556040p.pdf

U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals

Dresdner Bank AG v. M/V Olympia Voyager (05/01/06 - No. 05-10862)

Judgment in favor of Greek travel agency in action against Greek-flagged passenger cruise vessel is reversed where Greek law, not US law, should have been applied to govern transaction between Liberian shipowner and travel agency for travel services benefitting vessel while docked in a US port.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/11th/0510862p.pdf

Stubbs v. Wyndham Int'l, Inc. (05/05/06 - No. 04-16733)

Dismissal of personal injury case against Bahamian resort and associated corporations is reversed where: 1) use of corporate agent in U.S. and numerous commercial contacts with U.S. satisfied the Florida long-arm statute and the federal due process analysis for general jurisdiction; and 2) a second defendant waived jurisdiction argument.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/11th/0416733p.pdf

U.S. District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals

Boivin v. U.S. Airways, Inc. (05/02/06 - No. 05-5165)

Claims brought by retired pilots of a bankrupt carrier seeking to compel the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to correct alleged errors in its calculation of estimated benefits due under ERISA and a retirement income plan are dismissed due to the pilots' failure to exhaust their administrative remedies.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/dc/055165a.pdf

Tootle v. Sec'y of the Navy (05/05/06 - No. 04-5409)

Dismissal of a complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is reversed and a petition for a writ of mandamus is granted where the district court was not divested of its jurisdiction by the Tucker Act with regards to petitioner's suit under the Administrative Procedure Act challenging a determination made by a Navy physical evaluation board that petitioner was "fit for duty," and, thus, not eligible for medical retirement.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/dc/045409a.pdf

Spinelli v. Goss (05/05/06 - No. 05-5270)

An order denying a motion to dismiss portions of a complaint brought by a former employee against the CIA and its director seeking damages for psychological injury stemming from his shooting while on assignment is reversed where the Federal Employees' Compensation Act barred plaintiff's Tort Claims Act claim, and he failed to exhaust his administrative remedy as to a Rehabilitation Act claim.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/dc/055270a.pdf

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Northwest Louisiana Fish & Game Pres. Comm'n v. US (05/02/06 - No. 05-5031)

In a case involving a conflict between a state commission's duty to maintain a natural preserve and the government's responsibility to maintain year-round riparian navigation, dismissal of a takings claim brought by the commission against the government as filed after the statute of limitations is reversed where certain growth of vegetation was a slow natural process that had not stabilized to cause the taking claim to accrue until at least 1997.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/fed/055031p.pdf

Bd. of Trs. of Bay Med. Ctr. v. Humana Military Healthcare Servs., Inc. (05/04/06 - No. 05-1501)

In a dispute involving administrator-provider contracts for medical services, denial of defendant's motion to dismiss or transfer its complaint and denial of a motion for reconsideration are affirmed where contract claims brought by plaintiffs were not claims for money damages against the government, and there was no abuse of discretion in denying the motion for reconsideration.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/fed/051501p.pdf

Hinck v. US (05/04/06 - No. 05-5099)

Internal Revenue Code section 6404(h) grants exclusive subject matter jurisdiction to the Tax Court to review the IRS's denials of interest abatement. Dismissal of plaintiffs' suit for lack of jurisdiction is affirmed where the United States Court of Federal Claims lacked subject matter jurisdiction over taxpayer-plaintiffs' interest abatement claim.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/fed/055099p.pdf

New York Court of Appeals

In the Matter of City of New York v. New York City Civil Serv. Comm'n (05/02/06 - No. 50)

Annulment of Civil Service Commission's order that petitioner be reinstated as a police officer is affirmed where, although evidence indicated petitioner was no longer psychologically disabled, there was no evidence that he was fit for the stresses of police work.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/ny/cases/app/50mem06.pdf

In the Matter of Marc Greenberg v. New York City Transit Auth. (05/04/06 - No. 58 )

An award of damages under Workers' Compensation Law section 120 to an employee who has been discharged for claiming or attempting to claim workers' compensation benefits may include predecision interest.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/ny/cases/app/58opn06.pdf

In the Matter of Hon. Duane A. Hart (05/04/06 - No. 56)

Censure imposed on petitioner judge by Commission on Judicial Conduct is upheld where petitioner wrongly held in contempt a litigant whose attorney made a record of an out-of-court encounter between the judge and the litigant.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/ny/cases/app/56opn06.pdf

Supreme Court of Texas

In the Interest of A.M. & B.M. (05/05/06 - No. 03-0509)

Court of appeals rulings in proceedings involving unpaid child support are reversed where the court of appeals erred in applying Texas Family Code section 157.008 to shift the child support obligation from the obligor to the obligee during periods of excess possession, and in finding that the Attorney General lacked standing to litigate any part of the defense provided by the statute.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/texasstatecases/sc/030509.pdf

Belt v. Oppenheimer, Blend, Harrison & Tate, Inc. (05/05/06 - No. 04-0681)

There is no legal bar preventing an estate's personal representative from maintaining a legal malpractice claim on behalf of the estate against the decedent's estate planners.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/texasstatecases/sc/040681.pdf

Shupe v. Lingafelter (05/05/06 - No. 05-0083)

A court of appeals' reversal of a judgment, pursuant to a jury verdict in a personal injury suit concluding that the plaintiffs suffered no damages, and rendering a take-nothing judgment is reversed where a trial court's omission of a negligent entrustment instruction, if error, was harmless.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/texasstatecases/sc/050083.pdf

Am. Flood Research, Inc. v. Jones (05/05/06 - No. 05–0271)

A court of appeals' reversal of a sanctions order imposed on an attorney for discovery abuse, committed in the course of representing a group of employees in an employment discrimination suit, is reversed where the court of appeals erred in holding that a trial court must specifically find that the party, not just the attorney, abused the discovery process in order to impose sanctions under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 215.3.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/texasstatecases/sc/050271.pdf

In re Smith (05/05/06 - No. 06-0107, 06-0108)

Petitions for writ of mandamus, brought by judgment debtors seeking review of an order setting aside their cash deposits in lieu of supersedeas bond to suspend enforcement of a judgment and sustaining judgment creditors' challenge to petitioner's net worth affidavits, are conditionally granted in part and denied in part where the trial court abused its discretion by issuing an order that did not state with particularity the factual basis for its determination regarding the debtors' net worth.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/texasstatecases/sc/060107.pdf

California Appellate Districts

Jonkey v. Carignan Constr. Co. (05/02/06 - No. B178385)

Judgment in favor of defendant masonry subcontractor, in case where plaintiff construction supervisor's foot was injured by a plank falling from defendant's scaffold, is affirmed over claims that judgment was not supported by substantial evidence and that the trial court erred in awarding costs to subcontractor.

http://login.findlaw.com/scripts/callaw?dest=ca/caapp4th/slip/2006/b178385.html

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/californiastatecases/b178385.pdf

Camacho v. Automobile Club of S. Cal. (05/03/06 - No. B180134)

Judgment in favor of defendants is affirmed where plaintiff has not alleged facts that: 1) constitute an unfair practice under Business and Professions Code section 17200; 2) he actually and justifiably relied on alleged misrepresentations to his detriment; and 3) one of the defendants engaged in the unauthorized practice of law.

http://login.findlaw.com/scripts/callaw?dest=ca/caapp4th/slip/2006/b180134.html

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/californiastatecases/b180134.pdf

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