• Arkansas Dep't of Health & Human Servs. v. Ahlborn

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. 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

U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals

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. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals

Johnson v. City of Detroit (05/03/06 - No. 04-1817)

The Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act (LBPPPA), the United States Housing Act of 1937, and their administrative regulations do not create individual federal rights enforceable under 42 U.S.C. section 1983.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/6th/041817p.pdf

U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Thurman v. Village of Homewood (05/02/06 - No. 05-2940)

Summary judgment for defendants in Fourth Amendment and retaliation claims under 18 U.S.C. 1983, and dismissal of state law claims, are affirmed where: 1) officers did not unreasonably extend the duration of an investigation; 2) plaintiff gave no evidence regarding the retaliation claim; 3) officers did not act under the color of law; and 4) denial of supplemental jurisdiction was proper.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/052940p.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

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

Little White Man v. US (05/04/06 - No. 052183p.pdf)

Judgment for defendant in an estate administrator's suit against the United States for negligence pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) is affirmed where the district court did not err in finding that plaintiff failed to show that Indian Health Service's failure to detect decedent's cancer sooner was a proximate cause of death or decreased chance of survival.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/8th/052183p.pdf

U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

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

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

U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals

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

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

New York Court of Appeals

Keavey v. New York State Dormitory Auth. (05/02/06 - No. 101 SSM 6)

Dismissal of plaintiff's Labor Law sections 240(1) and 241(6) causes of action is affirmed where the act of falling into a gap between insulation boards is not a "gravity related accident" encompassed by section 240(1) and, further, plaintiff failed to demonstrate the applicability of any section of the Industrial Code.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/ny/cases/app/ssm6mem06.pdf

Hinlicky v. Dreyfuss (05/02/06 - No. 57)

Judgment for defendants, in case alleging malpractice regarding 71-year-old woman who died from heart attack 25 days after successful heart surgery, is affirmed over claim that the trial court improperly admitted algorithm that aided anesthesiologist in deciding to allow surgery without cardiac evaluation.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/ny/cases/app/57opn06.pdf

Bard v. Jahnke (05/02/06 - No. 29)

Summary judgment in favor of defendants, in case involving attack on plaintiff by defendants' bull, is affirmed where evidence established that prior to plaintiff's accident, the subject bull had never injured another person or animal or behaved in a hostile or threatening manner.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/ny/cases/app/29opn06.pdf

Baez v. Rahamatali (05/04/06 - No. 102 SSM 7)

Summary judgment for defendants, where defendants met their initial burden of establishing that plaintiff did not suffer a serious injury within the meaning of Insurance Law section 5102(d) and plaintiff failed to provide evidence supporting her allegations, is affirmed.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/ny/cases/app/ssm7mem06.pdf

Supreme Court of Texas

Evanston Ins. Co. v. ATOFINA Petrochemicals, Inc. (05/05/06 - No. 03-0647)

Judgment of a court of appeals in favor of respondent, additional insured, on its indemnification suit against an insurer involving the settlement of an underlying wrongful death suit is reversed where policy language excluded coverage for the respondent's sole negligence.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/texasstatecases/sc/030647.pdf

Kroger Texas Ltd. P'ship v. Suberu (05/05/06 - No. 03-0913)

A judgment in favor of plaintiff in an action for malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress brought after she was acquitted on misdemeanor theft charges arising from an alleged shoplifting incident is reversed where the evidence was legally insufficient to support liability under each claim.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/texasstatecases/sc/030913.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

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

Weinstein v. California Dep't of Transp. (05/03/06 - No. H028124)

In case involving cross-median collision, summary judgment for defendant based on design immunity is affirmed over claim that no reasonable public entity could have approved of certain design aspects of the road where the collision occurred, as they were not in compliance with the applicable state standards.

http://login.findlaw.com/scripts/callaw?dest=ca/caapp4th/slip/2006/h028124.html

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/californiastatecases/h028124.pdf

Margaret W. v. Kelley R. (05/05/06 - No. A110054)

In a tort suit brought by a victim of a rape which occurred after plaintiff went to a sleepover at a friend's house, summary judgment for defendant is affirmed where defendant, the mother of plaintiff's sleepover host, did not owe plaintiff a duty to prevent the criminal conduct that occurred under the circumstances of the case.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/californiastatecases/a110054.doc

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/californiastatecases/a110054.pdf