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 Construction [07/02] As deficit grows, Calif. prepares to issue IOUs [07/01] Knoll, Inc. to Announce Second Quarter 2009 Results [07/01] BrassCraft 100% Compliant Plumbing Products Are Now Available for 2010 Legislation [07/01] Minwax(R) Teams with This Old House Magazine for Furniture Makeover Contest: 'From Attic to Awesome' [07/01] Pending home sales up 4th straight month in May More... Litigation [06/30] Reverse discrimination ruling leaves confusion [06/16] Judge upholds ND's anti-corporate farming law [06/15] Court to determine if bankruptcy hearing needed [06/15] Court steps into dispute between Shell, stations [06/11] South Korea court rejects claims against Microsoft More... Personal Injury [07/02] NH city rallies around refugees to banish bedbugs [07/02] Parents of Oregon boy settle in surgery lawsuit [07/02] Highway deaths fall in 2009, lowest since '61 [07/01] Teenage survivor of jet crash 'doing well' [07/01] Mississippi's still fattest but Alabama closing in More... Labor [07/02] Euro zone unemployment hits 10-year high in May [07/02] June jobless rate seen rising to 9.6 percent [07/01] LAPD says no officers fired for May Day melee [06/30] Union official says Pioneer Press begins layoffs [06/30] Reverse discrimination ruling leaves confusion More... Case Summaries Transportation [07/01] McNamara v. Yellow Transp., Inc. District court's denial of defendant's motion to compel arbitration of plaintiff's retaliation, gender discrimination, and Family and Medical Leave Act claims is reversed where plaintiff was not a transportation worker exempted from the Federal Arbitration Act and defendant did not waive its right to arbitrate by failing to move for arbitration during the EEOC proceedings prior to plaintiff's filing of this suit. [07/01] Hance v. Norfolk S. Ry. Co. In an action under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) claiming that Defendant terminated Plaintiff based on his military service, judgment for Plaintiff is affirmed where evidence of anti-military animus from a decisionmaker, combined with the close temporal relationship between Plaintiff's leave for military service and his discharge, were sufficient to support the District Court's finding that Plaintiff was discharged in violation of USERRA. [07/01] Mesa Air Group, Inc. v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. In an action seeking an injunction prohibiting Defendant airline from terminating its regional connection agreement with Plaintiff airline, an injunction in favor of Plaintiff is affirmed where Plaintiff demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on its claim that Defendant was equitably estopped from terminating the agreement. [06/30] Shaw v. People ex rel John Chiang In an action related to California's state budgetary process, trial court judgment is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) the Legislature's amendment of Revenue and Taxation Code sec. 7102 is invalid and thus most of the Legislatures appropriations of Public Transportation Account spillover gas tax revenue for the 2007-08 budget year are invalid because they do not serve a transportation planning or mass transportation purpose; and 2) the court properly rejected the Legislature's transfer of $409 million from the Public Transportation Account to the General Fund for past debt service payments on Proposition 108 bonds as not being consistent with the purposes of the Public Transportation Account. [06/30] Garcia-Rubiera v. Calderon In an action challenging amendments to Puerto Rico's Compulsory Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance Act, district court judgment is affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded where: 1) the court erred in dismissing plaintiff's takings clause claim, as their takings claim for declaratory and injunctive relief is ripe despite the failure to utilize Procedure No. 96 to pursue their administrative remedy; 2) although plaintiffs have a sufficient property interest in the duplicate premiums for purposes of due process, further proceedings are necessary to determine whether the transfers to the Secretary of Treasury constitutes a sufficient deprivation of that property interest to require notice under the Due Process Clause; 3) the court properly dismissed plaintiff's equal protection claim as neither law is directed to a protected class, and the Commonwealth's action is rational and serves the legitimate end of balancing the budget; 4) the court properly granted qualified immunity to defendants; and 5) the court erred in denying class certification as plaintiffs satisfied all the requirements necessary to certify a class. More... Injury & Tort Law [07/02] Hughes v. Pair Court of Appeals judgment for defendant in a sexual harassment action is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff's factual allegations fail to establish the severe or pervasive conduct necessary to pursue a claim of hostile environment sexual harassment under Civil Code sec. 51.9, as the conduct was not so egregious as to alter the conditions of the underlying professional relationship and could not plausibly be construed by a reasonable trier of fact as a threat to commit a sexual assault on plaintiff; and 2) the court properly granted summary judgment on plaintiff's claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress as plaintiff failed to establish either extreme or outrageous conduct by defendant or that plaintiff suffered severe or extreme emotional distress. [07/01] Thomas v. Carnival Corp. In a personal injury action involving a slip and fall aboard Defendant cruise line, the District Court's order granting Defendant's motion to compel arbitration is reversed where, under the parties' agreement, the dispute at issue must have some actual relation to the agreement to arbitrate, irrespective of what ship the claims originated from and when suit was brought. [06/30] Grammer v. John J. Kane Regional Centers In a wrongful death action brought under the Federal Nursing Home Reform Amendments, district court judgment finding no right of action under the statutes and dismissing the case is reversed and remanded where it is clear that Congress intended to create individual rights in drafting and adopting the Amendments and plaintiff's mother falls squarely within the zone of interest the provisions are meant to protect. In addition, 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983 provides the proper avenue for relief for the statutory provisions which plaintiff seeks to enforce, as defendant has failed to demonstrate that Congress foreclosed that option by adopting another, more comprehensive enforcement scheme. [06/30] Beninati v. Black Rock City, LLC In a negligence action, trial court judgment is affirmed where the doctrine of primary assumption of risk applies to the activity engaged in by plaintiff at the Burning Man Festival, and thus defendant owed him no duty of care to prevent the injuries he incurred as a result. [06/30] Carmichael v. Kellogg, Brown & Root Serv., Inc. In a negligence suit arising out of an accident in which Plaintiff's husband was injured while serving in Iraq, the dismissal of the complaint is affirmed where the political question doctrine barred the suit because adjudicating Plaintiff's claims would require extensive reexamination and second-guessing of many sensitive judgments surrounding the conduct of a military convoy in war time. More... Labor & Employment Law [07/02] Hughes v. Pair Court of Appeals judgment for defendant in a sexual harassment action is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff's factual allegations fail to establish the severe or pervasive conduct necessary to pursue a claim of hostile environment sexual harassment under Civil Code sec. 51.9, as the conduct was not so egregious as to alter the conditions of the underlying professional relationship and could not plausibly be construed by a reasonable trier of fact as a threat to commit a sexual assault on plaintiff; and 2) the court properly granted summary judgment on plaintiff's claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress as plaintiff failed to establish either extreme or outrageous conduct by defendant or that plaintiff suffered severe or extreme emotional distress. [07/02] Milholland v. Sumner Cty. Bd. of Educ. In an Americans with Disabilities Act action alleging that Plaintiff teacher was transferred between positions based on her arthritis, summary judgment for Defendant is affirmed, where Plaintiff failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Defendant regarded her as disabled. [07/01] Trustees of the Chicago Plastering Institute Pension Trust v. Cork Plastering Co. In an action brought under the Labor Management Relations Act and ERISA, district court judgment is affirmed where: 1) the court did not err in admitting the audit report into evidence, as the report was not inadmissible hearsay; 2) the court properly allowed the the auditor's employee to testify about the report as he was qualified to lay a foundation for the admission of the report; and 3) the court's properly denied plaintiff's request to recover their auditors' fees, as plaintiff's did not meet the burden of showing that the requested costs were necessarily incurred and reasonable. [07/01] Muffley v. Spartan Mining Co. In an action by the NLRB seeking an injunction requiring Defendant to offer employment to persons it had refused to hire because of union affiliation, judgment for Plaintiff is affirmed where the District Court properly considered the balance of harms and other equitable factors in issuing the injunction. [06/30] Scott v. Phoenix Schools, Inc. In an employment termination action, trial court judgment is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) there was substantial evidence that defendant violated public policy in dismissing plaintiff; and 2) there was insufficient evidence of malice, fraud or oppression to support the award of punitive damages. More... |
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