Justia Injury Law Opinion Summaries

Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (together, Kaiser), Aetna, Inc. and Guardian Life Insurance Company (Guardian) filed a coordinated complaint against Pfizer, Inc. and Warner-Lambert Company (together, Pfizer). The coordinated plaintiffs asserted violations of, inter alia, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and the California Unfair Competition Law (UCL). Ultimately, Kaiser prevailed, and Aetna and Guardian's claims were dismissed on summary judgment. After a jury trial, the district court entered judgment in favor of Kaiser on its RICO and state UCL claims. The court subsequently denied Pfizer's motion for a new trial or, in the alternative, to alter or amend judgment. The court awarded Kaiser damages and ordered Defendants to pay restitution. Finding no error, the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the verdicts for Kaiser. View "Kaiser Found. Health Plan v. Pfizer, Inc." on Justia Law

Aetna, Inc. filed a coordinated complaint with Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (together, Kaiser) and Guardian Life Insurance Company (Guardian) against Pfizer, Inc. and Warner-Lambert Company (together, Pfizer). The coordinated plaintiffs asserted that they had suffered injury from the fraudulent marketing of Neurontin for off-label uses, and alleged violations of, inter alia, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and the Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud Statute (PIFS). The district court dismissed the claims of Guardian and Aetna but denied summary judgment as to Kaiser's claims. The court then entered judgment against Guardian and Aetna and in favor of Pfizer. The First Circuit Court of Appeals (1) reversed the dismissal of Aetna's RICO claim, as Aetna presented evidence of causation and damages sufficient to survive summary judgment; and (2) vacated the district court's dismissal of Aetna's claim under the PIFS. Remanded. View "Aetna, Inc. v. Pfizer, Inc." on Justia Law

Plaintiff, her son Kyle, and Kyle's girlfriend Catherine lived together. In 2008, Kyle was the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident in New Hampshire. Defendant was among the police officers who responded to the scene. Kyle was then arrested. Catherine, who witnessed the accident, and Plaintiff went to the police station. Defendant warned Catherine against leaving the police department and threatened to obtain a warrant for her arrest if she left. Plaintiff, however, counseled Catherine to leave and escorted her out of the police station. Defendant subsequently filed a criminal complaint charging Plaintiff with witness tampering. The charge was later dismissed. Plaintiff then filed an action against Defendant in the U.S. district court for false arrest under the Fourth Amendment and malicious prosecution under state law. The district court granted summary judgment for Defendant, concluding that Defendant was entitled to qualified immunity on the federal constitutional claim and official immunity on the state-law claim. Finding no error, the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. View "Moses v. Mele" on Justia Law

Brothers Thomas and Michael Tessier allegedly swindled brothers Frederick and Thaddeus Jakobiec and the estate of their mother out of millions of dollars. This lawsuit covered the Tessiers' theft of almost $100,000 in life insurance proceeds due to a trust benefitting Thaddeus. Thaddeus and various persons affiliated with the trust and estate (collectively, Plaintiffs) filed this action against Merrill Lynch, the company that issued the life insurance policy, claiming that Merrill Lynch made out the insurance proceeds check to the wrong trust entity in breach of the insurance contract, thus allowing the Tessiers to steal the money. The First Circuit Court of Appeals granted summary judgment for Merrill Lynch, concluding that even if Merrill Lynch did breach the contract, its breach was not the cause of Plaintiffs' losses because the Tessiers would have stolen the money even if the check had been made out correctly. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding (1) because the extensive groundwork laid by the Tessiers for their criminal scheme, they could have and would have stolen the insurance money regardless of how Merrill Lynch made out the check; and (2) therefore, the district court correctly granted summary judgment for Merrill Lynch. View "Jakobiec v. Merrill Lynch Life Ins. Co." on Justia Law

Plaintiff, an international affairs specialist at the Puerto Rico State Department, filed a complaint against the Department, ten of its employees, the Commonwealth (collectively, the State Department defendants), and the Puerto Rico Ports Authority. Plaintiff alleged that the State Department defendants had discriminated against her due to her political views and that they had denied her the rights and benefits to which she was entitled under federal and local law. As against the Ports Authority, Plaintiff alleged it slandered her by publishing false information regarding an arrest for marijuana, which prevented her from fulfilling her work duties. The district court found that Plaintiff's complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted and dismissed the complaint. Plaintiff appealed, requesting a reversal of the district court's refusal to grant leave to amend the complaint based upon its finding that amendment would be futile. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the requested amendment. View "Flores-Silva v. McClintock-Hernandez" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs were United States citizens injured in a 1997 terrorist attack in Jerusalem that Hamas orchestrated. Plaintiffs sued the Islamic Republic of Iran, alleging that Iran had provided material support to Hamas and was therefore liable for the attack. Plaintiffs obtained a default judgment against Iran in 2003. Seeking to collect on that judgment, Plaintiffs moved to attach, by trustee process action in the District of Massachusetts, certain antiquities they claimed were the property of Iran but that were in the possession of Defendants, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) and Harvard University. The district court granted Defendants' motions to dissolve the attachments, concluding that Defendants could invoke the objects' immunity from attachment under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), and that although the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) provided a potential way around that immunity, Plaintiffs had failed to meet their burden of proving that the antiquities were attachable under that statute. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed but on narrower grounds, holding that TRIA in this case did not nullify the antiquities' immunity from execution under the FSIA. View "Rubin v. Harvard Univ." on Justia Law

A Massachusetts corporation and its principals sued their quondam accountant and his firm (collectively, Defendants), alleging that Defendants negligently advised them to file amended corporate and personal tax returns that had the effect of substantially increasing the principals' liability and destabilizing the company. The district court granted summary judgment for Defendants but rejected their request for attorneys' fees. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the district court did not err in (1) concluding that a three-year statute of limitations applied to bar the maintenance of Plaintiffs' tort and contract claims; (2) dismissing Plaintiffs' unfair trade practices claim; and (3) denying Defendants' request for attorneys' fees. View "RTR Techs., Inc. v. Helming" on Justia Law

In 1989, Appellant was tried and convicted of murder in a Massachusetts state court. After serving fourteen years of his sentence, Appellant moved for a new trial on the ground that exculpatory evidence had been withheld by several Boston police officers involved in his prosecution, including Timothy Callahan, a police detective. Appellant's motion was granted and he was released from prison in 2003. After his release, Appellant filed a civil action in federal district court against Callahan, a Boston police commissioner, two police officers, and the City of Boston, alleging that his constitutional due process rights were violated by the withholding of material exculpatory evidence during his criminal trial. After a jury deadlocked on the issue of whether Callahan's failure to disclose evidence caused Appellant's conviction, a retrial was held. The retrial jury determined in 2009 that Callahan had withheld evidence and determined that his actions caused Appellant's conviction. Appellant was awarded damages of $14 million. The First Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the case to the district court for a new trial, holding that Callahan was entitled to a new trial because the district court judge erred in instructing the retrial jury on causation. View "Drumgold v. Callahan" on Justia Law

Defendant was an attorney who litigated a case against the nations believed to be behind a 1972 terrorist attack on Puerto Ricans at an Israeli airport. Defendant and the American Center for Civil Justice (the Center) originally had an agreement on how to handle the litigation. However, Defendant misrepresented to clients that the Center had paid him for his work and convinced clients to revoke the Center's attorney's power of attorney. Thereafter, the Center filed suit against Defendant. In the meantime, Plaintiffs, the heirs of two individuals killed in the terrorist attack who signed retainer agreements with Defendant, filed this action against Defendant, alleging that the retainer agreements were void because Defendant secured their consent by deceit. After a jury trial, judgment was entered against Defendant. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding (1) the evidence was sufficient to support the conviction; (2) the non-testifying heirs proved deceit without testifying about their reliance on Defendant's misrepresentations; and (3) the district court did not err in its instructions to the jury. View "Estate of Berganzo-Colon v. Ambush" on Justia Law

Plaintiff Nancy Shay and the daughter of Defendant Barbara Walters attended boarding school together in the early 1980s. The two of them were suspended in 1983, and Plaintiff was subsequently expelled. In 2008, Walters published a memoir entitled "Audition" that included a reference to a friend of her daughter's named "Nancy" "whom the school kicked out midterm for bad behavior." Plaintiff sued Walters for money damages, alleging Walters tortiously interfered with Plaintiff's contract with the school by inducing the school to expel her, alleging the statements in Audition about her were defamatory, and asserting a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress. The district court granted Defendant's motion for judgment on the pleadings, concluding that the tortious interference claim was time-barred and that the remaining counts failed as a matter of law. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that Defendant was entitled to judgment on the pleadings. View "Shay v. Walters" on Justia Law