Justia Injury Law Opinion Summaries

Plaintiff Tina Fleurrey appealed the dismissal of her negligence claim against defendant landlord 3378 VT Route 12 LLC. In her complaint, she alleged that landlord was responsible for the drowning death of decedent Scott Fleurrey, a fifty-four-year-old man with developmental disabilities, on the property that landlord leased to decedent’s caretakers, Upper Valley Services (UVS) and Azwala Rodriguez. The question on appeal was whether the civil division properly dismissed plaintiff’s claim. Plaintiff argued the civil division erred by misunderstanding the controlling law because landlord owed decedent a duty to protect and because the civil division drew inferences favorable to landlord. The Vermont Supreme Court held that the civil division properly granted landlord’s dismissal motion because: (1) Vermont precedents required an invitee to seek redress for injuries sustained on negligently maintained property from the land possessor who invited the injured invitee to the defective property, rather than from the absentee landlord; (2) §§ 343 and 343A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts were inapplicable here because those Restatement sections addressed only land possessors, and plaintiff did not allege that landlord was the possessor of the subject property; and (3) no duty could arise where, as here, a plaintiff did not allege that a legal relationship existed between a decedent and a landlord. View "Fleurrey v. Department of Aging and Independent Living, et al." on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part the judgments of the court of appeals in these companion cases brought by advocacy groups supporting legalized abortion against Defendant, who publicly advocated against legalized abortion, holding that the court of appeals properly dismissed the defamation suit but erred in permitting the companion suit to advance.Plaintiffs claimed that Defendant legally defamed them by making statements that equated abortion to murder and by characterizing plaintiffs as criminal. One court of appeals concluded that Defendant's statements were political opinions that voiced disagreement with legal protections afforded to abortion providers and dismissed the suit. The other court of appeals concluded that the statements were inconsistent with the Penal Code and permitted that defamation suit to continue. The Supreme Court reversed in part, holding that Defendant properly invoked the Texas Citizens Participation Act and that Plaintiffs failed to adduce evidence of defamation in response. View "Dickson v. Afiya Center" on Justia Law

Decedent was employed by Jones as a construction worker. Jones was under contract with DOT to perform construction work on I-580 in Oakland. Much of this work was performed at night because it required lane closures. A car operated by a drunk driver entered the closed lanes of the project site and struck Decedent, who died on the scene. A wrongful death lawsuit against DOT asserted vicarious liability for the negligence of its employees; failure to discharge a mandatory duty; and dangerous condition on public property. The court dismissed the mandatory duty claim. DOT offered evidence that it did not instruct or control Jones as to how to comply with its safety obligations but that Jones complied with its safety plan on the night in question and that the contract between DOT and Jones delegated to Jones the responsibility for selecting the means for performing, including ensuring worker safety.The trial court concluded DOT was not liable for Decedent’s death as a matter of law because DOT delegated to Jones its duty to provide a safe work environment and the conduct of the drunk driver was not reasonably foreseeable. The court of appeal affirmed, rejecting arguments that admissible evidence was wrongfully excluded. Plaintiffs failed to present evidence that DOT retained control over the construction site and actually exercised that control in such a way as to affirmatively contribute to Decedent's injuries, as required under California law. View "Marin v. Department of Transportation" on Justia Law

Jessica Tutor was driving three passengers in her automobile when she hit another vehicle head-on. Two of the passengers, Jack Sines and Devan Frazier, were injured and later sued Tutor. The case went to trial solely on Sines's and Frazier's claims of wantonness, and the jury found in their favor. The trial court then entered judgment against Tutor. She appealed. Finding no reversible error, the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed. View "Tutor v. Sines, et al." on Justia Law

Plaintiff sued numerous media organizations and individual journalists, alleging defamation, false light invasion of privacy, and civil conspiracy. Plaintiff’s claims arise from misstatements of his criminal record: he was convicted and served one year in prison for a federal conspiracy offense, but Defendants made statements describing him as a “felon.” The sixteen Defendants moved for summary judgment in their respective cases. The district court granted summary judgment to all sixteen Defendants after concluding they did not make the statements with actual malice. At issue are two appeals: a consolidated appeal from the district court’s decisions granting summary judgment to fifteen Defendants and a separate appeal from the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the Boston Globe.   The Fourth Circuit affirmed. The court held that the cumulative record simply does not permit a finding, by clear and convincing evidence, that any Defendant “in fact entertained serious doubts as to the truth” of the statements it published. Some of the statements may have been the product of carelessness and substandard journalistic methods. But at the end of the day, the record does not contain evidence that the commentators and journalists responsible for the statements were anything more than confused about how to describe a person who served a year in prison for a federal offense. Further, the court wrote that Plaintiff has not offered sufficient evidence of actual malice to support his defamation or false light claims against Fox News, he cannot establish an underlying tort, and his conspiracy claims fail as a matter of law. View "Don Blankenship v. NBCUniversal, LLC" on Justia Law

Plaintiff appealed the dismissal of his claim against TrustedID, Inc. under South Carolina’s Financial Identity Fraud and Identity Theft Protection Act (the “Act”), S.C. Code Ann. Section 37-20-180. The district court held that Plaintiff alleged an Article III injury in fact but failed to state a claim under the Act. Plaintiff agrees with the district court’s decision on standing but appeals its Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal.   The Fourth Circuit vacated and remanded with instructions to remand this case to state court where it originated. The court conceded that it is odd that TrustedID failed to comply with the five-digit SSN cutoff, which doesn’t appear to be unique to South Carolina’s Act. But federal courts can’t entertain a case without a concrete injury in fact. The court offered no opinion about whether the alleged facts state a claim under the Act. Absent Article III jurisdiction, that’s a question for Plaintiff to take up in state court. View "Brady O'Leary v. TrustedID, Inc." on Justia Law

TruckMax, Inc., and its wholly owned subsidiary, Babco Engineering, LLC (collectively, "TruckMax"), petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus directing the Jefferson Circuit Court to allow TruckMax to amend its answer in this workers' compensation/wrongful-death action so that TruckMax could assert as a defense that one of the plaintiffs, Latosha Caster-Harris, the wife of the decedent involved in this case, lacked the capacity to pursue claims against TruckMax. The parties agreed that TruckMax's lack-of-capacity defense was an affirmative defense that would be waived if not pleaded. Because the Supreme Court concluded that TruckMax did not establish that the trial court's ruling denying its motion for leave to amend its answer should have been reviewed pursuant to a mandamus petition, it denied the petition. View "Ex parte TruckMax, Inc., and Babco Engineering, LLC." on Justia Law

Appellants– the former secretary-treasurer and president, respectively, of a District Lodge of the International Association of Machinists – appealed the district court’s denial of their motion for a preliminary injunction. They sued the international union, its president, and its general secretary-treasurer. The controversy concerns the suspensions of Appellants’ and the international union’s imposition of a trusteeship on their District Lodge. Appellants’ first amended complaint alleged one count under Title I and five counts under Title III of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (the “LMRDA”). They sought equitable relief along with compensatory and punitive damages. A month after they filed their first amended complaint, they filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. The district court denied the motion. It held that Appellants had not shown a likelihood of success on the merits. It also held that the other factors did not favor them.   The DC Circuit affirmed. The court held that Appellants’ request under Title III to end the trusteeship is moot. A case becomes moot when a party obtains the relief they sought. Here, the disputed trusteeship has been lifted. Further, the court explained that Appellants seek to invalidate an officer election. It is impossible to reinstate Appellant as secretary-treasurer or allow the District Lodge to elect new members to other positions unless the court invalidates the officer election that just occurred. Thus, the court rejected the Title I claim. View "Ian Scott-Anderman, et al. v. Robert Martinez, et al." on Justia Law

The Supreme Court reversed in part the opinion of the court of appeals affirming the trial court's judgment rejecting Defendants' requests to apply a settlement against the award against it and to pay the future damages in periodic payments, holding that the lower courts erred. Jo Ann Puente underwent gastric-bypass surgery and developed complications, leading her to a debilitating brain disorder. Puente, who died while this appeal was pending, and her family sued several healthcare providers, seeking damages. Puente settled with certain defendants prior to trial. After trial, the jury entered judgment for Plaintiffs. The remaining defendants (Defendants) moved for a settlement credit, arguing that the $3.3 million settlement should reduce Puente's recovery. The trial court rejected that argument, granted credit of $200,000 for the settlement, and denied Defendants' motion for periodic payment of the award for future medical expenses. The court of appeals largely affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) Chapter 33 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code required a credit for the settlement; and (2) the Texas Medical Liability Act required the trial court to order that at least some of the future damages be paid periodically. View "Virlar v. Puente" on Justia Law

In this interlocutory appeal in a case involving claims for injuries resulting from a high-speed chase, the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the district court denying the State's motion for summary judgment, holding that the State was entitled to summary judgment under Iowa Code 321.231.Law enforcement officer Brett Tjepkes was chasing Scott Grimes, the perpetrator of a multi-state crime spree, when Grimes crashed head-on with another vehicle. Amber Martinez, the sole occupant of the car he hit, suffered serious injuries. Martinez brought suit, alleging that the Officer Tjepkes acted negligently, causing her injuries. The State moved for summary judgment, arguing that Tjepkes could not be held legally liable as the cause of the crash. The district court denied the motion, finding that a disputed issue of fact existed as to whether Tjepkes's actions were reckless. The State brought this interlocutory appeal. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that no reasonable jury could find that Tjepkes's decision to pursue Grimes was reckless. View "Martinez v. State" on Justia Law