Justia Injury Law Opinion Summaries

The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the circuit court affirming the decision of the South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation approving Claimant's request for benefits, holding that there was no error.Claimant injured her shoulder and necker while working for Employer. While Employer and Insurer initially paid Claimant benefits, her claim for surgery and additional benefits was subsequently denied. Claimant filed a petition seeking a hearing on her claims. Thereafter, the Department approved Claimant's request for benefits. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) Claimant's work injury was a major contributing cause of her impairment and need for treatment; and (2) there was no error in the Department's findings concerning medical opinion testimony or causation. View "News America Marketing v. Schoon" on Justia Law

The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the judgment of the superior court dismissing Plaintiff's tort complaint against Defendant, the firm that represented her ex-husband in her complaint for divorce, as being barred by the doctrine of issue preclusion, holding that Plaintiff's tort action was not barred by issue preclusion.During the divorce proceedings, Plaintiff moved for a mistrial on the ground of surprise because Defendant failed to copy her attorney on a subpoena requesting her counseling records from her therapist. A referee denied the motion. After the conclusion of the divorce proceedings, Plaintiff brought this action asserting claims of abuse of process and intentional infliction of emotional distress, alleging that Defendant abused the legal process by obtaining a full set of her counseling records, and the disclosure caused her great distress. Defendant filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the complaint was barred by res judicata. The trial court determined that Plaintiff was collaterally estopped from pursuing her tort claims. The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the judgment below, holding that Plaintiff's action was not barred by issue preclusion because the referee's findings were not essential to the underlying divorce judgment. View "Pacheco v. Libby O'Brien Kingsley & Champion, LLC" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals affirming the judgment of the trial court declining to declare Plaintiff a wrongfully imprisoned person, holding that the court of appeals did not err in concluding that Plaintiff was not entitled to a jury trial for his wrongful imprisonment claims.Plaintiff brought this action against the state of Ohio to be declared a "wrongly imprisoned individual" under Ohio Rev. Code 2743.48(A). Plaintiff included a jury demand with his complaint, but the trial court overruled the demand. After a bench trial, the trial court entered judgment for the state. The court of appeals affirmed, ruling that Plaintiff did not have a constitutional right to a jury trial in the wrongful-imprisonment action. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the constitutional right to a jury trial does not attach to wrongful imprisonment actions. View "McClain v. State" on Justia Law

Plaintiff-appellant Chris LaBarbera hired Richard Knight dba Knight Construction (Knight) to remodel a house pursuant to a contract that provided Knight would defend and indemnify LaBarbera for all claims arising out of the work. Knight obtained a general liability insurance policy from defendant-respondent Security National Insurance Company (Security National) that covered damages Knight was obligated to pay due to bodily injury to a third party. As relevant here, the policy also covered Knight’s “liability for damages . . . [a]ssumed in a contract or agreement that is an ‘insured contract.’ ” Security National acknowledged the indemnity provision in Knight’s contract with LaBarbera was an “insured contract” within the meaning of the policy. The policy also provided, “If we defend an insured [i.e., Knight] against a suit and an indemnitee of the insured [i.e., LaBarbera] is also named as a party to the suit, we will defend that indemnitee” if certain conditions were met. During the remodeling work, a subcontractor suffered catastrophic injuries, and sued both LaBarbera and Knight. LaBarbera’s liability insurer (plaintiff-appellant Lloyd's of London Underwriters) defended him in that lawsuit, and Security National defended Knight. LaBarbera also tendered his defense to Knight and to Security National, but they either ignored or rejected the tender. After settling the underlying lawsuit for $465,000, LaBarbera and Underwriters sued Knight and Security National, seeking to recover the full $465,000 settlement amount and over $100,000 in expenses and attorney fees incurred defending LaBarbera in that lawsuit. Security National moved for summary judgment on the ground that all claims against it were barred because the undisputed facts established it did not have an obligation to defend or indemnify LaBarbera. The trial court granted the motion and entered judgment in favor of Security National. LaBarbera and Underwriters appealed, but the Court of Appeal affirmed, adopting different reasoning than the trial court. The Court agreed with Security National that the indemnitee defense clause in Knight’s general liability insurance policy did not bestow third party beneficiary rights on the indemnitee, LaBarbera, who benefitted only incidentally from the clause. Because LaBarbera was not a third party beneficiary under Knight’s policy, he was precluded from bringing a direct action against Security National. View "LaBarbera, et al. v. Security Nat. Ins. Co." on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals affirming the trial court's denial of Greenville's motion to dismiss this tort case, holding that Plaintiffs alleged sufficient facts that, if proven, demonstrate that Ohio Rev. Code 2744.02(B)(4) applied to the facts of this case.At issue was whether the absence of a fire extinguisher within a building of a physical subdivision is a physical defect such that an exception to immunity exists under Ohio Rev. Code 2744.04(B)(4). Plaintiffs filed a complaint against Greenville City Schools and other defendants (collectively, Greenville) alleging that Greenville negligently caused their injuries after a bottle of isopropyl alcohol caught fire and exploded in a science class. Greenville filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that it was immune from liability and that no exception to immunity applied. The trial court denied the motion to dismiss, and the court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the absence of a fire extinguisher or other safety equipment within a science classroom could be a physical defect such that an exception to immunity could exist under section 2744.02(B)(4). View "Doe v. Greenville City Schools" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court reversed the order of the Workers' Compensation Court (WCC) granting in part and denying in part Petitioner's motion for summary judgment, holding that the WCC erred in part.At issue on appeal was whether the WCC erred when it ruled that the aggregate wages of Petitioner, a disabled worker, calculated at the time of injury, are used to determine Petitioner's permanent partial disability (PPD) benefit rate regardless of Petitioner's actual wage loss at maximum healing. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the WCC erred by ruling that Petitioner's PPD indemnity benefit rate was aggregated from both of her time-of-injury employments when she was only precluded from one employment upon reaching maximum medical improvement. View "Barnhart v. Mont. State Fund" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the district court in favor of a group of eastern Montana farmers (Farmers) and against four affiliates of USA Biofuels, LLC (Affiliates) on Farmers' claims on a variety of contract and tort theories, holding that there was no error.In 2018, Farmers entered individual written contracts with USA Biofuels to grow 10,000 acres of hemp. Farmers brought this action alleging that they never received full payment from Defendants, including USA Biofuels and various affiliates. The district court concluded on summary judgment that USA Biofuels breached its contract and awarded damages. Farmers subsequently abandoned their contract claims and secured a tort judgment against Affiliates. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the district court (1) did not abuse its discretion when it entered judgment on the punitive damages award; (2) did not err in instructing the jury; and (3) did not err in ruling on summary judgment that three shareholders were alter egos of USA Biofuels. View "Romo v. USA Biofuels, LLC" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the ruling of Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals (WCCA) that Respondent was entitled to workers' compensation benefits, holding that Respondent was not entitled to relief on his claims on appeal.A licensed psychologist diagnosed Respondent, a former deputy sheriff for Carlton County, with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A compensation judge ruled that Respondent was not entitled to workers' compensation benefits because a subsequent psychological evaluation requested by the County resulted in a diagnosis of major depressive disorder but not PTSD. The WCCA reversed, holding (1) under Minn. Stat. 176.011, subd. 15(e), deputy sheriffs are entitled to a presumption that PTSD is an occupational disease if they present a diagnosis of PTSD, regardless of whether their employer offers a competing diagnosis; and (2) Respondent was entitled to the benefit of the presumption that he had a compensable occupational disease, and the County failed to rebut the presumption. View "Juntunen v. Carlton County" on Justia Law

As a child, Schmitz applied J&J’s Baby Powder to her siblings and used it herself. She later applied the powder to her aging father and mother when she cared for them. Schmitz used Colgate’s Cashmere Bouquet on a daily basis from the age of 13 until her late forties. The products created visible dust that she breathed in. Schmitz also used perfumed talc sold by Avon. Schmitz was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2018. She sued 10 defendants, including J&J, Colgate, and Avon, alleging that they knowingly concealed the presence of asbestos in their products and the health risks the products posed. The trial centered on whether the experts correctly identified various structures as asbestos, whether the talc products Schmitz used contained asbestos, and, if so, whether that use substantially contributed to her risk of developing mesothelioma.A jury returned a special verdict in Schmitz’s favor. The court of appeal affirmed, rejecting arguments that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting certain expert testimony, gave an adverse inference instruction that was unjustified and prejudicial, erred in failing to grant a mistrial after references to talc causing ovarian cancer, failed to instruct the jury on a critical element of fraudulent concealment, and erred in entering judgment nunc pro tunc. The evidence was sufficient to support a verdict for fraudulent concealment. View "Bader v. Johnson & Johnson" on Justia Law

An elementary school nurse who unsuccessfully attempted to save the life of a choking child sought workers’ compensation benefits for mental health problems she attributed to the incident. She argued that she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to exposure to the child’s bodily fluids and resulting risk of disease and to the mental stress of the incident. The Alaska Workers’ Compensation Board denied her claims, concluding that her exposure to bodily fluids was not a sufficient physical injury to trigger a presumption of compensability and that the mental stress of the incident was not sufficiently extraordinary or unusual to merit compensation. The Board was most persuaded by the opinion of the employer’s medical expert that the nurse’s mental health problems were the result of a pre-existing mental health condition and were not caused by the incident. The Alaska Workers’ Compensation Appeals Commission affirmed. After review, the Alaska Supreme Court found: (1) the Board failed to recognize the link between exposure to bodily fluids and mental distress over the risk of serious disease, which under Alaska precedent was enough to establish a presumption that the mental distress is compensable; and (2) the Board failed to consider the particular details of the child’s death and the nurse’s involvement when it concluded as a general matter that the stress of responding to a choking incident at school was not sufficiently extraordinary to merit compensation for mental injury. However, because the Board found in the alternative that the incident was not the cause of the nurse’s mental health problems, and because both the Commission and the Alaska Supreme Court had to respect the Board’s credibility determinations and the weight it gave conflicting evidence, the denial of benefits was affirmed. View "Patterson v. Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District" on Justia Law