Personal Injury, Civil Procedure, Conflict of Laws

Supreme Court Rules on Equitable Defenses to Reimbursement Claim by Employee Health Plan

by Katherine Lange | Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC on 4/22/2013

Executive Summary: Reimbursement claim brought under ERISA sec. 502(a)(3) was akin to “equitable lien by agreement,” and therefore could not be defeated by equitable defenses that contradicted plan terms. ...more

Attorneys' Fees Reduce ERISA Plan's Recovery From Common Fund

by James Hazlehurst, Robert Renner | Barger & Wolen on 4/17/2013

The United States Supreme Court ruled today that absent an express provision to the contrary, the amount an ERISA plan can recover from a plan participant’s lawsuit against a third-party tortfeasor must be reduced...more

Punitive Damages Exception Recognized to General Rule Precluding Direct Liability Against Employers who Admit Vicarious Liability...

by Williams Venker & Sanders on 3/26/2013

The Court of Appeals for the Western District of Missouri has answered in the affirmative a question left open by the Missouri Supreme Court almost two decades ago: whether a claim for punitive damages can in fact serve as an...more

The Ninth Circuit’s “Nuanced” Approach to FAA Preemption Leads to Greater Uncertainty and Invites Artful Pleading

by Don Rushing, Marina Slavin, Ashley Washington | Morrison & Foerster LLP on 3/19/2013

Announcing a “nuanced” approach to Federal Aviation Act of 1958 preemption, the Ninth Circuit has further narrowed the scope of federal preemption in the aviation field. In this client alert, we summarize the new framework...more

Changes to the Rules governing litigation in England - The Jackson Reforms

by Steven Loble on 3/19/2013

On 1 April 2013 new rules will come into effect in England and Wales which will have a significant impact on litigation. Whilst the reforms look very much as though they affect mechanical aspects of the litigation process,...more

Native Village Of Kivalina Files Its Petition For Certiorari - A Five-Year Climate Change Litigation Marathon That Has Yet To...

by J. Wylie Donald | McCarter & English: Climate Change &... on 3/18/2013

One day short of five years since the case was originally filed, on February 25, 2013 the plaintiffs in Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp. attempt once more to get out of the starting blocks, this time with a...more

Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District Addresses the Effect of the 2005 Amended Venue Statute on Permissive Joinder

by Williams Venker & Sanders on 2/28/2013

In a case of first impression, the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District has addressed the very narrow issue of what effect the permissive joinder rule has on venue where a plaintiff suffers injuries from...more

Asbestos Alert: Supreme Court Clarifies When Dissolved Corporations May Be Sued Greb v Diamond International Corp...

by Thomas LoSavio | Low, Ball & Lynch on 2/25/2013

Dissolved corporations are frequently sued after their dissolution has taken place in an effort to reach insurance policy coverage for the claim being made. California has a statute, Corporation Code §2010, which does not...more

Preemption Still Has Teeth: The FDCA Keeps California False Advertising Claims at Bay in Pom Wonderful Suit

by Alexis Amezcua | Morrison & Foerster - Private Surgeon... on 2/15/2013

As we have noted in prior posts (FDCA, POM, preemption), the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”) can provide a powerful tool to food companies that are hit with claims about their labeling. Yesterday, Judge Otero in the...more

Could Arbitration Of Cost-Prohibitive State Law Claims Be Compelled While Similar Federal Claims Stay In Court?

by Liz Kramer | Leonard, Street and Deinard - Arbitration... on 2/15/2013

A recent decision from a federal district court in Tennessee raises a discrepancy in how the courts treat arbitration agreements that hinder a plaintiff’s state law and federal law claims. Cases under the FAA state that...more

NY State Appellate Court Sides with Airlines, Dismisses Tarmac Delay-Related Claims

by Eric Fishman, Bradley Noojin | Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP on 2/5/2013

The Second Department in Biscone v. JetBlue Airways Corporation recently dismissed airline passengers’ tort claims against an airline based on the failure to provide food, water and facilities during an 11-hour tarmac delay,...more

Ninth Circuit limits Medical Device Amendment preemption of post-PMA tort claims

by Gregory Wartman | Saul Ewing LLP on 1/30/2013

Medical Device Companies should be aware of a recent en banc ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that has the potential to increase litigation involving class III medical devices....more

Rights of Publicity: Contradictions in the Courts

by Ronald Katz | Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP on 1/14/2013

The legal controversies over athletes' rights-of-publicity rage on. Two pending appellate decisions offer some hope that a rational conclusion might be in sight. The head of Manatt's Sports Law Practice Group, Ron Katz, had...more

Court holds that federal standards of care pre-empt state law standards

by Morrison & Foerster LLP on 12/3/2012

Originally published in International Law Office on November 27 2012. A New York state trial court recently added another voice to the chorus of cases finding that federal law pre-empts state law standards of care in the...more

State Common Law Carbon Dioxide Liability Claims: Premonitions of Preemption (and Dismissal)

by McCarter & English: Climate Change &... on 12/1/2012

Left open by the Supreme Court’s decision in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, 131 S. Ct. 2527 (2011), was the question of whether state law nuisance claims for the emission of carbon dioxide were viable in the...more

U.S. District Court Holds that Federal Clean Air Act Preempts Pennsylvania State Law Common Law Tort Claims

by Cozen O'Connor on 11/6/2012

On October 12, 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania issued an opinion and order in Kristie Bell v. Cheswick Generating Station, GenOn Power Midwest, L.P., No. 2:12-cv-929, holding that state...more

Illinois Supreme Court Refuses to Invalidate Policy Deadline for Uninsured Motorist Claims

by Sedgwick LLP on 10/19/2012

Can an insurance policy be rendered unenforceable by Illinois public policy because of a conflict with another state's law? This morning, in an opinion by Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier for a 6-1 majority, the Illinois...more

July 2012: Sports Litigation Update -- District Courts Divided over Use of Football Players in Video Games

by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP on 7/27/2012

Recent disputes involving Electronic Arts (EA) have divided district courts in the Third and Ninth Circuits over whether the First Amendment insulates designers of video games from lawsuits when they use an athlete’s likeness...more

Weekly Law Resume - June 28, 2012: Noting Split of Authority, Court Holds That Review of Good Faith Settlement Must Be By Writ

by Low, Ball & Lynch on 7/5/2012

Oak Springs Villas Homeowners Association v. Advanced Truss Systems, Inc. California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District (June 14, 2012) This case raises the question: once the trial court has made its...more

Negligence Suits Involving Publicly Owned Emergency Vehicles Barred

by Sedgwick LLP on 6/22/2012

Can a public entity or employee be sued over the negligent operation of an emergency vehicle responding to a call? This morning, the Illinois Supreme Court held in Harris v. Thompson, written for a 6-Justice majority by...more

A Double Dose of Preemption

by Dechert LLP on 5/9/2012

In medical device cases, preemption will hunt you down. In Hinkel v. St. Jude Medical, S.C. Inc., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56322 (E.D. La. April 23, 2012), the plaintiff survived removal and discovery only to be caught by...more

Product Liability Update -- April 2012

by Foley Hoag LLP on 4/19/2012

In This Issue: *United States Supreme Court Holds Federal Locomotive Inspection Act Preempts Entire Field of Regulating Locomotive Equipment, Including State Law Claims Alleging Defective Design or Failure to Warn Based...more

Pa. Appellate Court Issues Opinion in Dietz v. Chase Home Finance, LLC, Clarifying Preemption of State Common Law Claims by Fair...

by Duane Morris LLP on 4/16/2012

The decision in Dietz is one of first impression in the Pennsylvania appellate courts and essentially forecloses would-be plaintiffs from asserting common law claims against creditors based on incorrect credit reporting,...more

Putting It All Together

by Dechert LLP on 3/30/2012

Our first reaction upon reading Metz v. Wyeth, 2012 U.S. Dist. Lexis 42432 (M.D. Fla. March 28, 2012), is boy, this case has a little of everything! After it was over, the plaintiffs must have felt a little like the French...more

California Court of Appeals Finds Advisory Circulars Fail to Create Supremacy Clause Preemption

by Morrison & Foerster LLP on 3/22/2012

On March 20, 2012, the California Court of Appeal Second District held that nonmandatory safety standards issued by the FAA in Advisory Circulars do not preempt state tort law on the standard of care. Sierra Pacific Holdings,...more

Home

Legal News

Find a Lawyer

Browse Subjects

Subscribe

Pro Services

For Reporters

Personal Injury › Civil Procedure › Conflict of Laws