Personal Injury › Constitutional Law › Civil Procedure

International Litigation Update: Developments Concerning the Alien Tort Statute and Personal Jurisdiction

In the span of less than a week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., a decision concerning the reach of the Alien Tort Statute, and granted certiorari in Bauman v....more

Fifth Circuit Knocks Out Climate Change Liability Lawsuit Again

Res judicata is one of those phrases learned in law school that seemed of limited utility. How often is someone going to bring the same claim twice?...more

Weekly Law Resume - May 2, 2013: Torts – Public Entity – Qualified Immunity for Police Officers

A.D., et al. v. California Highway Patrol, et al. - United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (April 3, 2013) - The concept of qualified immunity involves shielding a police officer from a lawsuit where the...more

Ninth Circuit Raises the Stakes in California Anti-SLAPP Motions

On April 17, 2013, the Ninth Circuit issued an important anti-SLAPP decision in Makaeff v. Trump University, LLC, No. 11-55016 that raises the bar for parties seeking to defeat a California anti-SLAPP motion in District...more

The Supreme Court Again Revisits (And May Rein In) Personal Jurisdiction: Two Cases Now Up Next Term

On April 22, 2013, the Supreme Court granted review in another personal jurisdiction case: DaimlerChrysler AG v. Bauman, No. 11-965 (cert. granted Apr. 22, 2013). The question presented in DaimlerChrysler is “whether it...more

City May Not Use “Anti-SLAPP” Motion to Dismiss Claim That City Employee Falsely Told Potential Tenants That Property Owner Was...

Property owners often bristle at statements that local government staff make to prospective tenants or purchasers of their property, concerned that they will be scared away by overly harsh or inaccurate speech. When those...more

Counties in California Can Learn a Few Lessons from State on Inmate Health Care - BB&K Health Care Attorney Shares Tips on...

Inmates in the Riverside County jails served a federal class-action lawsuit last month, claiming the county is subjecting them to cruel and unusual punishment by depriving them of basic medical and mental health care. A...more

7th Circuit Extends Bivens Civil Rights Actions to Brady Violations

This week we examine the hugely important 7th Circuit case Engel v. Buchan that found that the violations of the Brady v. Maryland right requiring a prosecutor to disclose potentially exculpatory evidence to a criminal...more

Re-Publishing a Third-Party’s Unbiased Endorsement Can be Perilous

It should come as no surprise that making a false statement about a competitor’s product or service is actionable. Similarly, albeit slightly less obvious, repeating a false statement that someone else makes about a...more

Magistrate Recommends Dismissal with Prejudice of Claims Against Global Payments

Global Payments, which processes credit card transactions, announced on March 30, 2012 that an unauthorized person gained access to a portion of its processing system. Global Payments later disclosed that Track 2 data (card...more

Sexual Harassment Complaints Are Subject To Anti-SLAPP Motions To Strike

Plaintiff Lisa Aber sued her employer and two of its employees, alleging that the employees had sexually assaulted her. Michael Comstock, one of the employee defendants, filed a cross-complaint against Aber, alleging claims...more

Wrongful Death Act and Fraudulent Concealment

This week we examine the landmark Indiana Court of Appeals decision in Alldredge v. The Good Samaritan Home, Inc. which applied the fraudulent concealment doctrine from medical malpractice cases to the Indiana Wrongful Death...more

Rights of Publicity: Contradictions in the Courts

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

Miss Universe Pageant Scores Big Against Former Contestant

The Quaker State can be proud of many things. The Liberty Bell. Andy Warhol. Tastykake. Trading Places. The Immaculate Reception. But one part of its history that Pennsylvania may wish to forget (besides dog killer...more

Langarica v. County of Los Angeles

Appellate Opinion

After hospital staff got into a dispute with Appellant, Antonio Langarica, the hospital defendants convinced the social worker defendants that Antonio had a bad attitude and needed to be brought into line. They then worked...more

IP/Entertainment Law Weekly Case Update for Motion Picture Studios and Television Networks - November 7, 2012

Table of Contents: ..Washington v. Take-two Interactive Software, Inc., et al. California appellate court affirms anti-SLAPP dismissal of misappropriation claim brought against Grand Theft Auto developers....more

Covenant Judgments in Washington – Reasonableness Determined on Five Days’ Notice to the Insurer and Without a Jury: Bird v. Best...

In Bird v. Best Plumbing Group, LLC and Farmers Insurance Exchange, Wash. No. 86109-9 (October 25, 2012), the Washington Supreme Court held that: (1) insurers have no constitutional right to a jury determination of whether...more

In camera review required for discovery records protected by constitutional right of privacy – James v. Veneziano

In this car accident case, the plaintiff sought defendant’s medical records for the past 10 years based on the belief that the defendant’s medical problems caused the car accident. The trial court ordered the defendant to...more

The Third Climate Change Liability Suit Fights to Stay Alive: Plaintiffs in Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Seek Rehearing

The plaintiffs in the climate change liability suit, Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil, won’t go quietly. Last Thursday, Plaintiffs filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals a petition for rehearing en banc...more

Acted With Substantial Justification

Just wondering, but what does the phrase "acted with substantial justification" mean in the sanctions statute for motion to compel depo testimony, CCP 2025.480 (pdf)? Does it mean the conduct that led the moving party to...more

Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum

Supplemental Brief of Amicus Curiae The CATO Institute In Support of Respondents

Last term, the Supreme Court postponed its decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, a case that initially asked whether the Alien Tort Statute — one of our oldest laws (1789), giving federal courts jurisdiction over...more

Mongols Nation Finds No Xanadu In Lancaster

In July 2009, the Mongols Nation Motorcycle Club, Inc. planned to hold its annual convention in Lancaster, California. Allegedly, the mayor was not pleased with the prospect of hosting a social and fraternal organization...more

Missouri Supreme Court Holds Non-Economic Damage Cap is Unconstitutional in Medical Negligence Claim

Overruling its decision in Adams By and Through Adams v. Children’s Mercy Hosp., 832 S.W.2d 898 (Mo. banc 1992), the Missouri Supreme Court in a 4 to 3 decision held that section 538.210 RSMo 2000 is unconstitutional to the...more

Political Question Doctrine Requires Dismissal of Wrongful Death Suit Against Government Contractor in Iraq

Earlier this month, in a lengthy and well reasoned opinion, a federal trial court relied on the Political Question Doctrine in dismissing a wrongful death action against a military contractor. In Harris v. Kellogg, Brown &...more

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

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