In the last few years, I have been fortunate to have attorneys and their clients trust me as their mediator in a significant number of high-exposure negligent security cases. Negligent security cases can offer a variety of...more
More than two years have passed since the tragic helicopter crash that killed basketball player Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna Bryant, and all others on board the January 26, 2020 flight. Since that time, several cases...more
Healthcare facilities and other entities receiving federal financial assistance can breathe a little easier after a U.S. Supreme Court decision issued last week barring the recovery of emotional damages for certain...more
Sadly, serious fractures in a parent-child relationship come up frequently in our practice. Sometimes, it is because of a parent’s self-destructive conduct (e.g. drug or alcohol addiction, abuse, untreated mental illness,...more
In this month’s update, state high courts consider reimbursement of defense costs, reimbursement of medical marijuana costs, and reimbursement of ransomware payments. Federal courts determine whether a debt collector is...more
In McClure v. Country Life Ins. Co., 795 Fed. Appx. 548 (9th Cir. 2020), the Ninth Circuit affirmed a $6.5 million bad faith verdict against a disability insurer that included a $1.29 million award for emotional distress...more
Report on Medicare Compliance 29, no. 3 (January 27, 2020) - Mission, Texas, rheumatologist Jorge Zamora-Quezada, M.D., was found guilty by a jury Jan. 15 for his part in a $325 million heath fraud scheme in which he...more
Tennessee employers have a new defense against employees bringing workplace environment-related lawsuits. An amendment expanding Tennessee’s Healthy Workplace Act to include private employers went into effect on April 23,...more
Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander? Not necessarily. The Ninth Circuit and California Court of Appeals recently decided two cases that substantially limit the scope and application of freedom of religion rights...more
In the recent West Virginia Supreme Court case of R.L.D. v. W.Va. Dep’t of Health & Human Res., 2018 WL 6040310 (November 19, 2018), the Court upheld summary judgment as a matter of law in favor of Child Protective Services...more
The Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently denied a motion for summary judgment in a FCRA case, paving the way for the dispute to proceed to trial. In Chiarello v. Trans Union, LLC, No. 2:17-cv-00513-AB, 2018 WL 4698846...more
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has issued a ruling in the case of Mayo v. Wisconsin Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund. The Supreme Court’s decision, which was handed down on June 27, 2018, overturned a lower court...more
Rojas v. HSBC Card Services Inc., 228 Cal. Rptr. 3d 640 (2018)- Summary: Installing recording device and recording calls on company phones renders actions intentional under California Invasion of Privacy Act. ...more
Oregon is one of 35 states where the legislature has successfully enacted a statute capping the amount of noneconomic damages, commonly known as “emotional distress,” that juries can award. With the issuance of two recent...more
Attorneys who represent employees beginning to explore the use of nontraditional causes of action against employers. Courts and employers are seeing more defamation, conspiracy, and intentional infliction of emotional...more
Defendant-appellee Etihad Airways recently petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc of Doe v. Etihad Airways, P.J.S.C., a decision by a panel of that court that...more
Do You Know the Warning Signs of Nursing Home Abuse? Choosing nursing home, assisted living or in-home medical care is complicated, difficult and often an emotional process. The last thing on your mind is the possibility...more
As my partner Mark Sommaruga observed in a recent post, the current term of the General Assembly may consider extending workers compensation coverage to employees who suffer purely emotional trauma, without a causative...more
The recent decision in Wilson v. Southern California Edison Co., __Cal. App. 4th__, 2015 WL 522578, provides increased clarity into the California rule permitting claims for negligent infliction of emotional distress (NIED)...more
North Carolina courts recognize a limited exception to the normal employment at-will doctrine. If an employee is terminated for reasons that violate state public policy, the plaintiff may pursue a common law tort claim to...more
Kris was forced to endure the unthinkable: her daughter had just become the victim of a sexual assault. In the weeks that followed, Kris alerted her employer of the assault and the care her daughter would require in...more
The American Psychiatric Association’s recent changes to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) provide another arrow in the quiver for plaintiffs seeking recovery for psychological injury. These...more
In This Issue: - TENNESSEE ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDS THAT TENNESSEE STATUTE PROHIBITING PREFERENCES OR DISTINCTIONS IN CERTAIN INSURANCE TRANSACTIONS IS NOT UNCONSTITUTIONAL: In its April 24, 2013 opinion, the...more
The Fifth Circuit recently vacated a jury award for mental anguish damages based on the absence of any medical evidence. A Northern District of Texas jury found for the plaintiff, who asserted age discrimination claims under...more