Case Summaries

Injury & Tort Law

[05/18] Crowther v. Consolidated Rail Corp.
In consolidated negligence actions under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA) against two railroad defendants brought by a former employee, the district court's judgment in favor of the defendants is affirmed, where: 1) no fact-finder could reasonably have inferred that the plaintiff first became aware of a work connection with his knee pain and neck injury within the period of limitation; 2) there was no error in entering judgment as a matter of law on negligence claims based on inadequate tools and failure to obtain ergonomic studies of the activities required to perform the plaintiff's various jobs; and 3) it was not reversible error to admit collateral source evidence that the plaintiff was receiving disability benefits under the Railroad Retirement Act.

[05/16] Certain Interested Underwriters at Lloyd's, London v. Stolberg
In a suit by an insurer to obtain a declaration that its policy did not obligate it either to defend a personal injury suit or to indemnify the insured, the district court's summary judgment in favor of the insurer is affirmed, where: 1) the contract excluded coverage for injuries arising out of operations performed for insured by contractors; and 2) other exclusions in the policy did not create ambiguity so as to provide coverage.

[05/11] Al Shimari v. CACI International, Inc.
In suits by former prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, alleging that the defendant prison contractors and certain of their employees were liable in common law tort and under the Alien Tort Statute for torturing and abusing them during their incarceration, consolidated appeals by the defendants are dismissed, where: 1) there was no independent basis for appellate jurisdiction premised on the law-of-war defense, Saleh preemption, or Mangold immunity, so the Fourth Circuit was without pendent jurisdiction to further consider the appellants' contentions that the plaintiffs' claims presented nonjusticiable political questions; and 2) the exercise of jurisdiction was precluded regardless of whether the appellants' political question defense was inextricably intertwined with any of the three proffered bases for jurisdiction, or whether those bases were similarly interdependent with one another.

[05/07] Bettencourt v. Hennessey Industries, Inc.
In a suit claiming that the use of the defendant's machines to grind asbestos-containing brake linings resulted in exposure to airborne asbestos fibers that caused injury, the trial court's judgment in favor of the defendant on all causes of action is reversed in part, where it was error to grant judgment on the pleadings to the defendant and an abuse of discretion to deny the plaintiffs leave to amend their complaints with respect to their causes of action for strict products liability and negligence.

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Property Law & Real Estate

[05/17] Hererra v. Federal National Mortgage Ass'n
In a suit by defaulting homeowners to set aside a nonjudicial foreclosure sale on the grounds of an invalid assignment of the deed of trust, the trial court's sustaining of a demurrer without leave to amend is affirmed, where: 1) the plaintiffs granted a nominee beneficiary authority to assign when they signed the deed of trust; 2) judicially noticed documents established a chain of title in which the beneficiary assigned its interest to the lender's successor, which assigned its interest to the defendant; 3) there was no error in sustaining the demurrer as to the cause of action for violation of Civil Code section 2932.5, since that section is inapplicable to deeds of trust.

[05/16] City of Livermore v. Baca
In an action for eminent domain by the City of Livermore seeking three takings of portions of commercial property owned by the appellant, a stipulated judgment is reversed, where: 1) the trial court erred in excluding all of the appellant's proffered evidence of permanent and temporary severance damages related to the takings during in limine motions; and 2) the trial court erred in its definition of the project, including work by the State of California, which was not a party to the condemnation action.

[05/16] Assessor for County of Santa Barbara v. Assessment Appeals Board No. 1
In a case involving the tax assessment of transfers of ownership in two tenant-owned mobilehome parks, in which an assessment appeals board overturned a county assessor's valuation of land underlying mobilehomes, the trial court's denial of a petition for administrative mandamus is affirmed, where: 1) Rev. and Tax. Code section 62.1(c)(1) and (2) require valuation of the underlying space by using a formula based a pro rata portion of the real property of the park; and 2) as to the properties at issue, the Board applied the appropriate valuation method correctly and its findings were supported by substantial evidence.

[05/14] Robertson v. Sea Pines Real Estates Cos., Inc.
In two consolidated putative class actions brought by purchasers of real estate brokerage services in South Carolina, alleging that the real estate brokerages serving as board members of the local multiple listing service (MLS) conspired to unfairly restrain market competition in violation of section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, the district court's denial of the defendants' motions to dismiss the complaints is affirmed, where: 1) the plaintiffs sufficiently pled the plurality of actors necessary for section 1 to apply, as the actions and deliberations of the MLS were not intracorporate activity; and 2) the plaintiffs adequately pled a conspiracy and a restraint of trade.

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