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Case Summaries

Health Law

[06/25] Kemp v. Holder
In an action for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act arising from the termination of plaintiff's employment as a federal court security officer, summary judgment for defendant is affirmed where plaintiff failed to show a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether he had a "disability," as that term is defined under the ADA.

[06/25] Samantha C. v. State Dep't of Developmental Serv.
In plaintiff's petition for a writ of mandate and a request for declaratory relief challenging the determinations made by Harbor Regional Center and the state Department of Developmental Services that she did not have a developmental disability and was therefore not entitled to services under the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, trial court's denial is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) trial court's judgment upholding the validity of the regulations is affirmed as they are consistent with section 4512(a); but 2) trial court's determination that plaintiff does not have a developmental disability under the Lanterman Act is reversed as she has a disabling condition related to her birth injuries which requires treatment within the meaning of the part of section 4512(a) known as the fifth category.

[06/25] Sherley v. Sebelius
In an action by medical researchers challenging newly promulgated guidelines authorizing the National Institutes of Health to fund more research projects involving human embryonic stem cells than it had previously done, dismissal of the complaint is reversed where plaintiffs had standing because the Guidelines intensified the competition for a share in a fixed amount of money, and thus the plaintiffs would have to invest more time and resources to craft a successful grant application.

[06/25] Claiborne-Hughes Health Ctr. v. Sebelius
The Appellate Division of the Departmental Appeals Board's (DAB) affirmance of the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' imposition of a civil money penalty upon, as well as a denial of payment for new admissions for, a skilled nursing facility, due to noncompliance with a number of standards of care required by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is affirmed where: 1) it was clear that the facility failed to achieve substantial compliance with 42 C.F.R. section 483.10(b)(11) as the DAB correctly noted that a sharp decline in food intake persisting for over three weeks should have brought a resident's significant change in status to the facility's attention; 2) DAB's immediate jeopardy determination was not in clear error; 3) substantial evidence existed in the record as a whole to demonstrate that the facility had failed to substantially comply with the requirement that it provide each resident with sufficient fluid intake to maintain proper hydration and health under section 483.25(j); and 4) the ALJ was free not to continue making additional rulings once he determined that the deficiencies concerning the two residents sufficed to support imposition of sanctions.

[06/24] Shaw v. Sec'y of Human & Health Serv.
In an appeal of a Special Master's decision to award plaintiff's undisputed portion of his request for interim attorneys' fees and costs and deferring consideration of the remaining amount until submission of a final petition for fees and costs in plaintiff's case under the Vaccine Act, Court of Federal Claims' dismissal for lack of jurisdiction is reversed as 42 U.S.C. section 12(e) confers jurisdiction on the Court of Federal Claims to review interim attorney fee decisions as an interim attorney fee decision is a separate decision on compensation, and as such, is reviewable even when that decision issues prior to a decision on the merits.

[06/24] Durakovic v. Bldg. Serv. 32 BJ Pension Fund
In an ERISA challenge to a union disability-benefits denial, dismissal of the complaint is reversed where: 1) a fund organized pursuant to 29 U.S.C. section 186(c)(5) is conflicted within the meaning of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company v. Glenn, 128 S. Ct. 2343 (2008); 2) the district court should have accorded the conflict in this case more weight; and 3) no rational trier of fact could have failed to conclude that the benefits denial was arbitrary and capricious.

[06/23] Narotzky v. Natrona Cty. Mem. Hosp. Bd. of Trustees
In an action by doctors against their former hospital employer, stating a procedural due process claim based on a theory of constructive discharge and a claim based on the warrantless search of plaintiffs' lockers, summary judgment for defendant is affirmed where no constructive discharge occurred and the search was reasonable, given the context and circumstances.

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Injury & Tort Law

[06/25] Crescent Towing & Salvage Co. v. Chios Beauty MV
In an action for damages sustained when defendant's ship collided with plaintiffs' barges and tugboats during Hurricane Katrina, partial judgment for plaintiff is affirmed in part where the district court did not clearly err in its finding of a predicted "direct hit" on New Orleans by the hurricane, its factual findings based on this finding, and the ultimate finding of negligence to the extent that it relied upon this finding. However, the matter is remanded where the district court needed to enter an order setting the total amount of recovery plaintiffs could recover in rem.

[06/25] Bagby Elevator Co. v. Schindler Elevator Corp.
In an action for tortious interference with contract, judgment for plaintiff is affirmed where: 1) under the court's highly deferential standard of review, there was no reversible error in the district court's decision to use the pattern jury instruction; 2) there was sufficient evidence of both malice and gross negligence to support an award of exemplary damages; and 3) there was ample evidence of causation to support the verdict.

[06/25] Lal v. State of Cal.
In an action against the California Highway Patrol and certain officers for the shooting death of plaintiff's husband, dismissal of the action with prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for failure to prosecute when her attorney failed to meet deadlines and attend hearings is reversed where an attorney's gross negligence constituted an extraordinary circumstance warranting relief from a judgment dismissing the case for failure to prosecute under Rule 41(b).

[06/24] DDJ Mgmt., LLC v. Rhone Group L.L.C.
In an action claiming that defendants presented plaintiffs with corporate financial statements that were false and misleading, the appellate division's modification of the trial court's order dismissing plaintiffs' fraud claim is reversed where: 1) when a plaintiff has taken reasonable steps to protect itself against deception, it should not be denied recovery merely because hindsight suggested that it might have been possible to detect the fraud when it occurred; and 2) plaintiffs in this action for fraud have alleged facts from which a jury could find that they were justified in relying on the representations defendants made to them.

[06/24] Granite Rock Co. v. Int'l. Brotherhood of Teamsters
In an action against a labor union by an employer, invoking federal jurisdiction under section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), seeking strike-related damages for the unions' alleged breach of contract, and asking for an injunction against an ongoing strike because the hold-harmless dispute was an arbitrable grievance under the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), the Ninth Circuit's partial affirmance of the district court's order dismissing plaintiff's tortious interference claims and denying defendant's separate motion to send the parties' dispute over the CBA's ratification date to arbitration is affirmed in part where the Ninth Circuit did not err in declining to recognize a new federal common-law cause of action under LMRA section 301(a) for defendant's alleged tortious interference with the CBA. However, the judgment is reversed in part where the parties' dispute over the CBA's ratification date was a matter for the district court, not an arbitrator, to resolve.

[06/24] Yanez v. SOMA Envtl. Eng'g, Inc.
In plaintiff's suit for injuries she suffered in an automobile accident, trial court's grant of defendants' motion to reduce the award for medical expenses from $44,519.01 to $18,368.24 is reversed and remanded where: 1) trial court erred in reducing plaintiff's damages to the amount actually paid by her insurers as the amounts written off by plaintiff's health care providers constitute collateral benefits of her insurance; and 2) on remand, the trial court is to award plaintiff prejudgment interest under Civ. Code section 3291.

[06/18] Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Merrell
In plaintiffs' wrongful death and survival claims against Wal-Mart for the death of their son from smoke inhalation, claiming that a halogen lamp purchased from Wal-Mart caused the fire, the court of appeals' reversal of the trial court's grant of defendant's motion for summary judgment on the ground that plaintiffs produced evidence on each challenged element of their cause of action is reversed as, plaintiff's expert's testimony was legally insufficient to support causation.

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