Accident Attorneys

NEGLIGENCE. A California appeals court has ruled that the client of a security guard firm cannot be held liable for injuries sustained by a contract security guard. In the case, the court ruled that a security guard attacked at a private party cannot collect damages from the homeowner’s association that hired the guards.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The case involved Coto de Caza, a private gated community, which hired BonaFide Security Services, a contract security guard company, through CZ Master Association, the homeowner’s association at Coto.

In August 1998, a teenaged…

Source : accessmylibrary.com

A customer could sue a grocery store for injuries allegedly caused by slipping on a grape, Massachusetts’ highest court has ruled in adopting the “mode of operation” approach for determining premises liability.

A grocery store customer slipped and fell, suffering serious injuries. While lying on…

Source : accessmylibrary.com

College campuses are high-crime areas. A person is more likely to be a crime victim on a college campus than almost anywhere else in the country. Most colleges know this, yet the institutional response to the problem is often just a cover-up.

Of all violent crimes that occur on campus, rape is the most common. (1) One in four college women is the victim of rape or attempted rape. One study found that in just seven months, there were 35 rapes for every 1,000 female students. (2) Ninety percent of women who are raped on campus know their assailants–usually classmates, friends, boyfriends, or ex-boyfriends. (3) Most of the rapes occur at parties or in dormitory rooms. Students are most vulnerable to rape during the first few weeks of their freshman and sophomore years. (4)

Several factors may contribute to this heightened risk: frequent unsupervised parties, private dormitory rooms, and the abundance of alcohol and drugs, for instance. Many college students, typically away from home for the first time and unaware of the dangers facing them, may have a false sense of safety on campus.

Over half of campus rapes happen in the victim’s residence; 10 percent take place in fraternities. (5) While most of these crimes are reported, about a third are not, mostly because the victims fear reprisal. (6)

In short, rape is a clearly foreseeable occurrence on many campuses: Indeed, a Department of Justice report concluded that at a college with 10,000 female students, more than 350 rapes a year could occur. (7)

Sexual assault devastates a woman’s physical and emotional well-being and can even affect her schoolwork and career plans. Rape victims can experience shock, humiliation, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, social isolation, anger, distrust of others, fear of AIDS, guilt, and sexual dysfunction. (8) Many drop out of school, often because they cannot tolerate continued interactions with their attacker. (9)

Institutional response

Colleges typically assure their students that they will be safe on school grounds. Their admissions materials often emphasize safety and note the presence of campus police officers and security guards. Student handbooks often set out standards of conduct that restrict alcohol or drug use and prohibit certain types of dangerous social events such as “open” parties (parties that anyone can attend, including nonstudents). Student clubs, fraternities, and other groups accept responsibility for the behavior of their members, alumni, and guests, in exchange for maintaining a presence on the campus. Unfortunately, these rules are often not enforced….

Source : accessmylibrary.com

SmithAmundsen LLC is pleased to announce the election of five new partners effective May 21, 2007. The following lawyers in the firm’s Chicago office were elected to partner:

Frederic C. Goodwill represents insurers in all aspects of their business, including claims, counseling, litigation, and dispute resolution. His practice includes the handling of issues involving commercial, primary, umbrella, excess and surplus lines, and reinsurance. Mr….

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The Western New York Chapter of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York is celebrating 20 years of promoting the status of women in society and the legal community. Started by a small group of women lawyers in the Western New York area, the chapter currently acts as a unified voice at the state-level for its 250 local members.

This year’s officers and board of directors will salute the chapter’s past presidents and achievements at an anniversary celebration at the Twentieth Century Club in Buffalo on Thursday, Sept. 23.

The chapter’s past presidents include Shelley B. Mayer, Hollis M. Hite, Sheila Weir Schwanekamp, Ann E. Evanko, Linda J. Nenni, Barbara L. Schifeling, Kathleen Tenney Willis, Gayle L. Eagan, Linda Marsh, Judith M. Gerber, Carol A….

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Alvin S. Hyde, Gary M. Bakken & Jon R. Abele, et al. 2002. Lawyers & Judges Publishing Company, Inc. Hardcover with CD-ROM. 523p. ISBN: 0-913875-43-0. $110.

Falls and Related Injuries: Slips, Trips, Missteps, and Their Consequences is published by Lawyers & Judges Publishing Company, Inc. A CD-ROM, containing PDF-form…

Source : accessmylibrary.com

Security in the Health Care Environment. By David H. Sells, Jr.; published by Aspen Publishers, Inc., 800/638-8437 (phone), 301/417-7650 (fax); 440 pages; $79.

This book is a comprehensive resource for healthcare security specialists as well as other healthcare professionals, consultants, and attorneys who are seeking state-of-the-art information about security assessment, planning, and implementation. Not only are the…

Source : accessmylibrary.com

Calling rising property insurance rates a “colossal crisis” facing the state, veteran state Sen. Jim King said the Florida Legislature may well go into special session soon after the November elections to begin dealing with the issue, “assuming someone has an idea how to fix it.”

King, a Republican from Jacksonville, spoke briefl y to the Bar Board of Governors at its recent meeting in Ponte Vedra, along with Rep. Dick Kravitz, R-Orange Park, and Rep. Mark Mahon, R-Jacksonville.

King, who has served for more than 20 years in the legislature and was just re-elected to a final term, also told the board the appearance of judges legislating from the bench still troubles many of his Republican colleagues, and he expects lawmakers to take up premises and vicarious liability issues next year.

“We are really a crisis waiting to happen,” King said of the spike in property insurance rates and the inability of…

Source : accessmylibrary.com

Where the appellant argues the trial court erred in denying its motions for directed verdict and JNOV because it owed no duty of care to a printing company which put forth no evidence demonstrating the appellant’s negligent misrepresentation proximately caused the printing company’s business failure, we affirm since the appellant possessed special knowledge — the bleachery’s actual monthly utility costs for the preceding year — that the printing company could not obtain elsewhere; thus, the appellant had a duty to exercise reasonable care when it provided the printing company the utility chart.

Affirmed.

Background

Springs Industries, Inc. appeals a jury verdict for a printing company. Springs argues the trial court erred in denying its motions for directed verdict and JNOV because Springs owed no duty of care to the printing company and the printing company put forth no evidence demonstrating Springs’ negligent misrepresentation proximately caused the printing company’s business failure.

Discussion

Here, after Duke Power refused to provide information (citing privacy concerns) to the printing company regarding Springs’ monthly utility costs for the bleachery, the printing company turned to Springs for this information — information critical to the printing company’s decision to proceed with the purchase of the bleachery. With a clear understanding of the importance of this information to the printing company, Springs provided the printing company with a chart of the bleachery’s monthly utility costs for the preceding year, including the critical months of July and August 1998. This utility chart contained materially false information.

Springs had a pecuniary interest not only in selling the bleachery to the printing company, but also in leasing-back portions of the bleachery after the sale (and after the printing company agreed to pay for the Bleachery’s utility costs). Springs possessed special knowledge — the bleachery’s actual monthly utility costs…

Source : accessmylibrary.com

Appointments

Carl E. Ver Beek has been appointed to serve on the American Bar Association’s Council for the Dispute Resolution Section.

Ver Beek is of counsel in the labor and employment practice group of Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett LLP.

Thomas J. Tallerico has been appointed to the board of trustees of the Oakland County Bar Association Foundation.

Tallerico, a partner in the Troy office of Bodman LLP, concentrates his practice on complex commercial litigation and arbitration.

Scott A. Huizenga has been appointed chair of the corporate practice group at Varnum, Riddering,…

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A deputy sheriff who inhaled ammonia while investigating an alleged methamphetamine laboratory won $5 million in his Franklin County premises liability case.

Jason Grellner claimed that he was permanently injured when he opened a thermos containing the ammonia during a 2002 raid of a suspected methamphetamine maker’s home. Plaintiff’s attorneys Rick Barry and Kevin Dolley of St. Louis asserted negligence claims against the defendant, based on his homeowners’ insurance policy with Foremost Insurance.

But the defendant and Foremost failed or refused to respond to the lawsuit, resulting in a default judgment. At trial on the issue of damages, the jury returned the $5 million verdict.

“It actually was a challenging situation because, in this case, I don’t think the presence of opposing counsel would have made that much of a difference since fault was not a true issue,” Barry said. “When it came to damages, it was obvious that Jason’s damages were sizeable based upon strong medical records. Experienced and skillful defense counsel could, at best, only have distracted the jury, not made a significant difference in the outcome.”

Barry and Dolley blazed their own trail in pursuing a premises liability theory in this case. They also represented the plaintiff in Ryan v. Rademacher, a very similar case where a St. Louis County police officer was injured by inhaling anhydrous ammonia fumes during a methamphetamine lab raid at a Eureka residence. That case resulted in a $600,000 verdict in February 2005.

The defendant in Ryan asserted a Fireman’s Rule defense. But…

Source : accessmylibrary.com

The Supreme Court has dissolved the distinction between the torts of attractive nuisance and unguarded dangerous condition in deciding the case of a boy who drowned in a Georgetown County canal.

In place of the two tort theories, the high court adopted Restatement (Second) of Torts Sect. 339.

Attorneys for both parties lauded the court for simplifying what had become a muddled area of jurisprudence.

The defendant’s attorney, Andrew K. “Drew” Epting Jr. of Charleston, said the ruling fixed a “damn mess” in premises liability cases involving children.

“They wanted to clean up the law in South Carolina, and that’s what they did and they did a good job,” Epting told Lawyers Weekly. “Now things are a whole lot simpler in our state and a whole lot clearer.”

The plaintiff’s attorney, Gregg E. Meyers of Charleston, concurred. “They’ve essentially merged a lot of the different ideas and concepts, so instead of it being a fragmented analysis, it’s now a unified premises liability analysis.”

The case is Henson v. International Paper Co. et al. (South Carolina Lawyers Weekly No. 010-138-07, 13 pages). Chief Justice Jean Hoefer Toal wrote the opinion for a unanimous court.

In the Aug. 27 ruling, the justices said the plaintiff’s attractive nuisance claim was not defeated…

Source : accessmylibrary.com

Mealey’s Personal Injury Report Debuts

Today’s small law professional is a jack-of-all-trades, handling cases ranging from car crashes to premises liability to medical malpractice to defective products.

To help plaintiff and defense counsel stay competitive, Mealey Publications has launched Mealey’s Personal Injury Report, a twice-monthly newsletter that will feature coverage…

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Pension - No Superintending Control

A retired district court judge was improperly granted a writ of superintending control against defendant-Waterford Township arising from defendant’s reductions in plaintiff’s local retirement pension.

“The circuit court improperly excluded documents that were part of the lower tribunal’s record. Moreover, the circuit court erred by finding that the decision to reduce plaintiff’s pension benefits was not supported by competent, material, and substantial evidence. … “[T] the issue is whether the decision to reduce plaintiff’s pension was supported by enough evidence to justify the action. The evidence presented to the pension committee included (a) a letter dated February 21, 2003, addressed to plaintiff from Retirement System Chairman, Nancy J. Smith, explaining the error in the calculation of plaintiff’s pension and the determination to reduce his benefits, and (b) the Certification of Final Salary and Final Average Salary for Computation of State and Local Judicial Retirement Benefits provided by the state of Michigan indicating that plaintiff’s final salary included ’state salary standardization payment converted to JRS in the amount of $18,290.00.’ In other words, the evidence provided that the state salary standardization payments were simultaneously used to compute both plaintiff’s state pension benefits and his local retirement benefits, in contravention to MCL 38.2504(2). While plaintiff has averred that he ‘opted out’ of the conversion of these amounts from the state system in accordance with MCL 38.2504, his assertion was contradicted by the evidence and, in any event, involved a credibility determination that was within the province of the pension committee. … Therefore, the decision to reduce plaintiff’s local retirement pension because the salary standardization payment was being considered for purposes of calculating plaintiff’s state retirement pension was supported by substantial evidence and the circuit court improperly substituted its judgment for that of the pension committee. Accordingly, the issuance of the writ of superintending control on this ground constituted an abuse of discretion.”

Reversed.

Hempstead v. Charter Twp. of Waterford, et al. (Michigan Court of Appeals) (Lawyers Weekly No. 08-59010) (3 pages) (unpublished per curiam) (Cooper, Cavanagh and Fitzgerald, JJ.). On appeal from the Oakland County Circuit Court; Warren, J.

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A former Struthers native is the latest person with ties to the Mahoning Valley to be appointed to a top-level position in the administration of Attorney General Marc Dann, a Liberty Democrat.

Dann announced Friday that he’s appointed Sherry Maxfield, 47, raised in Struthers, as acting chief counsel. She is the daughter of former Struthers Mayor Tom Creed.

“Acting means she’s serving in that role currently and we’d love to have her on board permanently,” said Alex Goepfert, an attorney general spokesman.

The chief counsel division represents all branches of state government — elected officials, agencies, boards and commissions, and universities — in lawsuits brought against the state for money damages including contract, personal injury, premises liability, medical malpractice and employment actions.

Background

Maxfield has worked in the attorney general’s office since August 1984, starting in the workers’ compensation section and then in the court of claims section. She also previously served as chief of the business and government regulation section.

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The movie and music industries had warned that file sharing was hurting them financially, and could ultimately inhibit the creation of content. The music industry has blamed song-swapping over the Internet for its decade-long sales slump.

While movies and television shows are more difficult to trade online because of the size of their files, technological advances are making that easier and threatening the rich source of cash that DVD sales have become for the studios.

On the other hand, groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, Consumers Union, the Consumer Electronics Association and other elements of the computer and technology industries warned the court that too broad a rule of contributory copyright infringement would stifle innovation if there was a possibility that consumers might put a product to an infringing use.

More : nytimes.com

The Hannibal Law Firm of Ahrens, Hale & Lemon, LLC, has announced that Meredith Morrow Nutt joined the firm as an associate.

Morrow Nutt, a native of Overland Park, Kan., received her juris doctorate from the University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Law in 2004. In 1999, Morrow Nutt received her undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri - Kansas City with a bachelor of arts in history, graduating with distinction.

While attending University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Law, Morrow Nutt served as a Note & Comment Editor and staff member of the University of Missouri - Kansas City Law Review. Her note on the subject of premises liability was published in the UMKC Law Review entitled Missouri Business Owners Beware: Premises Liability Risks Expand. Morrow Nutt also served as a staff member of The Urban Lawyer. Further, Morrow Nutt was a recipient of the Tiera Farrow Award for Outstanding Women Law Students in 2004.

She was admitted to the Missouri Bar in September of 2004. Morrow Nutt is a member of The Missouri Bar Association and the Tenth Judicial Circuit Bar Association. In addition, she is a member of the Hannibal Jaycees. Her practice includes an expanding range of areas to meet the needs of her clients, including workers’ compensation, personal injury and family law.

Source : hannibal.net

A $20 million breach of contract claim won by an automotive supplier topped this year’s list of million-dollar settlements reported to Michigan Lawyers Weekly in 2006.

Another automotive supplier/breach of contract matter — which settled for $15 million — claimed the second highest spot on this year’s list.

Rounding out the top three settlements reported to Lawyers Weekly in 2006 was a $6.8 million auto negligence case brought against a drunk driver and the auto dealership that incorrectly installed a sending unit meant for a larger fuel tank, resulting in an inaccurate fuel gauge reading. The plaintiff was outside of his vehicle with the hood raised in an attempt to fix what he thought was an electrical problem at the time he was rear ended. However, further investigation proved that the fuel gauge was not functional and that the fuel tank was dry at the time of the collision.

Unlike jury verdicts, settlements are often confidential and preclude the publication of parties’ names and other pertinent facts. Accordingly, a settlement is often only reported when a party — usually the plaintiff — submits a Verdicts & Settlements report to Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

Also included in this section are matters that went through arbitration or facilitation.

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An independent contractor injured after a Lambert International Airport electrician disabled a safety device can recover damages under a general negligence theory regardless of whether the airport electrician controlled the jobsite or the work done by the contractor, the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District held.

The airport electrician, William Lacey, sought to dismiss the case because he argued that he was shielded by the independent contractor defense. The court, however, found that Lacey owed the contractor a duty of care under the theory of general negligence and that the city was liable for Lacey’s negligence under the doctrine of respondeat superior. Daoukas v. City of…

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Premises liability, debt collection and frivolous suits are among the hot button issues that worry the nation’s real estate managers.

The fndings came from a new two-part survey of current and emerging legal liability issues impacting real estate managers have been released jointly by the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM[R]) and the National Association of Realtors[R] (NAR[R]).

While the survey sample…

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