Case Summaries

Insurance Law

[07/02] Clarendon National Ins. Co. v. United Fire & Casualty Co.
In an action brought to determine the priority of coverage between certain insurance policies, district court judgment is affirmed where: 1) defendant's demand for plaintiff to be involved in the defense of anticipated suits by injured parties is enough to create an actual controversy and give plaintiff the right to bring a declaratory judgment action to determine priority of coverage; and 2) the court did not err in determining that defendant's policy provided primary coverage for the accident and that its umbrella policy would also be triggered before the policy issued by plaintiff came into play.

[07/01] Michigan Millers Mutual Ins. Co. v. DG&G Co., Inc.
In a dispute involving insurance liability coverage, district court's grant of summary judgment for plaintiff is affirmed where: 1) the cotton was in defendant's custody, control and care at the time of the property-damaging occurrence and thus the control and care exclusion in the insurance policy issued by plaintiff applied; and 2) the damage to the cotton was not covered by defendant's agribusiness insurance policy as the defects, errors and omissions exclusion in the policy applies and precludes coverage of the loss.

[07/01] Bristol West Ins. Co. v. Wawanesa Mutual Ins. Co.
In a dispute involving the interpretation of an insurance contract, district court judgment is reversed where the plain language of the Out of State Coverage clause in the policy makes specific reference to any accident that occurs out of state, and does not focus on the limits of the out of the state financial responsibility law, and thus the insurance policy necessarily expands the amount of liability coverage in this case since the accident occurred in New Brunswick.

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Injury & Tort Law

[07/02] Hughes v. Pair
Court of Appeals judgment for defendant in a sexual harassment action is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff's factual allegations fail to establish the severe or pervasive conduct necessary to pursue a claim of hostile environment sexual harassment under Civil Code sec. 51.9, as the conduct was not so egregious as to alter the conditions of the underlying professional relationship and could not plausibly be construed by a reasonable trier of fact as a threat to commit a sexual assault on plaintiff; and 2) the court properly granted summary judgment on plaintiff's claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress as plaintiff failed to establish either extreme or outrageous conduct by defendant or that plaintiff suffered severe or extreme emotional distress.

[07/01] Thomas v. Carnival Corp.
In a personal injury action involving a slip and fall aboard Defendant cruise line, the District Court's order granting Defendant's motion to compel arbitration is reversed where, under the parties' agreement, the dispute at issue must have some actual relation to the agreement to arbitrate, irrespective of what ship the claims originated from and when suit was brought.

[06/30] Beninati v. Black Rock City, LLC
In a negligence action, trial court judgment is affirmed where the doctrine of primary assumption of risk applies to the activity engaged in by plaintiff at the Burning Man Festival, and thus defendant owed him no duty of care to prevent the injuries he incurred as a result.

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Family Law

[07/01] Jenkins v. Jenkins
In a petition under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction seeking the return of Petitioner's son to her custody in Israel, judgment for Respondent is affirmed where Petitioner failed to establish that there was an actual "removal or retention" by Respondent or that the alleged retention was "wrongful."

[06/26] Charisma R. v. Christina S.
In a child custody dispute, trial court orders declaring plaintiff a presumed parent of the child and establishing a schedule for reunification is affirmed where: 1) substantial evidence supports the finding that the Family Code sec. 7611(d) parentage presumption applies, as the record shows that plaintiff actively participated in the child's conception and cared for her following birth, the limited duration of her parenting of the child does not defeat plaintiff's claim to presumed parent status, and plaintiff received the child into her home and openly held her out as her natural child; 2) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in concluding there is no basis to rebut the parentage presumption as substantial evidence supports the finding that the Elisa B. factors are present and that plaintiff actively participated in the child's conception with the understanding she would parent with defendant, and no other facts justified rebuttal of the parentage presumption; and 3) defendant's equal protection claim fails as she has not shown that a case involving a man in plaintiff's circumstances would be decided any differently under the law, and failed to meet her burden of showing that the order declaring plaintiff the second parent was an unconstitutional infringement of her state and federal rights to substantive due process.

[06/25] Batlan v. Bledsoe
In a bankruptcy trustee's motion to avoid a transfer made pursuant to a state court judgment dissolving the Debtor's marriage, the order denying the trustee's motion is affirmed where, under Oregon law, a party who challenges a dissolution judgment must allege and prove "extrinsic fraud," and the trustee failed to do so.

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