|
|  |
|
|
|
This Week's Feature
|
OUTTA “SITE”: REVIVING THE “OWNED PROPERTY” EXCLUSION
By John T. Harding
Morrison Mahoney LLP, Boston, Massachusetts
Over the course of the modern era of environmental claims, courts have given an increasingly narrow reading of the scope and application of the “owned property” exclusion. Many courts have strayed far from the specific language of the exclusion and instead replaced it with what essentially amounts to a “balancing test.” This test is most often expressed in the familiar adage that the exclusion will not be held to apply where allowing a condition on the policyholder’s property to remain untreated or uncontrolled would inevitably result in damage to third-party property.
[FULL STORY]
|
|
|
DRI News
|
Congratulations to Patrick Chavez, a partner with Williams Venker & Sanders LLC in St. Louis, who was recently honored with the President’s Outstanding Service Award by the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. Mr. Chavez was chosen to receive the award for his work as co-chair of the Minorities in the Legal Profession Committee. This is the second time that he has received this prestigious award. Mr. Chavez is a member of DRI’s Commercial Litigation, Product Liability, Professional Liability and Diversity Committees.
|
Upcoming DRI Elections — July 1 deadline
Four new Director Elected Nationally seats on the DRI Board of Directors, plus the office of Second Vice President, will be filled at the 2009 Annual Meeting in Chicago, October 7-11. To be considered for either position, a DRI member must first file a Declaration of Candidacy form. For more information, please contact Nancy Parz at DRI headquarters: nparz@dri.org or 312.698.6224. Declarations are due by July 1, 2009.
|
DRI’s Insurance Law Committee is presenting their webcast, “Practical and Tactical Tools for Defending Extra-Contractual Claims,” on Tuesday, June 2, 2009 from 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Central. This webcast will explore a number of substantive and procedural issues that insurance companies and their attorneys routinely face in evaluating and defending bad faith claims. The program also serves as a primer for some of the topics that will be addressed in detail at the Insurance Law Committee's Insurance Bad Faith and Extra-Contractual Claims Symposium on June 18-19 in Boston. To learn more about the seminar, click here.
[FULL STORY]
|
2009 Annual Meeting – Celebrating 50 Years of Leadership, Excellence and Education
October 7-11
Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers
Chicago, Illinois
Arriving soon to a mailbox near you, the 2009 Annual Meeting brochure which includes detailed program information and opportunities to network with friends and colleagues! Register today!
|
Southeast Region
DRI’s Southeast Regional Meeting was held at the Charleston Place Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina, on April 24, 2009. The event was hosted by the Georgia Defense Lawyers Association (GDLA), which held its board meeting in conjunction with the regional meeting.
[FULL STORY]
|
Central and Mid Atlantic Regions
On May 1–2, 2009, SLDO leaders from Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia—the three states comprising the Central Region of DRI—along with leaders from the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina—the five states comprising DRI’s Mid Atlantic Region—met at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, for their first joint regional meeting. Based upon feedback from those who attended, the joint meeting was a resounding success.
[FULL STORY]
|
Defending Damages Claims in Business Tort Cases
This new Defense Library Series publication tackles the difficult task of dealing with damages claims in cases in which business torts are alleged. The authors are experienced business litigators, who are also active members of the DRI Commercial Litigation Committee. The articles included in this publication address the following topics: Lost profits in business torts; Calculating damages for misappropriation of trade secrets; Potential impact of poaching (analysis of availability of punitive damages in corporate raiding cases); Damages in copyright and trademark actions; Corporate damages under Title VII and other civil rights statutes that apply to employment; Liquidated damages versus penalties; Damages for tortious interference; Prejudgment interest; The application of enhanced fines under the Alternative Fines Act for antitrust defendants. To order your copy today, click here.
|
|
|
And The Defense Wins!
|
Former DRI board member and former chair of the White Collar Crime and Corporate Integrity Committee, William A. Coates of Greenville, South Carolina’s Roe Cassidy Coates & Price, P.A., along with DRI member Elizabeth Gray, a partner with Sowell Gray Stepp & Lafitte, LLC in Columbia, South Carolina, recently obtained an acquittal for an individual defendant in the criminal case of United States of America v. W.R. Grace, et al. The United States charged Grace and five of its former executives with conspiring to defraud the United States and to endanger the citizens of Libby, Montana, arising out of Grace’s operation of a vermiculite mine near Libby. Additional charges involved substantive counts of endangerment and obstruction of justice.
[FULL STORY]
|
DRI Toxic Tort Committee members Joe E. Basenberg and Katie L. Hammett of Hand Arendall LLC in Mobile, Alabama, obtained summary judgment for the defendant Abatement Contractors, Inc., in a case alleging exposure to a solvent used to remove asbestos-containing tile and mastic from an apartment floor. The case was pending in Forrest County, Mississippi. The plaintiffs alleged that the solvent leaked through a crack in the cement floor, causing medical problems for the plaintiffs. The court agreed with the defense that the plaintiffs could not meet their burden of proof in Mississippi without expert testimony to prove causation.
|
An Alameda County jury just delivered a defense verdict in favor of an engineer/general contractor in a closely watched asbestos trial. This two month trial is significant in that a jury exonerated the sole remaining defendant from any liability, despite evidence that the plaintiff, a prominent dentist, developed mesothelioma following exposure to asbestos fibers. The same jury rejected a claim for loss of consortium brought by the plaintiff's wife. Successfully representing the defendant were DRI members Kevin Smith and Greg Amundson of Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman, which has offices throughout California, Nevada, Arizona and Colorado. Attorneys Smith and Amundson were retained just two weeks prior to the start of the trial.
[FULL STORY]
|
DRI members John M. Allen and Richard B. Korn, partners at Fox Galvin, LLC in St. Louis, Missouri, recently received an excellent result after a one week jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. The case, styled Richardet v. Murdale True Value (Case No. 07-368), involved a rear end truck-automobile accident on the Highway 24 bridge separating Kentucky from Illinois. There were four plaintiffs in the case. The demand before trial was in excess of $1.4 million and the plaintiffs would not negotiate.
[FULL STORY]
|
DRI member G. Mark Phillips of Nelson Mullins in Charleston, South Carolina teamed with counsel from a Chicago firm to win a defense verdict in a federal case that was recently tried in Charleston. The February 18, 2009 defense verdict ended a trial that lasted nearly two weeks. Defense counsel represented a car manufacturer, Volkswagen of America, which was sued under the state and federal Dealer's Day in Court Acts. The damage claims under the Acts were for multiple seven-figures.
|
DRI member Andrew Spalding, partner at Bracewell & Giuliani LLP in Houston, Texas, successfully defended Parker Drilling Company and Parker Drilling Company International Limited in litigation arising out of a gas well blowout and explosion that occurred in Bangladesh in 2005. A lawsuit was filed in Harris County (Houston), Texas by 765 individual Bangladesh residents alleging negligence, nuisance, trespass and conversion, and asking for personal injury, property and environmental damages of more than $250 million. The plaintiffs were represented by the Houston firm of McGehee & Chang.
[FULL STORY]
|
Keep those defense wins coming! Send a short summary and recent photo of yourself to Barb Lowery by email (blowery@dri.org).
|
|
|
Leader Spotlight
|
This week’s leader spotlight focuses on Jeffrey A. Holmstrand, the chair of DRI’s Product Liability Committee’s Mass Torts/Class Actions SLG. An attorney with McDermott & Bonenberger, P.L.L.C. in Wheeling, West Virginia, Mr. Holmstrand handles complex litigation, including class actions, mass torts, product liability claims and insurance disputes. Admitted to the Courts of Appeal for the Fourth, Sixth, and Eleventh Circuits, he has assisted clients in dozens of proceedings before appellate bodies, including a successful pro bono certiorari petition before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of an incarcerated prisoner.
[FULL STORY]
|
|
|
Legislative Tracking
|
Fueled by DRI’s Young Lawyers Committee, this week’s report highlights legislation from Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois and Michigan. The Young Lawyers Legislative Subcommittee is led by co-chairs Emily Turner Landry of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC in Memphis, Tennessee and Sean W. Shirley of Balch & Bingham LLP in Birmingham, Alabama, plus vice-chair Paul A. Wilhelm of Dykema Gossett PLLC in Detroit, Michigan. Special thanks to these leaders, along with all of the other state contributors.
|
|
COLORADO (Contributor: Casey A. Quillen, Campell, Latiolais & Ruebel, P.C.)
GENERAL CIVIL LITIGATION
HB 1094: Concerning Wireless Telephone Prohibition for Drivers.
• Prohibition on use of wireless telephone while motor vehicle they are operating is in motion. Otherwise permits operators who are 18 or older to use a wireless phone equipped with a hands-free accessory.
• Awaiting Governor’s Signature.
HB 1305: Concerning limitations on the requirement for cost bonds in civil lawsuits.
• Removes the ability of court to require cost bond from resident plaintiff in civil lawsuit. Also removes personal liability of attorney for a non-resident plaintiff to pay the costs of the lawsuit upon dismissal of the lawsuit. Limits the amount of a cost bond that can be required of a non-resident plaintiff to $5,000.00.
• Awaiting Governor’s signature.
SB 54: Concerning an increase in the civil penalties recoverable by the state under statutes related to fair trade.
• Increase in civil penalties recoverable by the state under statutes related to fair trade. Eliminates maximum penalty that may be imposed for violation of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act. Also increases minimum civil penalty for violation of the Colorado Antitrust Act of 1992 from $100,000 to $250,000.
• New law effective 8/5/09
[MORE]
|
|
|
Quote of the Week
|
The one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention.
—Diane Sawyer
|
|
|
DRI CLE Calendar
|
Drug and Medical Device Litigation
May 14-15, 2009
Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, New York, New York
First Response — Extra-Record Discovery Request Post-Glenn (webcast)
May 20, 2009
Practical and Tactical Tools for Defending Extra-Contractual Claims (webcast)
June 2, 2009
Young Lawyers
June 4-5, 2009
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada
Diversity for Success
June 11-12, 2009
Swissôtel, Chicago, Illinois
Insurance Bad Faith and Extra-Contractual Claims
June 18-19, 2009
Seaport Hotel, Boston, Massachusetts
DRI's National Workers' Compensation Review
August 17-18, 2009
Orlando World Center Marriott, Orlando, Florida
Nursing Home/ALF Litigation
September 10-11, 2009
The Westin Kierland, Scottsdale, Arizona
Strictly Automotive
September 24-25, 2009
Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines, La Jolla, California
For all other seminars, webconferences and webcasts, click here.
|
|
| |
|
|
Trucking Policyholder's Duty to Preserve Coverage
Trade Secrets and Agreements Not to Compete
|
