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DRI News
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At last week’s Annual Meeting, DRI welcomed its new president, Cary E. Hiltgen of Hiltgen & Brewer, P.C., in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and his slate of officers:
Immediate Past President: Marc E. Williams, Huddleston Bolen LLP, Huntington, West Virginia
President-Elect: R. Matthew Cairns, Gallagher Callahan & Gartrell, PC, Concord, New Hampshire
First Vice President: Henry M. Sneath, Picadio Sneath Miller & Norton, PC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Second Vice President*: Mary Massaron Ross, Plunkett Cooney, Detroit, Michigan
Secretary-Treasurer*: Charles H. Cole, Schuyler Roche & Crisham, P.C., Chicago, Illinois
*These two positions were approved by the Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting.
Congratulations to the new DRI Directors Elected Nationally:
Donna L. Burden, Burden Gulisano & Hickey, LLC, Buffalo, New York
David E. Chamberlain, Chamberlain McHaney, Austin, Texas
John E. Cuttino, Turner, Padget, Graham & Laney P.A., Columbia, South Carolina
Neva G. Lusk, Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC, Charleston, West Virginia
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Congratulations to Thompson & Knight LLP partner Scott P. Stolley on being invited to be a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers (AAAL), an exclusive honor society that has fewer than 20 Texas members out of approximately 300 total members. Mr. Stolley will be inducted as a fellow at the AAAL’s spring meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, in April 2010. He is the chair of DRI's Amicus Committee and the immediate past chair of DRI’s Appellate Advocacy Committee. Mr. Stolley also serves as his firm’s Appellate and Supreme Court Practice Group leader and resides in the firm’s Dallas office. He is board certified in civil appellate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
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Upcoming November Webcasts
Hot Topic – Residually Disabled or Totally Disabled
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Central
This webcast is designed to help litigators and in-house counsel understand the two-headed residual/total disability claim. In-house counsel, outside attorneys, and a financial expert will closely examine the specific challenges, strategies and pitfalls involved in handling, litigating and trying residual claims, as distinguished from total disability claims. Register online and learn how to effectively determine whether a claim is total or residual, and much more. For more information, click here or visit www.dri.org.
Climate Change Litigation Heats Up
Thursday, November 5, 2009
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Central
The Second Circuit issued an opinion on September 21, 2009, in Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co., Inc., holding that eight states and three land trusts can pursue federal, common law nuisance claims against six electric power corporations seeking abatement of the defendants’ contribution to global warming. Join DRI’s expert panel to learn about the scope and reach of emerging climate change litigation, as well as what the latest judicial rulings indicate for the future of climate litigation. For more information, click here or register online at www.dri.org.
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Appellate Advocacy Seminar
November 5-6, 2009
Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines
La Jolla, California
At DRI’s eighth Appellate Advocacy Seminar, you will be treated to a distinguished faculty of judges, professors and practitioners. They will discuss practical points in writing, arguing and winning in your appellate practice; ethical issues in appellate practice; how to build an appellate practice; the use of moot courts; the client’s views of the use of appellate specialists in litigation; and a reflection on the great appellate lawyer and President, Abraham Lincoln. Come enhance your knowledge, hone your skills and see friends and colleagues from around the country. To register now, click here or call 312.795.1101 for more information!
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This Week's Double Feature
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Gross v. FBL: May a Plaintiff Allege Alternative Motives of Discrimination in an ADEA Case?
By Kristi Blumhardt McElroy
Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP, Denver, Colorado
On June 18, 2009, the Supreme Court clarified the burden of persuasion in an age discrimination case. In Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc., the Court held that a plaintiff seeking relief for disparate treatment under the ADEA, “must prove by a preponderance of the evidence (which may be direct or circumstantial), that age was the ‘but-for’ cause” of the challenged employer decision.” Gross v. FBL Fin. Serv., Inc., 129 S. Ct. 2343, 2352 (2009).
[FULL STORY]
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UK High Court Declares that “Joint and Several Liability” Doctrine Cannot Be Applied to a Facultative Reinsurance Policy
By Thomas F. Segalla, Daniel W. Gerber and Jeffrey L. Kingsley
Goldberg Segalla LLP, Buffalo, New York
The central issue in Lexington Insurance Co. v. AGF Insurance Limited et al, [2009] UKHL 40 (July 30, 2009) is whether a facultative reinsurance policy for a fixed period of time can be interpreted to assume the full amount of the cedent’s liability associated with a court ordered environmental clean up under the theory of “joint and several liability.”
[FULL STORY]
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Legal News
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Supreme Court granted certiorari — Health Care Service Corporation v. Pollitt, No. 09-38 (Removal to Federal Court—Complete Preemption Doctrine—Federal Officer Removal Statute)
Under Beneficial National Bank v. Andersen, 539 U.S. 1 (2003), the test for determining whether a state law is “completely preempted” by federal law, and thus whether lawsuits brought under that state law are removable to federal court under 28 U.S.C. § 1441, is whether the federal law “provide[s] the exclusive cause of action for the claim asserted.”539 U.S. at 8. Under Watson v. Philip Morris Cos., 551 U.S. 142 (2007), the test for determining whether a government contractor can remove a case to federal court pursuant to the federal officer removal statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a), is whether, “in the absence of a contract with a private firm, the government itself would have had to perform.” 551 U.S. at 154.
[FULL STORY]
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And The Defense Wins!
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DRI member Mark B. Desmarais, of counsel to Tom Petrus & Miller LLLC in Honolulu obtained a defense verdict for his client after a nine-week jury trial in June on the island of Maui. The plaintiff was a major land developer in Phoenix, Arizona, who was vacationing on Maui. He was severely injured while playing golf on a course owned by defendant Maui Land & Pineapple LLC and operated by co-defendant Kapalua Land Co.
[FULL STORY]
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Tracy Crawford, DRI member and of counsel member of Ramey & Flock, P.C. in Tyler, Texas, recently successfully defended a civil wrongful death suit for damages brought against a homeowner who shot and killed an intruder escaping from his home with stolen property in his possession.
[FULL STORY]
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DRI members Michael McQuillen and John M. Kelly of Adler Murphy & McQuillen LLP in Chicago obtained a defense verdict in a wrongful death aviation trial in Ventura County, California. The case involved an aircraft accident that occurred on May 16, 2002, near New River, Arizona. The plaintiffs alleged that a design defect in an onboard GPS and moving topographic map display manufactured by Honeywell International caused the pilot to fly his aircraft into terrain, resulting in the death of the pilot and his passenger.
[FULL STORY]
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Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A. (QPWB) trial attorneys, Teresa A. Arnold-Simmons, managing partner of the Jacksonville, Florida, office, and Ashley B. Winstead, obtained a defense verdict in a premises liability case involving injuries to an eight-year-old girl. The young girl claimed that she fell on a concrete rock in the patio area of a beachside pizza restaurant, where she was dining with her family.
[FULL STORY]
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DRI members Beth Schneider Naylor and Doug Dennis of Frost Brown Todd LLC in Cincinnati, Ohio, Shelley G. Hurwitz of Holland & Knight LLP in Los Angeles, California, and Richard A. Ergo and Cathleen S. Huang of Bowles & Verna LLP in Walnut Creek, California, were successful in obtaining summary judgment from the United States District Court, Southern District of California in favor of their clients in a product liability lawsuit, Shalaby v. Irwin Industrial Tool Co., et al, Case No. 07CV2107-MMA (BLM) (S.D. Cal. July 28, 2009). The district court held that the plaintiffs’ experts did not meet the minimum standards under Rule 702 and Daubert either for reliability or for relevance and thus, excluded them. As a result, the court ruled that without experts, the plaintiffs were unable to establish a prima facie case and granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants.
[FULL STORY]
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Keep those defense wins coming! Send a short summary in Word format and a recent photo (.jpg attachment) of yourself to Barb Lowery by email (blowery@dri.org).
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Quote of the Week
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What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
—Oscar Wilde
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DRI CLE Calendar
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Hot Topic — Residually Disabled or Totally Disabled (webcast)
November 4, 2009
Climate Change Litigation Heats Up (webcast)
November 5, 2009
Appellate Advocacy
November 5-6, 2009
Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines, La Jolla, California
Handling a Trial as a First Chair (webcast)
November 11, 2009
Asbestos Medicine
November 12-13, 2009
Fontainebleau Miami Beach, Miami, Florida
Insurance Coverage and Practice
December 3-4, 2009
Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, New York, New York
Best Practices for Law Firm Profitability
December 3-4, 2009
Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, New York, New York
Civil Rights and Governmental Tort Liability
January 27-29, 2010
The Westin San Diego, San Diego, California
Trucking Law
February 4-5, 2010
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada
Medical Liability and Health Care Law
February 11-12, 2010
Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix, Arizona
For all other seminars, webconferences and webcasts, click here.
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Punitive Damages: A State-by-State Compendium
Current Issues in Medical Liability and Health Care Law
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