Case Summaries

Injury & Tort Law

[12/30] Food Pro Int'l, Inc. v. Farmers Ins. Exchange
In connection to a tort claim brought by an injured construction worker against plaintiff, judgment in favor of defendant-insurer in plaintiff-insuree's claim for breach of contract and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing is reversed where: 1) there was no merit to plaintiff's punitive damages argument; but 2) the trial court erred in finding that defendant-insurer had no duty to defend plaintiff.

[12/30] Doe v. SexSearch.com
District court correctly dismissed this suit, brought against an online adult dating service by one of its subscribers. Plaintiff failed to state a claim in alleging that the service is at fault for his sexual relationship with a minor and the harm that resulted from his arrest, notwithstanding that the service requires each subscriber to promise that he or she is at least eighteen years old.

[12/29] Liceaga v. Debt Recovery Solutions, LLC
In an action for damages arising out of an apparent identity theft, judgment in favor of defendant-collection agency is affirmed where the trial court correctly concluded that Congress has preempted state court private actions against furnishers of inaccurate credit information to credit reporting agencies and that no exclusion for California actions existed.

More...

Workers' Comp

[12/30] Bullock v. AIU Ins. Co.
In a lawsuit alleging bad-faith failure to timely pay workers' compensation benefits, summary judgment for defendants is reversed and remanded in light of a Mississippi Supreme Court determination that the suit was timely filed.

[12/19] Southwestern Bell Tel. Co., L.P. v. Mitchell
In a worker's compensation claim, grant of summary judgment in favor of respondent-decedent is reversed where: 1) the rule announced in Continental Casualty Co. v. Downs was in effect for only about one year; and 2) it was wrongly decided.

[09/25] Sanders v. City of Orlando
In a workers' compensation case, reversal of vacatur of a prior settlement agreement by a Judge of Compensation Claims (JCC) is quashed where a 2001 statutory change did not strip JCCs of jurisdiction to set aside workers' compensation agreements. (Revised opinion)

More...