Case Summaries

Health Law

[03/08] Self v. Crum
Summary judgment in favor of defendant, a prison's treating physician, in a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 case is affirmed where plaintiff did not create a genuine issue of material fact as to whether defendant either knew about and failed to treat plaintiff's heart condition or otherwise consciously disregarded his medical needs.

[03/08] M.P. v. Indep. Sch. Dist. No. 721
Dismissal of plaintiff's claims under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act brought against his school district arising from a school nurse's disclosure that plaintiff is schizophrenic is reversed where the district court erred in dismissing the matter for failure to exhaust administrative remedies.

[03/08] Pertofsky v. Arbor Living Ctrs. of Florida, Inc.
Dismissal with prejudice of plaintiff's personal injury complaint, entered upon the trial court's own motion to dismiss for lack of prosecution, is reversed where an automatic bankruptcy stay had been entered, and, although the bankruptcy stay had allegedly been lifted, defendant took no action to file the order lifting the stay.

[03/07] Peachtree Cas. Ins. Co. v. Prof. Massage Servs., Inc.
A petition for second-tier certiorari review in an insurance billing dispute is granted where the circuit court departed from the essential requirements of law in holding that a statutory exception for "past due amounts previously billed on a timely basis" was ambiguous as to whether it applied only to charges previously billed to the same insurer or whether it also applied to charges previously billed to the wrong insurer.

[03/07] Doran v. N. State Grocery, Inc.
For purposes of attorney's fees awards under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, the plain language of Civ. Code section 52(a) requires a finding that a defendant has denied the plaintiff rights guaranteed by section 51, 51.5, or 51.6 before a plaintiff can recover attorney fees under section 52.

[03/07] People v. Anthony C.
A judgment of extended commitment to the California Youth Authority is reversed where no rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant had serious difficulty controlling his sexually deviant behavior. Consequently, principles of double jeopardy require the discharge of defendant from civil confinement.

[03/07] Cunningham v. Barnhart
Denial of attorney's fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act in an action concerning an ultimately favorable disability benefits determination is affirmed where there was substantial justification for the government's original denial of the benefits.

[03/07] Fligiel v. Samson
Summary judgment for defendant, Veterans Administration (VA), in a suit brought by a physician who was transferred to a VA facility without notice and an opportunity to respond, as required by statute and regulations, is vacated where judicial review of the matter was preclude in the first instance by the Veterans' Benefits Act.

[03/07] Chawla v. Transamerica Occidental Life Ins. Co.
Summary judgment for defendant-insurer on a claim of breach of an insurance contract brought by a trustee of a special trust is affirmed where defendant's rescission of a life insurance policy was appropriate due to misrepresentations made in the life insurance applications.

[03/06] US v. St. Luke's Hosp., Inc.
Dismissal of a qui tam action against a hospital and physicians under the False Claims Act for failure to plead fraud with particularity is affirmed where plaintiff-anesthesiologist's complaint was void of a single specific instance of fraud, and there was no error in denying a motion to amend or in denying a motion to permit discovery.

[03/06] Conservatorship of the Estate of Kane
An order denying a petition for a substituted judgment to establish a special needs trust under the authority of Probate Code section 2580 is reversed and remanded for reconsideration where the probate court had jurisdiction and authority to create the special needs trust at issue.

[03/06] Salt Inst. v. Leavitt
The Information Quality Act (IQA) does not create any legal right to information or its correctness. Dismissal of plaintiff's suit brought under the IQA claiming that defendant-agency secretary had denied them their legal right to accurate information involving sodium consumption is affirmed where plaintiffs lacked Article III standing for the suit.

[03/03] County of Santa Clara v. Atl. Richfield Co.
Judgment for defendants, lead manufacturers, in a class action brought by governmental entities alleging claims for damages caused by lead paint is reversed where the superior court's rulings were erroneous as to plaintiffs' public nuisance, strict liability, negligence, and fraud causes of action.

[03/03] Plemmons v. Roberts
Denial of defendants-jail officials' motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity is affirmed in an inmate's civil rights action where a reasonable fact finder could conclude defendants violated his clearly established constitutional rights by disregarding his need for medical care, and no reasonable official could have thought the failure to summon immediate medical help for plaintiff was lawful.

[03/03] Drake v. Koss
Summary judgment for defendants, a county and jail officials, on claims alleging violations of inmate-plaintiff's federal civil rights as well as state law negligence involving his suicide attempt is affirmed where defendants' actions did not constitute deliberate indifference and defendants were protected from state law liability as they were engaged in discretionary acts.

[03/03] Roach v. Morse
The questions on a certain Medicaid form used by Vermont do not, by themselves, create a more restrictive methodology than would be used under the federal supplemental security income program, and thus do not violate 42 U.S.C. section 1396a(a)(10)(C)(i)(III).

[02/27] N. Ins. Co. of New York v. Derma Clinic Inc.
Questions of law are certified to Connecticut's supreme court involving insurance coverage for claims arising from an alleged physical and sexual assault that occurred during the course of a massage performed by an employee of a business offering massage therapy.

[02/13] Parker v. Wilk
Motion for summary judgment is granted for defendant in an action for loss of chance to survive where the plaintiff's expert witness testimony regarding causation was scientifically unreliable and inadmissible under rules of evidence.

[02/03] Condon v. Neighborcare, Inc.
A complaint for medical malpractice is dismissed where: 1) the statute of limitations barred the action; 2) a previous complaint did not toll the statute of limitations since it was for a different cause of action; and 3) a Notice of Intent to investigate did not toll the statute of limitations since the statute had already run when the notice was filed.

[01/31] Kuhn v. Christiana Health Services, Inc.
Plaintiff's suit for healthcare negligence is dismissed where the affidavit of merit accompanying the suit failed to comply with the statutory requirements.

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