Daniel Fisher News
Struck fan who'd been to hundreds of games can sue over failure to warn of foul balls
SANTA ANA, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - A woman who sat in an open field behind the third-base dugout can sue a small California college for failing to warn her she could be hit by a foul ball, an appeals court ruled, widening exceptions to the state’s longstanding “baseball rule” protecting teams and stadium owners against lawsuits over errant balls.
Texas lawyer must face suit that he poached stripper's parents for wrongful death lawsuit
HOUSTON (Legal Newsline) - A Texas law firm lost its fight to dismiss a competitor’s lawsuit over fees from a wrongful death settlement it negotiated after a car accident claimed the life of an 18-year-old exotic dancer whose parents accused her employer of allowing her to drive home while intoxicated.
Hospitals in Louisiana can fire unvaccinated workers, thanks to court ruling
BATON ROUGE, La. (Legal Newsline) - Louisiana hospitals can fire employees who refuse to get vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus, the state’s highest court ruled, rejecting arguments the vaccine mandate violated their right to privacy and refuse medical treatment.
Oil companies lose key decision in Delaware, plan appeal to Third Circuit
WILMINGTON, Del. (Legal Newsline) - Rejecting arguments that Delaware was trying to use its own courts to interfere with federal energy policy, a federal judge ordered a climate lawsuit spearheaded by private lawyers back to state court where it could stand higher chances of success.
Law firm faces $450M malpractice case over Doral Arrowwood saga
NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) - The litigation-tangled New York resort where Hillary Clinton prepped for her 2016 presidential debates has stimulated yet another lawsuit, this time against the well-known Manhattan law firm that represented the resort’s owners in their fight to eject a property manager.
Inmate stabbed when brother's murderer placed in same unit can't sue
LINCOLN, Neb. (Legal Newsline) - Adopting a broad interpretation of the state’s sovereign-immunity statute, the Nebraska Supreme Court said a prisoner who was stabbed in his cell can’t sue prison officials for placing him in the same unit as the murderer of his brother.
Indiana loosens rule to allow lawsuit from mother of abused child
INDIANAPOLIS (Legal Newsline) - Saying they were participating in “a process of incremental change,” a majority of justices on the Indiana Supreme Court loosened the rules for lawsuits over emotional distress to allow a mother to sue over the effects of learning her daughter had been sexually abused years before.
Judge says plaintiff lawyers may have 'committed malpractice' in two Roundup cases
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - The judge overseeing federal multidistrict litigation over Roundup dismissed two lawsuits for lack of evidence, suggesting in his order that a Houston law firm may have “committed malpractice” by failing to hire an expert to testify the herbicide caused their clients’ cancer.
Employer must face lawsuit after employee's husband dies from COVID-19
LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - See’s Candies can be sued over the death of a man whose wife claims she caught COVID-19 at the candy factory, a California appeals court ruled, rejecting arguments the case should be blocked under the state workers’ compensation law.
Chaos over 'mountains of fees' for private lawyers mucking up opioid settlements, AGs complain
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - A coalition of 11 state attorneys general is accusing cities, counties and their private lawyers of engaging in fee-driven litigation that has interfered with the states’ ability to negotiate global opioid settlements with companies.
California's $250K med-mal cap won't apply to 'Rapey Juan' multimillion-dollar verdict
LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - California’s strict medical-malpractice law with a one-year statute of limitations and limiting noneconomic damages to $250,000 doesn’t apply in the case of a mental hospital accused of allowing one of its workers to sexually abuse patients, an appeals court ruled.
Exxon might get discounts on $4M asbestos verdict in Washington
SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - A Washington appeals court upheld a $4 million jury verdict against ExxonMobil won by the son of a man who worked in refineries and was diagnosed with mesothelioma after he died but sent the case back to the trial court for another hearing to decide whether considering other settlements were reasonable.
Companies can't fight Washington's PCB rule in court
TACOMA, Wash. (Legal Newsline) - A document instructing Washington Department of Ecology permit writers to require companies to use more sensitive and expensive tests for PCBs in their wastewater streams isn’t a rule subject to court challenge, a state appeals court has ruled.
School nurse hurt during morning workout loses bid for disability benefits
TRENTON, N.J. (Legal Newsline) - A school nurse isn’t entitled to disability benefits over a fall she suffered pulling a tire during a morning “Cardio Care” workout program even though it didn’t entirely fit New Jersey’s exclusion for “recreational or social activities.”
'Scandalous' details in sex abuse lawsuits to be included, as court rules against N.Y. Archdiocese
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - Lawsuits over childhood sex abuse necessarily contain details that are graphic and uncomfortable but shouldn’t be stripped from the complaint under a law prohibiting “scandalous or prejudicial matter” from lawsuits, a New York appeals court ruled in a case involving allegations against a Catholic-school basketball coach.
Missed deadline dooms Louisiana legal malpractice lawsuit
NEW ORLEANS (Legal Newsline) - A New Orleans man who lost a $600,000 judgment to his former partner in a venture to renovate houses after Hurricane Katrina also lost his chance to win money from his lawyers after an appeals court tossed his legal malpractice lawsuit over a missed deadline.
Mom gets second chance to sue school over out-of-control fight
FRANKFORT, Ky. (Legal Newsline) - A mother who sued her son’s school district over an assistant principal’s attempts to control a hallway fight will get another chance to win damages after a Kentucky appeals court reversed a dismissal on qualified immunity grounds.
'Smells like poop': Court lets workers sue over stinky office
TOPEKA, Kan. (Legal Newsline) - Municipal employees who complained of a variety of ailments after inhaling pesticide fumes in an office building can sue the city of Moscow, Kansas, as well as the company that applied the chemicals despite having little scientific evidence of exposure beyond their recollection of a “really, really bad smell,” a Kansas appeals court ruled.
Pharmacies seek reversal or new opioid trial, saying process `plagued with errors’
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) Walmart, CVS and Walgreens moved for reversal or a new trial over opioid claims, saying the trial that resulted in a historic public nuisance verdict against them was “plagued with errors” including jury instructions “designed to manufacture a verdict” for the plaintiffs.
Malpractice plaintiffs can't win cost of charity care, Ninth Circuit rules
The family of a man who died of a heart attack after being released without care can’t recover “medical expenses” that the hospital wrote off as charity, the Ninth Circuit ruled, interpreting Montana law on this question for the first time.