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Case Summaries

Consumer Protection

[11/14] H&R Block, Inc. v. Am. Int'l Specialty Lines Ins. Co.
Class actions filed against nationwide tax preparer H&R Block asserting a variety of statutory and common law claims arising out of H&R's Refund Anticipation Loan (RAL) program are excluded from "prior acts" coverage under professional liability "claims made" insurance policies because other class actions asserting similar claims were filed prior to the policy periods.

[11/13] McKinney v. Cadleway Props., Inc.
In a suit alleging that defendant violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in its efforts to collect upon a debt, summary judgment for plaintiff is reversed where: 1) defendant was a "debt collector" subject to the FDCPA; but 2) the "validation of debt" notice defendant sent to plaintiff was clear on its face, and provided the statutorily-required information.

[11/10] Sherer v. Green Tree Servicing LLC
In a suit involving Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act claims, denial of a motion to compel arbitration is reversed where the arbitration clause in question bound plaintiff to arbitrate his dispute with defendant, even though defendant was not a signatory to the original agreement.

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Health Law

[11/21] Hines v. Anderson
In a suit over prison medical care, an order terminating a consent decree regulating medical care for inmates at a federal prison is affirmed where: 1) the decree did not constitute a final judgment, and plaintiffs-inmates had no property right therein that would entitle them under the due process clause to further discovery and a pretermination evidentiary hearing; 2) the Prison Litigation Reform Act did not require a pretermination investigation and evidentiary hearing; 3) there was no evidence of ongoing Eighth Amendment violations at the prison; and 4) the consent decree was not narrowly tailored or the lease intrusive means to protect the inmates' Eighth Amendment rights.

[11/19] Mission Hosp. Reg'l Med. Ctr. v. Shewry
In an action brought by over 100 state hospitals alleging section 32 of Senate Bill No. 1103, which froze reimbursement rates paid to noncontract hospitals for inpatient services during the state's 2004-2005 fiscal year, violated the Medicaid Act and that the Department of Health Care Services violated federal Medicaid regulation and state and federal protections, judgment rejecting most of plaintiffs' claims is reversed and remanded where: 1) the federal statute requiring notice and comment procedures applied to the state's action; 2) the state's process did not satisfy the federal statute; and 3) the trial court erred in its ruling under section (13)(A).

[11/19] Assoc. of Irritated Residents v. San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control Dist.
Denial of writ of mandate is reversed and defendant is ordered to complete an assessment on the public health impacts of the rule 4570, which requires large confined animal facilities to choose from a variety of mitigation measures with the goal of reducing VOC emissions, where: 1) rule 4570 was adopted without conducting an adequate assessment of its impact on public health, as mandated by Health and Safety Code section 40724.6; 2) section 40724.6 was intended to address the district's failure to meet federal and state ambient air quality standards for ozone and does not regulate ammonia emissions produced by large confined animal facilities; and 3) the district's findings were not arbitrary and capricious.

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Injury & Tort Law

[11/21] McGhee v. Pottawattamie County, Iowa
In suits by two men convicted for murder and released over twenty years later, alleging constitutional violations by the original prosecutors and defamation by the current prosecutor, orders of the district court are affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) defendant-current prosecutor was entitled to sovereign immunity on the defamation claim; and 2) with respect to defendants-original prosecutors, the district court erred in failing to conduct an analysis of the scope of their employment for sovereign immunity purposes distinct from the court's analysis of whether they were entitled to absolute immunity.

[11/21] Dale v. Poston
In a federal prisoner's suit alleging Eighth Amendment violations by prison employees who allegedly failed to protect him from an attack by another inmate, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where there was no evidence that any of the defendants were aware of facts from which they could draw an inference of substantial harm.

[11/19] Bregin v. Liquidebt Sys., Inc
In a suit alleging retaliatory discharge and tortious interference with employment, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff did not identify any illegal acts which he was asked to commit, for which a retaliation claim could be brought; 2) state law did not provide a whistleblower exception to the employment-at-will doctrine; and 3) plaintiff did not make out a claim for tortious interference.

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