The Iowa Supreme Court has released an opinion in Thompson v. Kaczinski, 2009 WL 3786632 (Iowa 2009) and adopted the Restatement (Third) of Torts approach to both duty and causation. The case arose after "a motorist lost control of his car on a rural gravel road and crashed upon encountering a trampoline that had been…
I grew up in Spencer, Wisconsin, a village of about 1000 (less in the 1960 census, more in the 1970 census) in North Central Wisconsin. The closest city was Marshfield, at eight miles to the south on Highway 13, which at the time had about 15,000 people, a J.C. Penny store, a mail order-only Sears…
Can a motorcycle dealer be held liable for selling a motorcycle to a person who did not have a motorcycle license? Not in Mississippi. The Mississippi Supreme Court recently considered a case where a dealer sold a motorcycle to an 18-year who it knew was not a licensed operator. A…
The statute of limitations is tolled when the plaintiff is of unsound mind. Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-1-106. Does the fact that a Durable Power of Attorney (executed before the incompetency) is in existence trump the tolling statute and require the attorney-in-fact to take action within the original statute? The Tennessee…
The Kentucky Supreme Court has just released an opinion that discusses the elements of the tort of negligent supervision of a minor. This is the law in Kentucky: “A parent is under a duty to exercise reasonable care so to control his minor child as to prevent it from intentionally…
Can a community college be sued when a pitcher on its baseball team intentionally hits an opposing player in the head with a baseball? Sure. Can the school be held liable? No, not according to the California Supreme Court. Avila was beaned with a baseball during a game. He believed…
Mr. Wallace was 15 years old when he was charged with murder. He served eight years in prison before an appellate court determined that he was arrested without probably cause and that his confession was tainted by the illegal arrest. He sued, but the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals held…
Mr. Kasey shared his Oxycontin with another, who gave it to her boyfriend (at the same party) who it turn consumed the drug with alcohol. The recepient/user died in his sleep from the combination of the drugs. His mother sued Kasey. Kasey defended by arguing that he did not owe…
Defendant Carter pumped gas into his vehicle and left the station without paying. The station owner gave chase, and during the pursuit the station owner’s vehicle rear-ended Carter’s vehicle, injuring the plaintiff’s daughter. The daughter later died from the pain medication she was administered for treatment of her injuries Carter…
The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that an exculpatory clause in a form signed at a snowboarding and snowtubing facility did not bar the plaintiff’s claim. The Court rejected Plaintiff’s argument that the agreement was ambigious. The Court said “[w]e conclude that the agreement expressly and unambiguously purports to release…