State Supreme Court Issues Contentious Spoliation Ruling
Posted on Mar 3, 2015
To frame the issue, first consider the following criticisms of the majority opinion from the two dissenting opinions: “Let me be clear at the outset. The majority opinion has abolished the tort of spoliation of evidence. I do not say this lightly. Under the majority’s decision, no plaintiff will ever be able to withstand a summary judgment motion for spoliation of evidence, as long as a defendant destroys evidence within 48 hours of the accident and without immediate notice from the victim to preserve the evidence.” The other dissenting justice wrote, “Even more...
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Ten Considerations To Mitigate Exposure Before Shipping Crude By Rail
Posted on Mar 1, 2015
Following two derailments of trains transporting crude in February, Sutherland attorneys Matt Gatewood, Susan Lafferty, and David McCullough issued the Legal Alert available here and copied below addressing ten considerations that any shipper or owner of crude should assess before shipping by rail. ***** Last week’s derailments in West Virginia and Canada bring more scrutiny to the already heavily scrutinized shipment of crude by rail given the real-time media coverage of the incidents. Last Friday, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regarding...
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Whether Internal Investigation Is Required Deemed Irrelevant To Privilege Inquiry By Indiana Federal Court
Posted on Feb 26, 2015
In litigation involving two railroads’ responsibilities for separate train derailments, each railroad sought discovery of information protected by the other railroad as work product. Although the document-by-document specifics are not ascertainable based on the generalized commentary from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana following its in camera inspection, a few points made by the court are noteworthy. The court reiterated that if in connection with an incident, a business entity conducts an investigation of the incident in the ordinary course of business...
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Court Addresses Legal Duty Owed By Travel Agency To Inform Travelers Of Airline Safety Record
Posted on Feb 24, 2015
Following an airplane crash in the Northern Mariana Islands, a group of Chinese plaintiffs sued the travel agency that booked them on the airline alleging that the agency was negligent in not informing them of the airline’s faulty safety record and the airline’s failure to provide safety instructions in Chinese to Chinese tourists. The travel agency filed a motion to dismiss the negligence claim and argued that a travel agency owes no duty of care to a customer that it books on an airline with regard to the airline’s safety record or particular aircraft safety...
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Federal Court Rejects “Stacking” Consecutive Insurance Policies But Applies Highest Coverage Limit
Posted on Feb 23, 2015
The Insured operated a New Mexico brine well facility involved in solution mining of salt from brine water from 1995 to 2008. In a state court lawsuit, a neighboring property owner sued the Insured for property damage caused by the mining operation (specifically, damages caused when the roof of the underground cavern caused by the mining operation collapsed). The underlying lawsuit resulted in a verdict against the Insured for $703,000 in compensatory damages and $300,000 in punitive damages. The Insured and its general commercial liability insurer (Insurer) disputed whether...
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Senator Asks OMB To Address CPC-1232 Tank Cars Following West Virginia Derailment
Posted on Feb 23, 2015
On Friday, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget regarding the safety of CPC-1232 tank cars used in transporting crude-by-rail. In response to last week’s train derailment in West Virginia, the Senator asked for the final rule to address the “supposedly safer CPC-1232 tank cars,” of which 55,000 will be in service by the end of this year according to the Senator. The U.S. Department of Transportation had previously been given a January 15, 2015 deadline to finalize its new rules for crude-by-rail safety standards but that deadline...
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Privilege Refresher From Illinois Federal Court
Posted on Feb 20, 2015
In almost any litigation, questions will surface about whether certain communications and documents are privileged and protected from discovery. One of the key roles that in-house counsel can cover is educating the company about the details of privilege law. To this end, it is helpful for in-house counsel to consistently stay abreast of developments in what types of communications courts are finding to be privileged vs. non-privileged. Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a lengthy opinion regarding privilege issues in overruling most claims of...
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