Recently in Injury & Tort Law Category

In plaintiff's lawsuit against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act, alleging that the government's employee negligently caused an automobile accident killing her husband, dismissal of the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is vacated and remanded as, when the scope-of-employment issue is determinative of both jurisdiction and the underlying merits of an FTCA claim, dismissal under Rule 12(b)(1) is inappropriate.     

Read Kerns v. US, No. 08-1287

Appellate Information

Argued: September 22, 2009

Decided: October 29, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge King

Counsel

For Appellant:  Paul David Bekman, Salisbury, Clements, Bekman, Marder & Adkins

For Appellees:  Ariana Wright Arnord, Baltimore, Maryland

In a state tort lawsuit brought by plaintiffs arising from defendants' protest against gays in the military near the funeral for plaintiffs' son who had died in the Iraq war, district court's award of $8 million in compensatory damages and $2.1 million in punitive damages against defendant-Baptist church and members is reversed as the judgment attaches tort liability to constitutionally protected speech, and thus, the district court erred in declining to award defendants judgment as a matter of law. 

Read Snyder v. Phelps, No. 08-1026

Appellate Information

Argued: December 2, 2008

Decided: September 24, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge King

Counsel

For Appellant:  Margie Jean Phelps.

For Appellees:  Sean E. Summers, Barley & Snyder, LLC

In a tort action arising out of a ship collision, the dismissal of the complaint is affirmed where the District Court did not abuse its discretion in applying the doctrine of forum non conveniens, because the accident occurred in Chinese waters and proceedings were already underway in a Chinese court.

Read Compania Naviera Joanna S.A. v. Koninklijke Boskalis Westminster NV, No. 08-1031

Appellate Information

Argued: March 24, 2009

Decided: June 26, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge Niemeyer

Counsel

For Appellants:

Mary Campbell Broughton, Fowler Rodriguez Valdes-Fauli, Mobile, AL

For Appellees:

Gordon D. Schreck, Buist, Moore, Smythe, McGee, PA, Charleston, SC

Douglas M. Muller, Moore & Van Allen, PLLC, Charleston, SC

In a negligence action against the U.S. based on the Coast Guard's failure to perform certain tests on a ship, the dismissal of the complaint is affirmed where the entire action was barred by the discretionary function exception to the Government's waiver of sovereign immunity.

Read Indemnity Ins. Co. of N. Am. v. US, No. 08-2148

Appellate Information

Argued: May 13, 2009

Decided: June 25, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge Hamilton

Counsel

For Appellants:

Robert Hopkins, Duane Morris, LLP, Baltimore, MD

Susan M. Euteneuer, Duane Morris, LLP, Baltimore, MD

For Appellee:

Stephen Robert Campbell, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC

Michael F. Hertz, Acting Assistant Attorney General, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC

Rod J. Rosenstein, United States Attorney, Baltimore, MD