After a bench trial, defendants Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., and Tenth District were found liable for defamation per se of plaintiff, Gerald McCarthy. Although defendants raised a number of issues on appeal, the dispositive issue is whether plaintiff’s amended complaints adding defendants were barred by the statute of limitations. The resolution of this issue depends on whether plaintiff made... More...   $0 (06-30-2011 - IL)

This matter comes on before this Court on an appeal from an order the District Court entered on May 13, 2010, granting the motion of appellees United Health Group, AmeriChoice, and AmeriChoice-New Jersey (collectively “appellees”) under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) to dismiss Charles Wilkins‟ and Daryl Willis‟ (collectively “appellants”) qui tam action1 based on the False C... More...   $0 (06-30-2011 - NJ)

The Appellants, Christopher Forrest and The Forrest Law Group, challenge a nonfinal, temporary injunction, enjoining them "from posting, publishing, disseminating, or maintaining materials from the video depositions" of the individual Appellees "until further order" of the circuit court and directing them to remove the video depositions from YouTube.1 We reject the Appellants' argument that the in... More...   $0 (06-29-2011 - FL)

In this case we address the remedies available to a patient when a debt collector, acting on behalf of a medical professional, is asserted to have illegally disclosed confidential patient medical information to various consumer reporting agencies in the course of a dispute over an alleged medical debt. Individuals, as patients, have a substantial interest in the privacy of their medical informatio... More...   $0 (06-21-2011 - )

Plaintiff Yan Sui appeals from the judgment dismissing with prejudice his action against defendants Stephen D. Price and 2176 Pacific Homeowners Association after the court sustained without leave to amend defendants‟ demurrer to plaintiff‟s complaint. The court ruled the complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action and could not be fixed. We affirm.

FACTSMore...   $0 (06-20-2011 - CA)

Appellant, Joseph E. Hancock, appeals from a judgment entered in a defamation action in favor of Appellee, Easwaran P. Variyam, following a jury trial. In support, Hancock presents three issues: (1) whether the trial court erred in finding as a matter of law that Hancock's written statements were libel per se; (2) whether Variyam's evidence of damages is legally and factually insufficient; and (... More...   $0 (06-16-2011 - TX)

After his termination as Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Oklahoma (CME), plaintiff Collie M. Trant filed suit in state court against various entities and officers, claiming that his termination violated state and federal law. Citing the presence of federal claims brought against individual officers under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, defendants removed the action to federal court, see 28 U.S.C. § 14... More...   $0 (06-15-2011 - OK)

Peter Murphy (“Murphy”) has filed an appeal from the decision of the District Court granting summary judgment to Millennium Radio Group, Craig Carton, and Ray Rossi (the “Station Defendants”) on Murphy‟s claims for violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), copyright infringement, and defamation under state law. For the reasons given below, we reverse on all counts.<... More...   $0 (06-14-2011 - )

We are asked to determine if a school district can punish a student for expressive conduct that originated outside of the schoolhouse, did not disturb the school environment and was not related to any school sponsored event. We hold that, under these circumstances, the First Amendment prohibits the school from reaching beyond the schoolyard to impose what might otherwise be appropriate discipline.... More...   $0 (06-13-2011 - PA)

In this appeal we consider whether the circuit court erred in finding that appellant Gardiner S. Mulford (“Mulford”) did not have a legal right to access property that he owned in Culpeper County.

FACTS

We will state the facts in the light most favorable to Walnut Hill Farm Group, (“Walnut Hill”) the prevailing party below. Prospect Dev. Co. v. Bershader, 258 Va. 75, 80, 515 ... More...   $0 (06-09-2011 - VA)

In this petition, we address the narrow issue of whether a defendant may, under NRCP 13(h), bring a counterclaim that adds new parties to an action. Under that rule, if there is at least one original party included in the counterclaim, a defendant may add new parties to the action through a counterclaim as long as the nonparty meets the joinder requirements under NRCP 19 or 20. We take this op... More...   $0 (06-02-2011 - NV)

Plaintiff-appellant Debra Lewisis a former employee of School District #70 in St. Clair County, Illinois (the “District”), whose employment was terminated after a period of absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”). Following her termination, Lewis sued the District, school superintendent Robin Hawkins, and members of the District’s school board, alleging violations of the... More...   $0 (06-01-2011 - IL)

Appellant Steven Charles Russo appeals the trial court’s order granting Dr. Kelly Goodness’s motion for summary judgment. We will reverse the trial court’s judgment.

Background Facts

The underlying cause of action concerns allegedly libelous statements that Goodness made regarding Russo’s state of mental health. The statements were in an affidavit executed by Russ... More...   $0 (05-26-2011 - TX)

In this appeal, we consider whether the circuit court erred when it sustained Gerald Connolly's ("Connolly") demurrer and held that Dunn, McCormack & MacPherson ("Dunn") failed to state a prima facie cause of action for tortious interference with a contract.

I. Facts and Proceedings Below

Dunn, a Virginia law firm, served as legal counsel to the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housi... More...   $0 (05-21-2011 - VA)

In this appeal, we consider whether the circuit court erred when it sustained a demurrer to an amended complaint alleging malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, and defamation against the law enforcement officer who obtained a warrant for the arrest of the plaintiff based upon a citizen’s complaint that ultimately proved to be unfounded.

BACKGROUND

Our consideration of the issu... More...   $0 (05-21-2011 - VA)

Gary Pitts and Pitts & Collard, LLP sued Arthur L. Schechter, Arthur L. Schechter, P.C. d/b/a Schechter & Associates, Schechter & Marshall, L.L.P., and Schechter, McElwee & Shaffer, L.L.P. for breach of contract. The contract claim was based upon an allegation that the Schechter parties failed to pay referral fees from nearly a thousand lawsuits that Pitts referred by way of nine letter agreement... More...   $0 (05-12-2011 - TX)

Nabil K. Bissada, M.D., appeals the district court’s1 grant of summary judgment to Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH), Samuel Smith, Jonathan Bates, Robert D.B. Jaquiss, Timothy Martin, Michelle Moss, Bonnie Taylor, Robert Lyle, Sandra Taylor, Debra Barrow, Patti Higginbotham, and John and Jane Does 1-10 (collectively, appellees). Dr. Bissada, a pediatric urologist, alleged appellees engaged i... More...   $0 (05-12-2011 - AR)

After the trial court found attorney Kelli M. Kennaday possessed plaintiff Leon Schimmel‟s confidential material information in a prior action, the court disqualified Kennaday and her firm, Wilke, Fleury, Hoffelt, Gould & Birney (Wilke Fleury), from its representation of Harris Levin, Community Health Associates Multispecialty Medical Group, Inc., and various other defendants (collectively, Comm... More...   $0 (05-05-2011 - CA)

The trial court denied defendants’ motion to strike plaintiff’s malicious prosecution complaint as a SLAPP, ruling the plaintiff had introduced sufficient evidence of her likelihood of succeeding on the merits.1

We reverse. We find on the undisputed facts that the defendants had probable cause to bring the underlying action, and thus plaintiff cannot establish an element of her maliciou... More...   $0 (05-03-2011 - CA)

Plaintiff-Appellant Novell, Inc. (“Novell”) appeals from the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendant-Appellee Vigilant Insurance Company (“Vigilant”). Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm.

Background

On January 20, 2004, SCO Group (“SCO”) sued Novell in state court in Utah, alleging a single cause of action—slander of tit... More...   $0 (04-29-2011 - UT)

Dr. Penny M. Wilkie filed suit against the United States Department of Health and Human Services ("the Department"), alleging, inter alia, that the Department violated her rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Specifically, Dr. Wilkie asserted that the Department violated her rights to (1) be free of sexual harassment and gender discrimination; (2) be free of a hostile work envir... More...   $0 (04-28-2011 - ND)

Appellee PBM Products, LLC (PBM) filed this action pursuant to the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. §1125(a), against Appellant Mead Johnson & Company, LLC (Mead Johnson) alleging that Mead Johnson distributed more than 1.5 million direct-to-consumer mailers that falsely claimed PBM’s baby formula products were inferior to Mead Johnson’s baby formula products. After a jury found that Mead Johnson had en... More...   $0 (04-20-2011 - VA)

The plaintiff, Phyllis E. Gillians, appeals from the summary judgment rendered by the trial court in favor of the defendants1 on her claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress arising out of the parties’ employment in the Stamford office of the department of children and families (department). The plaintiff claims that the court incorrectly determined that she failed to allege ... More...   $0 (04-20-2011 - CT)

Plaintiff-Appellant David A. Bentkowski, the Mayor of Seven Hills, Ohio, sued Defendants-Appellees Scene Magazine, Cleveland Scene Publishing, LLC, Cleveland Scene, LLC, and Village Voice Media Holdings LLC for defamation arising from an article published in a weekly publication called Cleveland Scene. The district court granted Appellees’ motion for summary judgment and Bentkowski appeals. In a... More...   $0 (04-19-2011 - OH)

This is an appeal from the registration of a Canadian defamation judgment. We reverse. Because only questions of law are at issue, we review de novo. State ex rel. Nixon v. Griffin, 291 S.W.3d 817, 819 (Mo. App. W.D. 2009).

The appellant, Ms. Lord, is an American citizen, resident of St. Charles County, Missouri, who was born in the Philippines. The respondent, Leodegaria Sanchez, is Ms. Lo... More...   $0 (04-19-2011 - MO)