CitationDoe v. TCI Cablevision, 110 S.W.3d 363, 2003 Mo. LEXIS 119, 67 U.S.P.Q.2D (BNA) 1604, 31 Media L. Rep. 2025 (Mo. July 29, 2003) Brief Fact Summary. Twist (P) was a former pro hockey player. He found that a comic book titled Spawn contained a villain called Twist, who was shown as possessing several of the same features that characterized his hockey career. He sued them, on the ground that the creators, publishers and marketers of the comic book were responsible to pay for the market value of using his name as a well-known public figure, and also to pay damages for the injury to the v ...
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United States v. Carroll Towing Co.
CitationUnited States v. Carroll Towing Co., 159 F.2d 169 (2d Cir. N.Y. Jan. 9, 1947) Brief Fact Summary. The Conners Co. (P) barge was left unwatched for 21 hours by the attendant, during which period it broke loose and sank. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A duty of care may be said to exist if the burden of reasonable precautions against harm to others is less than the product of the chances of resulting harm in terms of probability, and the magnitude of the harm. ...
State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Campbell
CitationState Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Campbell, 538 U.S. 408, 123 S. Ct. 1513, 155 L. Ed. 2d 585, 2003 U.S. LEXIS 2713, 71 U.S.L.W. 4282, 60 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. (Callaghan) 1349, 1 A.L.R. Fed. 2d 739, CCH Prod. Liab. Rep. P16,805, 2003 Cal. Daily Op. Service 2948, 2003 Daily Journal DAR 3783, 16 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 216 (U.S. Apr. 7, 2003) Brief Fact Summary. Campbell (P ) sued State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. (State Farm) (D) who were his automobile insurers, on the ground of intentional deception and misrepresentation of facts to induce him to rely on them to his injury, and ...
Snyder v. Turk
CitationSnyder v. Turk, 90 Ohio App. 3d 18 (Ohio Ct. App., Montgomery County Aug. 19, 1993) Brief Fact Summary. Snyder (P) who was a scrub nurse working with Dr. Turk (D) brought an action for battery against the doctor, on the ground that he had grabbed and shouted at her during a surgery. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Contact which breaks the reasonable standards of personal dignity may make the one performing the contact liable for battery. ...
O’Guin v. Bingham County
CitationO’Guin v. Bingham County, 122 P.3d 308, 142 Idaho 49, 2005 Ida. LEXIS 154 (Idaho Oct. 3, 2005) Brief Fact Summary. Shaun and Alex O’Guin (P) were killed while playing in a county landfill in Bingham County. Synopsis of Rule of Law. If a plaintiff needs to recover damages for a statutory violation pleading a theory of negligence as obvious violation of the statute or as being contrary to ordinary care, the plaintiff must belong to the class sought to be protected by the statute and the harm suffered by the plaintiff must be of the type the statute was intended to protect. & ...
D’Amario v. Ford Motor Co.
CitationD’Amario v. Ford Motor Co., 806 So. 2d 424, 2001 Fla. LEXIS 2277, CCH Prod. Liab. Rep. P16,211, 26 Fla. L. Weekly S 772 (Fla. Nov. 21, 2001) Brief Fact Summary. Harris (P) suffered injury when the car he was riding in, driven by an allegedly drunk friend, crashed into a tree and burst into flames. The car was allegedly over speeding at the time. Harris (P) and his mother, D’Amario (P) , filed suit on the grounds that a faulty electrical relay switch in the car, which was manufactured by the Ford Motor Co. (D), caused the explosion and fire which was responsible for injuri ...
Overseas Tankship, (UK.) Ltd. v. Morts Dock & Engineering Co., Ltd.
CitationPrivy Council 1961, A.C. 388 (1961) Brief Fact Summary. Mort’s (P) wharf was damaged by fire due to negligence. Overseas had a ship called the Wagon Mound, which negligently spilled oil over the water. When molten metal dropped by Mort’s workmen later set floating cotton waste on fire, the oil caught fire and the wharf was badly damaged. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A negligent act can be held liable only for such injury as could be reasonably expected to happen as a consequence, and not for all injury which does happen even if as a direct consequence of the act. ...
In re Arbitration between Polemis and Furness, Withy & Co., Ltd
CitationCt. App., 3 K.B. 560 (1921) Brief Fact Summary. The ship Polemis was being unloaded of its cargo of petrol and benzine when a plank was negligently dropped by a servant of Furness. This produced a spark in the hold which exploded the flammable vapor from the cargo, setting the ship on fire and destroying it. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The act in question can be directly traced to the resulting damage, and whether the damage anticipated was the damage which actually happened is insignificant in view of there being no other independent cause contributing to the damage. ...
United States v. Starrett City Associates
Citation840 F.2d 1096 (2d Cir. 1988) Brief Fact Summary. Starrett City Associates (P) was sued by the United States which sought summary judgment and permanent injunction preventing Starrett from discriminating against racial minorities in apartment rental. Starrett appealed on the ground that its tenant selection procedures were meant to achieve racial integration and were in accordance with the Fair Housing Act. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Fair Housing Act may operate to prevent rigid racial reservation systems from being maintained indefinitely to perpetuate a fixed level of integration ...
In the Matter of Baby M
Citation537 A.2d 1227 (N.J. 1988) Brief Fact Summary. Whitehead (D) went back on her contract to have and to then give up her baby fathered by Stern (P) for him to raise with his wife. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A surrogacy contract in which a woman agrees to have a child and to surrender it is an invalid one. ...
Doe a/k/a Twist v. TCI Cablevision
CitationMo. Sup. Ct., 110 S. W. 3d 363 (2003) (1984) Brief Fact Summary. Twist (P) was a former pro hockey player. He found that a comic book titled Spawn contained a villain called Twist, who was shown as possessing several of the same features that characterized his hockey career. He sued them, on the ground that the creators, publishers and marketers of the comic book were responsible to pay for the market value of using his name as a well-known public figure, and also to pay damages for the injury to the value others would be willing to pay to use his name in their product endorsements. ...
Brown v. Gobble
Citation474 S.E. 2d 289 (W.Va 1996) Brief Fact Summary. Brown (P) and Gobble (D) had a disagreement over the ownership of a two-foot wide strip of land on the boundary of their properties. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The doctrine of tacking, or using periods of adverse possession by successive predecessors to make up the time period needed to prove adverse possession, is allowed by parties claiming adverse possession. ...
Waldorff Insurance and Bonding, Inc. v. Eglin National Bank
CitationFla. Dist. Ct. App., First Dist., 453 So. 2d 1383 (1984) Brief Fact Summary. Eglin National Bank (D) argued that it had no notice of the condominium being owned by Waldorff Insurance and Bonding, Inc., and that it obtained good title on foreclosure. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A successor to legal title, in the time after a contract to convey title has been duly executed, takes title subject to all equitable interests which he has legal knowledge of. ...
Sweeney v. Sweeney
CitationConn. Sup. Ct. of Errors, 126 Conn. 391, 11 A.2d 806 (1940) Brief Fact Summary. Maurice, Sweeney’s (P) intestate husband, deeded John Sweeney property. The deed was recorded. The property was deeded back by John to Maurice, on Maurice’s wish, lest John should predecease him, but the second deed was not recorded. Synopsis of Rule of Law. If a deed has been formally executed and delivered, the presumption that the grantee assented to the transfer of the title or possession can be overcome only if there is evidence that no delivery or transfer was intended in fact. ...
Nahrstedt v. Lakeside Village Condominium Association, Inc.
CitationCal. Sup. Ct. 878 P.2d 1275 (1994) Brief Fact Summary. Nahrstedt was a resident of a common interest development in California who owned three cats. She kept them in her condo, though the development’s covenants, conditions and restrictions, (CC&Rs) prohibited it. The homeowners association exacted ongoing penalties against her for the continuing violation. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A recorded restriction on use imposed by a common interest development in California must be uniformly enforced against all residents of the development unless the restriction is unlawful ...
United States v. Veach
Citation455 F.3d 628 (6th Cir. 2006) Brief Fact Summary. After having an accident, Veach resisted arrest and threatened federal law enforcement officers. He was convicted for resisting a federal law enforcement officer under 18 U.S.C. Section 111(a)(1), and for threatening to assault and murder a federal law enforcement officer in order to prevent the officer from carrying out his official duties under 18 U.S.C. Section 115(a)(1)(B). He argued that the trial court should have included his defense of voluntary intoxication. Synopsis of Rule of Law. (1) Voluntary intoxication is not a p ...
United States v. Gementera
Citation379 F.3d 596 (9th Cir. 2004) Brief Fact Summary. Gementera (D) pleaded that the Government had violated the Sentencing Reform Act by requiring him to wear a sign specifying his crime in a public place for 8 hours as part of the required 100 hours of public service. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Making a convict wear a sign specifying his crime in a public place is related in a reasonable way to the objective of rehabilitation as stated in the statute, and so is proper under the Sentencing Reform Act. ...
State v. V.T.
CitationUtah Ct. App., 2000 Utah Ct. App. 189, 5.3d 1234 (2000) Brief Fact Summary. V.T. argued that the evidence was not sufficient to reach the conclusion that he was an accomplice in the theft of a camcorder from his relative’s apartment. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Remaining passive while a crime is being committed, and being friends with the wrongdoer, is not sufficient evidence of being an accomplice and does not incur liability. ...
State v. Norman
CitationN.C. Sup. Ct., 324 N.C. 253, 378 S.E. 2d 8 (1989) Brief Fact Summary. Norman (D) murdered her sleeping husband, and at trial, defended her conduct by pleading his habitual battery of her. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Habitual battery by a spouse is not a defense to murder. ...
State v. Formella
CitationN.H. Sup. Ct., 158 N.H. 114, 960 A.2d 722 (2008) Brief Fact Summary. Formella (D) initially served as an accomplice by being a lookout while others stole exams, but then changed his mind and decided that it was wrong to be part of the crime. He stopped serving as a lookout before the crime was committed. He argued that he could not be convicted as an accomplice to theft since he stopped participating in the crime beforehand. Synopsis of Rule of Law. An individual can be liable as an accomplice to crime where he stops his criminal complicity before the actual offense is committed but ...
Perez v. Cain
Citation529 F.3d 588 (5th Cir. 2008) Brief Fact Summary. Perez (D) shot and killed a police officer and was convicted of first-degree murder, sentenced to life without parole, but insisted that he was not guilty by reason of insanity. This assertion was supported by numerous expert witnesses for the defense. The State (P) did not present any expert testimony regarding his sanity. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Where a vast amount of expert testimony supports a defendant’s defense of insanity at the time of committing the crime, his conviction must be reversed if the state has failed to produ ...
People v. Williams
CitationCal. Sup. Ct., 4 Cal. 4th 354, 841 P.2d 961 (1992) Brief Fact Summary. In Williams’s (D) forcible rape case, a request was made by both prosecution and defense that the trial court instruct the jury to find that the defendant had reasonable and good faith but mistaken belief as to the victim’s consent. The court refused, and the jury convicted Williams of forcible rape. Synopsis of Rule of Law. In a case of forcible rape, the jury may not be given an instruction on the defendant having had reasonable and good faith but mistaken belief as to the victim’s consent unle ...
People v. Wilhelm
CitationMich. Ct. App., 190 Mich. App. 574, 476 N.W.2d 753 (1991) Brief Fact Summary. Wilhelm (D) argued that he was wrongfully prevented from bringing in evidence of the victim’s sexual conduct with another. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A rape shield statute may properly prevent evidence of the victim’s sexual conduct with another. ...
People v. Rideout
CitationMich. Ct. App., 272 Mich. App. 602, 727 N.W.2d 630 (2006) Brief Fact Summary. Rideout (D) pleaded that the accident caused by his driving while intoxicated (OWI) or visibly impaired (OWVI) was not the immediate cause of Keiser’s death. Keiser had been a passenger in the car hit by Rideout, but had thereafter reached the side of the road safely before returning to the unlit car he had been in, which was in the center of the road. While there, he was struck by another vehicle. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A defendant may not be held guilty of a crime in which his cond ...
People v. Knoller
CitationCal. Sup. Ct. 41 4th 139, 59 Cal. Rptr. 3d 157, 158 P.3d 731 (2007) Brief Fact Summary. Knoller had two dogs which attacked and killed a neighbor, Whipple, in their apartment building. Knoller was convicted of second-degree murder because the jury found that she had implied malice since she disregarded a number of warnings about the extreme danger her dogs posed in the form of severe bodily harm or death to a person. Synopsis of Rule of Law. (1) To be convicted for second-degree murder which is based on a theory of implied malice, it must be proved that the defendant had a conscious ...