Citation532 U.S. 514, 121 S.Ct. 1752, 149 L.Ed.2d 787 (2001) Brief Fact Summary. During fiery collective-bargaining negotiations, two members of a teachers’ union called to discuss the status of the negotiations, referencing the possible need to “do work” on the school board members at their homes. Reporter Vopper received from the head of a local taxpayers’ organization that opposed the union’s demands a tape of the conversation between the two union members that had been intercepted by an unknown person. Vopper broadcasted the conversation on the radio, causing ...
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Trout Point Lodge v. Handshoe
Citation729 F.3d 481 Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiff sought enforcement of a defamation-based default judgment against plaintiff that was obtained in Canada. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A domestic court may recognize or enforce a foreign judgment for defamation if the law of the foreign forum provides free-speech protection coextensive with domestic law or the facts proven in the foreign proceeding are sufficient to establish a defamation claim under domestic law. ...
Teeters v. Currey
Citation518 S.W.2d 512 Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiff underwent a procedure to prevent her from having more children. The procedure was unsuccessful and she delivered a premature child as a result. She brought suit against the defendant, the physician who performed the operation. Defendant alleged that the suit was barred by Tennessee’s statute of limitations. Synopsis of Rule of Law. In a medical malpractice suit, a cause of action begins to accrue and the statute of limitations begins to run when the patient discovers or reasonably should have discovered ...
Deuser v. Vecera
Citation139 F.3d 1190 Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiff was arrested at a fair by defendant for public urination. Defendant released the intoxicated plaintiff in a parking lot that was ten blocks away from the site of the fair. Plaintiff wandered onto an interstate highway, where he was struck and killed by a motorist. Plaintiff’s survivors brought suit for wrongful death. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The United States is shielded from liability when it exercises sound judgment and discretionary action and its conduct is founded in social, economic, or political g ...
Italian Cowboy Partners, Ltd. v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am.
Citation341 S.W.3d 323, 54 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 822 Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiffs leased a property for their restaurant after being assured that the building was practically new and had no problems. Plaintiffs later learned that a severe odor plagued their restaurant’s site. They brought suit for misrepresentation. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Whether a a statement is an actionable statement of fact or purely an opinion depends on the circumstances, and special or one-sided knowledge may lead to the conclusion that a statement is one of fact. ...
Belli v. Orlando Daily Newspapers, Inc.
Citation389 F.2d 579, cert. denied 393 U.S. 825, 89 S.Ct. 88, 21 L.Ed.2d 96 (1968) Brief Fact Summary. Defendant printed a false statement (which it further embellished) about plaintiff in the gossip column of its newspaper. Plaintiff brought suit for libel and slander. Synopsis of Rule of Law. If a statement is capable of carrying two meanings (one being defamatory and the other not), then it is up for a jury to determine whether the statement conveyed a defamatory meaning. ...
Saleem v. Corporate Transportation Group, Ltd.
Citation854 F.3d 131 (2d Cir. 2017) Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiffs are drivers and franchisees of black-car services owned and franchised out by the defendants. Plaintiffs have a good deal of autonomy over their work in nearly every aspect. Plaintiffs are asserting that defendants owe them unpaid overtime. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Determining whether an individual is an employee or an independent contractor requires analyzing the economic realities of the work situation. A high degree of autonomy indicates that one is an independent contractor. ...
BV Nederlandse Industrie Van Eiprodukten v. Rembrandt Enterprises, Inc.
Citation. [2019] EWCA Civ 596 Brief Fact Summary. The plaintiff, a US company, contracted with the defendant, a Netherlands-based company, for the supply of egg products during the avian flu epidemic in the US. The defendant company after forming the first contract with the plaintiff raised its prices in order to cover the costs of compliance with US regulations. The plaintiff agreed to the price increase, forming a second contract. The plaintiff later alleged that the defendant fraudulently misrepresented the nature of the cost increase, because the increase included the element of p ...
Romer v. Evans
Citation1 Brief Fact Summary. The enactment challenged here is an amendment to the Colorado Constitution that repeals local ordinances that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Fourteenth Amendment’s promise that no person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws must co-exist with the practical necessity that most legislation classifies for one purpose or another, with resulting disadvantage to various groups or persons. ...
Zivotofsky v. Kerry
Citation135 S. Ct. 2076 (2015) Brief Fact Summary. The State Department did not allow any country to be listed as the place of birth on passports for citizens born in Jerusalem. In spite of this, Congress passed a law allowing citizens born in Jerusalem to list their birthplace as “Jerusalem, Israel.” Synopsis of Rule of Law. The president has the exclusive authority to recognize foreign nations and governments. ...
Zablocki v. Redhail
Citation434 U.S. 374 (1978) Brief Fact Summary. After being denied a marriage license because of his failure to comply with the Wisconsin statute, appellee challenged the statute as violative of the Equal Protection Clause. Synopsis of Rule of Law. When a statutory classification significantly interferes with the exercise of a fundamental right, it cannot be upheld unless it is supported by sufficiently important state interests and is closely tailored to effectuate only those interests. ...
Willson v. The Black Bird Creek Marsh Company
Citation. 27 U.S. (2 Pet.) 245 (1829) Brief Fact Summary. A state law empowered Plaintiff to build a dam in a creek, obstructing navigation of the creek by Defendants and others. Defendants broke the dam. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A state law affecting interstate commerce does not conflict with Congress’ commerce power in its dormant state—that is, where Congress has not utilized its commerce power to regulate the activity at issue. ...
West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish
Citation300 U.S. 379 (1937) Brief Fact Summary. West Coast Hotel violated a state minimum wage law for women workers. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Minimum wage laws for women do not violate the Due Process Clause. ...
United States v. Curtiss-Wright
Citation299 U.S. 304 (1936) Brief Fact Summary. The respondent argued that the delegation of the power to prescribe the sale of arms to certain countries by Congress to the President is invalid under the Constitution. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The President is the sole organ of the nation in its external relations, and its sole representative with foreign nations. ...
United Haulers v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority
Citation550 U.S. 330 (2007) Brief Fact Summary. The private haulers challenged the county ordinance requiring that all solid waste generated within the Counties be delivered to the Authority’s processing sites. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Court will uphold a nondiscriminatory statute unless the burden imposed on interstate commerce is clearly excessive in relation to the putative local benefits. ...
State Farm v. Campbell
Citation538 U.S. 408 (2003) Brief Fact Summary. Campbell brought a bad faith action against its insurance company, State Farm. The jury awarded Campbell $145 million in punitive damages but the trial court reduced to $25 million. Synopsis of Rule of Law. By means of punitive damages, a State may impose upon a defendant in a civil case. While States possess discretion over the imposition of punitive damages, there are procedural and substantive constitutional limitations on these awards. ...
South Dakota v. Dole
Citation483 U.S. 203 (1987) Brief Fact Summary. South Dakota’s minimum drinking age was nineteen years old, and Congress passed a law establishing a national minimum drinking age of twenty-one years old. Synopsis of Rule of Law. There are four limitations to Congress’ spending power: (1) the exercise of the spending power must be in pursuit of the general welfare; (2) if Congress wants to condition states’ receipt of federal funds, it must do so unambiguously, enabling states to make an informed choice; (3) conditions on federal grants may be illegitim ...
Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action
Citation134 S. Ct. 1623 (2014) Brief Fact Summary. The respondent challenged Michigan’s policy of considering racial preferences in governmental decisions, in particular with respect to school admissions. Synopsis of Rule of Law. When hurt or injury is inflicted on racial minorities by the encouragement or command of laws or other state action, the Constitution requires redress by the courts. ...
Schneiderman v. United States
Citation320 U.S. 118 (1943) Brief Fact Summary. Schneiderman, a naturalized citizen, was a member of workers’/Communist political organizations. Synopsis of Rule of Law. One who believes in certain changes to the United States’ political system and Constitution can still be attached to the Constitution for citizenship purposes. Additionally, membership in an organization that could merely be interpreted to believe in the violent and forceful overthrow of the United States government—that is, where it is disputed that the organization holds this belie ...
Roe v. Wade
Citation410 U.S. 113 (1973) Brief Fact Summary. The appellant attacked the Texas statutes alleging that they improperly invade a right, said to be possessed by the pregnant woman, to choose to terminate her pregnancy. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Only personal rights that can be deemed fundamental or implicit in the concept of ordered liberty are protected by the Constitution. ...
NFIB v. Sebelius (on the Commerce Clause)
Citation132 S. Ct. 2566 (2012) Brief Fact Summary. Congress passed a law requiring individuals to maintain health care. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The individual mandate provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was an invalid exercise of the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause. By requiring individuals to purchase health insurance, the government was not regulating commerce, but creating it. ...
McBurney v. Young
Citation133 S. Ct. 1709 (2013) Brief Fact Summary. The Virginia Freedom of Information Act granted citizens of Virginia the right to inspect and copy all public records. It did not grant this right to citizens of other states. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The citizens-only provision of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act does not violate the Constitution. States may grant their own citizens the right to access public records without granting that same right to citizens of other states. The right to access public information is not a fundamental privilege ...
Loving v. Virginia
Citation388 U.S. 1 (1967) Brief Fact Summary. The petitioner is an African American woman and married a white man in the District of Columbia. They moved to Virginia, where they were convicted of violating Virginia’s criminal ban on miscegenation. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Equal Protection Clause demands that racial classifications must be shown to be necessary to the accomplishment of some permissible state objective, independent of the racial discrimination which it was the object of the Fourteenth Amendment to eliminate. ...
Lochner v. New York
Citation198 U.S. 45 (1905) Brief Fact Summary. The petitioner had been indicted under the New York statute – no employee shall be required or permitted to work in a biscuit, bread or cake bakery more than sixty hours in any one week or more than ten hours in any one day – and claimed it violated the Due Process Clause. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The state has the power to prevent the individual from making certain kinds of contracts, and in regard to them the Federal Constitution offers no protection. If the contract be one which the state has the right t ...
Johnson v. California
Citation543 U.S. 499 (2005) Brief Fact Summary. The petitioner challenged the California Department of Corrections’ practice of racially segregating prisoners in double cells in reception centers for up to 60 days each time they enter a new correctional facility. Synopsis of Rule of Law. All racial classifications must be shown to be necessary to the accomplishment of some permissible state objective, independent of the racial discrimination which it was the object of the Fourteenth Amendment to eliminate. ...