While still a student, I wrote what would become my first published law journal article, which was on the topic of negligent infliction of emotional distress (“NIED”). Since then, I have remained fascinated by that particular tort. Part of my fascination derives from the somewhat arbitrary bases used for determining who may and who may not recover under the tort’s…
Many more moons have passed than I care to count since we first discussed the doctrine of respondeat superior. (To borrow, a line, “I don’t remember growing older”). Translated from Latin to English, the doctrine means to let the master answer. It obligates a principal to be liable for the acts of its agent done within the course and scope…
Once again, our discussion takes us outside of Indiana as we look to a recent opinion from the Ninth Circuit that sheds some important light into how to challenge removal of class actions to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”). Before we dive into Harris v. KM Industries, Inc., we first need to take a look at…
It has been fairly quiet in the realm of interesting civil caselaw out of the Seventh Circuit and Indiana appellate courts. As a result, this week, we cast our net a bit broader to snag a recent decision from New York’s highest court, which answered a question certified to it by the Second Circuit, that provides an opportunity to discuss…
After a couple fairly quiet weeks in Indiana and Seventh Circuit caselaw, this week, the Indiana Court of Appeals and the Seventh Circuit have handed down several notable cases. As always, the Hoosier Litigation Blog has you covered. Our primary focus will be on the question of when a healthcare provider may be held liable for the acts of an…
Today’s discussion takes back to one of the most meaningful and still developing issues in Indiana personal-injury law: the question of under what circumstances does a property owner owe a duty to protect invitees to the property from criminal acts. The law is clear, landowners are not insurers of their invitees’ safety. That does not mean, however, that a landowner…
In today’s installment of the Hoosier Litigation Blog, we look to a recent decision from the Indiana Court of Appeals that provided a rare look at the breadth and scope of Indiana’s Good Samaritan Law (the “GSL”). The case is McGowen v. Montes, which was issued last week. While I support the utility of Good Samaritan laws, I think the…
Generally, we try to keep posts on the Hoosier Law Blog fairly accessible to both lawyers and non-lawyers. This post, however, is unavoidably esoteric. The cause for our discussion is the Indiana Supreme Court’s opinion Bayer Corp. v. Leach, from earlier today. The gravamen of the case is not overly controversial: where a complaint presents multiple sets of facts each…
Today, we look back to a prognostication I made twice—once in a post for the Hoosier Litigation Blog and the other for Litigation Commentary & Review: Can overzealous challenges to Article III standing lead to foreclosing defendants’ abilities to remove cases from state to federal court? The catalyst for returning to the topic is the Seventh Circuit’s recent decision Bryant…
Today’s discussion returns us to a topic we’ve examined with a tremendous amount of regularity, over the past two years: when is a possessor of land—almost invariably a business—liable for the criminal acts of one person on another. We first looked to the matter following the Indiana Court of Appeals’ ruling in Hamilton v. Steak ’n Shake Operations, Inc., which…