Case Summaries
Probate Trusts
Labor & Employment Law
Bankruptcy Law
Corporation & Enterprise Law
Probate Trusts
[10/29]
Johnson v. Greenelsh
In proceedings involving an arbitration petition by one co-trustee of a family trust and plaintiff-co-trustee's petition to enforce a no contest clause, appellate court's judgment against defendant-co-trustee is reversed as a challenge to a surviving spouse's mental capacity to transfer trust assets and appoint a successor trustee did not violate the no contest clause in a family trust. A proceeding contesting a settlor's mental competence to exercise rights under a trust does not amount to an attack on the trust itself, unless it seeks to thwart the estate plan established by the trust.
[10/27]
Rands v. Rands
Probate court's order determining that settlor's revocation of a trust is ineffective due to his lack of capacity is affirmed as the certifications of mental competence are insufficient because neither physician who found mental competence was aware of the earlier certifications of mental incompetence.
[10/16]
Nordwind v. Rowland
In an action for legal malpractice, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where plaintiffs failed to show actual injury because, under German law, they would have only been entitled to 50% of the subject inheritance regardless of any malpractice on the part of their counsel.
[10/08]
Estate of Farnam v. Comm'r. of Int'l. Rev.
In a taxpayer's appeal from the tax court's decision disallowing a claimed deduction, the order is affirmed where an "interest" in a corporation under I.R.C. section 2057(a) is necessarily limited to an equity or ownership interest, and does not include a creditor's "interest" in an unsecured debt owed by the corporation.
[10/01]
US v. Flowers
In an action by the U.S. seeking reformation of a trust provision that sought to pass part of an estate to a family member free and clear of tax obligations, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where the government was unable to demonstrate any entitlement to the disputed money by virtue of its contract with defendant establishing a payment plan for past due taxes.
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Labor & Employment Law
[11/04]
Liberty Mut. ins. Co. v. Hurlbut
In a constitutional challenge to two amendments to the New York Workers' Compensation Law, the district court's judgment abstaining from the case is affirmed where Burford abstention was appropriate because federal court intervention would be disruptive of a carefully established state system, and might also yield inconsistent and therefore conflicting results.
[11/03]
McCullough v. AEGON USA, Inc.
In an ERISA action alleging that various employee benefit plan fiduciaries breached their fiduciary duties to the plan and engaged in prohibited transactions, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where 29 U.S.C. section 1132(a)(2) did not permit the plaintiffs to bring suit because the plan's surplus was sufficiently large that the investment loss did not cause actual injury to plaintiffs' interests in the plan.
[11/02]
Solis v. Local 234, Transp. Workers Union
In Labor Secretary's enforcement action under the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, 29 U.S.C. section 401, against Local 234 of the Transit Workers Union, district court's dismissal of the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is reversed and remanded where: 1) because a union member's post-election protest was a valid exercise of an available remedy, his subsequent administrative complaint to the Secretary was timely; and 2) Secretary's LMRDA enforcement action based on that administrative complaint is judicially sound.
[11/02]
Schachter v. Citigroup, Inc.
In a putative class action against Citigroup by its former employees challenging the company's forfeiture provision of a voluntary employee incentive compensation plan (Plan) upon termination in violation of Labor Code section 201 and 202, judgment of the court of appeals granting Citigroup's motion for summary judgment is affirmed as the company Plan's forfeiture provision does not run afoul of sections 201 or 202 because no earned wages remain unpaid upon termination for cause or resignation.
[10/29]
Harris v. City of Santa Monica
In plaintiff's pregnancy discrimination suit against a city, trial court's judgment in favor of plaintiff is reversed and remanded where: 1) the court's refusal to instruct the jury with the mixed-motive defense, BAJI No. 12.26, prejudiced the city; and 2) the trial court properly denied defendant's JNOV.
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Bankruptcy Law
[11/06]
In re: Smith
Order of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel reversing an order of the Bankruptcy Court is affirmed as a late alimony payment penalty was not a domestic support obligation, and as such, the ex-wife's claim was a general unsecured claim not entitled to priority status and consequently dischargeable.
[11/05]
In re: Bender
In a bankruptcy adversary action seeking avoidance of the transfer of a parcel of real property from the debtor to defendant, defendant's appeal from the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel's (BAP) affirmance of the bankruptcy court's ruling that the doctrine of equitable tolling applied to the trustee's filing of the proceeding is dismissed where the BAP's order was nonfinal.
[11/05]
Ogle v. Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Md.
In an appeal from the district court's affirmance of the bankruptcy court's order requiring a liquidating trust to pay post-petition attorneys' fees on a claim that stemmed from a pre-petition indemnity agreement, the judgment is affirmed where such claims are categorically allowable.
[11/03]
In re: Paige
In an appeal from the bankruptcy court's decision confirming appellees' joint bankruptcy reorganization plan and denying appellants' competing plan, dismissal of the appeal as moot is reversed where: 1) the competing plan could theoretically be confirmed without requiring disgorgement of payments made to third-party creditors; and 2) reversal of the existing plan would not require the undoing of complex transactions.
[10/30]
In the Matter of: Proeducation Int'l. Inc.
In an appeal from the district court's affirmance of the bankruptcy court's order disqualifying counsel for a creditor, the order is reversed where: 1) the bankruptcy court should have considered counsel's evidence of his lack of involvement with the debtor while at his prior law firm in making its decision; and 2) counsel presented sufficient evidence to demonstrate that he did not operate under a conflict of interest when he undertook the representation of creditor.
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Corporation & Enterprise Law
[11/06]
Ferro Corp. v. Cookson Group, PLC
In plaintiff's suit against defendant for breach of its duty to defend and indemnify arising from antitrust lawsuits brought against plaintiff, summary judgment for defendants and dismissal of all of plaintiff's claims is affirmed as there are no allegations made against plaintiff in the antitrust complaints or amended complaints based on principles of successor liability, and the antitrust cases do not state claims that potentially or arguably fall within the purview of the asset purchase agreement duty to defend.
[10/29]
In Re: Constar Int'l Inc. Sec. Litig.
In plaintiffs' securities class action arising from their purchase of defendant's registered shares , district court's grant of the class certification is affirmed where the Rule 23 class certification standard applied by the district court was proper.
[10/29]
Berg & Berg Enters., LLC. v. Boyle
In plaintiff's breach of fiduciary duty against defendants, trial court's sustaining of defendant's demurrers to the third amended complaint is affirmed as plaintiff failed to plead a cognizable claim for breach of fiduciary duty against the individual directors. Furthermore, even if a cognizable claim had been alleged, on the pleaded facts, the business judgment rule insulated the directors from personal liability on the alleged claims for breach of fiduciary duty as a matter of law.
[10/28]
Marriott Int'l. Resorts, LP. v. US
In a partnership-taxation case involving Marriott, United States Court of Federal Claims' grant of summary judgment in favor of the government is affirmed in its determination that in 1994 the obligation to close a short sale qualified as a liability under I.R.C. section 753 and that the IRS properly adjusted the outside basis of the Marriott partners for the 1994 tax year to account for the partnership's assumption of the obligation to close certain short sales.
[10/27]
Delay v. Rosenthal Collins Group, LLC
In plaintiff's action against his former employer, seeking indemnification for legal expenses incurred in successfully defending a prior suit brought against him under the Commodities Exchange Act (CEA), dismissal of his claim on the ground that it was preempted by federal law is vacated and remanded as Congress did not intend to displace the state-law indemnification rights, if any, of parties found not to have violated the CEA.
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