(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of this wrongful death case and its proceedings.) After hearing this evidence and argument, the jury returned a $10 million punitive award that the trial court reduced to $5 million. The Second District reversed,…
(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of this wrongful death case and its proceedings.) F. Universal Exercised Complete or Substantial Control Over the Franchisee Courts focus on the right to control in determining whether a true agency relationship exists between…
(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of this wrongful death case and its proceedings.) E. Universal Fails to Negate Decedent’s Asbestos Exposure from 1981 to 1982 Universal in its motion makes no mention of Tina Gomez’s alleged exposure to asbestos…
(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of this wrongful death case and its proceedings.) 2. Holdgrafer v. Unocal In Holdgrafer, decided by the Court of Appeal for the Second District, the defendant was Unocal, an oil company that owned a…
(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of this wrongful death case and its proceedings.) C. Universal Fails to Meet Its Initial Burden in Moving for Summary Judgment Universal in its moving papers was required to affirmatively establish not only that…
(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of this wrongful death case and its proceedings.) 1. State Farm v. Campbell The first case to explicitly discuss the use of other acts evidence for purposes of assessing reprehensibility in punitive damages trials…
(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of this wrongful death case and its proceedings.) B. Universal’s Motion for Summary Adjudication is Fatally Flawed Code of Civil Procedure section 437c(f)(1) only permits courts to summarily adjudicate that one or more causes…
(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of this wrongful death case and its proceedings.) Defendant’s Bench Brief on the Relevance of “Dissimilar Conduct” Evidence to “Reprehensibility” Plaintiff acknowledges, as she must, that there has been a sea change in the…
(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of this wrongful death case and its proceedings.) DISCUSSION A. Moving Defendant’s Burden of Proof A party moving for summary judgment bears the burden of persuasion that there is no triable issue of material…
(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of this wrongful death case and its proceedings.) E. Outstanding Discovery Plaintiffs have not concluded the depositions of Universal’s PMK and custodian of records. Universal’s designated PMK, Edwin Ferguson, admitted that he has no…