All Topics

• Arizona Courts Have General Personal Jurisdiction over Foreign Insurers

  Geoff Trachtenberg | August 27, 2007 2:14 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  New decision from Division One, Bohreer v. Erie Ins. Exch.. Bohreer holds that an Arizona court has general personal jurisdiction over a foreign insurer which has appointed the Director of Insurance as an agent for service of process and has not withdrawn such qualification or appointment, but has ceased doing business in the state prior to the acts underlying the complaint. The Court held...

• Dog Food Recalled Due to Salmonella

  Courtney Mills | August 22, 2007 11:38 AM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Mars Petcare has announced in tandem with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that it is recalling its 'Red Flannel Adult Formula' dry dog food and its 'Krasdale Gravy' dry dog food. Mars Petcare has issued this recall because of a potential for the dog food to be contaminated with Salmonella.The FDA and Mars Petcare are under taking the recall as a precautionary measure after FDA...

• Rescue Crews Send Mike Down to Check on Miners

  Courtney Mills | August 10, 2007 11:28 AM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Rescue efforts involving over a hundred of people in Huntington, Utah have lasted several torturous days as workers struggled to find trapped colleagues. Six miners were trapped 1,500 feet beneath collapsed rubble in a coal mine, the unfortunate result of a disastrous mining accident that occurred early Monday, August 6. The fate of the men has not yet been established.Early rescue efforts...

• Man Paralyzed with Botulism Poisoning

  Jenny Albano | August 03, 2007 4:20 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  A man in New Mexico was found to have botulism poisoning. State health officials are trying to figure out if the man ate any food that was included in the Castelberry's Food Co. recall.Castleberry's Food Company has recalled over 90 different brands of canned food and pet food because cans of hot dog chili sauce were found to contain the bacterium that causes botulism.The 52 year-old man, whose...

• WHO: Food Safety Problem is Global, Not Just China

  Jenny Albano | July 17, 2007 1:12 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Top World Health Organization (WHO) officials stated that China is not the only place that has food safety problems. The United Nations agency receives around 200 reports of contaminated food every month in its 193 states with membership."I have to say that food safety is a big problem for both developed and developing countries," said Margaret Chan, WHO director-general.China, where poorly...

• Lessons On What Not To Do When Prosecuting a Claim

  Geoff Trachtenberg | June 20, 2007 10:35 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  It was hard for me not to grin when reading the comedy of errors in Harris dba Angel Team Home Care, LLC v. Cochise Health Systems. In my view, it is a recipe legal malpractice.The suit arises from a dispute between a home health care company (Angel Team) and a division of the Cochise County Health and Social Services (CHS), and a CHS employee, Denise Pederson. Although the Court does not say...

• Court Holds Offer of Judgment Sanctions Include All Reasonable Expert Fees

  Geoff Trachtenberg | June 19, 2007 5:18 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Division One handed down Levy v. Alfaro today which holds that Rule 68 sanctions include all reasonable expert witness fees after the offer, not just those fees for testifying at trial. The decision is no surprise to those of us who regulaly try cases, but I suppose it is good to have it "clarified."

• Judicial Officers are Subject to the "De Facto Officer" Doctrine and Failure to Object to the Appointment of a Judge Pro Tempore is a Procedural Defect That Can Be Waived

  Geoff Trachtenberg | June 08, 2007 8:49 AM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Division One just handed down Garner v. Schindler, a short and sweet opinion on the nature of judges pro tempore (I am a judge pro tempore, by the way). In sum, the appellant had a probate dispute litigated before a judge pro tempore and, after the case was over, decided to raise (for the first time) hyper-technical defects in the judge's appointment.The Court of Appeals, awknoweldged that...

• Paternity Statutes Do Not Apply to Wrongful Death Actions Involving Unborn Children

  Geoff Trachtenberg | June 07, 2007 5:43 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  These are complicated times. It seems that, in addition to proving wrongful death, when the decedent is an unborn child, you had better be able to prove paternity as well.In the case, Aranda v. Cardenas, both the mother and her unborn child were apparently subject to fatal medical malpractice. The Defendants, however, disputed whether the unborn child's father was indeed the child's father,...

• Directors Not Liable for the Misrepresentations of Their Agents Absent a Showing They Had "Knowledge" of the Misrepresentations

  Geoff Trachtenberg | June 05, 2007 10:17 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Judge Kessler of Division One just handed down another one of his massive opinions (this is not a criticism, just an observation). He seems to be a prolific writer and, my guess, a prolific reader as well.The case, Dawson v. Withycombe, marks another important milestone in the development of Arizona's corporate law. It follows in the footsteps of Wells Fargo Bank v. Arizona Laborers, Teamsters...