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• No Personal Jurisdiction Over Across-the-Border Bar That Overserves Patron Killing Arizona Pedestrian

  Geoff Trachtenberg | February 29, 2008 12:34 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Interesting and disappointing personal jurisdiction memo opinion from Division One, Womack v. KC Arena. In short, KC operates a bar on the Nevada side of the Arizona-Nevada border, over served a patron who then drove across the state line and killed an Arizona pedestrian. Moreover, plaintiffs asserted that KC employees knew the patron lived in Bullhead City and that he would return there after...

• Tax Liability Arising Due to Confidentiality Clauses in Settlement Agreements

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 10, 2007 9:40 AM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Did you know that a confidentiality clause can have tax consequences? This was the subject of a United States Tax Court opinion in Amos v. IRS (2003), the case where Dennis Rodman kicked a courtside TV cameraman in the groin.The Court held that, if a portion of a settlement is attributable to a confidentiality agreement, that portion is taxable. It is not clear what the long-term effects are...

• Supreme Court Accepts Review in State Farm v. Premier

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 25, 2007 9:02 AM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Late last year Division One handed down an awful decision in State Farm Ins. Cos. v. Premier Manufactured Systems, Inc., in which the court addressed whether the principles of comparative fault established are applicable to the participants in the chain of distribution of an allegedly defective product. In essence, Division One held that Arizona's comparative fault statute overrules...

• Statutes and Rules that Require Mandatory Disclosure of Medical Records Violate HIPPA

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 19, 2007 8:34 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Arizona requires mandatory disclosure of medical records in medical malpractice cases and, amazingly, is currently considering a change to mandatory arbitration procedures to require the same thing. As we have often explained, these provisions violate HIPPA, the comprehensive federal scheme that provides essential privacy rights for medical records.The voice of reason is finally kicking in: ...

• Road Debris: Recipe for Motorcycle Accidents

  Geoff Trachtenberg | March 20, 2007 8:37 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Imagine riding your motorcycle down the freeway and having a tire tread or some other debris thrust into your path by an unknown vehicle. It is a prospect, in one form or another, that bikers face all the time. Often the problem for injured bikers in these types of situations is that, even if they have uninsured motorist coverage, carriers attempt to deny these claims since it is impossible to...

• 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...

• Driver Arrested For Manslaughter In Fatal Crash

  Chrissie Cole | February 17, 2009 10:46 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  The driver of a vehicle involved in a fatal car accident on February, 8 in Scottsdale has been charged with manslaughter. The woman, 25, of Phoenix, was arrested last week after being treated...

• Arizona Supreme Court Finds No Workers' Compensation Offset for Underinsured Motorist Coverage

  Geoff Trachtenberg | January 10, 2008 4:04 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Today the Arizona Supreme Court issued an opinion in Cundiff v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co. which dealt with workers' compensation offsets in underinsured motorist (UIM) claims.Pima County Deputy Sheriff Jean Cundiff was injured by a third-party while on the job, in her patrol car. Although she was paid certain workers' compensation benefits, the third-party only carried $15,000 in...

• Legal Malpractice Statutes of Limitation - Tort and Contract

  Geoff Trachtenberg | October 18, 2007 7:56 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Interesting legal malpractice case from Division Two, Keonjian v. Olcott, dealing with the issue of when the statute of limitations begins to run and whether the tort or contract limitation period applies.The essence of the alleged malpractice was that the plaintiff got bad advice from her attorney concerning the deeding of some land that she co-owned with another party. The trial court had...

• 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."