Around The Firm

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Michael A. Patterson and Daniel G. Lloyd won summary judgment in Payne v. Peninsula Sch. Dist., a federal civil-rights action arising out of a school district’s special education program. The plaintiff was an autistic boy’s mother, who claimed the teacher had subjected the student to improper therapy and violated state law. Mike and Dan persuaded the court to dismiss all claims because plaintiffs failed to exhaust administrative remedies through the state education program. … Tammy L. Williams won a defense jury verdict in Stockdale v. ADESA Corp. Plaintiff attended an auto auction and walked in front of a vehicle being sold. The vehicle moved forward slowly, and the plaintiff claimed the bumper hit his knee. The incident was recorded on videotape. While the jury found the auction driver to be negligent for moving forward when plaintiff was near the bumper, they agreed with Tammy that the event was not the cause of plaintiff’s knee problems. The video showed no major impact, and plaintiff had had knee problems for 21 years.

Jeffrey P. Downer and Jenny M. Downey won dismissal in Buchanan v. Tobacco, a professional-liability claim against an appraiser. Plaintiff claimed to be a victim of a “foreclosure rescue” scam, in which plaintiff was facing foreclosure by her mortgage lender, and other defendants offered financial relief but allegedly tricked plaintiff into quitclaiming her house to them. Those defendants later took out their own mortgage. Plaintiff alleged that the appraiser inflated his appraisal so that the co-defendants could maximize their ill-gotten gains. The court agreed that plaintiff failed to state a claim against the appraiser and dismissed the complaint against him. … In Gayte v. Burkebile, Jeff Downer, Jenny Downey, and Melisa K. Thompson won summary judgment of dismissal of a real estate broker who listed a house for sale that was on 50 feet of waterfront property. Plaintiff, a developer, bought the property subject to a feasibility contingency. Plaintiff saw that 14 more feet of waterfront belonging to a neighbor was fenced in. After consulting his own real estate agent, a lawyer, and a surveyor, he concluded that he would own the extra 14 feet through adverse possession. He waived his feasibility contingency, and the transaction closed. He later learned of a prior agreement between the seller by which the neighbor retained ownership of the 14 feet. Plaintiff sued the listing broker for failing to disclose the agreement. Jeff, Jenny, and Melisa moved for summary judgment because the listing broker did not know of the agreement and never said that an adverse-possession claim existed, and since plaintiff was going to determine the value of the property for himself, he had no legal right to rely on the nondisclosure. The court agreed and dismissed all claims against the listing broker. … Michael A. Guadagno won a jury trial in Gelman v. Costco, a premises-liability case. The plaintiff walked into a sign in defendant’s parking lot and suffered facial scarring. He alleged that the sign’s placement was too low and was a dangerous condition. Mike argued to the jury that the defendant was not negligent, because the sign was not dangerous and was in plain sight to the plaintiff. The jury returned a defense verdict after deliberating for only 15 minutes. ... Duncan K. Fobes and Marc Rosenberg won summary judgment in Yi v. Kim. Plaintiffs’ three-year-old son died when struck by a vehicle in a church parking lot. The court held that alleged design flaws in the parking lot were not the cause of the accident and dismissed the case.