This case is an insurance coverage dispute in which IFCO Systems North America sought a judicial declaration that its general liability policy with American Home Assurance Company covered claims brought by Rite Aid for over $1.5 million in goods allegedly stolen by IFCO employees. The court granted the insurer's motion for summary judgment, ruling that the policy did not provide coverage or a duty to defend. Georgia law, which governs the policy, defines an "occurrence" as an "accident," which requires an unintentional act, and the underlying Rite Aid complaint centered on intentional acts such as conversion and theft even when pled alongside negligence or breach of contract claims. The court reasoned that whether coverage exists is determined by the allegations in the underlying complaint and that intentional employee theft cannot constitute an accident under the policy language.
The case involved Ann Kramer, an employee of the Board of Education of Baltimore County since 1998, alleging she was denied promotions to Construction Specialist positions given to less qualified male candidates and paid less than men performing similar work, in violation of Title VII, the federal Equal Pay Act, and the Maryland Equal Pay Act. The defendant moved to dismiss, contending the Title VII claim was untimely filed more than 90 days after the first right-to-sue notice and that the state equal pay law did not apply to public school employers. The court denied the motion, finding the suit timely because it was filed within 90 days of the second notice from the EEOC and concluding that the Maryland Equal Pay Act applies to the defendant as its terms reach public school employees.
This case involves a longshoreman who slipped and fell on an icy ship deck while working as a deck foreman during coal loading operations in February 2007, alleging negligence by the vessel owner. The plaintiff claimed that the ship's Chief Officer had been warned about the ice and had promised to clear paths and apply salt and sand, but failed to do so. The defendant shipowner moved for summary judgment, arguing that under Scindia Steam Navigation Co. v. De Los Santos, shipowners owe no duty to protect longshoremen from open and obvious dangers like ice after an ice storm. The court denied the defendant's motion, finding potential issues of fact regarding whether the Chief Officer's assurances created a duty or justified reliance by the plaintiff, and held the plaintiff's cross-motion for summary judgment open for additional briefing from the defendant.
This case involves a wrongful death claim by the widow and son of Jimmy Wayne Streeter, who died in 2006 when a portion of a calciner start-up stack from a W.R. Grace plant fell and struck his maintenance truck. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants negligently designed, manufactured, and erected the stack as part of constructing a new FCC plant completed in 1995. The defendants moved for summary judgment, arguing that the claims were barred by Maryland's ten-year statute of repose for architects, engineers, and contractors. The court granted the motion, finding that the improvement to real property was completed more than ten years before the accident, thus barring the action under the statute regardless of when the injury occurred.
This case is a citizen suit under the Clean Water Act brought by environmental groups against a poultry farm and Perdue Farms Inc. as an integrator, alleging illegal discharges of pollutants like fecal coliform, E. coli, nitrogen, and phosphorus from the farm's CAFO into a ditch leading to a river, in violation of NPDES permit requirements or a zero-discharge standard. The defendants moved to dismiss under Rules 12(b)(1) and (6), arguing insufficient notice for the citizen suit, lack of ongoing violation, no liability for the integrator, and failure to state a claim connecting the farm to the pollutants. The court denied the motions in part, holding that the complaint sufficiently alleged an ongoing violation and a reasonable inference of discharge from the CAFO's production area, while granting them in part on other grounds such as certain notice or standing issues.
