Case Summaries

Bankruptcy Law

[05/22] Hedlund v. The Educational Resources Institute, Inc.
The bankruptcy court did not err in granting a partial discharge of the debtor's student loans under 11 U.S.C. section 523(a)(8), and the district court's judgment holding otherwise is reversed and remanded, where: 1) the district court erred by reviewing the bankruptcy court's good faith finding de novo, rather than for clear error; and 2) the bankruptcy court's finding of good faith was not clearly erroneous.

[05/21] In Re: Majestic Star Casino LLC
Summary judgment to debtors and certain of its subsidiaries and affiliates on their motion to avoid its controlling entity's termination of its status as an "S" corporation, an entity type that is not subject to federal taxation is vacated and remanded with directions to dismiss the complaint for lack of jurisdiction, where: 1) S-corp status is not "property" within the meaning of the Internal Revenue Code; 2) the debtors' QSub status was not "property" and the Bankruptcy Court's contrary conclusion was error; 3) even if the debtors' QSub status were "property," it is not properly seen as property of debtors' bankruptcy estate, and the contrary conclusion of the Bankruptcy Court cannot stand; and 4) debtors do not have standing to challenge the revocation of the tax status by its corporate parent.

[05/17] Wilson v. Dollar General Corporation
Summary judgment for defendant-employer on plaintiff's claim that defendant failed to provide a reasonable accommodation for his disability in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act is affirmed, where: 1) plaintiff had standing to maintain his claim despite his bankruptcy filing because, due to the powers vested in the Chapter 13 debtor and trustee, a Chapter 13 debtor may retain standing to bring his pre-bankruptcy petition claims; but 2) plaintiff was unable to show he could perform the essential functions of his position with a reasonable accommodation.

[05/13] Bullock v. BankChampaign, N. A.
The term "defalcation" in the 11 U.S.C. section 532(a)(4) of the Bankruptcy Code includes a culpable state of mind requirement involving knowledge of, or gross recklessness in respect to, the improper nature of the fiduciary behavior, and thus the lower courts' holdings that petitioner-debtor's debts were not dischargeable pursuant to section 523(a)(4) because the debts fell within section 523(a)(4)'s exception "as a debt for defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity," under an "objective recklessness" standard, is vacated and remanded.

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Family Law

[05/14] Hofmann v. Sender
The district court's determination that the parties' children were habitually resident in Canada under the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (ICARA), and, therefore, were ordered returned to Canada for further legal proceedings, is affirmed, where: 1) this appeal has not been rendered moot by the fact that the children have been returned to Canada pursuant to the district court's order; and 2) for purposes of the Hague Convention, the parties' last shared intent with respect to their children's residence was that they reside in Canada.

[05/09] In re I.J.
A father's prolonged and egregious sexual abuse of his own child may provide substantial evidence to support a finding that all his children are juvenile court dependents, and here the father's abuse of his daughter supports a determination that his sons are juvenile court dependents.

[04/30] Granger v. Misercola
The Family Court's order awarding petitioner periodic four-hour visits at the prison where he resided, with his child, who was then three years old, is affirmed, where: 1) the lower courts used the appropriate legal standard, applying the rebuttable presumption in favor of visitation and considering whether respondent rebutted the presumption through showing, by a preponderance of the evidence, that visitation would be harmful to the child; and 2) there is support in the record for the finding that the travel would not be harmful to the welfare of the child, and that petitioner made efforts to establish a meaningful relationship with the child.

[04/29] McBurney v. Young
Virginia's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which grants Virginia citizens access to all public records, but grants no such right to non-Virginians, does not violate the Privileges and Immunities Clause, which protects only those privileges and immunities that are "fundamental," nor does it violate the dormant Commerce Clause.

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Workers' Comp

[04/26] CA Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation v. State Personnel Board (Moya)
The Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act excepts internal workers' compensation fraud investigations from the one-year limitations period established in Government Code section 3304(d)(1).

[04/22] County of Sacramento v. WCAB
An award by the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (Board) is annulled and remanded, where the factual basis of the evaluator's opinion, as revealed in her reports and deposition, do not constitute substantial evidence supporting her conclusion that the worker's psychiatric injury was not substantially caused by personnel actions.

[04/09] Kealhoa v. Office of Workers Compensation Programs
Evidence that a claimant planned his suicide does not necessarily preclude compensation under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act because the proper inquiry is whether the claimant's work-related injury caused him to attempt suicide, so claimant's petition for review of the Benefits Review Board's decision is granted, and the matter is remanded for the Board or the Administrative Law Judge to apply the proper chain of causation test, and not the irresistible impulse test.

[03/22] In the Matter of Howard
In an action to determine whether claimant's Alford plea should be given preclusive effect in a subsequent workers' compensation proceeding, the decision of the Workers' Compensation Board appealed from and the order of the Appellate Division brought up for review are affirmed, because it cannot be said that the guilty plea necessarily resolved the issue raised in the workers' compensation proceeding.

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