Civil Litigation
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Total Indemnity Cases: 4
The trial court granted summary judgment to the subcontractor in a suit for breach of contract and failure to indemnify the general contractor in a personal injury case. The district court affirmed this ruling because the personal injury case did not include a claim for vicarious liability. The subcontractor is only required to indemnify the general contractor for vicarious liability claims, and the plaintiff in that case alleged separate counts for both contractors.
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Trial judges have wide discretion in accepting evidence, and unless an abuse of discretion can be proven, such rulings usually stand. In this case, an insurance company was attempting to introduce evidence that the plaintiff may have been receiving social security benefits as a collateral source. The court did not allow this evidence because it found that it was more than "merely cumulative," and rather, that its probative value would reach beyond the trial testimony. The fact that the plaintiff
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When a Frye-type admissibility issue is raised, a separate hearing is required to determine the merits of the testimony. Evidence based upon "new and novel" scientific techniques are eligible for a Frye admissibility claim. Therefore, if a trial court finds that the proposed testimony is opinion laden and based upon unproven techniques, the court can exclude that evidence. If, upon a de novo review, the evidence is determined to be inadmissable under Frye, then a new trial should be ordered.
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The Georgia Board of Regents removed a case to Federal District Court and then sought dismissal under the Eleventh Amendment immunities for federal cases. If the case had remained in the State court, then the defendant State would have waived its sovereign immunity defense. The Supreme Court ruled that a State
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