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Friday, July 16, 2010
Ind. Courts - Oral Advocacy of Karl Mulvaney
As explained in this post Tuesday, headed "A New Voice at Oral Argument," this week the ILB is featuring the oral advocacy of the three semi-finalists for the current Supreme Court vacancy who have argued cases before the Court. This feature on Karl Mulvaney's oral advocacy, from IU Law-Indy Prof. Joel Schumm, is the third and final of those entries.
Mr. Mulvaney served as the Indiana Supreme Court Administrator from 1984 to 1991 and has since had a very active appellate practice at Bingham McHale. He has argued at least a dozen cases before the Indiana Supreme Court in the past decade.
Outback Steakhouse v. Markley
Mr. Mulvaney represented Outback in an appeal of jury verdict and $39 million verdict against it in a dram shop case. The argument focused on the misconduct of Markley’s counsel in failing to identify a critical witness in responses to defense interrogatories. The April 13, 2006, argument may be accessed here. In this excerpt, Mr. Mulvaney begins his argument and answers initial questions from Justice Dickson and Justice Boehm.
The Supreme Court unanimously agreed with Mr. Mulvaney’s position and remanded the case for a new trial in a November 8, 2006, in an opinion by Justice Boehm.
Raess v. Doescher
In Raess v. Doescher, Mr. Mulvaney represented a cardiovascular surgeon found liable for assault against another hospital employee and ordered to pay $325,000. The oral argument focused on the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict and whether the trial court erred in allowing the plaintiff to call an expert witness to testify about workplace bullying. The October 10, 2007, oral argument may be accessed here.
In this excerpt Mr. Mulvaney responds to the Chief Justice’s suggestion that the jury would not be confused about the concept of workplace bullying.
The Court ruled against Mr. Mulvaney’s client in an April 8, 2008 opinion by Justice Dickson; Justice Boehm dissented.
Other Cases Mr. Mulvaney has argued before the Supreme Court
Kovach v. Caligor Midwest
April 9, 2009 Oral Argument
September 8, 2009 Opinion
In a case involving alleged defects in a medical cup used to administer medication, the court affirmed summary judgment in favor of these defendants because the “claimed defects did not cause the death. The undisputed facts establish that if an overdose caused the death it was due to a quantity of drug essentially double the prescribed amount. None of the claimed defects in the cup would have caused an overdose of that magnitude.” Mr. Mulvaney represented the manufacturer of the medical cup.
Allstate Insurance Co. v. Fields
January 15, 2009 Oral Argument
Web summary: “Following a jury trial, the Lake Superior Court entered a judgment against Allstate and awarded Fields $2 million in compensatory damages and $6 million in punitive damages on his claim that Allstate engaged in bad faith when handling his claim. The Court of Appeals reversed after concluding the trial court erred by not granting Allstate’s pretrial motion for summary judgment.”
The Court denied transfer after hearing oral argument. Mr. Mulvaney represented Allstate.
Bush v. State Farm
December 18, 2008 Oral Argument
May 13, 2009 Opinion
“We hold that an uninsured motorist policy restricting coverage to bodily injury or death sustained by an insured does not violate Indiana’s uninsured motorist statute.” Mr. Mulvaney represented State Farm.
State Farm Mutual Auto Ins. v. Jakupko
May 18, 2007 Oral Argument
February 28, 2008 Opinion
Web summary: “The Supreme Court held that the term ‘bodily injury’ in the insurance policy includes emotional distress and that limiting recovery of a woman and her children for emotional distress to the one per person liability cap under their uninsured motorists policy ‘would violate the requirements of Indiana’s underinsured motorist statute and be void.’ The court found that the woman and children are each entitled to a separate per person limitation under the policy, but subject to the per accident limitation and affirmed the trial court’s ruling.” Mr. Mulvaney represented State Farm.
Clark County Council v. Donahue
December 14, 2006 Oral Argument
September 26, 2007 Opinion
Web Summary: “The Supreme Court held that ‘it was contrary to law for the County Council to appropriate money in the county supplemental adult probation services fund for court expenses unrelated to probation and for expenses previously paid from the county general fund.’ The court remanded the case with directions that the County Council return the funds used for this purpose to the adult probations services fund.” Mr. Mulvaney represented Donahue and the other Clark County judges.
State Farm v. Estep
May 26, 2005 Oral Argument
September 25, 2007 Court Opinion
“We reverse the order issued during proceedings supplemental forcing [the insured’s] assignment of any potential chose in action against State Farm and hold invalid any assignment by [the insured] against his attorneys.” Mr. Mulvaney represented State Farm.
Allgood v. Meridian Sec. Ins. Co.
February 17, 2005 Oral Argument
October 27, 2005 Court Opinion
Web summary: “The Supreme Court holds that an insurance policy requiring the insurer to pay for a loss based on the lesser of either the property's actual cash value or the cost of repairs does not require the insurer to compensate the insured for dimunition in value if payment is based on the cost of repairs.” Mr. Mulvaney represented Meridian Insurance.
Infiniti Products v. Quandt
May 29, 2003 Oral Argument
June 29, 2004 Opinion
Web Summary: “The Supreme Court affirms the trial court's judgment that Quandt is liable to Infinity for misappropriating trade secrets, but that Fabri-Tech is not vicariously liable, holding that the Indiana Trade Secrets Act displaces the common law doctrine of respondeat superior.” Mr. Mulvaney represented Quandt.
Ritter v. Stanton
November 14, 2001 Oral Argument
Web Summary: “Jerry Stanton was injured after being pinned between two semi-tractor trailers, one of which was driven by Ira Ritter, an employee of Kroger. Stanton was employed by Gateway Freightline Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kroger. Stanton filed a personal injury action against Ritter and Kroger in the Marion Superior Court. The courts below decided that worker's compensation was not Stanton's exclusive remedy. In addition, the courts below decided that the net $55 million verdict in favor of Stanton was not excessive and that courts do not compare one verdict to another in deciding whether one is excessive.” [Note: At the time this was the largest jury verdict in Indiana “by a very wide margin.”]
No Court Opinion: Transfer was denied 3-2 on January 31, 2002; Chief Justice Shepard and Justice Sullivan voted to grant transfer. Mr. Mulvaney represented Ritter and Kroger.
Time Warner v. Whiteman
October 17, 2001 Oral Argument
February 3, 2004 Opinion
Web summary: “The Supreme Court reverses the Court of Appeals and holds that the ‘voluntary payment doctrine’ does not apply where cable tv companies charged subscribers late fees that were allegedly too high.” Mr. Mulvaney represented Whiteman.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 16, 2010 02:41 PM
Posted to Vacancy on Supreme Ct