Lead Stories

The host parents of a foreign exchange student are not liable for damages arising from the skiing death of the student, even if they committed ordinary negligence in failing to warn about risks on the mountain, a federal District Court in Montana has held.  They are protected against liability by both the federal and state Volunteer Protection Acts.  (Waschle v. Winter Sports, D. MT, No. CV 13-309, 9/4/15.) 

An appellate court in Utah has ruled that a nonprofit homeowners’ association is not required to provide anything more than the names and addresses of other members upon request of a member and is not required to give email addresses or telephone numbers held by the association.  (Walker I Investments v. Sunpeak Association, Ct. of App., UT, No. 20140085-CA, 8/27/15.) 

A federal District Court in Michigan has refused to consider a claim that current and former board chairs of a Catholic healthcare system had negligently adopted healthcare policies that caused a woman to receive improper treatment and information regarding her miscarriage prior to childbirth.  The Court said it would not question the Catholic Ethical and Religious Directives because to do so would involve an impermissible intrusion on ecclesiastical matters.  (Means v.

Overturning a 1965 decision holding that extrinsic evidence was inadmissible to reform a will that is unambiguous on its face, a unanimous Supreme Court of California has held that an unambiguous will may be reformed to conform to the testator’s intent if the claimants establish by clear and convincing evidence that the will contains a mistake of intent and also establish the testator’s actual specific intent at the time the will was drafted.  The Court says it is joining a small but growing number of states that are modernizing their rules to more accurately fulfill the testator’s int

A bank trustee has been found not liable for breach of fiduciary duty or breach of contract when a $1.9 million charitable remainder annuity trust (a “CRAT”) designed to provide a 7.5% annual payout to the annuitants for life was totally exhausted in 11 years.  An appellate court in Georgia has ruled that the bank neither violated its fiduciary duty within the applicable statute of limitations period nor breached its contract with the beneficiaries.  (Wells Fargo Bank v. Cook, Ct.

The general liability insurance policy of the Northumberland Hunt Club in Virginia provides coverage not only for the Club itself, but also for any of its members “with respect to their liability for [the Club’s] activities or activities they perform on [the Club’s] behalf.”  But the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court decision holding that it doesn’t provide coverage for a club member who fired at a deer near a public highway and injured a passerby.  (Marks v.