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TERRI BIEGAS, Personal Representative of the Estate of RICHARD BIEGAS, Plaintiff-Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. QUICKWAY CARRIERS, INC.; QUICKWAY DISTRIBUTION SERVICES, INC., Defendants-Appellees/Cross-Appellants. |
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit.
No. 05-73616—Nancy G. Edmunds, District Judge.
Argued: June 16, 2009
Decided and Filed: July 24, 2009
Before: MOORE, GIBBONS, and FRIEDMAN, Circuit Judges.
KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. In this diversity personal-injury case, Plaintiff-Appellant Terri Biegas (“the Estate”), personal representative of the estate of Richard Biegas (“Biegas”), appeals the district court’s grant of partial summary judgment in favor of Defendants-Appellees Quickway Carriers, Inc., and Quickway Distribution Services, Inc. (collectively, “Quickway”), ruling that Biegas was at least fifty-one percent at fault for the accident that caused his death. Following a trial in which the jury was instructed that it must apportion at least fifty-one percent of the fault to Biegas, the jury returned a verdict allocating fifty-three percent of the fault to Biegas and forty-seven percent of the fault to Quickway for the negligence of its employee, truck driver Lonnie Dailey (“Dailey”). Because Michigan law bars non-economic damages in motor-vehicle-injury cases when a plaintiff is more than fifty percent at fault, the Estate was limited to forty-seven percent of economic damages and now seeks a new trial. The Estate also appeals the district court’s dismissal of its claim of gross negligence and the district court’s admission at trial of certain out-of-court statements by a witness. Quickway cross-appeals the district court’s ruling that a written statement given by Dailey to Quickway two days after the accident was not protected by the workproduct privilege. For the reasons explained below, we REVERSE the district court’s grant of partial summary judgment to Quickway on comparative negligence, AFFIRM the district court’s dismissal of the Estate’s gross-negligence claim, AFFIRM the district court’s various evidentiary rulings, and REMAND for a new trial.
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. KARL B. SEE, Defendant-Appellant. |
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland.
No. 07-00367—Dan A. Polster, District Judge.
Argued: June 17, 2009
Decided and Filed: July 24, 2009
Before: MOORE and GILMAN, Circuit Judges; PHILLIPS, District Judge.
KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. On April 22, 2007, an officer working for the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (“CMHA”) noticed defendant-appellant Karl See and two companions sitting in a parked car outside a CMHA property. The officer parked his vehicle in front of See’s car so that See could not depart and approached See. As a result of the ensuing encounter, the officer searched See’s car and found a firearm with no serial number under the driver’s seat of See’s car. The officer arrested See, and See was charged with possession of a firearm from which the serial number had been removed. See filed a motion to suppress. After the district court denied this motion, See entered a conditional guilty plea and was sentenced to two years of probation, with six months of home confinement. On appeal, See argues that the district court erred when it denied his motion to suppress. We conclude that the initial Terry stop was not supported by reasonable suspicion, REVERSE the district court’s denial of See’s motion to suppress, and REMAND for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
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JOEL HELFMAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. GE GROUP LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY; GENWORTH LIFE AND HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY; and SUN LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY OF CANADA, Defendants-Appellees. |
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit.
No. 06-13528—Victoria A. Roberts, District Judge.
Argued: June 18, 2009
Decided and Filed: July 24, 2009
Before: MOORE and GILMAN, Circuit Judges; PHILLIPS, District Judge.
THOMAS W. PHILLIPS, District Judge. This is a dispute regarding the termination of plaintiff-appellant Joel Helfman’s long-term disability (“LTD”) benefits. After suffering various cardiac episodes in late 2003, Helfman began receiving disability benefits from defendant-appellees Genworth Life and Health Insurance Company, formerly known as GE Group Life Assurance Company (“Genworth”), and Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (“Sun Life”). Genworth and Sun Life terminated payment of LTD benefits to Helfman in March 2005 and May 2005, respectively. The district court below found that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) governed plaintiff’s plan, as plaintiff had not satisfied the first of four required criteria for the so-called “safe harbor” exemption from ERISA to apply. Applying applicable ERISA standards, the district court upheld defendants’ termination of plaintiff’s disability benefits as not arbitrary or capricious. Helfman appeals the finding that his LTD benefits plans are governed by ERISA and the finding that Sun Life’s termination of benefits was not arbitrary or capricious.
For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM the district court’s finding that ERISA governs plaintiff’s LTD plans, but REVERSE the district court’s finding that Sun Life’s termination was not arbitrary or capricious and REMAND the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.