News

Case Summaries

Family Law

[11/20] Harmon v. Harmon
In a divorce case, an order regarding the division of the marital estate is remanded where the family court did not properly evaluate the statutory factor set forth in Del. Code Ann. tit. 13, section 1513(a), regarding husband's premarital assets, inheritances, and post-separation contributions.

[11/07] Choose Life Illinois, Inc. v. White
In a suit by an interest group seeking on First Amendment grounds to force the state of Illinois to issue "Choose Life" specialty license plates, judgment in favor of plaintiffs is reversed where: 1) specialty license plates implicate the speech rights of private speakers, not government speech; 2) specialty plates are a nonpublic forum; and 3) the state could enforce a content-based but viewpoint-neutral ban disallowing any abortion-related message, whether pro-life or pro-choice, to be displayed on its license plates.

[11/06] Aguilar v. Aguilar
Denial of petition to undo a wife's withdrawal of trust property brought by a remainder beneficiary of the trust is reversed and remanded where: 1) even though the property the wife sought to withdraw was her share of the community property, it was too late for her to withdraw it; 2) irrevocable trusts are binding, even on their trustors; and 3) as the life beneficiary, the wife could continue to enjoy the property as held by the trust.

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Oil & Gas

[11/20] Alaska Wilderness League v. Kempthorne
Upon a petition for review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) of the Minerals Management Service's approval of a plan to explore for oil in the Beaufort Sea, the approval is vacated and remanded where: 1) the agency did not meet its statutory obligation to take a "hard look" at the impacts of the proposal on bowhead whales and Inupiat subsistence activities; 2) the agency incorrectly determined that no environmental impact statement was required; and 3) the approval also violated OCSLA's requirements that the agency review and approve specific proposed well location and spacing.

[11/20] Consumer Advocacy Group, Inc. v. Exxonmobil Corp.
In a private enforcement action under Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (the Act), grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant-Exxonmobil is reversed and remanded where: 1) the issues in the present action were not identical to those resolved in the prior action; and 2) the trial court erred in granting full summary judgment based on res judicata.

[11/19] McDonald v. Sun Oil Co.
In a suit arising out of the sale of a property containing a disused mercury mine, alleging negligence, contribution, breach of contract and fraud as a result of an alleged oral warranty that certain rock at the mine was free of mercury, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) the state statute of repose did not render the negligence claim time-barred, because provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act amending state statute of limitations rules also applied to statutes of repose; 2) the contribution claim could not be brought without remedial action having been initiated by a state environmental agency; 3) the parol evidence rule was properly applied to find that the parties had reduced their entire agreement to writing and that no binding oral warranty existed; and 4) plaintiffs did not produce evidence of the alleged falsity of statements made by defendant.

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