LATEST SUMMARIES

BANKRUPTCY LAW, CONTRACTS, PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE, REMEDIES
• Giant Eagle, Inc. v. Phar-Mor, Inc.

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE, HEALTH LAW, SENTENCING
• US v. Heath

LATEST SUMMARIES

BANKRUPTCY LAW, CONTRACTS, PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE, REMEDIES
Giant Eagle, Inc. v. Phar-Mor, Inc., No. 06-4142, 06-4188
In a bankruptcy proceeding, an order disallowing appellant's claim for future-rent damages arising from bankrupt lessee's rejection of a lease for personal property is reversed and remanded where the proper calculation of damages was to calculate the benefit of the bargain as of the date of the filing petition, and from there, determine actual damages based on state law by reducing the benefit of the bargain calculation by the amount actually or reasonably mitigated. An order granting appellant administrative expenses in the form of post-petition rent payments is affirmed where there was no abuse of discretion in requiring appellee to pay expenses from the date of appellee's filing of the petition to the date of the rejection of the lease. Read more...

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE, HEALTH LAW, SENTENCING
US v. Heath, No. 07-1215
A conviction for tax evasion is affirmed over claims of error regarding: 1) the failure of the district court to properly state a jury charge by omitting that the government had to prove that a "substantial" amount of tax was due; 2) an instruction to the jury that they did not have to find defendant's conduct "willful;" 3) the phrase "Void where prohibited by law" and a jury instruction on whether a document with such a mark qualified as a fictitious financial instrument; and 4) a denial for a downward departure at sentencing stemming from a misapplication of Michigan's definition of legal insanity. Read more...