The
SD Supreme Court handed down three decisions this morning:
- 1st degree murder conviction in court-tried
case affirmed;
- Med mal discovery as to “other
patient records” reversed in, in 4-1 ruling;
- Resolution of issues regarding work comp insurer’s
ability to enforce subrogation lien against itself and for “like damages.”
(3-1-1 ruling)
Summaries
follows:
STATE
v. QUINONES RODRIGUEZ, 2020 S.D. 68:
Waiving a right to jury trial, this Defendant was convicted by the trial
court in Day County and sentenced as follows:
The court found Rodriguez
guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, arson, commission of a
felony while armed with a firearm, and aggravated assault. It sentenced him to
life in prison for first-degree murder, twenty-five years for arson,
twenty-five years for commission of a felony while armed with a firearm, and
fifteen years for aggravated assault, with all sentences to be served
concurrently. The court did not impose a sentence for the second-degree murder
conviction.
The
SD Supreme Court affirmed in a unanimous (5-0) decision, with opinion authored
by Justice Kern.
FERGUSON
v. THAEMERT, 2020 S.D. 69: In this
medical malpractice case, the trial court ordered production of redacted
documents related to other patients.
Here, the SD Supreme Court permitted an intermediate appeal and reversed
the trial court, holding that the documents were not discoverable because the
basis of the Plaintiff’s theory is one of a failure of informed consent. The Court’s decision is a 4-1 ruling, with
opinion by Chief Justice Gilbertson.
Justice Kern dissented, stating her belief that the “information [sought] was—at a minimum—reasonably
calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.”
Retired
Justice Severson sat on this case, in lieu of Justice Salter.
LUZE
v. NEW FB CO., 2020 S.D. 70: This is a
work comp case involving the death of an employee. The dispute presented here relates to the
ability of the work comp insurer to satisfy a subrogation lien against the
proceeds recovered on a wrongful death claim and proceeds paid by the
deceased’s UIM insurer to the estate of the deceased. It must be noted that the UIM insurer
(Zurich) in this case is also the UIM insurer.
The issues presented in this appeal are summarized in ¶ 1 of the opinion
summarizes the issues presented in this appeal:
[¶1.] Charles Luze was
killed in a motor vehicle accident at work, after which his employer paid his
wife, Jeanette Luze, workers’ compensation benefits. Jeanette, as the personal
representative of Charles’s estate, brought suit against the negligent driver
and ultimately settled the claim. The estate also settled a claim against
Zurich American Insurance Company (Zurich), the employer’s insurer providing
underinsured motorist coverage. Zurich is also the employer’s workers’
compensation insurance carrier. This appeal concerns the circuit court’s
determination that Zurich is entitled to a statutory workers’ compensation lien
on 50% of the settlement proceeds received by the estate and that Zurich is
able to subrogate against its own settlement payment of underinsured motorist
benefits. We remand on issue one and affirm on issue two.
The
Court’s decision is a 3-1-1 ruling, with opinion authored by Justice DeVaney. Justices Jensen and Salter both dissent on
issue # 1 (the “like damages” determination), with each filing separate
opinions. Justice Salter concurs in
Justice Jensen’s views concerning issue #1, but also addresses his separate
view as to why issue # 2 should be affirmed.
These
decisions may be accessed at
http://ujs.sd.gov/Supreme_Court/opinions.aspx .
