Justia Delaware Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Plaintiffs Kylie and Michael D. Shuba appealed the Superior Court's denial of their cross-motion for summary judgment and its grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendant United Services Automobile Association's ("USAA") motion for summary judgment. The Shuba's sought to be covered persons for the wrongful death of their mother under an insurance policy issued by USAA and held by the Shubas' step-mother. It was undisputed that their mother was not a named insured under the policy or a resident of the stepmother's household as the Shubas were. The Shubas claimed the trial court erred in finding the Shubas could not recover uninsured motorist benefits under the USAA policy. In making their claim, the Shubas asked the Supreme Court to overrule two Superior Court cases, "Temple v. Travelers Indemnity Co" and "Adams-Baez v. General Accident Co.," the latter of which the Supreme Court affirmed based on the trial court opinion. The Supreme Court declined to overrule those cases as precedent, and affirmed the Superior Court's judgment. View "Shuba v. United Services Automobile Association" on Justia Law

Dawn Locke, on behalf of minor appellant, Kimberly Foth, appealed a Superior Court final judgment in favor of Foth and minor appellee, John Barlow, III, and an order that granted Barlow's motion to enforce the parties' settlement agreement wherein Foth and Barlow would each receive $7,500. The Supreme Court had vacated the Superior Court's Order entering final judgment and remanded the case for a minors' settlement hearing. On remand, the Superior Court considered testimony from both minors and their mothers, and reviewed the minors' medical records. Then the court issued a Report on Remand in which determined that an equal division of the $15,000 settlement proceeds between the minors was fair and reasonable. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded, finding that the Superior Court's focus should have been on whether the division of funds was fair (i.e., enforcing the settlement agreement: "Title 12, section 3926 mandates that court approval of a minor settlement always starts with a 'clean slate' by providing that no person dealing with the receiver of a minor can rely upon the receiver's authority to settle tort claims. The statute requires an independent judicial determination about whether the settlement agreement for a minor should be approved and specifically rejects the concept that such an agreement can be specifically enforced if the court has reservations." In this case, the record reflected that the Superior Court did not make an independent determination because it stated that, if it disregarded the settlement agreement and started on a "clean slate," it would have awarded Foth $10,000 instead of the $7,500 in the settlement agreement. View "Barlow, et al. v. Finegan, et al." on Justia Law

At issue in this case (among other things) was the constitutionality of the state's gang participation statute (11 Del. C. 616). Appellants argued the statute was unconstitutionally vague because it did not define the term "actively participates." Furthermore, they argued the statute was overbroad because it impinged on the right of free association. The Supreme Court held both arguments lacked merit. "A person of ordinary intelligence can understand what it means to actively participate in a criminal street gang's criminal conduct, and there is no constitutional right to assemble for the purpose of committing a crime." View "Taylor v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Robert Burns was convicted by a jury on several counts of varying degrees of sexual assault against children. The Supreme court previously affirmed Burns' conviction on direct appeal. Burns sought post-conviction relief, arguing that he received inadequate assistance of counsel in violation of his Sixth Amendment rights when trial counsel: did not affirmatively recommend Burns take an plea deal; elicited testimony from an adverse witness that could have implied Burns invoked his Fifth Amendment right to silence; waived certain foundational requirements to out-of-court statements; permitted a characterization of the complaining witnesses as "victims;" and failed to object to the State's summation. Burns claimed that the cumulative effect of his defense counsel's actions therefore resulted in an unfair trial. The Superior Court denied Burns' motion for post-conviction relief. Finding no abuse of discretion, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Burns v. Delaware" on Justia Law

In a direct appeal, defendant raised one claim of error. In defendant's view, although he was charged with and convicted of felony Promoting Prison Contraband, the record reflected there was a rational basis for the jury to find him guilty of the lesser-included offense of misdemeanor Promoting Prison Contraband. Defendant argued the trial judge's failure to give that lesser-included instruction was reversible error. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that defendant's argument was meritless. View "Mays v. Delaware" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court previously rejected defendant Gary Ploof's claims arising from his trial's guilt phase, but remanded the penalty phase claims for the post-conviction judge to reweigh aggravating circumstances against the mitigating circumstances established at trial and in the post-conviction proceedings. Defendant contended his attorneys were ineffective because they failed to uncover evidence that the defendant's father sexually abused foster children staying with defendant's family and also physically abused defendant himself. Upon careful review, the Supreme Court held that defendant's attorneys should have investigated certain "red flags" indicating that defendant's childhood home was not as benign as initially portrayed. However, the Court concluded that the attorneys' failures did not prejudice defendant. Therefore, the Court affirmed the trial judge's denial of defendant's post-conviction relief petition. View "Ploof v. Delaware" on Justia Law

The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether the State of Delaware could be held liable for tortious conduct by an on-duty Delaware State Police Officer. The officer was supposed to take a woman accused of shop-lifting to court. Instead, the officer allegedly coerced her to engage in oral sex in the front seat of the police car. The trial court granted summary judgment to the State based on its conclusion that no reasonable jury could find that the officer was acting within the scope of his employment. The trial court focused only on the officer's tortious conduct, which was not within his job description. But the nature of the tortious conduct was not dispositive. There were other factors used to determine whether one is acting within the scope of employment, and the jury must make that decision. Accordingly, the Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case for further proceedings. View "Doe v. Delaware" on Justia Law

A question of Delaware law was certified from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth. The issue focused on whether under the "fraud exception" to Delaware's continuous ownership rule, shareholder plaintiffs may maintain a derivative suit after a merger that divests them of their ownership interest in the corporation on whose behalf they sue by alleging that the merger at issue was necessitated by, and is inseparable from, the alleged fraud that is the subject of their derivative claims. The Delaware Court answered that question in the negative. View "Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, et al. v. Countrywide Financial Corporation, et al." on Justia Law

A Superior Court jury convicted the defendant in this case of Failing to Stop at the Command of a Police Officer, Reckless Driving, and several other offenses. At issue in this appeal was the State's obligation to produce relevant material in response to a defendant's discovery appeal. The State failed to produce a recording of the officers' communications with the dispatcher in response to the defendant's discovery request. The recording contained evidence that the officers’ siren had not been activated, contrary to the officers’ testimony. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that the dispatch recording fell within the scope of the defendant’s discovery request and Superior Court Criminal Rule 16, and that failure to produce this evidence prejudiced the defendant because the siren’s was material to the State’s case and impeached the credibility of its key witnesses. Accordingly, we the Court reversed the Superior Court's judgment and remanded for a new trial. View "Valentin v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Plaintiff appealed a Court of Chancery order that granted summary judgment and dismissed his suit on laches grounds. The underlying dispute arose over capital investments plaintiff made in two companies. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded plaintiff's arguments made on appeal lacked merit, however, the Court reversed and remanded on different grounds. View "Levey v. Brownstone Asset Management, LLP, et al." on Justia Law