Donald E. Crabbe

In a civil action concerning easements and rights of way over farm properties, the moving party (defendants) brought a motion seeking to prohibit the plaintiff from tendering updated real estate appraisal evidence, to strike a paragraph of an affidavit as hearsay, and to compel the production of accounting records.

The case management judge declined to prohibit the appraisal evidence as the plaintiff confirmed no further report would be delivered, and extended the deadline for responding evidence.

The judge also found it premature to strike the affidavit paragraph, leaving the hearsay issue for trial.

Finally, the judge ordered the plaintiff to produce its balance sheets for 2015-2020, deferring any further production requests.

The moving party (Murphy Trust) sought disclosure of documents from the plaintiff and its affiliated corporation regarding water haulage to a construction site.

The moving party alleged the plaintiff was seeking an easement for improper purposes and thus came to the court with 'dirty hands'.

The court dismissed the motion, finding the moving party's claim that water was taken from the subject properties for a construction project was mere speculation and did not warrant the requested production.

The plaintiff's poultry processing plant was destroyed by fire and was significantly underinsured because the original insurance application understated the building's size.

The plaintiff sued her insurance broker and the insurer.

The insurer brought a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the claims against it, arguing it owed no duty of care to inform the insured or the broker of the size discrepancy it discovered during a subsequent property inspection.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that conflicting evidence regarding the purpose of the inspection and the parties' reliance required a full trial to determine whether a novel duty of care existed under the Anns/Cooper framework.