During the approximately two and a half months between these events and Mr. Curtis' kidnapping on September 28, 1976, Mr. Curtis took very few, if any, substantive steps to protect himself, although, as general manager of Industrias, he had the authority to take whatever actions he thought necessary. Mr. Klein was also advised by Control Risks that they thought the kidnapping was genuine. It took another few weeks and many phone calls to establish the procedure for the exchange and the release of Mr. Curtis was ultimately accomplished on May 17, *1284 1977. Rather they seek through argumentative suggestion and implication to insinuate that Control Risks or Beatrice, or both, were not using their best efforts. The Seventh Circuit reversed a judgment in favor of the insured, holding that whether or not the contamination constituted an "accident" within the meaning of the insurance policy, the proximate cause of the damages was Industrial's conduct "in deliberately withholding from Taylorville the knowledge [it] had of contamination of its sugar." Mr. Facher, left, as a young Boston lawyer in 1970. You already receive all suggested Justia Opinion Summary Newsletters. Mrs. Curtis shared the concern about her husband's well-being if the police were to be let in. Soon another car came behind them and blocked the street in that direction. However, it instead took the conscientious course of hiring a firm it knew to have dealt with kidnap situations previously to master-mind the negotiations. Mattingly, Inc. v. Beatrice Foods Co., No. Although Mrs. Curtis testified at trial that Beatrice "prohibited" her from dealing with the kidnappers or helping her husband, this seems a rather too convenient hindsight view and the testimony is not credited. Five of the children died from leukemia or complications of having leukemia. Sign up for our free summaries and get the latest delivered directly to you. Aug. 9, 1983). Under Article 24 of the Colombian Labor Code, "The labor relationship of individuals is presumed to be governed by an employment contract." A 1998 film of the same name, starring John Travolta as plaintiff's lawyer Jan Schlichtmann and Robert Duvall as Beatrice Foods attorney Jerome Facher, was based on the book. Affiliated has secondly requested a declaration that the $1,000,000 punitive damages awarded in Mattingly are neither covered by Affiliated's policy nor recoverable as a matter of public policy. 2/25/77 " " Having reviewed those memoranda, the court concludes that the factual similarities are not sufficiently compelling to justify an award of summary judgment on the present record. Mr. Facher could be just as brutal out of the courtroom. See Article 37 of the Labor Code to the same effect. Defendant concededly had no experience in conducting ransom negotiations. Mr. Klein was still unsatisfied, however, and asked Mrs. Curtis to come to Chicago. The truth? Mr. Harr quoted him as saying. based chemical invention company, known for mixing chemicals experimentally, as was their charge. For the reasons discussed above, Mr. Curtis has not proved and would not be entitled to these damages in any event. United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, E.D. He was left blind-folded on a Bogota street and told that after a wait he could remove the blindfold, find a phone, and call the number that had been penned into his hand. 3/18/77 US$2,000,000 6,500,000 However, at the close of the case she consented to dismissal of those claims.[3]. In August 1976, Mr. Curtis was visited by his brother, and the two went on a vacation to a resort in Colombia 200 miles outside of Bogota, and from there to the Caribbean, and from there to Miami. Beatrice's citation of dictum in Justice Sullivan's concurring opinion in Froud v. Celotex Corp., 107 Ill.App.3d 654, 660, 63 Ill.Dec. 1968 until the date of the filing of the complaint in this lawsuit on October 23, 1970. 2/15/77 US$3,000,000 5,500,000 In 1974 an additional agreement in writing was made by and between Industrias Gran and Mr. Curtis. [13] This statutory limitation was recently increased by Court interpretation to about 30,000 pesos (about $900). In July 1986, after a 78-day trial, the jury absolved Beatrice of liability. Beaver, 51 Ill.Dec. Schlichtmann originally decides not to take the case due to both the lack of evidence and a clear defendant. 5/17/77 " " Of course, the fact that Beatrice was not Mr. Curtis' employer only makes the inadequacies of this theory that much clearer. [15] Plaintiffs make the inapposite argument that Mrs. Curtis meets the definition in Article 1513 of the Civil Code of someone acting under duress. A. Since there was in Scott "no indication that the employer had in any way, directly or indirectly, participated in the wrongful conduct of the employee for which punitive damages were assessed," 420 N.E.2d at 1061, the Beaver court found no conflict of principle between its resolution and that in Scott. He was married in Venezuela in 1964 to a citizen of Venezuela and Colombia of European birth. Woburn residents then appealed that motion, along with Beatrice's not liable verdict. United States District Court, S. D. New York. there were three calls and May 17, 1977, when there were Compare Wilson, 71 Ill.Dec. Decision was reserved on the remaining claims. Although plaintiffs' complaint asserted eleven separate claims for relief, by the end of trial, plaintiffs had narrowed their attack to three basic legal theories: (1) Curtis was Beatrice's employee, and as such is entitled under Colombia's Labor Code to a statutorily fixed compensation for injuries sustained in a "work accident"; (2) Curtis suffered injuries as a result of Beatrice's fault, and is therefore entitled to compensation under Colombia's Civil Code; (3) Beatrice became Curtis' "officious agent" when it assumed to rescue him, and failed to meet the applicable standard of care in conducting the rescue operations, and is thus liable to him for damages. Beatrice Foods Co., 127 F.R.D. This is called bifurcating the trial. Sign in to add some. 11/ 5/76 " 2,000,000 His tactics, however harsh, often succeeded. Beatrice Foods Co., 322 F. Supp. Plaintiffs' proof is likewise deficient on the question of compensation, it being another essential element of the employment relationship that the employee receive a salary from the employer for the services rendered. Plaintiff's chauffeur, moreover, was not a very skilled driver and the Curtises doubted his general intelligence and he was not trained to deal with this type of emergency. On October 5, 1977, Mr. Curtis was re-examined by Dr. Beshany, and found to have almost fully recovered physically. For the reasons stated below, the motion is granted in part, and denied in part. Beaver is expressly not limited to intentional conduct, however, 51 Ill. Dec. at 502, 420 N.E.2d at 1060, and Beatrice has cited no Illinois law which indicates that an Illinois state trial court might limit Beaver to its facts or otherwise ignore the bright line rule by which the Beaver court distinguished Scott, i.e., that the employer in Scott had in no way "participated in the wrongful conduct for which punitive damages were assessed." Article 22 defines an employment contract as. On September 28, 1983, this court denied both Beatrice's and Affiliated's motion for summary judgment with respect to several issues not pertinent to the present motion. (Article 98, Commercial Code.) At any rate, however, plaintiffs have provided not the slightest legal or factual support for their novel argument that Beatrice was under a duty to transfer Mr. Curtis. . The yearly compensation was to be paid in Colombian pesos and was to be equivalent to 1% of his average yearly salary during the previous five years, multiplied by the number of continuous years of service in the company. From the time of its retention by Beatrice until Mr. Curtis' release, one or more of four Control Risks employees were in Bogota. 12/31/76 " 3,500,000 Aug. 9, 1983). 245 N.E.2d at 126. Mr. Gibson advised Mr. Curtis that this fact could indicate that he was a potential kidnap target. In sum, the record fails credibly to show that Beatrice failed to exercise due diligence or breached any duty as an officious agent. 726, 729, 451 N.E.2d 880, 883 (1983) (injuries which should have been reasonably anticipated by the insured are "expected" within the meaning of insurance policy). In Scott, the Illinois Appellate Court rejected the insurer's argument that insurance against punitive damages was against public policy where the case involved "only the right of a corporation to insure against liability caused by its agents and servants." On May 18, 1982, a lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts by Woburn residents who ingested water from the contaminated wells during the late 60's and 70's. In early July 1976, Mr. Curtis was requested by Mr. Stephen Gibson, a U.S. Embassy official, to visit the U.S. Embassy in Bogota. Sign up for our free summaries and get the latest delivered directly to you. The county spent years and nearly $2 million in legal fees fighting a civil lawsuit brought by the Beatrice Six before it exhausted its final appeals at the Supreme Court this month. A work accident must, as defined by the Labor Code, be "caused or occasioned by the work." You're all set! Reported as the nation's most expensive toxic cleanup, with cost well over USD 68 million. Despite having the benefit of these briefings, however, Mr. Curtis, to judge from his actions, paid little heed to the advice given. Beatrice Foods purchased the John Riley Tannery in 1978 and sold it back to the Riley family in 1983, but retained legal liability for any lawsuits. The first trial included contentious disputes over "splitting" the trial into separate liability and damages phases.The Court decided to let the jury decide first whether there was enough evidence to hold the defendants liable for the water contamination, and which defendants would be held responsible for any proven damages to the plaintiffs as a result of the contamination. Mr. Klein, moreover, was not the only person suspicious about the kidnapping. The Mattingly court nowhere found, however, that Beatrice either "intended or expected" the damages to Mattingly. 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