Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard 2010 Annual Report

Civil Division
Division Summary
• Abney v. State: Success-
fic signals improperly pro-
Chief Counsel Pam Culwell
Mission:
A dynamic team of
legal professionals
representing Arizona
in many areas of
civil law with
dedication, integrity
and innovation.
The Civil Division is comprised of seven sections that focus
on specialty areas of civil law including natural resources;
tax, bankruptcy and collections; liability management;
employment; public health; public safety; transportation;
contract review; procurement; licensing and enforcement;
education, and complex case litigation.
Major Cases
Fundamentalist Church of
• United Effort Plan Trust: Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Continued litigating the administration
of the United Effort Court. In late 2009, we
Saints, in the Utah Supreme
Plan Trust, which owns most sought a court order granting
of the property in Colorado discovery into the Trust’s
City, Ariz., in Utah state courts. ownership of water rights
The Trust has been under the and cooperation of local
district court’s administration
since 2005. The court law enforcement, with trust
government officials, including
found the prior trustees were administration and disputes
in breach of their fiduciary over rights to trust property.
duties, removed them and The court approved, and we
reformed the Trust.
expect substantial discovery
will be completed before the
We briefed and argued
end of the 2010 calendar year.
a case challenging the
court’s reformation,
brought by members of the
fully defended a class action
lawsuit alleging the State and
several employees improperly
removed asbestos from
a Department of Corrections
facility in southern Arizona
causing injury to inmates. The
suit requested $4 million. Following
trial, the court granted
the defendants’ motion for
judgment.
• Lopez v. State: Jury verdict
for the State, finding no fault
for injuries sustained by a
bicycle rider. The jury found
the City of Tempe at fault and
awarded more than $2 million.
• Figueroa v. Arizona Department
of Transportation:
Defense verdict in a wrongful
death action in which the
survivors of a 17-year-old
driver alleged an overpass
on I-19 south of Tucson was
negligently designed and traf-
grammed.
• Mayer Unified School District
v. Winkelman: School
districts sued the State alleging
that rights of way granted
by the Land Department prior
to 1967, without financial
compensation, violated the
U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in
Lassen v. Arizona. Following
the Arizona Supreme Court’s
ruling in favor of the State, the
U.S. Supreme Court denied the
plaintiffs’ petition for certiorari.
• State v. Arizona Navigable
Streams Adjudication Commission:
Successfully challenged
the Arizona Navigable
Streams Adjudication Commission’s
determination
that the Lower Salt River is
non-navigable. The Court of
Appeals ruled the Commission
misapplied the federal test for
navigability.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard • 2010 Annual Report
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