J. Golemon finds the trial court properly entered the property division enforcement order in this post-divorce proceeding. The ex-husband challenges the order requiring him to vacate the marital residence and ordering the receiver to sell the property and split the proceeds. A trial court that has rendered a final decree of divorce has the power to enforce the property division and to render clarifying orders to enforce compliance. Because no one appealed the enforcement order, the appeals court may not consider the ex-husband's arguments. Affirmed in part.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Golemon , Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 09-22-00312-CV, Categories: Family Law, Property
J. McDonald finds the lower court properly upheld the utilities commission's denial of the apartment complex owner's request to use ratio utility billing, which apportions a certain amount to each tenant from a "master" meter at the property, to charge tenants for utility costs. Connecticut law prohibits billing tenants for utilities they did not use exclusively. Affirmed.
Court: Connecticut Supreme Court, Judge: McDonald, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: SC20769, Categories: Energy, Landlord Tenant
J. Fox finds the single proposed transaction agreed to by an undercover police officer and defendant for the sale of one ounce of methamphetamine was insufficient to convict him of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. The amount involved was "typical" for a single user to buy, while there was also no agreement for further sales, which proved the existence of only a "buyer-seller" relationship. Vacated.
Court: Colorado Court Of Appeals, Judge: Fox, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 2024COA46, Categories: Drug Offender, Evidence, Conspiracy
J. Tow finds the industrial claims office properly upheld an administrative law judge's ruling to award the estate workers' compensation benefits after the health care facility employee died of complications from Covid-19. The illness constitutes an "occupational disease" under Colorado law. At the time the worker contracted Covid-19, at least 30% of the facility's staff or residents had the illness, compared to just 0.3% of the surrounding community, which satisfied the requirement under the Colorado Workers' Compensation Act that his occupation exposed him to the illness at a "measurably greater degree" than a typical job. Affirmed.
Court: Colorado Court Of Appeals, Judge: Tow, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 2024COA47, Categories: Covid-19, Workers' Compensation
J. Suarez finds the failure by the mother's attorney to object to family services' amendment request immediately before the close of the trial concerning her parental rights did not constitute ineffective assistance. Such requests are allowable under the governing procedural guidelines and, in any case, the subject of the amendment request - the mother's failure to comply with a rehabilitation plan - had been fully briefed and discussed during the trial. Affirmed.
Court: Connecticut Court Of Appeals, Judge: Suarez, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: AC46641, Categories: Civil Procedure, Evidence, Family Law
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J. Robbenhaar grants the city's motion for summary judgment, ruling that because the contract and due process claims brought by the police officer are identical to the ones litigated in disciplinary and administrative proceedings immediately after his termination, they are barred by res judicata.
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Robbenhaar, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv1113, NOS: Labor/Management Relations - Labor, Categories: Civil Procedure, Government, Employment Retaliation
[Consolidated.] J. Ceresia finds that the lower court improperly convicted defendant of assault, use of a firearm, and weapon possession as an accomplice to a street shooting and robbery. Defendant may have been present in the chaotic altercation that preceded the shooting, but he had not been captured striking the victim on the head or taking a handgun on the surveillance video. Defendant drove a vehicle that pursued the victim after the shooting and stopped as directed so someone else could rob the victim, but evidence did not indicate defendant shared a "community of purpose" with the assailants. Reversed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Ceresia, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 113207, Categories: Firearms, Assault, Accomplice Liability
J. Pritzker finds that a mother's appeal from an order to vaccinate one of her five children against Covid-19 should be dismissed as moot. All the children were temporarily removed from her custody at one point, and vaccination had been sought for the middle child so he could remain in a residential facility due to his autism and related behavior. The vaccination occurred and the children were returned to the mother's care, and thus no controversy remains.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Pritzker, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 535362, Categories: Civil Procedure, Family Law
J. Fisher finds that the lower court properly terminated a mother's parental rights for permanent neglect of her four children. After the children were removed from her care, the mother failed to take full advantage of programs and services directed toward mental health and chemical dependency issues, and she made little effort to reunite with them. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Fisher, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 535706, Categories: Family Law
J. Egan finds that the lower court properly terminated a father's parental rights for abandoning his two children because both children had been placed in the care of their paternal aunt soon after birth, and the father made little effort during his subsequent incarceration to communicate with them. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Egan, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: CV-23-0861, Categories: Family Law
J. Robinson finds that the trial court should have dismissed plaintiff's appeal stemming from the state's historic preservation tax credits program because the parties' stipulation unambiguously waived plaintiffs' rights to administrative hearings or appeals.
Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court, Judge: Robinson, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 22-122, Categories: Civil Procedure, Tax
J. Bourliot finds that the trial court properly ruled in favor of the individual on claims of breach of a partnership agreement against her former partners relating to a venture to sell personal protective equipment during the Covid-19 pandemic. The former partners' arguments regarding the breach of the partnership agreement claim lack merit. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Bourliot, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 14-21-00558-CV, Categories: Partnerships, Covid-19, Contract
J. Hassan finds that the trial court's order of non-suit in a defamation case did not constitute a final judgment since it did not address the request for attorney fees and damages. Thus, the appellants' motion to modify was improperly denied, so the case is remanded. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Hassan, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 14-23-00171-CV, Categories: Civil Procedure, Defamation
J. Johnson finds that the trial court properly terminated the father's parental rights to his children based on sufficient evidence to support the findings as to endangerment and the children's best interest. This includes the father's lack of financial support, history of drug use, and his "multiple criminal convictions and multiple periods of incarceration." Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Johnson, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 10-23-00364-CV, Categories: Evidence, Family Law
J. Stark finds that the district court improperly granted enhanced damages for willful infringement in this patent action because the patent claims were invalid, and the action should be remanded for dismissal on mootness grounds. Reversed.
Court: Federal Circuit, Judge: Stark, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 2022-2064, Categories: Civil Procedure, Patent
J. Smith denies the Mexican citizens' petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' denial of their application for asylum and relief under the Convention Against Torture. Petitioners entered the U.S. without documentation and say that the Mexican Navy will persecute and torture them in order to stop the mother's campaign to hold the military responsible for her son's disappearance. Though the immigrants are not required to establish past persecution in order to support the possibility of future persecution, that the mother had publicly spoken out against the Navy via news media repeatedly for months without suffering harm does not support the claims of persecution.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Smith , Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: 23-60089, Categories: Evidence, Immigration, International Law
Per curiam, the appellate division finds that the lower court properly permitted a victim of child sexual abuse to refile his claim with a request for punitive damages. The Child Victims Act creates a two-year revival window for previously time-barred abuse claims, such as the victim's being abused by multiple teachers at his school. Claim revival statutes like this do not violate due process so long as they are enacted as a reasonable response. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: 02339, Categories: Civil Procedure, Education
Per curiam, the appellate division finds that the lower court improperly dismissed a contract and negligent hiring suit filed by the family of a student against a teacher who bullied him on a school trip. A claim should be read liberally at this early stage in the proceedings, and the various theories were not necessarily duplicative of one another. For example, the cause alleging unjust enrichment was based on the parents' having paid fees for the school trip, which can be dismissed without affecting the negligent hiring charge. Reversed in part.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: 02341, Categories: Civil Procedure, Education, Contract
J. Marcel finds that a public works bid was properly awarded to a construction company for the school board's project. In this case, the check included by the construction company with its bid submission is a cashier’s check and was submitted both electronically as part of its bid and physically delivered to the school board. A cashier's check is a check drawn by a bank upon itself and is considered accepted by the bank upon issuance. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Marcel , Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: 24-C-183, Categories: Construction, Contract
J. Cogan dismisses an unpaid wages complaint against a company who had settled similar claims in a prior class action. The litigant, one of four class members in the class action, sought to challenge the settlement, claiming it was unfair and did not adequately represent his interests, but the court disagrees, finding he had ample opportunity to either raise objections or opt out of the settlement after notices were sent out to potential members.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Cogan, Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv5165, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Settlements, Class Action, Labor
J. Holmes grants in part this motion for attorney fees filed in connection with a motion to compel discovery. The court will award $8,000 in attorney fees as a discovery sanction, as the defendant company's nondisclosure was not "substantially justified."
Court: USDC Middle District of Tennessee , Judge: Holmes, Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: 3:20cv1103, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Sanctions, Discovery, Attorney Fees
J. Grant finds that the district court properly awarded the store $62,000 in attorney fees as sanctions in an action against the shopping center owner arising after the store's request to exercise its option to extend the terms of its lease was denied. The owner acted in bad faith since it had knowledge of the lack of diversity jurisdiction in the case but delayed disclosing the information for more than a year. The sanction award was limited to two-thirds of the attorney fees incurred by the store after the owner discovered its diversity-destroying citizenship. The district court correctly struck the store's affidavit claiming its attorney did not act in bad faith as untimely and irrelevant. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Grant, Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: 22-12461, Categories: Sanctions, Attorney Fees
J. McFadden finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of aggravated battery and cruelty to children. The trial court correctly denied defendant's motion for a new trial. Defendant's trial counsel was not deficient for failing to file a general demurrer or motion in arrest of judgment as to one of the child cruelty counts in the indictment. Sufficient evidence was presented to support the child cruelty conviction. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: McFadden, Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: A24A0534, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Battery, Child Victims