139 results for 'court:"USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin"'.
J. Ludwig grants the technology services company's motion to dismiss three counts in the former employee's lawsuit in part claiming unpaid commissions and bonuses since her termination by the company in 2021. The employee's civil theft claim is improperly pleaded under a statute that does not apply to the alleged retention of her commissions and bonuses, and her tortious interference with contract and unjust enrichment claims cannot survive because they involve a "required" party that "cannot be feasibly joined" to the lawsuit.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Ludwig, Filed On: March 12, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1400, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Employment, Interference With Contract
J. Pepper grants the beneficiary's motion to file a second amended complaint in a class action claiming the health care system failed to choose prudent investments with reasonable fees for its retirement plan. Because decisions from the Seventh Circuit since the class action was originally filed in 2020 have changed pleading standards for ERISA fiduciary duty claims, the beneficiary's motion to file an amended complaint is "reasonable" despite the fact that it will cause "regrettable" delay in the case. The health care system's amended motion to dismiss and motion for supplemental briefing are denied as moot.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 2:20cv893, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Erisa, Class Action
J. Duffin partially grants the city and city officials' motion to dismiss the former city planning and development director's lawsuit alleging the officials conspired to force him out of his job for political reasons based on false accusations involving an incident in which he repeated a racial slur a citizen had previously said during a public meeting. In part because the director has sufficiently pleaded that he was labeled as a racist and targeted for retaliation because he is a heterosexual white male and the officials were intent on "boosting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging programs," his hostile work environment, disparate treatment and equal protection claims against the city and the officials will proceed, except for equal protection claims against two officials. The director's First Amendment prior restraint claim against the city survives, but the same claim against the individual officials is dismissed. His First Amendment retaliation claim is dismissed in its entirety, as are all of his official capacity claims against the individual officials.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1048, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Employment Discrimination
J. Griesbach denies the county and county sheriff's deputies' motion to dismiss the widower's lawsuit over the death of his wife, who either jumped or fell from a moving vehicle while being transported to a state mental health facility after exhibiting violent behavior toward herself and others during a hospitalization for acute psychosis. All of the widower's claims, including those under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act and those alleging violations of the wife's 14th Amendment due process rights, are pleaded well enough to survive the motion and move forward, such as by questioning whether the deputies negligently ignored the safety locks on the transport vehicle despite knowing of the wife's volatile condition.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Griesbach, Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv986, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Due Process, Wrongful Death
[Consolidated] J. Stadtmueller orders that the citizen has until March 29, 2024, to either file amended complaints for each of his five pro se lawsuits alleging breaches of fiduciary duty and contract by the financial firms and telecommunications companies or file a singled consolidated complaint combining and more clearly explaining his claims. If he does not amend his pleadings before that deadline, his lawsuits may be dismissed without prejudice.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: 2:24cv201, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Fiduciary Duty, Contract
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J. Ludwig defines claim constructions for the fishing gear company's lawsuit against the storage systems company alleging the latter falsely claimed in bad faith that the fishing gear company violated its patent outlining design details of a tackle box for storing fishing equipment. The parties' competing definitions of relevant claim constructions are noted, and most terms require no specific construction. Exceptions include "transparent," which is defined as "allowing the transmission of light in order to provide interior views of the contents," and "nested," which is defined as "one panel partially positioned within another." Deadlines for discovery and dispositive motions are laid out through June 26, 2024.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Ludwig, Filed On: March 6, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv503, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Fraud, Patent
J. Stadtmueller partially grants the range hood manufacturer's motion to compel discovery regarding jurisdiction in its lawsuit against the Hong Kong-based company it claims sold range hoods at Home Depot stores in the United States that infringe on two of its patents. Limited discovery is ordered regarding, among other things, the development, import and sale of the infringing range hoods in the United States, and the manufacturer's motion to stay briefing on the company's motion to dismiss is granted.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: March 1, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv393, NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: Patent, Discovery
J. Stadtmueller grants the employees' motion for default judgment in their lawsuit against the hospitality company claiming they were not paid minimum wage or overtime while working at the company's hotel. In part because the employees have established the company's liability for their claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Wisconsin employment law, and because the company never responded to their lawsuit, default judgment is entered in the employees' favor as to their claims under the Act. One employee is awarded $50,631 in unpaid wages and damages, the other employee is awarded $43,479 in unpaid wages and damages, and they are each ordered to file their claims for attorney fees and costs within 21 days.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: February 29, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv1007, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Labor
J. Stadtmueller grants the employees' motion for default judgment in their lawsuit against the hospitality company claiming they were not paid minimum wage or overtime while working at the company's hotel. In part because the employees have proven the company's liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Wisconsin employment law, and because the company never responded to their lawsuit, they are awarded damages as to their claims under the Act. Respectively, the six employees are awarded damages of $7,421; $5,714; $8,228; $8,426; $440; and $35,420, and they are all ordered to file claims for attorney fees and costs within 21 days.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: February 29, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv993, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Labor
J. Pepper denies without prejudice the insureds' motions to file materials under seal and to restrict documents in their proposed class action lawsuit alleging the insurance companies shorted them on claims for their totaled cars by improperly calculating the cars' actual cash value, in part because they have not shown good cause and did not follow all applicable federal rules. The insurance companies' motion to file documents with restricted access is similarly denied, and all the parties have until March 13, 2024, to show good cause to restrict their respective documents.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: February 28, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv364, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Class Action
J. Griesbach partially grants the city and the city's mayor's motion to dismiss a lawsuit from the Wisconsin State Senate, a state senator and former city councilman alleging the mayor ordered the installation of secret audio recording devices in certain places at city hall in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Wisconsin Constitution, and state surveillance and privacy laws. The Wisconsin State Senate is dismissed as a party for lack of standing, and parts of the individuals' claims under Wisconsin's Electronic Surveillance Control Law and Right to Privacy Law and claims seeking damages for Fourth Amendment violations will move forward, but other claims, including all seeking declaratory relief, are dismissed.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Griesbach, Filed On: February 27, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv1175, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution
J. Pepper approves the $46,827 collective and class action settlement in the caregiver's lawsuit claiming the nursing home company failed to pay her and other caregivers proper overtime wages. The caregiver's unopposed motions for $40,811 in attorney fees and a $1,500 class representative incentive award are granted, and the caregiver's counsel is ordered to distribute settlement checks to class members within 10 days of receiving them from the company.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv108, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Settlements, Class Action
J. Duffin partially grants the trucking company's motions in limine in the former employee's lawsuit claiming the company refused to accommodate his observation of the Sabbath in violation of his rights against religious discrimination. The company's motions to prohibit testimony at trial from any witness other than the employee himself and to prohibit the employee from testifying about his termination and discharge from the company are granted, in part because the employee failed to timely disclose other witnesses and because the scope of the trial is focused solely on alleged religious discrimination during his employment. The company's motion in limine to prohibit the employee from offering hearsay testimony is denied as unnecessary, and the employee's motion for reconsideration of summary judgment and for appointment of counsel for him is denied.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 2:20cv169, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination
J. Ludwig enters an order constructing the claims in the technology and intellectual property company's lawsuit alleging a mobile app IKEA uses to help customers locate products in its stores violates the company's patents. The court lays out the construction of disputed terms such as "user interface," "a method of providing product location information within a store," and "a system for providing product-related information within a store" and constructs the plain and ordinary meanings of undisputed terms such as "mobile device." The parties are ordered to meet and confer on dates regarding discovery and dispositive motions.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Ludwig, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv789, NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: Patent
J. Adelman grants summary judgment to Union Pacific in a lawsuit from former employees claiming they were not given proper 60 days' notice before a group of 44 workers were laid off from a railroad yard in Milwaukee in 2019. There is no dispute in the record that only 21 of the employees who were furloughed count as "affected employees" under the "mass layoff" provision of Wisconsin's Business Closing and Mass Layoff Law and related administrative code, which, as the Department of Workforce Development concluded, falls short of the 25-employee bar for the furloughs to be considered a "mass layoff" under the statutory scheme. Given all of this, Union Pacific was not required to give 60 days' notice of the layoffs.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Adelman, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv1354, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Employment
J. Pepper finds the citizen has provided sufficient proof such that he is waived from prepaying the filing fee in his pro se lawsuit alleging, among other things, that the property management company refused to rent an apartment to him because he is Black. The citizen will be allowed to proceed with his discrimination claims, the U.S. Marshal Service is ordered to serve the company and other defendants with the lawsuit, and those parties are ordered to respond to the complaint.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: February 14, 2024, Case #: 2:24cv199, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Housing
J. Stadtmueller partially grants summary judgment to the trucking company in a lawsuit involving a disputed warranty claim from an insurance company on behalf of an insured whose driver was driving a truck manufactured and serviced by the company when he crashed into a highway median, which he and the company claim was caused by the truck's defective power steering. The insurance company's claim of breach of implied warranties fails and is dismissed with prejudice, in part because the disclaimer language regarding implied warranties in the relevant warranty agreement is conspicuous enough, though it is "a close case." The insurance company's breach of express warranty claim survives and will move forward to trial for a jury to decide whether the crash was caused by defective power steering or the driver's own fault.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: February 12, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv219, NOS: Contract Product Liability - Contract, Categories: Product Liability, Warranty, Contract
J. Stadtmueller denies the bath products company's motion to dismiss a patent infringement lawsuit from the inventor of a method of using carved acrylic plastic sheets to simulate tiles for lining baths and showers. The company's argument that the inventor lacks standing fails, in part because the inventor's claim to title is not in dispute, and there is insufficient evidence at this point to establish that the company's representative co-invented the disputed method anyway.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv908, NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: Patent
J. Ludwig grants summary judgment to the financial correspondent, the investment firm and the firm's founder the investors claim were involved with their transactions with a wealth management group that turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, which caused the investors to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars. The investors have failed to bring specific evidence of specific wrongdoing by the the correspondent, firm and founder, instead mostly reiterating the wrongdoing of the group and its chief, who is now in prison. The investors' claims of intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, and claims of violations of Wisconsin statutes involving the sale of unregistered securities, fraud and unlicensed brokers fail, and the correspondent, firm and founder are dismissed. The investors have 14 days to make a case for why the firm's employee should not also be granted summary judgment.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Ludwig, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 2:18cv2005, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Fraud, Securities, Contract
J. Stadtmueller partially grants motions in limine from the consulting firm and the data design company in a lawsuit featuring breach of contract and copyright infringement claims over a failed software licensing agreement. The company's motions in limine to bar the firm's counterclaims for breach of implied warranties and professional negligence and its lost revenue damages theory are granted, but the company's motion to bar the firm from arguing that the software the company provided failed to live up to their agreement's terms is denied. The firm's motion in limine to bar the company's quantum meruit theory of recovery seeking more than $600,000 is granted.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: February 1, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1245, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Copyright, Contract
J. Stadtmueller finds that the citizen may proceed with some of the constitutional claims in his pro se lawsuit against the police officers over a traffic stop that resulted in him being arrested and booked for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The citizen may proceed with Fourth and 14th Amendment claims in part alleging unlawful seizure of himself and his gun without probable cause, excessive force, and violation of due process by the police refusing to return his gun and passport, but the rest of his claims are dismissed. The citizen has until February 15, 2024, to file notice of whether he intends to serve the officers himself or use the U.S. Marshals Service.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: February 1, 2024, Case #: 2:24cv18, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Police Misconduct
J. Pepper grants the consumer's motion to remand to Racine County Circuit Court his lawsuit alleging violations of state and federal law by the debt collector, as neither the debt collector nor the consumer have shown he suffered concrete injury and has Article III standing. There is no subject matter jurisdiction to rule on the debt collector's motions to compel the consumer's discovery responses and for sanctions against him, as well as its motion for judgment on the pleadings.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: January 30, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1184, NOS: Consumer Credit - Other Suits, Categories: Debt Collection, Consumer Law
J. Griesbach grants summary judgment to the police officer in a lawsuit from a citizen claiming his Fourth and 14th Amendment rights were violated during his arrest for DUI, which included a blood draw he claims was performed without probable cause. The fact that the officer observed that the citizen, who had at least three prior DUI arrests, was unsteady on his feet and smelling of alcohol while trying to change a tire on a car he had apparently crashed into a tree gave probable cause for the arrest and blood draw, as did other evidence in the record. The officer is also entitled to qualified immunity, so her motion for summary judgment is granted and the case is dismissed.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Griesbach, Filed On: January 30, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv684, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Police Misconduct
J. Duffin partially grants the employee's motion to certify class for his lawsuit alleging the waste management company did not pay him and other garbage truck drivers proper overtime by failing to include bonuses in the overtime calculation and did not compensate them for time they spent inspecting their trucks before they clocked in for their shifts. The employee's motion for conditional certification is denied for drivers who inspected their trucks before clocking in and beginning their scheduled trips, but the motion is granted as to all drivers who received a bonus on or after October 3, 2020.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv504, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Class Action, Labor
J. Ludwig finds in favor of Verizon in its dispute with the city over permits Verizon seeks to build telecommunications equipment to improve its service in the public plaza outside of the Fiserv Forum, home of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks. Evidence in the record supports the notion that the city's "pretextual" reasons for denying Verizon the disputed permits, including because the city was trying to arrange a deal with a private partner associated with the public plaza that wants its own alternative telecommunications system, violated the federal Telecommunications Act and state law. The city is ordered to issue to Verizon the six permits in question within seven days of this order, in part because Verizon risks irreparable reputational harm if it cannot get its system up and running by the time of the Republican National Convention in the city in July of this year.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Ludwig, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1581, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Communications, Government, Injunction
J. Duffin partially grants the public schools district officials' motion to dismiss a lawsuit from a former employee claiming she was targeted for retaliation and discrimination as a white woman because she opposed the promotion of an unqualified Black male to the position of chief academic officer. The employee's claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act and a Wisconsin labor statute are dismissed, as are her constitutional claims against the district and members of the district's board of directors in their official capacities. Her federal-law race and sex discrimination claims, public records claims against the district and the board, and a First Amendment claim against one board member in her individual capacity survive the motion to dismiss.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: January 19, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv948, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Due Process, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Stadtmueller denies Giannis Antetokounmpo's motion for a protective order in his lawsuit in part alleging that the mattress company made fraudulent representations about four mattresses he ordered delivered to Athens, Greece, and that the company used his name and likeness as a popular professional basketball player on its Instagram account without his consent. Antetokounmpo has provided no burdens or other circumstances that would prohibit depositions the company has requested from him and his partner regarding venue and jurisdiction, so the depositions will proceed, but they should be limited to two hours per deposition.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: January 18, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1389, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Fraud, Trademark
J. Stadtmueller finds the employee can proceed with the Title VII race discrimination and retaliation claims in his lawsuit against the chemical technology company claiming he was fired for complaining about pervasive discrimination, hostility and harassment he faced at work. The employee's motion to proceed without pre-paying the filing fee is granted, and he is given until January 12, 2024, to file notice of whether he intends to serve the company on his own or through the U.S. Marshals Service.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv1499, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation