138 results for 'judge:"Rodriguez"'.
J. Rodriguez finds that the trial court should have granted a real estate seller's motion to expunge a lis pendens on the property. The trial court had already expunged a previous lis pendens on the property after finding that the buyer's underlying claim was not a real property claim. When the buyer filed a new suit directly related to the real property, she was required but failed to obtain trial court permission before recording another lis pendens on the same property. Vacated.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: January 22, 2024, Case #: A168529, Categories: Arbitration, Real Estate
[Modified.] J. Rodriguez replaces two sentences that characterize petitioners' position with no change in judgment. The Public Utilities Commission properly adopted a net billing tariff to govern the rate that utilities pay to residential customers for excess electricity generated by renewable energy systems. The new tariff accounts for the variability in demand across a utility's system by billing customers for the difference between the value of the electricity they import and the value they export, instead of billing for the net amount of electricity they use. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: January 16, 2024, Case #: A167721, Categories: Energy
J. Rodriguez rules in part for automaker Subaru in claims contending the Impreza line boasts defective engine components that cause premature cataclysmic engine piston ringlands failure, as certain claims are duplicative of a similar action. However, claims filed by a New York buyer subclass may proceed because the allegedly fraudulent statements may have gone beyond typical arms' length business transactions, and the company's own owner's manual and warranty information created a reasonable belief that engine pistons constituted non-maintenance lifetime components, with a life expectancy of around 120,000 miles.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Rodriguez , Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv990, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Fraud, Unfair Competition, Consumer Law
[Modified.] J. Rodriguez modifies two paragraphs and denies a rehearing with no change in judgment. The trial court erroneously found that ERISA preempted an insurer's subrogation claim against the manufacturer of an allegedly defective medical device. The claim is not preempted since the insurer seeks damages from the third party device manufacturer for its plan members' health care costs, not plan benefits or any relief related to plan participants. However, the trial court properly struck the insurer's claims for punitive damages since the plan's terms do not allow subrogation damages to exceed the recovery of benefits paid. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: January 10, 2024, Case #: A166579, Categories: Erisa, Preemption, Product Liability
J. Rodriguez holds that the trial court erroneously found that ERISA preempted an insurer's subrogation claim against the manufacturer of an allegedly defective medical device. The claim is not preempted since the insurer seeks damages from the third party device manufacturer for its plan members' health care costs, not plan benefits or any relief related to plan participants. However, the trial court properly struck the insurer's claims for punitive damages since the plan's terms do not allow subrogation damages to exceed the recovery of benefits paid. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: December 22, 2023, Case #: A166579, Categories: Erisa, Preemption, Product Liability
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[Modified.] J. Rodriguez adds the signature of the presiding justice with no change in judgment. The Public Utilities Commission properly adopted a net billing tariff to govern the rate that utilities pay to residential customers for excess electricity generated by renewable energy systems. The new tariff accounts for the variability in demand across a utility's system by billing customers for the difference between the value of the electricity they import and the value they export, instead of billing for the net amount of electricity they use. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: December 21, 2023, Case #: A167721, Categories: Energy
J. Rodriguez finds that the Public Utilities Commission properly adopted a net billing tariff to govern the rate that utilities pay to residential customers for excess electricity generated by renewable energy systems. The new tariff accounts for the variability in demand across a utility's system by billing customers for the difference between the value of the electricity they import and the value they export, instead of billing for the net amount of electricity they use. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: December 20, 2023, Case #: A167721, Categories: Energy
J. Rodriguez dismisses for lack of jurisdiction a lawsuit brought by a payment-processing company against former executives seeking to protect trade secrets. While the company has argued that the employees are now working elsewhere in the country and that a federal court should have jurisdiction for that reason, the disputes in this case center around “unilateral activities performed ... in Texas.”
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: December 8, 2023, Case #: 5:23cv840, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Jurisdiction, Contract
J. Rodriguez grants the real estate company's motion to substitute an expert witness in its lawsuit over an insurance payment for damage and repair to the real estate company's property. The company's original expert witness became unavailable due to his wife's health issues more than a month after his timely designation, which was outside of the company's control. The deadline to designate expert witnesses is granted for the sole purpose of allowing the company to redesignate this expert.
Court: USDC Southern District of California, Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: December 6, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv1789, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Experts, Discovery
J. Rodriguez partially grants Kerrville Independent School District’s motion for summary judgment after it was sued by a former student alleging that she was sexually abused during her time at the school district. While the student may overall proceed with her lawsuit, she has not adequately alleged some negligence claims against the school district, including for failure-to-train, because there is a genuine dispute as to whether school officials “actually knew that there was a substantial risk that sexual abuse would occur.”
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: November 30, 2023, Case #: 5:21cv369, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Education, Tort
J. Rodriguez partially grants summary judgment in favor of civil rights advocates and the United States in a major ongoing case challenging the validity of a new voting security law in Texas. Some aspects of the law violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and should not be enforced, including rules requiring Texas voting officials to automatically reject mail-in ballots or applications regardless of whether that person is eligible to vote in Texas.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: November 29, 2023, Case #: 5:21cv844, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Elections, Government
J. Rodriguez grants two home renovation companies’ motions to dismiss deceptive trade practices allegations brought by a custom cabinetry firm, claiming a former business development manager stole information to directly compete with the firm. The firm was unable to provide sufficient evidence that the manager absconded with specific information that would compromise the firm's business and give an advantage to the one company which hired her after she left the firm. Deception cannot be established because general information such as what the manager remembered about working at the firm, and customers' observation of how cabinets are installed in their homes for example, are not enough to support a claim of misappropriation of trade secrets under state or federal law.
Court: USDC Western District of North Carolina, Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: November 21, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv186, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Trade Secrets, Tort, Contract
J. Rodriguez upholds the trial court’s grant of habeas relief to a non-citizen who was arrested under Operation Lone Star and charged with criminal trespass. The state failed to justify why it arrested male, but not female, non-citizens for criminal trespass under the operation. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: November 15, 2023, Case #: 04-22-00872-CR , Categories: Immigration, Trespass
J. Rodriguez finds a lower court ruled correctly in granting a directed verdict to a businessman after he was sued by a former business partner seeking equitable contribution following a lawsuit with a subcontractor. The former business partner cannot bring an equitable contribution case because she offered “no evidence” that she made “a compulsory payment of more than her fair share of the parties’ common obligation.” Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: October 19, 2023, Case #: 08-23-00031-CV, Categories: Damages, Business Practices, Contract
J. Rodriguez declares disbarred California attorney Elizabeth Karnazes a vexatious litigant, imposing an order prohibiting her from filing new litigation without permission from the particular court’s judge. She has shown a persistent pattern of filing meritless appeals, imposing substantial costs requiring court staff to respond to excessive communications and addressing repeated violations of the California Rules of Court.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: October 11, 2023, Case #: A167888, Categories: Administrative Law, Contempt, Malicious Prosecution
J. Rodriguez finds a lower court erred in partially granting summary judgment to an ex-husband in a divorce case and instead issues a writ of mandamus in favor of the ex-wife. The lower court has not adequately considered a premarital agreement signed by the couple before they married in Mexico, including whether the agreement is valid under Texas law. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: October 9, 2023, Case #: 08-23-00225-CV, Categories: Family Law, International Law
J. Rodriguez denies the U.S. sovereign immunity in claims contending defendants failed to obtain a post-closure permit for a hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facility located on federally owned land in Colorado, as the resource conservation and recovery act “expressly waives sovereign immunity as to the United States as a whole while specifying that the federal government and its agencies must comply with all Federal, State, interstate, and local requirements, both substantive and procedural."
Court: USDC Colorado, Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: September 29, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv2474, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Environment, Immunity
J. Rodriguez finds a lower court ruled correctly in granting summary judgment to an oil company in a convoluted dispute with a property owner over “the validity of oil and gas leases and related partnership claims” after the oil company allowed its lease with the property owner to lapse in what he said was a breach of contract and fraud. There is “no evidence” of the company and property owner’s “intent to be business partners,” and therefore the oil company did not breach any agreements with the owner by failing to proactively communicate with him about the end of his lease. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: September 27, 2023, Case #: 08-22-00129-CV, Categories: Energy, Real Estate, Contract