169 results for 'filedAt:"2023-08-18"'.
J. LaBrit finds that the trial court improperly suppressed drug evidence collected from defendant's motel room because officers were not required to comply with knock-and-announce rules in light of the fact that the doors were open and they could see drug paraphernalia on the bed. Reversed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: LaBrit, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 2D22-3145, Categories: Drug Offender, Search
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J. Witt finds the lower court properly revoked defendant’s probation. Defendant was convicted of aggravated assault and vandalism, and received a four-year sentence that included probation. Defendant violated the terms of his probation when he was discharged from a halfway house for drinking alcohol and contacted the victim. Defendant stayed with the victim in her home, and after consuming alcohol, became violent with her. The lower court revoked defendant’s probation and ordered him to serve out the balance of his sentence incarcerated. Affirmed.
Court: Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge: Witt, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: E2022-00898-CCA-R3-CD, Categories: Probation, Assault, Vandalism
J. Kellum finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of capital murder and sentenced him to death. Contrary to defendant's argument on appeal, there was no error in the denial of his motion for a change of venue, as he failed to establish that "he could not receive a fair and impartial trial in St. Clair County" due to the media coverage of the case. Also, there was no error in the method of voir dire. Affirmed.
Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge: Kellum, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: CR-21-0283, Categories: Death Penalty, Jury, Murder
J. Quereshi denies an asset-based lending agency its motion to dismiss counterclaims of breach of contract brought by an energy efficient lighting firm. The firm failed to pay off the agency's loan because its work was stalled during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. The agency responded by seizing the firm’s products in storage and thereby allegedly causing the firm to lose multiple customers. These allegations cannot be resolved by a motion to dismiss, so the firm has sufficiently argued a breach of contract claim.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Quereshi, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 8:21cv668, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Interference With Contract, Conversion, Contract
[Consolidated.] J. Wilkins vacates, in part, the Surface Transportation Board's order approving a new rail line in the Uinta Basin in Utah, along with the underlying environmental impact statement and biological opinion. The board fails to show it weighed both the environmental impact of the new railway with its potential economic benefits. Vacated in part.
Court: DC Circuit, Judge: Wilkins, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 22-1019 , Categories: Environment, Transportation
J. Molloy grants in large part summary judgment in favor of environmentalists challenging the approval of the Black Ram Project in the Kootenai National Forest, a logging project that was pushed as an effort to improve winter range conditions and promote resilient vegetation. In approving the project, the feds did not properly rely on all the best available science or consider the project's carbon impacts. The matter is remanded to conduct further examination into the project, and the project is not allowed to move forward until all of the issues have been addressed.
Court: USDC Montana, Judge: Molloy, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 9:23cv3, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Environment
J. Abrams dismisses the North Carolina company's claim that the investment service had to pay back a $100,000 loan for a promised principal sum of $200,000, or otherwise double the amount loaned. The original complaint was dismissed because the loan contract was unenforceable due to it charging "a criminally usurious interest rate," but the North Carolina company did not establish any "special relationship" between itself and the opposing parties that would make the loan contract an exemption under law.
Court: USDC Southern District of New York, Judge: Abrams, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv6528, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Contract
J. Walker vacates defendant's 60-day prison sentence and three years probation following his guilty plea to the petty offense related to his rioting inside the Capitol. Although the district court could choose to sentence him to a prison term, fine him or both, or, alternatively, sentence him to probation without a fine, it could not "mix and match those options." Vacated.
Court: DC Circuit, Judge: Walker, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 22-3018 , Categories: Sentencing
[Consolidated.] J. Grimes holds that the trial court improperly found that Michael Jackson’s production companies did not have an affirmative duty to protect children from his sexual abuse because his complete control of the companies left other employees with no duty to protect children in their care. The appeals court concludes that “a corporation that facilitates the sexual abuse of children by one of its employees is not excused from an affirmative duty to protect those children merely because it is solely owned by the perpetrator of the abuse.” Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Grimes, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: B309450, Categories: Tort
J. Morgan orders arbitration in this lawsuit where an insurer was sued for bad faith by its insured, a social organization over its hurricane damage claims, which total almost $1.3 million. The social club argues that the service of suit clause of an international arbitration law acts as a waiver of the foreign insurer’s right to compel arbitration, but the court finds this argument unpersuasive.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Morgan, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv1689, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Arbitration, International Law, Damages
J. Kellum finds that the lower court properly denied the state relief on certain pretrial matters in this capital murder case. There was no error in excluding a fire report or the testimony of a former police officer. However, the issue regarding the outcome of the codefendant's trial is not properly before the court, and that part of the appeal is due to be dismissed. Affirmed in part.
Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge: Kellum, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: CR-2022-1003, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Evidence, Murder
Per curiam, the Vermont Supreme Court finds that the trial court properly terminated a mother's parental rights to her child. The evidence supports the finding regarding the mother's stagnation of her progress to meet her case plan goals. Affirmed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 23-AP-090, Categories: Evidence, Family Law
J. Brown preserves a former assistant corporation counsel’s breach of contract claim brought against the City of Long Beach and several public officials in which he alleges he was a target of political retribution from a local political faction called the New Wave Democrats over separation compensation agreements for exempt employees. The court declines to abstain from exercising its jurisdiction after finding the litigant’s claims are sufficiently distinct from the defendants’ state court claims.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Brown, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv7182, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Jurisdiction, Contract, First Amendment
J. Burns finds that the lower court properly granted summary judgment to the appellant's former employer in this lawsuit alleging discrimination, retaliation and a hostile work environment. The former employee failed to exhaust his administrative remedies as to the hostile work environment claims based on race or sex. Also, as it relates to his termination, he does not adequately rebut the employer's "legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for his discharge." Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Burns, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 05-21-01066-CV, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Hershfang reverses summary judgment in favor of a beneficiary of credit and instead grants summary judgment in favor of the issuing bank. The issuer of credit is not obligated to pay the beneficiary where the beneficiary included a photocopy of its amendment with a demand for pay, rather than the original amendment.
Court: Massachusetts Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hershfang, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 22-P-701, Categories: Banking / Lending, Contract
J. Brennan finds the trial court properly entered summary judgment in favor of the Social Security Administration in this discrimination, retaliation, and a hostile work environment suit brought by a Black, female supervisor. None of the alleged workplace incidents — including having to work in a cubicle rather than an office, and receiving emails that she says undermined her authority and amounted to harassment because the senders could have talked to her in person — were severe or pervasive, nor does she show how they relate to the protected characteristics of her race or age. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Brennan, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 22-3217, Categories: Social Security, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Wiley finds that the trial court erred in ruling that a bail agent must forfeit a $100,000 bond. After the fugitive was caught in Mexico, the state delayed its extradition decision past the appearance period. The bail agent followed the bail rules and indecision by prosecutors should not result in an unjust forfeiture, so the trial court should have asked the state to announce its extradition decision or extended the appearance period. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Wiley, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: B322752, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Sex Offender, Bail
[Consolidated.] J. Gallagher partially grants a mortgage and title firm’s motions to exclude expert testimony and for summary judgment against a class of borrowers who sued it for in an illegal kickback scheme in violation of RESPA. The class’s witness does not have enough experience in the title industry to qualify as an expert, but his extensive background in mortgages allows some of his testimony to be considered. Also, the class does not present enough evidence of its kickback claims to survive, but the class representative does for her individual claims.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 1:16cv3938, NOS: Consumer Credit - Other Suits, Categories: Property, Real Estate, Banking / Lending
J. Verdigets finds that defendant was properly convicted of manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The state's firearm expert was properly allowed rebuttal testimony to refute defendant's contention that a firearm can fire on its own. Further, the expert testified that the condition of the victim's shirt was inconsistent with defendant’s testimony, and, if the gunshot was close, the hole would be more irregular and there would probably be soot on the shirt. Also, defendant’s thirty-five-year sentence for manslaughter as a third-felony offender is not excessive based on the victim being shot in the back, the shooting taking place in a house with the victim's children, and defendant's prior and pending charges. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Verdigets, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 22-KA-577, Categories: Manslaughter, Experts
J. Gibbons denies the Bulgarian immigration's petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' decision, ruling that even though he testified about being assaulted twice upon his return to Bulgaria for being Roma, he failed to include these incidents in his initial interview and I-589 form, which discredits his testimony.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Gibbons, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 22-3760, Categories: Evidence, Immigration