124 results for 'filedAt:"2024-03-11"'.
J. Chestney grants an insurance company’s motion to exclude expert testimony in an insurance dispute with policyholders over damages from Winter Storm Uri while also denying a separate motion to exclude by those policyholders. While the policyholders have attempted to designate as experts adjusters and contractors who reviewed alleged damage to their home, they have not shown these individuals are relying on sufficient facts or data to provide reliable court testimony. Conversely, the insurance company has shown that its plumbing expert is reliable, and that person should be allowed to testify.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Chestney, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 5:22cv1110, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Civil Procedure, Insurance, Experts
J. Brown partially grants the manufacturer's and customer's motion to strike surplusage, irrelevant paragraphs and inappropriate arguments from the company's amended patent infringement counterclaims in a declaratory judgment action brought by the manufacturer. The manufacturer seeks a declaration that a pole for cleaning swimming pools does not infringe on the company's patents. Portions of the counterclaims describing the company's first pole patent application, discussing early communications between the parties and relating to allegations about the benefits of the company's patents are appropriate and will not be struck. The customer's motion to sever and stay the company's counterclaims against it is granted.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Brown, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv790, NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: Patent
J. Gabriel finds that Colorado's sex offender sentencing scheme allows parole boards to consider a juvenile defendant's maturity, although the statutory language does not require such consideration. The term "progress through treatment" does not necessarily include such a defendant's maturation process, which involves a number of factors that must be applied on a case-by-case basis. However, because "progress through treatment" includes sex offender programs that are, by definition, rehabilitative, parole boards must consider rehabilitation as part of their ultimate decisions regarding juvenile sex offenders.
Court: Colorado Supreme Court, Judge: Gabriel, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 2024CO14, Categories: Juvenile Law, Parole, Sex Offender
J. Miller finds the trial court did not violate defendant's confrontation rights when it admitted the victim's testimony from a pretrial hearing during defendant's case on assault and abduction charges. Although the victim was unable to testify at trial, defendant thoroughly cross-examined him during the hearing. Meanwhile, the trial court properly denied defendant's motion to admit evidence he was cleared of a false accusation of assault against the same victim because the victim did not make the accusation and, therefore, defendant could not impeach his testimony. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Miller, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-886, Categories: Confrontation, Evidence, Assault
J. Urias denies, in part, the employer's motion to dismiss, ruling the employee's complaints to HR about discriminatory treatment constitute protected activity, while her negative performance reviews and interrogations by supervisors were undoubtedly adverse employment actions that can be used to support her retaliation claim. However, Supreme Court precedent prevents application of an equal protection "class of one" theory to public employment jobs; therefore, that claim will be dismissed.
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Urias, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv600, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Government, Equal Protection, Employment Retaliation
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J. Connolly declines to dismiss claims alleging violations of the Controlled Substances Act after Walmart was charged with filling illegitimate prescriptions for opioids not known to be illegitimate by the pharmacists but known to be so by compliance team members. However, Walmart should be granted dismissal of two other counts based on the contention that its failure to comply with reporting requirements was not unlawful or subject to civil penalties during the relevant period.
Court: USDC Delaware, Judge: Connolly, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv1744, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, Agency
[Consolidated.] J. Marbley grants the private equity company's motion to dismiss, ruling that because it is based in Florida and had no connection to the solar power company based in Ohio other than an initial 25 percent investment in the company, this court lacks jurisdiction over the claims brought against it. Meanwhile, because there is no evidence of coercion or deception on the part of the solar power company as it relates to the arbitration provision found in the customers' contracts, the solar company's motion to dismiss and compel arbitration is also granted.
Court: USDC Southern District of Ohio, Judge: Marbley, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv721, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Arbitration, Jurisdiction, Contract
J. Eklund finds the trial court properly denied defendant's motion for sanctions against the city for its failure to preserve his interview with police. There was no evidence of bad faith on the part of the police and the interview would not have benefited defendant in the preparation of his defense. Meanwhile, video surveillance footage of the assault and the victim's testimony that defendant grabbed her butt and breasts was sufficient to convict him of sexual imposition. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Eklund, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-889, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender
J. Wolford dismisses claims contending the state wrongfully required Amish schoolchildren to receive vaccines against religious objections and issued non-compliance orders against Amish private schools because evidence does not indicate the state education commissioner had or will have any role in enforcing state public health laws. Meanwhile, the laws at issue do not contain hostility toward religious beliefs, and the fact that the state has not accomplished complete compliance among all students does not mean the law is not generally applicable.
Court: USDC Western District of New York, Judge: Wolford , Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv484, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Education
J. Wray finds the lower court erroneously determined the parents of the deceased priest are statutory beneficiaries under the New Mexico Wrongful Death Act. The language in the law creates no beneficiaries rights for parents of adult children; therefore, the case will be remanded to allow for reappointment of the estate's personal representative. Reversed.
Court: New Mexico Court of Appeals, Judge: Wray, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: A-1-CA-40187, Categories: Family Law, Wills / Probate, Wrongful Death
Per curiam, the Oklahoma Supreme Court reinstates Lyndon C. Taylor, who had resigned membership in the bar. The attorney has met all the procedural requirements, established he has not engaged in the unauthorized practice of law, and possesses the competency and learning in the law and good moral character required for reinstatement.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 7550, Categories: Administrative Law, Attorney Discipline
J. Calabretta approves two consent decrees between the California Department of Toxic Substances Control and several companies, including Exxon and Chevron, regarding closed landfills in Solano County. The parties agree the settlement was negotiated in good faith, and is fair, reasonable and in the public interest.
Court: USDC Eastern District of California, Judge: Calabretta, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv1739, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Energy, Environment
J. Thacker finds the lower court properly denied the defendant's post-trial motion to vacate his conviction or order a new trial. The defendant, convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, believed he deserved a new trial after he learned that the government’s key witness had changed his story two weeks before trial. The government failed to disclose that information. The witness is irrelevant to the jury's decision because the evidence demonstrated that he had been sitting on the magazine, the gun was beside him, and he had a history of illegally possessing firearms. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 22-4617, Categories: Fair Trial, Firearms, Witnesses
J. Maze finds that challengers to a city's ban on billboards lack standing because they did not argue that the ban is unconstitutional. The ban applies to all billboards, regardless of content, so it was not a prior restraint on speech. City officials denied permit and variance applications because of the ban and were not using unconstitutionally unbridled discretion. The challengers' facial argument also failed due to the absence of discretionary decision-making by officials.
Court: USDC Northern District of Alabama , Judge: Maze, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 4:22cv461, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Zoning, Jurisdiction, First Amendment
J. Lin dismisses a contract claim in the water product company's complaint alleging that the oil field equipment supplier did not pay what it owed under a distributor agreement and sold counterfeit versions of the water product company's project after the latter ended the agreement. The water product company terminated the agreement instead of affirming and enforcing it through a damages or relief lawsuit, and because the agreement ended, the oil field equipment supplier did not have a duty of non-competition.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Lin, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1317, NOS: Other Personal Property Damage - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Property, Contract
J. Winmill denies in part an animal processing plant's motion for summary judgment regarding a family's wrongful death and negligence claims after an employee was killed by a machine unexpectedly starting up while he was cleaning it. A reasonable jury could find that the company "knew or consciously disregarded the risk posed by the cow shovel."
Court: USDC Idaho, Judge: Winmill, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv191, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Tort
J. Kobayashi grants remand for couple to take their tobacco-related product liability case against a cigarette manufacturer back to Hawaii state court. The couple did not act in bad faith when it settled with other defendants close to the trial date in the case to prevent the case from being removed. Those defendants included other cigarette manufacturers and only occurred after many settlement discussions, not just with tobacco retailers. However, the couple is denied a request for the attorney fees related to the removal to federal court, as the removal was reasonable given that there were some bad faith factors.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Kobayashi, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 1:24cv86, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Civil Procedure, Settlements, Product Liability
J. Rowland grants a number of Illinois municipalities’ motion to remand this ongoing negligence, nuisance and product liability suit to the Circuit Court of Cook County. The municipalities sued Monsanto and several other companies over their contamination of public land and water with polychlorinated biphenyls, highly carcinogenic chemicals whose production was banned in the U.S. under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. The municipalities initially filed suit in Cook County, but companies had the case moved to federal court from in 2023 on the grounds that federally administered lands and waters were implicated in the complaint. But the court grants the remand on the basis of the municipalities disclaiming any injuries to federal holdings, and only seeking restitution for damage done to their own jurisdictions.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv3140, NOS: Property Damage Product Liability - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Environment, Product Liability, Venue
J. Halpern partially denies the company's motion to dismiss claims arising out of an equity purchase agreement. The agreement does not provide any legal consequence for late delivery of an earn-out calculation statement, and the court declines to impose one. However, the purchaser may pursue a breach of contract claim to the extent it is based on failure to provide access to books and records.
Court: USDC Southern District of New York, Judge: Halpern, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 7:21cv7920, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Securities, Contract
J. Russell mostly declines the stepfather's motion to dismiss in this fraud and fiduciary duty lawsuit concerning the administration of the mother's trust. The brothers have sufficiently alleged that the stepfather breached his fiduciary duties as the trustee by selling the house below market value, issuing an unsecured loan to his own son, and failing to pay ad valorem taxes on behalf of the trust. However, the brothers' claim for accounting is dismissed.
Court: USDC Western District of Oklahoma , Judge: Russell, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 5:23cv917, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Fraud, Trusts, Fiduciary Duty
J. Goodwin denies in part the plaintiff motorist's motions in limine in this lawsuit arising from a motor vehicle collision. The plaintiff motorist seeks to preclude the defendant motorist from introducing plaintiff's medical information that is not related to this case, but this request is too broad and does not identify any specific record. Plaintiff can object during trial if defendant attempts to introduce an inadmissible medical record. However, the defendant motorist's counsel and witnesses are precluded from suggesting "that the jury's decision may result in higher healthcare costs or affect the costs of insurance."
Court: USDC Western District of Oklahoma , Judge: Goodwin, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 5:22cv389, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Tort, Discovery
J. Ditkoff affirms the defendant’s conviction of possession of fentanyl. Search warrants authorizing searches of any person present include people who remain in the vicinity of the property the search warrant is authorized for, even if they have left the property itself, as long as they were on the property during the execution of the warrant. Affirmed.
Court: Massachusetts Court Of Appeals, Judge: Ditkoff, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 23-P-250, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Drug Offender, Search