J. Rothstein dismisses the job applicant's complaint that the temp agency violated Washington law by not disclosing the wage scale or salary range of its job openings. The job applicant alleges a technical or procedural violation, which does not qualify as a concrete injury, and he must allege at least that he and others applied for the job with good faith intent and suffered risk of harm by that violation.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Rothstein, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1680, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment
J. Boasberg largely grants the employer and co-worker's motion for summary judgment in the employee's suit against them alleging that his hours were cut and he was terminated after objecting to discriminatory comments by the coworker. The employee has adequately pleaded that the employer's stated reason for a reduction of overtime opportunities was pretextual, but has not made that same showing for his other claims.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Boasberg, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv275, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Employment Retaliation
J. Wilson finds that the appellate division improperly dismissed a developer's claims seeking damages for breach of a redevelopment contract based on repudiation. The agreement to turn a single-room-occupancy hotel into a mixed-use residential/commercial building required that the site include some low-income housing, which was complicated by a subsequent court settlement mandating the addition of rent-stabilized units. Written notification stating the property owner could not agree to the latter as altering the parties' original contract supported allegations of anticipatory repudiation. Reversed in part.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wilson, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 30, Categories: Damages, Contract
Per curiam, the appellate division finds that the lower court improperly denied the flooring subcontractor's motion for a property inspection in a trip and fall suit alleging a woman tripped over a vent hole in the carpet. The contractor is entitled to inspect the site of the incident giving rise to the woman's serious injuries, even if the vent cover has already been replaced. Reversed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 02251, Categories: Evidence, Tort
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J. Bloom approves a state commission’s motion to dismiss employment discrimination claim by a former employee who alleged he was harassed and fired due to a disability that made him fall asleep on the job. Because the former employee took no action for more than two years after initiating the case, he did not make a good faith effort to serve notice, as required.
Court: USDC Middle District of Pennsylvania, Judge: Bloom, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv1820, NOS: Civil Rights - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Ervin-Knott finds that the trial court should not have found for a hotel on a guest's negligence action after he was injured in a robbery in the hotel parking area. Although the hotel presented evidence to show that there was no prior criminal activity in the parking area, there is a genuine issue of material fact regarding the foreseeability of criminal activity. In this case, the location, nature, and condition of the hotel were not taken into account. This court has repeatedly found that a lack of prior criminal acts at a certain place does not automatically render a crime unforeseeable. Further, the guest testified to New Orleans' high crime rate at the time of the incident, and the lack of a manager or hotel workers in the lobby at the time of the robbery. Reversed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Ervin-Knott, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 2023-CA-0731, Categories: Evidence, Negligence
J. Lewis finds a lower court properly dismissed a Bangladesh national's motion to remain in the U.K. The Bangladesh national argued that he is entitled to live in the U.K. based on his tier one highly skilled person. However, the Home Department sufficiently showed in court that he invested in a bogus company that made fraudulent transactions. Affirmed.
Court: Her Majesty's Court of Appeal, Judge: Lewis, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: CA-2023-1822, Categories: Immigration
J. Kahn finds that the district court properly held that a school district did not violate a student's due process rights by denying a medical exemption from the Covid-19 masking mandate because the student's fundamental rights had not been violated, and the mandate was reasonably related to legitimate health and safety concerns. However, the court improperly held that administrative remedies had not beeen exhausted when such was not required to bring disability claims alleging failure to accommodate the student's asthma. Affirmed in part.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Kahn, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 23-582-cv, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Education, Covid-19
J. Stabile finds that the lower court partly improperly sustained the preliminary objections of a mother and CEO of a language services company against her son, the company’s former vice president. The declaratory judgment and minority shareholder oppression causes of action in son’s 2021 complaint are sound in equity and therefore can go forward. Reversed in part.
Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court, Judge: Stabile, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: J-A24008-23, Categories: Civil Procedure, Property, Business Practices
J. Wecht finds that the superior court improperly affirmed the trial court’s decision to not award certain damages in this suit wherein a couple alleges they were fraudulently induced to purchase life insurance from a financial company. Treble damages under the Consumer Protection Law are available to the the couple in this case. Reversed.
Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Judge: Wecht, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: J-59-2023, Categories: Fraud, Insurance, Damages
J. Pulliam denies a franchisee’s motion to dismiss after he and his company were sued by a franchisor in a contract dispute. While that franchisee argues that this court lacks jurisdiction, he is “closely related to the dispute” and therefore “bound by the forum selection clause contained within the Franchise Agreement,” which specifies that either the Western District of Texas or Travis County state court will be the forum for any contract disputes.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Pulliam, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 5:23cv1531, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Jurisdiction, Venue, Contract
J. Simons finds that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to order restitution after the end of defendant's probation on a hit-and-run conviction. Where a restitution order is for losses caused by a collision and not for the criminal act of leaving the scene, the order is a condition of probation and jurisdiction may not extend beyond the termination of probation. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Simons, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: A167703, Categories: Restitution, Vehicle, Jurisdiction
J. Miller finds that the trial court properly concluded that a doctor did not have a right to a hearing before his application for privileges at two hospitals was denied. The doctor had a history of unprofessional behavior at other hospitals and was the subject of a disciplinary order and public reprimand by the state medical board. The hospitals' agreement with the doctor's medical group, which established the eligibility requirements, disallowed staff privileges for doctors with such histories, and the hospitals have quasi-legislative authority to establish the requirements. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Miller, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: A166748, Categories: Employment, Due Process, Contract
J. Erickson finds a lower court properly dismissed a case manager and a corrections employee's motion for qualified immunity concerning an inmate's Eighth Amendment claims. The case manager and the corrections employee argued that they did not act with deliberate indifference when they deprived him from obtaining toothpaste. However, the inmate sufficiently showed in court that he used his money from an inmate account to buy toothpaste, and suffered tooth decay as a result of not receiving it. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Erickson, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 22-3617, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Immunity
J. McKeown grants the National Labor Relations Board’s application for enforcement of its order directing Starbucks in Seattle to cease and desist from failing and refusing to recognize and bargain with a union. The Board held that by refusing to recognize and bargain with the union, Starbucks engaged in unfair labor practices. Starbucks refused to recognize and bargain with the union, claiming that the regional director should have ordered an in-person election instead of a mail-in vote. The Board correctly applied its own law in determining that the regional director appropriately exercised its discretion to hold a mail-ballot election. The certification of the union’s representative was proper, and the Board correctly found that Starbucks committed a violation by refusing to bargain.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 22-1969, Categories: Employment, Labor / Unions
J. Moeller finds that the district court properly held that a Department of Water Resources enforcement action was not barred by a two-year limitations period. The period began to run when the department's director became aware that a landowner had not completed the streambank restoration required by a consent order. The landowner was involved in ongoing negotiations with the department over his compliance, so the director would have first known he did not plan to comply when he sought declaratory relief. Affirmed.
Court: Idaho Supreme Court, Judge: Moeller, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 50273, Categories: Environment, Water
J. Higginson finds the district court properly found the owner of the unpowered drillship to be liable for the ship's moorage breakaway during Hurrican Harvey. Maritime negligence law, rather than a "towage law," was appropriately applied in the court's holding the force majeure contract defense was not available to the ship owner in relation to the tugboat owner hired to tend to the ship during the storm. The tugboat owner also had expressly refused to agree to the terms of the agreement for provision of services. Because the tugboat owner had supplied another vessel to monitor the ship after the breakaway, and that tug failed to stop the vessel’s allision with a University of Texas pier, the court correctly found both owners were equally liable for damages suffered by the school. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Higginson , Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 23-40209, Categories: Maritime, Damages, Negligence
J. Smith finds that the trial court properly and improperly ruled in a breach of fiduciary duty case filed by the co-owner of a corporation against an attorney who represented the corporation in litigation. The co-owners alleged in their complaint that the attorney failed to inform the corporation's board of directors of a possible conflict of interest and aided another owner of the corporation in starting a competing firm. Nothing in the evidence establishes a relationship between the co-owner and the attorney. However, remaining questions on the award of attorney fees in this litigation still exist and should be adjudicated. Affirmed in part.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 03-22-00234-CV, Categories: Corporations, Fiduciary Duty, Attorney Fees
J. Baker finds that the trial court improperly ruled against an interior design firm that a design communications company sued for breach of a promissory note. The design firm argues that genuine fact issues remain on their counterclaims, specifically, an affidavit purporting to challenge the notion that there was a joint venture between the entities, entitling the communications company to a promissory note from the design firm. The trial court did indeed err in excluding the affidavit. Furthermore, the company is not entitled to summary judgment on the firm's breach of fiduciary duty claims while these fact issues exist. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Baker, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 03-22-00451-CV, Categories: Corporations, Evidence, Fiduciary Duty
J. Wilson finds that defendant was properly convicted and sentenced to life without parole for the murder of a 17-year-old in a drive-by shooting after the teenager allegedly shorted a purchase of Xanax by a group of defendant's friends. Defendant asserts that the state did not prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt regarding his specific intent, but the state presented witnesses that placed defendant and his friends in the drive-by shooting, and his testimony shows he felt provoked to kill or help to kill the teenager in retaliation for the failed drug buy. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Wilson, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: KA-23-414, Categories: Evidence, Intent, Murder
J. Volk grants the government's motion for summary judgment in 27 former Beckley Veterans Medical Center patients' suits claiming they contracted infectious diseases from the uncredentialed use of acupuncture by Dr. Jonathan Yates. The 27 patients' claims are barred by res judicata since they all previously filed suits against Yates for malpractice and, prior to the government filing responsive pleadings, signed releases from any claims arising from Yates' medical negligence including those "unknown" or "unsuspected."
Court: USDC Southern District of West Virginia, Judge: Volk, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 5:23cv243, NOS: Personal Injury - Medical Malpractice - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Government, Health Care, Medical Malpractice