32 results for 'cat:"Evidence" AND cat:"Government"'.
J. Abele finds that the lower court properly granted the board of commissioners' motion for summary judgment. It did not breach its duty of care to the residents whose home was damaged by a sewer backup that developed quickly and was unclogged nearly as soon as the city became aware of the issue. Although the sewer line had become clogged in the past, the residents presented no evidence the city knew of any deterioration or defects that would have required it to take preventive action before another clog developed, and so it cannot be held responsible for property damage. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: April 18, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1569, Categories: evidence, government, Negligence
J. Kobayashi partially excludes reports and testimony from a doctor and toxicology expert who assessed military families who are bringing claims against the U.S. Navy for jet fuel water contamination. The doctor’s opinions on the contamination causing the families’ short term medical issues are admissible as long as they do not rely on studies done exclusively on animals. The doctor cannot testify as to the long term effects, however, as he does not establish specific causation to the jet fuel.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Kobayashi, Filed On: April 9, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv397, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: evidence, government, Water
J. Kobayashi partially excludes reports and testimony from three psychologists who assessed military families who are bringing claims against the U.S. Navy for jet fuel water contamination. Testimony from two of the doctors are admissible, as they did conduct full interviews of their patients, including the minors. Information gathered from the parents about their children is admissible as first-hand knowledge when minors are involved is not required. A third doctor is not a physician or military medicine expert so portions of his testimony are excluded, but his testimony on the families' trauma is admissible.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Kobayashi, Filed On: April 8, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv397, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: evidence, government, Water
J. Norton grants the cancer patient's motion for reconsideration. The court awarded summary judgment to the military doctor and government as to the patient's claims the doctor forged his signature on a form consenting to having his prostatectomy performed by a less-skilled surgeon. The patient incurred complications after surgery requiring further medical intervention. A motion in limine has been filed requesting to name a handwriting expert as a witness, and the government has also submitted new evidence. The evidence now is meaningfully different from that before the court on the motions for summary judgment.
Court: USDC South Carolina Aiken, Judge: Norton, Filed On: March 25, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv3801, NOS: Personal Injury - Medical Malpractice - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: evidence, government, Medical Malpractice
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J. Griffin finds the lower court properly dismissed municipal liability claims against the city. Although the police chief intentionally avoided a background check on the officer who held the victim at gunpoint while off-duty and without any reason, there is no evidence to suggest the city should have known the officer would have committed this specific, unconstitutional act based on previous disciplinary issues with a Florida police department. Affirmed.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Griffin, Filed On: March 18, 2024, Case #: 23-5229, Categories: Civil Rights, evidence, government
J. Alley finds a lower court ruled correctly in a quo warranto case in which Texas sued to remove a Kerr County commissioner because that commissioner had pleaded guilty to felony burglary in 1973 at age 17, and people with felony convictions are not eligible to hold public office in Texas. The commissioner raised a number of issues on appeal, including arguing that his guilty plea was most equivalent to modern-day deferred adjudication and therefore was not a conviction, but the 1973 judgment “unambiguously characterizes itself” as a conviction, and the commissioner’s arguments rely heavily on recollections of conversations with his now-deceased attorney. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00319-CV, Categories: evidence, government, Due Process
J. Readler finds the immigration panel properly determined the class of "mistreated women" proposed by the El Salvadoran immigrant did not constitute a distinct social group protected under U.S. immigration law. Although they suffer from mistreatment at the hands of gangs, the group is overly broad and is not distinct from other sets of individuals in the country. However, the panel failed to provide any analysis of its decision to deny protected social group status to the immigrant's family; therefore, the case must be remanded for proper analysis of that social group and whether it entitles the immigrant to protection from removal. Affirmed in part.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Readler, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: 21-3334, Categories: evidence, government, Immigration
J. Currault grants summary judgment to the Secretary of the Army, dismissing an engineering technician’s Title VII employment claims of sex, religion, age, and disability discrimination and complaints of a hostile work environment. The Corps of Engineers has presented substantial evidence, including sworn declarations of the technician’s supervisors, coworkers and HR representatives, that undermine her allegations. The technician failed to come forward with any evidence in response.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Currault, Filed On: March 1, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv3333, NOS: Federal Employers’ Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Employment, evidence, government
J. Palafox finds a lower court did not err in terminating a mother’s parental rights. The mother argued child welfare officials had not provided adequate evidence to terminate her rights or to show that termination was in the best interest of the children, but the mother has repeatedly tested positive for methamphetamine, has missed mandatory drug tests and “spent minimal time with the children and did not nurture or
maintain a strong bond through visitation.” Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Palafox, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00282-CV, Categories: evidence, government, Guardianship
J. Vitter grants summary judgment to a minority-owner of a joint venture of general contractors formed to obtain construction work on prison buildings in New Orleans, dismissing the majority-owner's demands for a total of $6 million in capital contributions it made on behalf of its estranged minority partner. The ruling finds the joint venture agreement requires an executive committee's approval of the need for capital contributions to bind the two contractors and partners. The language of the joint venture agreement makes it clear the minority partner is not in default of the contract since the executive committee did not unanimously approve the majority partner’s capital contribution.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vitter, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv5323, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Construction, evidence, government
J. White finds that the Agency for Health Care Administration improperly modified and denied factual findings made by the administrative law judge in a recommended order that found in favor of the agency. The written judgment contains a scrivener's error, however, so the court notes a correction related to fees and fines. Reversed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: White, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 6D23-1494, Categories: evidence, government
J. Jackson grants summary judgment to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, upholding the agency’s 2014 decision to remove the Louisiana Black Bear from a list of endangered species after determining that its population had recovered from the threat of agricultural land clearing efforts in the early 1990s. The Service’s decision to delist the Louisiana Black Bear was lawful and not arbitrary or capricious, as litigant-nonprofit organizations alleged. The Service’s conclusions about the viability of the current Black Bear population were “based on its reasonable assessment of the best available scientific evidence.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 3:20cv651, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Environment, evidence, government
J. Heyten finds the lower court improperly convicted the couple's three convictions for conspiring to obtain U.S. citizenship fraudulently for the noncitizen and making false statements in their efforts to do so. The couple met in college and married shortly after but lived on opposite sides of the country. Although the evidence was sufficient to support the jury’s verdict, the jury was allowed to consider a legally insufficient theory. The government told the jury that a form filled out by the originating citizen labeled herself as married despite the pair being separated. Because it was a separation and not a divorce, she is considered married for the form and, therefore, did not lie as the government portrayed. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Heytens, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 22-4128, Categories: evidence, government, Immigration
J. Alvord finds the lower court properly granted the city's motion for summary judgment because the 3-year age difference between the detective and the officer promoted to sergeant was insufficient on its own to establish a prima facie case of age discrimination. Additionally, the detective's list of individuals under the age of 40 promoted to sergeant since 2008 failed to prove the city had a policy of promoting only younger officers because it did not specify whether there were any applicants over the age of 40. Affirmed.
Court: Connecticut Court Of Appeals, Judge: Alvord, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: AC45866, Categories: evidence, government, Employment Discrimination
J. Mansfield declines to sanction the government for the loss of text messages from two Navy captains regarding the water contamination by jet fuel from the military’s Red Hill storage facility. The text message evidence as to when the military knew of the contamination was lost in a reset of the phones prior to the litigation, but can be recovered from other parties, which the government has taken steps to preserve and hand over to those affected by the leak. There is no proof that key text messages about the contamination between the two captains of different commands exist and that the loss was anything but inadvertent.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Mansfield, Filed On: December 14, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv397, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Environment, evidence, government
J. Casper denies protesters’ motion for injunctive relief after they believed their First Amendment rights were violated when they were told they were not allowed to protest the innocence of a woman accused of murder directly outside the property of a potential witness. The government has a right to interfere with the protesters’ protests to protect the potential witness from being too intimidated to give truthful testimony, which would then impede the administration of justice in the murder trial.
Court: USDC Massachusetts, Judge: Casper, Filed On: November 10, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv12685, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: evidence, government, First Amendment
[Consolidated] J. Bunn vacates the lower court's order separately terminating the Wyoming County father's and mother's parental rights to their two children. It was error to adjudicate the father and mother as neglectful parents of their then-8-month-old daughter based on their silence on how they may have harmed her after an emergency room physician reported suspected bruising on her forehead when the mother sought treatment for her high fever. Also, nothing supports the judge's adjudication of the parents of abusing or neglecting their newborn son since he was removed from their custody by emergency order immediately following his birth. Vacated.
Court: West Virginia Supreme Court Of Appeals, Judge: Bunn, Filed On: November 9, 2023, Case #: 22-602, Categories: evidence, Family Law, government
Per curiam, the Fifth Circuit, in this interlocutory appeal, finds the district court improperly denied the county’s motion for summary judgment in the suit alleging violations of the Texas Wiretap Act brought by the county jail inmate. A non-lawyer employee of the county attorney’s office inadvertently listened to a call between the inmate and his attorney involving an investigation into inmate treatment. The county asserts governmental immunity, while the district court found the Act waives immunity. Though the word “person” as used in the Act in reference to waivers of immunity could be construed to apply to government entities, another section of the act disclaims this interpretation, so it should be understood to maintain immunity. Reversed and dismissed with prejudice.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: November 8, 2023, Case #: 23-40078, Categories: evidence, government, Prisoners' Rights
Per curiam, the Fifth Circuit finds the district court properly dismissed hostile work environment claims brought by the Baptist chaplain employed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The chaplain filed a formal complaint against the Catholic chaplain for derogatory remarks made against Protestants, alleging religious discrimination. The Complaint Adjudication Office (CAO) found that the “record support[ed] a claim of harassment based on religion” and awarded damages. The chaplain has mistaken “a suit to enforce the final administrative disposition” with a suit seeking “de novo review of the disposition.” The district court is not bound by the CAO’s finding of liability, and the chaplain has failed to present evidence supporting hostile work environment claims. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: November 2, 2023, Case #: 22-11067, Categories: evidence, government, Employment Discrimination
J. Wiener finds the district court properly denied Louisiana’s motion to dissolve a 30-year-old consent decree pertaining to the method of selecting justices for the state’s supreme court and arising upon claims of Black voter dilution. Louisiana has failed to meet its evidentiary burden, which requires showing that the decree’s remedial promise will continue to exist if dissolved. No evidence has demonstrated “there is relatively little or no likelihood that the original ... violation will ... be repeated when the decree is lifted.” Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Wiener, Filed On: October 25, 2023, Case #: 22-30320, Categories: Elections, evidence, government
J. Reed finds a lower court improperly dismissed human rights claims brought by the daughter of her deceased father. The public authority argued that it was not obligated to make an arrest after her father died in a bomb explosion. However, the daughter presented sufficient evidence in court that police failed to conduct a proper investigation and that she is entitled to an inquest. Reversed.
Court: Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Judge: Reed, Filed On: October 18, 2023, Case #: 2023UKSC36, Categories: evidence, government, Wrongful Death
J. Ritter grants the consulting firm's motion for summary judgment, ruling that evidence in the record clearly indicates it never told the city its prescription insurance costs would be $4.6 million unless there was a significant rate increase for plan participants. Therefore, the contract claim must be dismissed for lack of evidence of reliance. Additionally, the city's failure to provide concrete evidence of damages other than speculative claims it would have to catch up in the coming years after a shortfall requires dismissal of the remaining claims against the consulting firm.
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Ritter, Filed On: September 29, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv349, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: evidence, government, Contract
J. Graham grants the state industrial commission's motion for summary judgment, ruling statements from the commissioner, including his feelings that an investigation into a male supervisor was unfair and that some of the women in the department had difficult demeanors, are insufficient to prove any discriminatory intent behind the female attorney's removal as chief legal counsel. Meanwhile, the female attorney's move to an undesirable cubicle and being assigned a new telephone number upon her return to a previous position do not constitute discriminatory or retaliatory behavior that prevented her from doing her job.
Court: USDC Southern District of Ohio, Judge: Graham, Filed On: September 12, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv2987, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: evidence, government, Employment Discrimination
J. Dooley grants the city's motion for summary judgment, ruling the 61-year-old white applicant for the commissioner position was not significantly more qualified than the applicant selected for the position, while a stray remark from a hiring committee member about previously hiring an "old white man" is insufficient to prove discriminatory intent on the part of the committee. Additionally, although the applicant selected for the position was younger than the 61-year-old, he was sufficiently qualified and the gap in age alone cannot be used to support age discrimination claims.
Court: USDC Connecticut, Judge: Dooley, Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv771, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: evidence, government, Employment Discrimination
J. Dick grants a request by incarcerated juvenile offenders to certify a class-action civil suit against the Governor of Louisiana and state corrections officials for the transfer of certain youths in state custody to the former “death row” facility at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. The state says the transfers applied to a “handful” of violent youth who were endangering the public by repeatedly attempting to escape from youth care facilities statewide. The suit alleges locked-up youth have been allegedly harmed by the threat of transfer to Angola as a form of punishment where their constitutional rights will be violated by continuous cell restrictions and a lack of educational, rehabilitative, recreational, mental health services. Further, the suit challenges the state’s alleged failure to accommodate a sub-class of disabled children confined at Angola. The goal of the juveniles’ suit is “specific and quite simple:” forbid the state from transferring youth to the state’s maximum-security prison for adult men.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Dick, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv573, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Constitution, evidence, government
J. Knepp grants, in part, the Department of Labor's motion for summary judgment, ruling the principal owner of the chain of wireless stores will be held jointly liable for any violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. While managers oversaw day-to-day operations, he set in place the payment structure for employees that led to this lawsuit. Meanwhile, neither party is entitled to judgment on the minimum wage claim, given the lack of complete payroll records to support the owner's claim that deductions were taken out to offset theft and allow for loans to employees.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Knepp, Filed On: August 25, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv718, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: evidence, government, Labor
J. Jackson-Akiwumi denies a request by a Mexican national to halt his removal to Mexico because he fears a gang based in Mexico City will make good on threats to kill him. The immigrant failed to meaningfully challenge the two dispositive issues in his case before the Board of Immigration Appeals or the federal appellate court — the findings of no past persecution by governmental officials under international torture protocols and his ability to relocate beyond the gang upon returning to Mexico.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: July 27, 2023, Case #: 21-2088, Categories: evidence, government, Immigration