139 results for 'court:"USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin"'.
J. Pepper enters a default judgment in favor of the vape pen manufacturer in its lawsuit against the smoke shop accused of selling counterfeit vaporizers bearing the manufacturer's trademarks. The manufacturer has done enough to prove its Lanham Act claims, but its claim for $200,000 in statutory damages is excessive, so it will be awarded $20,000 plus $497 in costs.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1018, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Trademark, Damages
J. Pepper grants the nail salon owner's motion to proceed without prepaying the filing fee in her lawsuit alleging a former friend maliciously slandered her and her business on social media. In part because there is a lack of clarity in the complaint regarding jurisdiction, the owner is given until June 7, 2024, to file an amended complaint. If she does not, her lawsuit will be dismissed.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 2:24cv8, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Defamation
J. Pepper grants the insurance company's motion to intervene, bifurcate and stay in a lawsuit against the mechanical contractor from an employee claiming she was not paid any overtime wages. As the contractor's commercial insurer, the insurance company will be allowed to intervene in the lawsuit and bifurcate its issues of coverage from the merits of the case. Because it properly balances potential prejudices against the company and the employee, proceedings in the lawsuit are stayed until the insurance coverage issues are resolved.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 2:24cv38, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Insurance, Labor
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J. Stadtmueller grants a union’s motion to enforce a settlement agreement which the parties entered into by email. The plumbing company argues that the terms of the settlement agreement in the email are not what it agreed to, as the email specified a limited release of claims through a specified date, where the company wanted a release of all claims, including those after the date. The instant court finds there was no communication to that effect, and that the parties had agreed upon the limited release via the email which is found to be an enforceable settlement agreement.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: April 18, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv616, NOS: Labor/Management Relations - Labor, Categories: Settlements, Labor / Unions
[Consolidated.] J. Joseph grants motions for judgment in this civil rights matter. The mother and sister of a 17-year-old boy who was killed by a former police officer were in the county protesting the district attorney’s decision not to prosecute the former police officer for the death. During what they claim was a peaceful protest, they allege they were forcibly removed from their vehicle and assaulted by police. In a separate complaint, a driver claims he was driving home from work when police rammed his vehicle with an armored vehicle and armed officers surrounded him. He argues his vehicle was unlawfully searched and he was arrested without probable cause. The complainants fail to identify anyone for whom fresh claims may be brought, and all other claims are duplicative, as they were already addressed in prior litigation.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Joseph, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1321, NOS: Civil Rights - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Police Misconduct
J. Stadtmueller grants a patient’s motion to compel discovery. The patient has opioid disorder and insomnia, and was under care when he was arrested for driving while intoxicated. While detained in the county jail, he received none of his medications, as according to jail medical staff, methadone is not prescribed for inmates under any circumstances, and he was not permitted to leave the jail to receive treatment at a methadone clinic. The patient claims denial of treatment resulted in him experiencing extreme withdrawal. The patient requested discovery that the county objected to on grounds that it violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and that the requests were overly vague. But the instant court finds the discovery request relevant to the patient’s case and does not immediately see issues with HIPAA.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: April 16, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv873, NOS: Personal Injury - Health Care/Pharmaceutical Personal Injury/Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Civil Procedure, Health Care, Discovery
J. Pepper grants a manufacturer’s motion to enforce the court’s discovery order and for sanctions against an individual. The individual filed suit against a manufacturer claiming he was injured when a chair the company made collapsed, resulting in quadriplegia. The court ordered the individual to respond to the manufacturer’s discovery requests, but he has not fully complied. The court grants the manufacturer’s motion to compel discovery and orders the individual to produce the requested documents by a certain deadline or face additional sanctions.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: April 16, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv586, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Sanctions, Product Liability, Discovery
J. Stadtmueller finds the lower court properly entered default judgment against a wholesaler, as evidence is sufficient to show it was served notice and did not defend this patent and trademark infringement action. The tool designers are entitled to statutory damages, attorney fees and costs, and equitable relief as they have established the wholesaler is liable for patent infringement, trademark infringement, false designation of origin, and trade dress infringement relating to a roof climbing tool, but the instant court dismisses the tool designers’ claim of unfair competition. Affirmed in part.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: April 12, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1526, NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: Patent, Trademark, Damages
J. Pepper gives the citizen until June 7, 2024, to file an amended complaint in his pro se lawsuit claiming excessive force and other violations of his rights during two confrontations with police in the 1990s, as the current complaint fails to state clear claims and, as currently pleaded, the claims in the current complaint appear to be time-barred.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: April 10, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv614, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Police Misconduct
J. Griesbach grants summary judgment to the city in the former employee's lawsuit claiming he was essentially forced to retire because he called in sick to a training session he did not want to attend due to various anxieties about contracting Covid-19 and wearing a mask to prevent that from happening. The employee's claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act and Families First Coronavirus Response Act both fail, in part because he has not provided any evidence that he had either chronic migraines or anxiety that qualified as serious health conditions for which he could take medical leave, and he has not shown he was retaliated against for a statutorily protected activity.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Griesbach, Filed On: April 9, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv1000, NOS: Family and Medical Leave Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Covid-19, Employment Retaliation
J. Joseph partially grants the citizen's motion for attorney fees in his lawsuit over his shooting by Milwaukee police in 2014, which in 2023 resulted in a jury's verdict in his favor on his excessive force and failure to intervene claims and an award of $2 million in damages. As the city and police officers point out, the citizen's request for $474,049 in attorney fees and costs in part bills for excessive time for multiple attorneys, so he is only awarded $239,224 in attorney fees and $149 in costs.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Joseph, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 2:20cv487, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Attorney Fees, Police Misconduct
J. Pepper partially grants the employee's motion for partial summary judgment in her class action claiming the memory care facility violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and Wisconsin wage law by failing to pay employees for time spent undergoing Covid-19 screenings and making unlawful pay deductions for meal breaks. The employee's motion is granted with relation to the Covid-19 screenings, and it is found as a matter of law that the time spent doing the screenings was "indispensable and integral" to the work of the employee and others in her position. The employee's motion for reconsideration regarding the opt-in time period in the notice of suit sent to class members is granted, and her motion to reopen discovery is partially granted so more discovery can take place regarding class members.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv358, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Labor
J. Pepper grants the school district's motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit from an employee claiming she faced age and gender discrimination when she was transferred from her job as principal at a high school to principal at an elementary school and replaced at the high school with a younger male employee. The employee's claims under Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act both fail, as the record does not support the notion that she was reassigned, albeit at a lower salary and to a position she felt was a demotion, due to her age or gender.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 2:19cv1863, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Employment Discrimination
J. Pepper partially grants Progressive's motion to exclude expert reports in the insured's class action arguing Progressive improperly calculates the actual cash value of insureds' totaled cars in order to short them on coverage. One of the three experts Progressive challenges is prohibited from testifying about the valuation process or methodology used by a company Progressive relies upon for such work, but Progressive's motion is denied as to two other experts. Progressive's unopposed motion for oral argument regarding class certification and summary judgment is granted, and arguments are scheduled for June 26, 2024.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: March 25, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv364, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Experts, Class Action
J. Ludwig grants the pharmaceutical company's motion to dismiss the Irish company's lawsuit claiming the pharmaceutical company infringed two of its patents related to the administration of ephedrine sulfate to patients under anesthesia using glass vials and syringes. The pharmaceutical company is based in Illinois and does not have sufficient contacts with or business in Wisconsin for there to be general, specific or personal jurisdiction, so the pharmaceutical company's motion to dismiss the Irish company's first amended complaint is granted.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Ludwig, Filed On: March 25, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv299, NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: Patent, Jurisdiction
J. Pepper partially grants motions to dismiss from the village, fire department, police and fire commission, commission members and fire and police officials in the firefighter's lawsuit claiming his First Amendment rights were violated when he was fired for filing complaints against the village police department. The motion to dismiss citing lack of subject matter jurisdiction is denied, but the motion claiming failure to state a claim is granted with regard to the First Amendment retaliation claims against the village, fire department, commission, five commissioners and two fire department officials. The firefighter's abuse of process claim and punitive damages claims are dismissed entirely, and his First Amendment retaliation claim against the village manager and his claim against the fire department under Wisconsin's government employer retaliation statute will proceed.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv765, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, First Amendment
J. Stadtmueller enters a default judgment against the musical instrument retailer in the consumer's lawsuit alleging the retailer's website is unlawfully inaccessible to legally blind individuals such as herself, seeing as how the consumer has sufficiently alleged her claims under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Injunctive relief is granted to the consumer in that the retailer is ordered to have testing performed by people with visual disabilities to evaluate whether its website is compliant with applicable rules, and the consumer's motion for nominal damages is denied.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: March 19, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1215, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities - Other - Civil Rights, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Technology
J. Griesbach grants one motion to dismiss and denies another in the Wisconsin-based firm's lawsuit against the Florida-based financial services company, the Nevada-based corporation and others alleging a conspiracy to get the firm to make a $1 million loan to the corporation using fraudulent carbon credits as leverage to secure the loan. It has not been established that the Florida-based company has sufficient contact with Wisconsin to establish personal jurisdiction, so it and its representatives are dismissed. Jurisdiction will be exercised over a Michigan-based consulting services company, and the sufficiently pleaded claims against it and its representatives will proceed.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Griesbach, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv717, NOS: Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) - Other Suits, Categories: Fraud, Jurisdiction, Racketeering
J. Ludwig dismisses the amended complaint in the consumer's class action alleging Schwans sold frozen pies it falsely advertised as containing real butter. In part because the consumer has failed to allege particular, reasonably misleading actions by Schwans as pertains to the butter content advertised on the pies' packaging, her common-law fraud, breach of warranty and deceptive trade practices claims fail.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Ludwig, Filed On: March 14, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv147, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Fraud, Warranty
[Consolidated] J. Adelman grants summary judgment to the former police officer, the city and others in two of three consolidated lawsuits he faces from the estates of individuals he shot and killed while on duty with the city's police department. In one case involving an individual who was wielding a "decorative sword" and advancing on the officer at the time he was shot, the estate concedes that the officer is entitled to summary judgment. In another in which the officer shot an individual after waking him up from sleeping in his car and, according to video evidence, after the individual reached his hand toward the car's passenger seat where a gun was sitting, the officer's actions were not unreasonable. Arguments for summary judgment in the third case are scheduled for April 9, 2024.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Adelman, Filed On: March 14, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv848, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Wrongful Death, Police Misconduct
J. Griesbach grants the motion to dismiss from the members of the state elections commission in a lawsuit from an "election integrity" group claiming the members unlawfully dismissed the group's two administrative complaints claiming violations of the Help America Vote Act through mishandling overseas absentee votes and improperly maintaining Wisconsin's voter registration database. The group has failed to establish Article III standing because they have proven no concrete harm, but their complaint will be dismissed without prejudice.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Griesbach, Filed On: March 13, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv1416, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Administrative Law, Elections
J. Pepper grants the citizen's amended motion to proceed without prepaying the filing fee in her pro se lawsuit the city, police officers and others related to her 2016 arrest and prosecution for robbery, which ultimately ended with her acquittal in 2018. The citizen is permitted to continue with her claims of false arrest and false imprisonment against one of the police officers, but the remaining defendants are dismissed from the case.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: March 12, 2024, Case #: 2:19cv1070, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution
J. Ludwig grants the technology services company's motion to dismiss three counts in the former employee's lawsuit in part claiming unpaid commissions and bonuses since her termination by the company in 2021. The employee's civil theft claim is improperly pleaded under a statute that does not apply to the alleged retention of her commissions and bonuses, and her tortious interference with contract and unjust enrichment claims cannot survive because they involve a "required" party that "cannot be feasibly joined" to the lawsuit.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Ludwig, Filed On: March 12, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1400, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Employment, Interference With Contract
J. Pepper grants the beneficiary's motion to file a second amended complaint in a class action claiming the health care system failed to choose prudent investments with reasonable fees for its retirement plan. Because decisions from the Seventh Circuit since the class action was originally filed in 2020 have changed pleading standards for ERISA fiduciary duty claims, the beneficiary's motion to file an amended complaint is "reasonable" despite the fact that it will cause "regrettable" delay in the case. The health care system's amended motion to dismiss and motion for supplemental briefing are denied as moot.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 2:20cv893, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Erisa, Class Action
J. Duffin partially grants the city and city officials' motion to dismiss the former city planning and development director's lawsuit alleging the officials conspired to force him out of his job for political reasons based on false accusations involving an incident in which he repeated a racial slur a citizen had previously said during a public meeting. In part because the director has sufficiently pleaded that he was labeled as a racist and targeted for retaliation because he is a heterosexual white male and the officials were intent on "boosting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging programs," his hostile work environment, disparate treatment and equal protection claims against the city and the officials will proceed, except for equal protection claims against two officials. The director's First Amendment prior restraint claim against the city survives, but the same claim against the individual officials is dismissed. His First Amendment retaliation claim is dismissed in its entirety, as are all of his official capacity claims against the individual officials.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1048, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Employment Discrimination
J. Griesbach denies the county and county sheriff's deputies' motion to dismiss the widower's lawsuit over the death of his wife, who either jumped or fell from a moving vehicle while being transported to a state mental health facility after exhibiting violent behavior toward herself and others during a hospitalization for acute psychosis. All of the widower's claims, including those under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act and those alleging violations of the wife's 14th Amendment due process rights, are pleaded well enough to survive the motion and move forward, such as by questioning whether the deputies negligently ignored the safety locks on the transport vehicle despite knowing of the wife's volatile condition.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Griesbach, Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv986, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Due Process, Wrongful Death