23 results for 'court:"USDC Western District of Missouri"'.
J. Kays finds for the employer on retaliation claims filed by a white female employee who claims she was fired after refusing to fire a pregnant employee and because she was wrongly accused of sending a racist text message. The employer articulated a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason for terminating the employee. Even if she was not the author of the text message, the employer had valid concerns about her truthfulness because she gave different explanations and excuses regarding the text message.
Court: USDC Western District of Missouri, Judge: Kays, Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: 4:21cv75, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Employment Retaliation
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J. Kays finds for the federal agency in a race discrimination suit claiming an employee was not selected for a promotion because she is a "dark" Black woman. The employee failed to assert a color discrimination claim in her complaint, and the evidence in the record indicates that the light-skinned Black woman who won the promotion was the best candidate based on the interviewing panel's ranking records.
Court: USDC Western District of Missouri, Judge: Kays, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 4:21cv944, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination
J. Kays dismisses a former Black female detective's claim that the police union refused to provide her legal representation on the basis of her race and sex. There are no allegations that the union was acting under color of state law or conspired with the Kansas City police deparment, so it cannot be liable for civil rights violations under section 1983. Further, the union had a non-discriminatory reason for not providing her legal counsel, namely that the plan excludes coverage for actions taken outside the scope of her employment as a police officer.
Court: USDC Western District of Missouri, Judge: Kays, Filed On: January 17, 2024, Case #: 4:20cv920, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Labor / Unions
J. Harpool finds for the union and denies the employer's request to overturn an arbitration decision finding the employer violated its obligation to pay part of a union member's insurance premiums while on long-term disability for one month. The employer's policy of not partially paying the employee's health insurance benefits while he was on disability contracts the plain language of the parties' collective bargaining agreement.
Court: USDC Western District of Missouri, Judge: Harpool, Filed On: January 17, 2024, Case #: 622cv3227, NOS: Arbitration - Other Suits, Categories: Contract, Labor / Unions
J. Harpool grants the medical device maker's motion to dismiss a product liability suit filed by a patient who claims that her SmartPort CT-Injectable Port, implanted for the purpose of her ongoing chemotherapy, caused her to become infected and develop sepsis. The patient's claims are untimely, as she knew or should have known at the time she underwent surgery to remove the port in 2013, that the product was responsible for her injuries.
Court: USDC Western District of Missouri, Judge: Harpool, Filed On: December 7, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv4066, NOS: Personal Injury - Health Care/Pharmaceutical Personal Injury/Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Civil Procedure, Product Liability
J. Harpool denies the pharmaceutical defendants' motion to dismiss the hospitals' action seeking damages for the cost of treating patients who abuse opioids, alleging the defendants marketed and promoted the opioid drugs in a way that created an epidemic of drug abuse. The hospitals have adequately alleged that defendants employed deceptive practices in the marketing and sales of opioid drugs, and failed to report large distributions as required by law to prevent harm to local communities.
Court: USDC Western District of Missouri, Judge: Harpool, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 6:22cv3192, NOS: Personal Injury - Health Care/Pharmaceutical Personal Injury/Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Fraud, Health Care, Negligence
J. Harpool finds for the university in a First Amendment suit filed by a vegetarian activist against a university regulation providing that non-university affiliates get written permission before using university grounds or be deemed guilty of trespass. There is no evidence that anyone every applied this regulation to the activist's leafletting activities. Despite several run-ins with the university administration, he continues to distribute his pamphlets without anyone deeming him to be trespassing.
Court: USDC Western District of Missouri, Judge: Harpool, Filed On: August 24, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv4239, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Education, Property, First Amendment
J. Ketchmark denies the media companies' motion for summary judgment on a photographer's copyright claims stemming from the inclusion of her photo without permission as part of the USA Today Ad Meter. The photographer's photo of NFL coach Katie Sowers used as part of a Microsoft Super Bowl commercial in 2020 was never sent directly to USA Today for inclusion in its popular ad-rating platform, but was instead downloaded by a USA today producer from YouTube using screengrabbing technology.
Court: USDC Western District of Missouri, Judge: Ketchmark, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 4:21cv557, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Technology
J. Kays grants the employer's motion to dismiss a defamation, conversion and breach of contract action brought by the former employee. The employee failed to sufficiently allege that the employer intentionally interfered with any business expectancy or that any defamatory statements existed. The allegedly defamatory statements that the employee is "nothing but trouble" cannot reasonably be interpreted as asserting objective facts which can be proven false. The employee's action also fails to identify any contractual provisions allegedly breached by the employer.
Court: USDC Western District of Missouri, Judge: Kays, Filed On: June 2, 2023, Case #: 4:23cv6, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Defamation, Conversion, Contract