83 results for 'filedAt:"2023-10-16"'.
J. Smith finds that the lower court properly convicted but improperly sentenced defendant for assault and violating a no-contact order. While evidence on the record supports his convictions, the sentence defendant received for the violation of the no-contact order is longer than statutorily allowed. Affirmed in part.
Court: Washington Court Of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 83738-9-I, Categories: Sentencing, Assault
J. Smith finds that the lower court properly ruled in a dispute over tribal taxation over cigarettes. The key question in the dispute stems from conflicting orders of what counts as "units sold," leaving the state to ask relief from the court on its enforcement obligations regarding that definition. But the relevant statute is clear that the definition of units sold is either "packs of cigarettes bearing an excise tax stamp of the state on which the state collects excise tax," or "roll-your-own” tobacco containers from which the state collects excise tax, a definition with which the lower court properly concurred. Affirmed.
Court: Washington Court Of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 84265-0-I, Categories: Tax
Per curiam, the appeals court, in this original proceeding, grants the criminal investigator’s petition for mandamus compelling the trial court to set aside its order granting the death row inmate’s petition to depose him regarding an alleged Sixth Amendment violation arising from a claim that the state withheld evidence. The record shows that the inmate has known of the investigator’s alleged actions for more than two years. The two-year statute of limitations has run on any accrued claim as relating to the allegedly withheld evidence. The evidence he means to develop would not support a new claim of a new constitutional violation.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 09-23-00319-CV, Categories: Constitution, Evidence, Murder
J. Johnson reverses the defendant's second-degree murder conviction, finding that an erroneous jury instruction was not harmless. The instruction, which concerned the defendant's defense-of-others defense, erred in stating that the defendant had a duty to retreat or avoid danger if reasonably possible. Such an instruction contradicts the statutory right to use reasonable force to defend another person. This case is remanded for a new trial. Reversed.
Court: Minnesota Court Of Appeals, Judge: Johnson, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: A22-1424, Categories: Murder, Self Defense, Jury Instructions
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J. Lohier finds that the district court improperly dismissed class unpaid overtime claims brought by restaurant employees even though their job titles contained the word "manager" because the employees' duties were non-managerial. Meanwhile, they did not have to list specific weeks in which they worked overtime to establish they regularly worked more than 40 hours a week.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Lohier, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 22-1962-cv, Categories: Employment, Class Action
J. Riley finds that the trial court properly ruled in contract and construction claims because evidence does not indicate the subcontract prohibited recoverable damages for construction delays, and the work implicated in unjust enrichment claims had not been part of the relevant agreement. In addition, evidence does not indicate plaintiff attempted to hold defendant liable for the contractor's obligations. Affirmed.
Court: Indiana Court Of Appeals, Judge: Riley, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 23A-PL-633, Categories: Construction, Damages, Contract
J. Fitzgerald Smith finds that the lower court properly ordered defendant, who has a history of mental illness, committed to a mental institution after he threw a brick at a 71-year-old woman, striking her in the back and fracturing her vertebrae. The law does not provide for good time credit to be applied to defendants found "not not guilty" and subject to involuntary commitment. Affirmed.
Court: Illinois Appellate Court, Judge: Fitzgerald Smith, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 220252, Categories: Sentencing, Commitment
J. Palafox finds a lower court erred in granting no-answer default judgment to a man who had sued his former employer, a car dealership, for alleged employment discrimination and other claims. While a process server for the man was unable to serve the car dealership’s registered agent, he instead served another person, but it is not clear the server exercised “reasonable diligence to effect personal service,” nor did he provide adequate information connecting the served defendant to the car dealership. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Palafox, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 08-22-00187-CV, Categories: Civil Procedure, Due Process, Employment Discrimination
J. D'Auria finds the lower court properly refused to vacate a $57 million arbitration award in favor of an employer. The employee's decision to flee the U.S. and return to his native India after criminal charges were filed allowed for application of the fugitive disentitlement doctrine, especially considering the employee's own actions once he fled to India resulted in his inability to fully participate in the arbitration hearing. Affirmed.
Court: Connecticut Supreme Court, Judge: D'Auria, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: SC20677, Categories: Arbitration, Securities, Fiduciary Duty
J. McNulty finds for the school district in claims contending a seventh grade student had been taught about Islam with videos and worksheets that favored Islam over Christianity or Judaism. The teachings did not violate the anti-establishment clause since the student testified he had not felt coerced by the curriculum or materials, and since Islam had been taught as a world fact, not a revealed truth.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: McNulty , Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 2:18cv966, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Education
J. Peterson partially grants the debt collector's summary judgment motion in the consumer's lawsuit claiming it failed to properly handle her claim of identity theft after she informed it that a nearly $6,000 debt for unpaid rent at an apartment in Arizona did not belong to her, as she lives in Wisconsin. Disputed facts concerning whether the debt collector acted within the law in attempting to confirm proof of the consumer's address and otherwise investigate her claim need to go to a jury, but the consumer has adequately argued standing due to injuries she suffered in the form of denial of a student loan and lost time trying to fix her credit. Summary judgment is denied to both parties except for the consumer's claim for punitive damages, which is dismissed because she never responded to the debt collector's arguments about it in her brief.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv215, NOS: Consumer Credit - Other Suits, Categories: Debt Collection, Consumer Law
[Consolidated.] J. Dysart finds that the trial court should not have granted a tax sale buyer's motion to confirm title and homologate tax sale. The motion was based on the sustaining of the buyer's exception of no cause of action on the original owners' claim that the buyer failed to send the required notice of the tax sale. In this case, the trial court should have given the original owners an opportunity to state a cause of action. Reversed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Dysart, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 2022-CA-0851, Categories: Civil Procedure, Property
J. Oberto approves a class settlement of Fair Credit Reporting Act claims against a credit bureau. The agreement, which includes $1,000 payment to each class member and $1.1 million in attorney fees, is fair, adequate and reasonable.
Court: USDC Eastern District of California, Judge: Oberto, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 1:18cv1359, NOS: Consumer Credit - Other Suits, Categories: Settlements, Banking / Lending, Class Action
J. Baltodano finds that defendant's prior conviction for possessing a firearm for the benefit of a criminal street gang should have qualified as a prior strike under the Three Strikes law. The offense was a serious felony under the the Three Strikes law at the time of conviction and still is today, regardless of whether the gang-enhancement still applies. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Baltodano, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: B323282, Categories: Firearms, Sentencing
J. Watkins finds that the trial court properly ruled partially in favor of the law firm and attorney in a breach of contract and fraud action brought by the lawyer arising from an attorney fee-sharing agreement between the parties. The trial court correctly found in favor of the attorney on the lawyer's fraud and punitive damages claims because the attorney's act in giving the lawyer two-thirds of the attorney fees from a settlement meant the lawyer could not show a present intent not to perform at the time of the signing to the contract. A genuine question of fact exists as to whether the lawyer continued working on the case or was terminated or otherwise withdrew from representation. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Watkins, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: A23A0835, Categories: Fraud, Attorney Fees, Contract
J. Vaughan denies the chemical dependency nurse's motion to amend her complaint alleging that the social services organization fired her for reporting missing controlled substances and over- and under-medicating patients due to improper transcription of orders. The nurse does not present facts to support her claim that she was fired as a result of her Washington Department of Health complaint, as she filed the DOH complaint after she was fired and thus was not subject to workplace reprisal that would qualify her as a whistleblower under the Washington Health Care Act.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Vaughan, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv5509, NOS: Labor/Management Relations - Labor, Categories: Employment, Whistleblowers, Labor
J. Miller finds that the trial court properly overturned the decision by the Georgia Public Service Commission that a pet care company could switch to receiving electric service from the corporation instead of from the company. The trial court correctly interpreted the Georgia Territorial Electric Service Act in finding that the pet care company had not dismantled or destroyed the facility to such a degree as to trigger the exception in the statute allowing the pet care company to switch providers. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Miller, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: A23A0746, Categories: Energy
J. Hallman dismisses the student's supervisory liability claim against Umatilla Police Department officials and the City of Umatilla for her complaint that detectives refused to investigate her rape when she was 14-years-old. It is possible that the detective sergeant performed a substandard investigation and that the lieutenant and police chief neglected their supervisory duties by not overseeing the detective's investigation, but that does not qualify as a constitutional violation. The student is granted leave to amend.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Hallman, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv332, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Police Misconduct
J. Sullivan finds that the district court should have dismissed a false claims action contending federal and state parties failed to intervene when Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements were applied to expenses incurred by a medical center instead of being provided to a nursing home because the so-called benefits conversion statute does not require that the money be used in a particular way. Reversed.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Sullivan, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 21-1534, Categories: Medicaid, Medicare, False Claims
J. Marcus finds that the district court improperly granted the company's request for a temporary restraining order barring the individual, his conservator and the conservator's law firm from transferring or encumbering money up to the amount owed to the company under international arbitral awards. The awards arose out of a loan dispute. The temporary restraining order was actually a preliminary injunction and the district court was barred from entering it under the doctrine of prior exclusive jurisdiction. The conservatorship predated the district court action, therefore the rule barred the district court from entering an order asserting jurisdiction over conservatorship assets which were under the exclusive control of the Denver probate court. The 11th Circuit lacks jurisdiction to review the district court's partial denial of the conservator's motion to dismiss the company's action seeking to confirm the awards. Vacated.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Marcus, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 22-11520, Categories: Arbitration, Civil Procedure
[Consolidated.] J. Herman finds that a husband's challenge to the trial court naming a specific therapist for reunification therapy is moot because the therapist has resigned. Further, the trial court properly granted the husband's exception of no cause of action on the wife's motion to set aside the consent judgment based on the findings of a doctor because the wife did not challenge the doctor's recommendation for reduced contact between the wife and her children based on the children's mental health functioning being correlated to the wife's behavior. Affirmed in part.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Herman, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 2023-CA-0309, Categories: Evidence, Family Law
J. Nega finds for the commissioner of internal revenue in claims concerning a whistleblower award because the whistleblower office did not abuse its discretion in applying the sequestration reduction.
Court: U.S. Tax Court, Judge: Nega, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 161TC5, Categories: Tax, Whistleblowers