39 results for 'judge:"Joseph"'.
[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. Joseph denies a request by the distributor of a digital test gauge to dismiss as time-barred a product liability claim by the widow of an offshore oilfield worker. She alleges the poor design and inadequate warnings about the use of the pressure-gauge resulted in the deadly explosion at an offshore well that claimed her husband and the father of their two young children. The decedent’s employer, as the owner of the offshore platform, and the distributor of the pressure gauge are both liable even when no act on the employer’s part may have caused the accident. Prescription was interrupted by the survivors' earlier wrongful death suit against the employer in Texas.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: April 12, 2024, Case #: 6:23cv415, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Civil Procedure, Product Liability, Jurisdiction
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
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J. Joseph denies requests by a city to dismiss claims of civil rights violations by organizers of a residential treatment facility for alcoholics for alleged lack of standing, after neighboring church pastors opposed the proposed $1 million sale of a 54-bedroom building for use as a sober house. While the rehab home organizers argue potential residents were subjected to disability discrimination, they also claim this discrimination led to the deprivation of their own rights when the city refused to sell it the property.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: March 18, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv697, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Housing, Contract
J. Joseph grants summary judgment to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and the U.S. Small Business Administration, finding the federal agency correctly determined an oil field service company was ineligible for a pandemic-program business loan it received in the amount of $2.5 million. The SBA correctly determined the business qualified for a maximum loan forgiveness amount of $687,000, and its decision was not arbitrary and capricious. The company’s interpretation of the law would require an erroneous finding the federal loan program would allow “double dipping,” or permitting small businesses and their contractors to count the same amounts twice to obtain multiple loans.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 6:22cv6229, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Government, Business Expectancy, Covid-19
J. Joseph denies a request by the corporate operator of a community water system and its insurer to stay a potential class action by customers who allege they are being harmed by the company's failure to adhere to drinking water laws and regulations. Specifically, the ruling rejects the corporation's petition to refer the environmental suit's claims to the Louisiana Department of Health for the regulatory agency's opinion regarding whether the water the supplier provides is fit for human consumption. The argument that this case involves complex factual and scientific questions that are outside the court's conventional experience is unpersuasive.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: February 9, 2024, Case #: 6:23cv401, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Environment, Health Care, Experts
J. Joseph denies a request by the purchaser of 500 million 3M masks to vacate a final arbitration award to the manufacturer of $44,000 in breach of contract damages, plus attorney fees totaling $680,000. The purchaser had sufficient notice of the arbitration proceedings and was not denied due process.
Court: USDC Western District of Tennessee , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: January 24, 2024, Case #: 6:23cv1021, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Arbitration, Covid-19, Contract
J. Joseph grants an award of $606,000 to a university student raped on a church retreat in 2018 and against her assailant, an international fugitive, who defaulted in the civil case by failing to appear. The victim, now a professional counselor, had requested $3.2 million in general damages and $2 million for loss of future income, but this was denied as speculative.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: January 19, 2024, Case #: 6:21cv430, NOS: Assault, Libel, & Slander - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: International Law, Assault
J. Joseph grants the joint motion to lift a stay in the pension fund's lawsuit claiming unpaid contributions from the general contractor. The general contractor's motion to enforce the parties' previous settlement agreement to bar the fund from filing a new complaint is denied, but the fund's motion to file a third amended complaint is also denied, as it untimely seeks to add a new claim unrelated to the central claim regarding contributions to the fund for hours worked by the contractor's employees. The parties are ordered to confer on a discovery plan to explore whether the contractor's employees were performing work covered by the collective bargaining agreement from June 1, 2020, through December 31, 2021, and they are ordered to submit a joint letter regarding the plan to the court by January 8, 2024.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Joseph, Filed On: December 21, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv1299, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Erisa, Contract
J. Joseph denies the school district and superintendent's motion to dismiss a lawsuit from a teacher claiming she was fired for objecting in her personal capacity to elementary school students being prohibited from singing "Rainbowland" by Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton at a school concert because of a school board policy banning "controversial issues" in the classroom. The teacher has sufficiently alleged her First Amendment retaliation claims against both the district and the superintendent to survive the motion to dismiss, and the superintendent is not entitled to qualified immunity at this time.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Joseph, Filed On: December 20, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv1169, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, First Amendment
J. Joseph grants summary judgment to a marine construction company on its argument its litigant-employee was not a seaman when a 70-pound shackle fell on his left foot while he was working on a docked barge and, therefore, he is not entitled to a seaman’s medical care and benefits. None of the work performed by the employee, a carpenter, was of a seagoing nature or subjected him to the “perils of the sea.” After he finished his work at the dock, he was not going to sail with any vessel, as required of an actual seaman under the Jones Act.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: December 8, 2023, Case #: 6:22cv5535, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Maritime, Tort, Workers' Compensation
J. Joseph grants a request by the city of Shreveport, dismissing all federal civil rights claims by the adult children of a 72-year-old detainee who died 17 days after being beaten in the local jail by an arrestee with a history of violence. While prison officials have a constitutional duty to protect inmates from violence at the hands of other prisoners, the decedent’s children fail to allege sufficient facts that local police and jailers acted in accord with a city policy, practice, or custom that resulted in their father’s death.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: December 5, 2023, Case #: 5:23cv689, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Police Misconduct
J. Joseph denies a request by parish authorities to dismiss claims of malicious prosecution by a citizen who says his run-ins with police at a department store and a Home Depot stem from their desire to punish him for his exercising his constitutional right to freedom of speech while “peacefully shopping.” The outspoken shopper correctly argues, though without citation to any authority, that his state law claims against police are not time-barred because criminal cases against him related to his run-ins with the law remain pending.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: November 27, 2023, Case #: 5:23cv894, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Constitution, Malicious Prosecution
J. Joseph denies summary judgment to Amazon.com on the online website’s arguments it is not liable for the products of approximately two million “third party sellers,” including a defective battery charger resulting in a deadly house fire and wrongful death claims. Amazon may re-urge its requests after resolution of questions to the Louisiana Supreme Court regarding an online market operator’s liability for potentially dangerous products sold by a third-party seller under both state law and a legal theory of negligent undertaking.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: November 27, 2023, Case #: 5:20cv1448, NOS: Tort Product Liability - Real Property, Categories: Consumer Law, Negligence, Product Liability
J. Joseph grants the chemical manufacturer's motion to file a third-party complaint against the developer's parent company in the developer's lawsuit seeking compensation for cleaning up chemical contamination at its properties. Despite the developer's arguments that the manufacturer's motion is untimely and that its parent company is not a party of interest in the case, the manufacturer has satisfied all the requirements necessary to file its third-party complaint under federal rules.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Joseph, Filed On: October 24, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv1694, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Environment, Property, Tort
J. Joseph denies a New Mexico resident’s request to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction a lawsuit by a Louisiana company against his multi-state-based company to recover for the loss of the litigant’s industrial equipment in a fire at a well location in western Central Texas. The master lease agreement explicitly designates the Western District of Louisiana as a proper forum. Though the well site was in Texas, the master lease called for loading and unloading of the equipment at the litigant’s facility in Louisiana. Further, the New Mexican owner of the sued corporation fails to show that litigating the contractual dispute in Louisiana would be unfair or unreasonable.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: October 13, 2023, Case #: 6:23cv936, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Civil Procedure, Energy, Jurisdiction
J. Joseph grants a request for a discovery order by multiple corporations being sued by 259 litigants for personal injuries and property damages, arising from toxic leaks at a now-closed pipe valve manufacturing facility in central Louisiana. Entry of a so-called “Lone Pine Order,” a discovery tool requiring litigants to meet an evidentiary threshold, will simplify complex issues, streamline costs, and help prepare for a consolidated, “Phase I” trial on common facts set for May 2024. District courts in the Fifth Circuit routinely enter Lone Pine orders in mass tort cases to facilitate case management and provide structure to the discovery process.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: October 10, 2023, Case #: 1:20cv1346, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Damages, Discovery
J. Joseph denies remand to an offshore anchor handler suing his maritime employer for a work-related accident. Because he is not qualified as a seaman under the Jones Act, he may not return his personal injury suit to state court. Generally, Jones Act cases filed in state court may not be removed to federal jurisdiction. The ruling adopts the recommendations of a magistrate judge’s report.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: October 5, 2023, Case #: 6:23cv649, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Employment, Tort, Jurisdiction
J. Joseph denies summary judgment to owners and operators of a now-closed pipe valve manufacturing plant, ruling in favor of neighboring property owners in consolidated cases suing for environmental damages. The accused polluters unsuccessfully argue that their neighbors cannot provide evidence of a contractual provision of a state environmental law entitling them to “excess” groundwater remediation damages because no such contractual provision exists. The neighbors argue that they are not seeking damages for which the plant owners/operators are seeking summary judgment. However, applicability of the state’s groundwater law is a factual question for the jury.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: September 21, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv24, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Property, Tort
J. Joseph finds in favor of the City of Alexandria, dismissing all claims brought by three Black police officers alleging racially discriminatory acts by their white police chief. It is undisputed that one of the officers repeatedly misused a criminal database to conduct searches unrelated to his police duties; a second cop failed a polygraph exam and conducted an unauthorized investigation of a fellow officer; and the third cop lied during an Internal Affairs investigation. These facts justify the adverse employment actions taken against the three cops.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 1:20cv1581, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Employment, Employment Retaliation
J. Joseph grants summary judgment to both Morton’s Salt and the union local for its Louisiana salt mine, dismissing breach-of-duty claims brought by an electrician’s apprentice fired for admittedly violating one of the company’s “cardinal” safety rules. While the fired employee points out certain procedural defects in how the union handled his grievance, the union’s actions did not constitute a breach of its duty of fair representation. Further, the apprentice and his electrician admitted to violating safety protocols, and Morton had previously fired three or four other employees for violating its “cardinal rules.” Last December, the U.S. Department of Labor cited Morton’s Louisiana mine for a “pattern” of health or safety violations that could end in serious injury or illness, the first time a U.S. mine had been so sanctioned since 2014.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: September 6, 2023, Case #: 6:22cv1863, NOS: Labor/Management Relations - Labor, Categories: Arbitration, Employment, Labor / Unions
J. Joseph grants an Eleventh Amendment immunity request by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, dismissing the state regulatory agency from a land contamination suit by neighboring property owners of a now-closed pipe valve manufacturing facility. Although the state agency remained an “active participant” in the litigation, the agency previously indicated that it did not intend to waive its Eleventh Amendment immunity by such participation.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: August 9, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv263, NOS: Land Condemnation - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Immunity, Agency
J. Joseph denies requests by two sets of property owners in central Louisiana for class certification of their land contamination suit against the owners of a now-closed pipe valve manufacturing plant. The property owners cannot show that common questions of law and fact predominate over individualized questions particularly with respect to how the issues of causation and damages would apply to each individual litigant. Viewing all the claims as a whole the most prominent legal and factual issues appear to relate to the cause of alleged personal injuries and damages rather than liability.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: August 3, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv24, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Civil Procedure, Damages, Class Action
J. Joseph denies a request by a meat processing plant to dismiss a white Hispanic shift manager’s national origin-based Title VII allegations because she purportedly failed to exhaust those claims at the administrative level before the EEOC. Because the circumstances that led to the manager’s allegations of discrimination at the plant are inextricably linked with her race and national origin, Alford’s national origin claim would “reasonably be expected to grow out of the initial charges of discrimination” based on her race. Therefore, she has administratively exhausted her national origin claims before the EEOC prior to filing suit.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: July 31, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv5758, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation