56 results for 'judge:"Lee"'.
J. Lee denies in part a police officer's motion for summary judgment on claims including excessive force filed by a mother who was tripped to the ground, allegedly for resisting arrest, when visiting the courthouse to pick up her son. The mother gave sufficient evidence of her injuries to support the excessive force claim.
Court: USDC Southern District of Mississippi , Judge: Lee, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv439, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Due Process, Police Misconduct
J. Lee finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of being a felon in possession of a firearm but improperly sentenced him with an enhancement for possession of an explosive. The application of a higher base offense level effectively punishes him twice for the same conduct. Reversed in part.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 22-2607, Categories: Sentencing, Weapons
J. Lee finds that the lower court properly found for the insurers in a declaratory judgment action over the insurer's obligation to defend a construction company in an underlying suit filed by the city after it found cracks in the welds of steel columns at O'Hare International Airport. The defects in the welds do not constitute "property damage" under the welder's commercial liability policies because there was no physical injury to any building elements beyond the steel columns with the faulty welds. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: April 29, 2024, Case #: 23-1662, Categories: Insurance, Indemnification, Contract
J. Lee finds that the lower court finds that the lower court improperly found in favor of the professor on his emotional distress counterclaims against a another professor who accused him of sexual assault in online posts, assessing damages of $700,000. No reasonable jury could find that the defendant professor acted in an outrageous manner by posting comments intended to inform students of the professor's notorious reputation. However, there is sufficient evidence that an accusing student's knowingly false allegations of rape are outrageous enough to support an emotional distress claim for $100,000. Reversed in part.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 23-1960, Categories: Emotional Distress
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J. Lee finds that the lower court improperly sentenced defendant to 150 months in prison after applying two sentencing enhancements. The record does not support a finding that defendant used his home for the primary purpose of making meth, so this enhancement was improperly applied. The enhancement for his role as a supervisor of the conspiracy is supported by the evidence. Vacated.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: April 22, 2024, Case #: 22-3015, Categories: Drug Offender, Sentencing
J. Lee finds that the district court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress in a case in which defendant argued that a police officer violated the Fourth Amendment by asking about parole status during a traffic stop. Asking about parole status during a traffic stop does not offend the Fourth Amendment because the question reasonably relates to the officer’s safety. However, the matter is remanded in part so that the district court can correct the written judgment to conform it to the oral pronouncement of sentence. Affirmed in part.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: April 18, 2024, Case #: 22-50045, Categories: Parole, Search, Sentencing
J. Lee finds the district court improperly determined the manager of the LLC was the alter ego of the company, holding him personally liable for slip and fall injuries sustained on company property. The alter ego analysis requires the court make specific findings as to influence and governance, unity of interest and ownership between the alleged alter ego and the company, and whether adherence to the idea of separate entities would sanction fraud or promote injustice. The court's findings as to these factors are not supported by substantial evidence. Reversed.
Court: Nevada Supreme Court, Judge: Lee , Filed On: April 18, 2024, Case #: 84800, Categories: Business Expectancy, Premises Liability
J. Lee finds the district court properly denied the defaulting property purchasers' motion for a preliminary injunction in an action to quiet title. The purchasers seek to prevent the bank's scheduled foreclosure sale. Nevada law says that recording a notice of default to institute foreclosure does not trigger the 10-year timeframe. Being there was no recorded extension of the due date, the terms of the deed of trust dictate when the debt becomes wholly due. The deed of trust does not mention judicial foreclosure actions or state that such action makes the loan "wholly due." The court properly determined the purchasers' quiet title claim had no likelihood of success on the merits. Affirmed.
Court: Nevada Supreme Court, Judge: Lee , Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 85860, Categories: Debt Collection, Property, Banking / Lending
J. Lee finds that the lower court properly denied an individual's request to restore his firearm rights, which were terminated due to a sealed 2014 conviction for rape when he was still a juvenile. He claims that because his conviction is sealed, it should be treated as if it never happened for firearm purposes. Precedent states, however, that a sealed juvenile conviction continues to exist on the record as a conviction, thereby disqualifying him from firearm restoration. Affirmed.
Court: Washington Court Of Appeals, Judge: Lee, Filed On: March 5, 2024, Case #: 57583-3-II, Categories: Civil Rights, Firearms
J. Lee finds that a decision on motions pending in defendant's appeal from his guilty plea to conspiring to distribute cocaine internationally must be deferred because counsel sought to be relieved from the case and the prosecution requested dismissal based on a negotiated appeal waiver. Counsel failed to address whether forfeiture, special assessments, and supervised release components of defendant's sentence were included in the waiver.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: January 30, 2024, Case #: 22-320-cr, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Drug Offender, Plea
[Consolidated] J. Lee finds the district court improperly found in favor of the water rights owners who claim the state engineer lacks authority to conjunctively manage waters to administer multiple basins forming the flow system at issue. The engineer did not exceed his statutory authority to combine multiple basins into one hydrographic "superbasin" based on a shared source. All respondents had adequate notice and opportunity to be heard. Affirmed in part.
Court: Nevada Supreme Court, Judge: Lee, Filed On: January 25, 2024, Case #: 84739, Categories: Administrative Law, Property, Water
J. Lee finds that a bankruptcy appellate panel properly rendered a decision affirming a bankruptcy court order denying a chapter 7 debtor a homestead exemption for a Palm Springs property where she formerly lived with her partner. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: January 17, 2024, Case #: 22-60055, Categories: Bankruptcy
J. Lee finds that the district court improperly denied class certification for subclasses in an employment matter concerning two employee policies which allegedly violate California law. The company applied its rest break policy inconsistently during the proposed class period. The overwhelming record evidence showed that the company consistently enforced its policy across all employees. The matter is remanded for the district court to reassess the evidence. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 22-55522, Categories: Employment, Class Action
J. Lee denies a petition for panel rehearing and amends an opinion affirming the district court’s denial of attorney fees and nontaxable costs. The U.S. Department of Labor brought the underlying lawsuit under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, alleging that appellants sold their company to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) at an inflated value. The district court was correct in concluding that the government’s position at trial was substantially justified, and in denying attorney fees and nontaxable costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 22-15378, Categories: Erisa, Attorney Fees
J. Lee finds that the district court properly entered a conviction against an illegal immigrant for attempted illegal entry into the United States. A border patrol agent witnessed the immigrant crawling on the ground near a border fence and later admitted he was a Mexican citizen without documentation. The immigrant argued that his Miranda warning was inadequate because the agent also warned him that the post-arrest interview may be his only chance to seek asylum. Sufficient evidence supported the immigrant’s confession. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 21-50031, Categories: Evidence, Immigration, Miranda
J. Lee finds that the district court improperly entered summary judgment for the government including the Fish and Wildlife Service on an easement and remanded with instructions for the Service and the U.S. Army to reevaluate its water-savings analysis in a new biological opinion. The action was brought by environmental organizations challenging a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biological opinion concerning the use of water from the San Pedro River Basin in Arizona. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: December 4, 2023, Case #: 22-15809, Categories: Environment, Water
J. Lee finds that the district court improperly held that the Federal Aviation Act preempted claims brought against companies that helped manufacture a helicopter that crashed and killed two U.S. Army pilots because the claims concern civil aviation safety and do not speak to military aircraft. However, the district court must determine whether the military contractor defense bars the claims in a "fact-intensive analysis."
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: November 21, 2023, Case #: 20-2951, Categories: Preemption, Tort, Military
J. Lee finds the district court improperly denied the firearm maker's motion to compel arbitration with another manufacturer in this suit filed after certain contracted-for firearms required repairs before sale. The party seeking to compel arbitration in this case has demonstrated the right to enforce the contract by its manufacturing relationship with the signatory, and compelling the other non-signatory can be appropriate in such circumstance under standard contract law. Reversed.
Court: Nevada Supreme Court, Judge: Lee , Filed On: November 16, 2023, Case #: 84142, Categories: Arbitration, Business Expectancy, Contract
J. Lee finds that the district court properly denied attorney fees and nontaxable costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act and remanded the district court’s award of taxable costs concerning an underlying ERISA claim alleging that defendants sold their company to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) at an inflated value. The district court was correct in concluding that the government’s position at trial was "substantially justified," in denying attorney fees and nontaxable costs. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: October 25, 2023, Case #: 22-15378, Categories: Erisa, Securities
J. Lee grants summary judgment to the city defendants in this employment discrimination and retaliation lawsuit brought by a former police officer. The officer cannot show that she was "constructively discharged," as she asserts. Accordingly, she fails to establish a prima facie case of discrimination or retaliation.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Tennessee , Judge: Lee, Filed On: October 17, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv293, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Lee finds the district court properly granted the Division of State Lands’ motion for summary judgment in this suit brought by property owners on Lake Tahoe alleging that new fee-setting regulations for use of buoys and piers were invalid. The regulations do not violate statutory or constitutional provisions and do not exceed the Division’s statutory authority. Affirmed.
Court: Nevada Supreme Court, Judge: Lee, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 83830, Categories: Environment, Government, Maritime
J. Lee finds that the lower court properly found for the Board in a civil rights suit filed by a former principal who was fired after a publicly disclosed investigation found she had directed teachers to make late students as tardy rather than absent to skew her school's attendance data. No reasonable jury could find that the principal had suffered a tangible loss of employment opportunities due to the allegedly stigmatizing public statements about her termination. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: September 18, 2023, Case #: 22-2031, Categories: Civil Rights, Employment
J. Lee finds that the district court improperly denied various gun rights groups’ motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to enjoin a California law that prohibits the advertising of any “firearm-related product in a manner that is designed, intended, or reasonably appears to be attractive to minors.” Because California permits minors under supervision to possess and use firearms for hunting and other lawful activities, the law facially regulates speech that concerns lawful activity and is not misleading. The law "does not directly and materially advance California’s substantial interests in reducing gun violence and the unlawful use of firearms by minors" and "there was no evidence in the record that a minor in California has ever unlawfully bought a gun, let alone because of an ad."
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 22-56090, Categories: Firearms, First Amendment
J. Lee finds that the lower court properly denied Home Chef's request for a preliminary injunction to enjoin Grubhub from using its logo, which both feature a knife and fork in the silhouette of a house. Home Chef, a curated meal company, failed to show that consumers are likely to confuse its marks with Grubhub's logo. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: September 12, 2023, Case #: 22-1950, Categories: Trademark, Restraining Order
J. Lee finds that the lower court properly sentenced defendant to 300 months in prison for distributing meth, including an obstruction of justice enhancement. The evidence clearly shows that defendant made a phone call instructing an associate to "get the stash out of the house" and hide evidence of drug trafficking after he found out the house was going to be searched. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 22-2131, Categories: Drug Offender, Sentencing, Obstruction
J. Lee finds that the district court improperly denied corrections officers' motion to dismiss an action alleging that the officers did not protect an inmate from other detainees at a jail. The officers moved to dismiss the complaint, contending that the individual did not state a viable claim. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: September 6, 2023, Case #: 21-55981, Categories: Civil Rights