560 results for 'court:"USDC District of Columbia"'.
J. Cooper advances some claims in the former union members' putative class action stemming from a cyberattack that compromised the members' personal information. The former members have adequately pleaded common law breach of implied contract claims, and one has plausibly alleged a common law negligence claim. However, the members have not alleged that the union profited from its use of their data nor that any money they paid the union should have been used for data security, so an unjust enrichment claim fails. Statutory claims under California consumer protection laws also fail because those laws do not provide causes of action for union members against their union.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Cooper, Filed On: September 19, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv3570, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Privacy, Contract, Labor / Unions
J. Kelly grants two motions in limine brought by a glass distributor and contractor to exclude expert testimony in a suit stemming from injuries a worker suffered when glass panels fell on him during a building renovation project. One segment of the proposed expert testimony, which purports to explain industry standards of care, is premised on largely irrelevant materials and unreliable methods, and the expert's credentials are insufficient to render his conclusions reliable. The portion of the expert's proposed testimony that deals with purported OSHA and D.C. Code violations is intertwined with the standards-of-care testimony to such a degree that the two fail together.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Kelly, Filed On: September 19, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv632, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Evidence, Experts
J. Boasberg finds in favor of the credit reporting agency in the consumer's suit alleging that it reported inaccurate information relating to three accounts. The consumer's claims are precluded by a prior settlement agreement with the credit reporting agency, and she has failed to demonstrate that factual questions remain as to whether disputed accounts were inaccurate or whether the agency failed to adequately investigate her disputes.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Boasberg, Filed On: September 19, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv226, NOS: Consumer Credit - Other Suits, Categories: Consumer Law, Contract
J. Chutkan remands a legal malpractice case to the Superior Court for the District of Columbia, finding that a pro se plaintiff cannot represent the company for which she previously served as an assignee in lawsuits related to catheter patents. Because of this defect, the former assignee's only viable claim is one for sanctions, in which the amount in controversy is just over $62,000, below the threshold for diversity jurisdiction.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Chutkan, Filed On: September 19, 2024, Case #: 1:24cv743, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Sanctions, Jurisdiction, Contract
J. Contreras dismisses the applicant's suit against the Secretary of the Interior alleging that he was improperly passed over for a position because of his race and age. The applicant's Title VII claims fail insofar as they allege improper handling of his Equal Employment Opportunity complaint because no cause of action exists for such claims. His retaliation and discrimination claims also fail, since his allegations are conclusory and not supported by sufficient factual bases.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Contreras, Filed On: September 19, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv3050, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Employment Discrimination
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J. Lamberth finds in favor of the Department of Defense, dismissing the former Air Force employee's constitutional and Administrative Procedure Act claims in his suit alleging that his security clearance was improperly revoked after he admitted to viewing "furry" pornography that included cartoon images of minors. The employee's resignation prior to his expected termination deprives him of standing to bring his constitutional claims. His APA claim is duplicative of his FOIA claims, for which he has largely failed to exhaust his administrative remedies. The portions of his FOIA claims that pass that hurdle fail because the Department has shown that it conducted an adequate search for the requested records and records not provided were exempt from disclosure.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Lamberth, Filed On: September 18, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv2386, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Constitution, Employment, Public Record
J. Boasberg grants default judgment to the family members of a onetime captive of the Iranian government in their suit seeking compensation for emotional-distress injuries. Judgment is entered in the amount of $5,500,000, split between the three family members. This does not include any punitive damages, as over $43,830,000 have already been granted for the captive's actual detention.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Boasberg, Filed On: September 18, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv1105, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: International Law, Damages
J. Friedrich denies the immigrant-justice nonprofit's motion for attorney fees in its FOIA suit challenging immigration officials' responses to its requests for records concerning training at their Newark Asylum Office. While the nonprofit "substantially prevailed" in this litigation, its claimed fees and hours are unreasonable, particularly because of discrepancies and lack of clarity in counsel's claimed hours. Because counsel has a pattern of such improper billing practices and has been admonished repeatedly for this behavior, the motion for attorney fees is denied entirely.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Friedrich, Filed On: September 18, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv2348, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Public Record, Attorney Fees
J. Contreras partially grants the nonprofit's motion for attorney fees in its suit seeking to compel production of records under the Freedom of Information Act. While the nonprofit is entitled to and eligible for fees as the prevailing party in this litigation, its proposed fees are unreasonably high, particularly in light of its abandonment of several of its causes of action and failures to provide adequately detailed and clear billing documentation. Fees are awarded in the amount of $59,867.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Contreras, Filed On: September 18, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv3517, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Public Record, Attorney Fees
J. Cooper largely grants the DOJ's motion for summary judgment in the federal inmate's challenge to its responses to his two FOIA requests regarding his file. The DOJ has largely, but not completely, addressed alleged and actual deficiencies in its responses. It is ordered to file a notice indicating whether it redacted several names, but it has demonstrated that exemptions it claims for privacy interests and information compiled for law-enforcement purposes apply and that it has produced all of the reasonably segregable material responsive to the prisoner's requests.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Cooper, Filed On: September 18, 2024, Case #: 1:19cv861, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Public Record, Prisoners' Rights
J. AliKhan denies the government's motion to dismiss the insurance broker's claims alleging that the government improperly disclosed information about investigations into the broker to insurance companies. The broker has plausibly alleged that the disclosure was improper because it omitted the government's later determination that he had not violated any rules or regulations, and he has adequately alleged that these disclosures were made with intentional and willful disregard for his rights under the Privacy Act.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: AliKhan, Filed On: September 18, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv2263, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, Insurance, Privacy
J. McFadden allows the white former student, who is proceeding pro se, to pursue some of his claims against Howard University, an historically Black law school. A statement made by the Dean of the Law School accusing the former student of saying “African-Americans suffer from hive mind” is actionable, so the former student can pursue a defamation claim based on this. For similar reasons, his defamation claim alleging that the dean accused him of harassment also survives. The former student’s contract claims also survive to the extent that they are based on allegations that a professor changed the grading system to target the former student and that the university failed to correct a racially hostile education environment. All of his race discrimination and tortious interference claims fail.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: McFadden, Filed On: September 18, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv436, NOS: Education - Civil Rights, Categories: Education, Defamation, Contract
J. Leon partially grants the terrorist attack victims and their family members' motion for default judgment in their suit against the government of Syria alleging that it provided material support to Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which then used that support to perpetrate the relevant attacks. Across four victims, three spouses and a child, $229,976,708 is awarded.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Leon, Filed On: September 16, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv1237, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: International Law, Terrorism, Damages
J. Leon dismisses the visa applicant's suit seeking to compel adjudication of his application, which has been in administrative processing for 19 months. While two of the TRAC factors, used to determine whether such delays are reasonable, weigh slightly in the applicant's favor, they are not sufficient to overcome the other four. A motion to compel production of the administrative record is denied because the record is not necessary to decide the motion to dismiss.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Leon, Filed On: September 16, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv3164, NOS: Other Immigration Actions - Immigration, Categories: Administrative Law, Immigration
J. Leon dismisses a claim brought by journalist John Solomon, acting as former President Donald Trump’s representative, seeking a binder of records related to the FBI’s investigation into a possible Trump-Russia collusion in the 2016 election. Solomon requests the records under the Presidential Records Act, but they are not presidential records. Instead, they are Department of Justice agency records subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Leon, Filed On: September 16, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv759, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, Public Record
J. Leon dismisses the employees' suit alleging that their employer's Covid-19 vaccination policies violated their Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The policy had a rational relationship to a legitimate state interest, namely preventing the further spread of Covid-19, and the employees have not shown that requiring vaccination infringes upon a fundamental right.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Leon, Filed On: September 16, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv677, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Employment, Covid-19
J. Chutkan partially grants the environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in their challenge of approvals for an oil and gas drilling project on federal lands in Wyoming. The groups have established that the Bureau of Land Management's groundwater modeling for the project was prejudicially erroneous, specifically because the Bureau claimed that at least one major figure in the report was based on a 2014 report when it was more likely based on a 2006 report, a difference of a factor of 10,000. The Bureau and Department of the Interior are enjoined from approving further applications for permits to drill based on the project's standing Environmental Impact Statement while further proceedings to determine an appropriate remedy are pending.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Chutkan, Filed On: September 13, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv2696, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, Environment
J. Faruqui grants the servicemembers, their estates and their family members punitive damages in their suit alleging that the government of Iran aided 63 terrorist attacks in Iraq in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion. The damages, totaling just under $656.4 million, are warranted under the terrorism exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act because the servicemembers have alleged that Iran's support to terrorist groups was critical to their activities. Iran has "substantial wealth" as a sovereign nation and the large judgment could act as a deterrence.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Faruqui, Filed On: September 13, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv622, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: International Law, Terrorism, Damages
J. Cobb grants the financial services company's motion for summary judgment in its suit alleging that the U.S. Commodity Future Trading Commission improperly prohibited the company from offering its event contracts. The company's event contracts, which allow consumers to purchase contracts for payout if they correctly predict which political party will control a given house of Congress at a particular date, do not fall within the regulator's statutory authority to ban contracts involving unlawful activity or gaming.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Cobb, Filed On: September 12, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv3257, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, Commerce, Elections
J. Kelly grants the agencies' motion to strike the FOIA requesters' amended complaint, which seeks further information on the their detention at an airport. Even after their initial amendments, the requesters' complaint does not adequately specify which of their causes of action apply to which agencies, and contains unnecessary and prejudicial background information, as well as FOIA allegations already dismissed by the court.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Kelly, Filed On: September 12, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv2480, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Civil Rights, Public Record
J. McFadden finds in favor of the Army in the former contractor's FOIA action seeking information on the revocation of his security clearance. The contractor has not exhausted his administrative remedies as to FOIA requests he made in 2012 and 2014, and insofar as he may have exhausted them as to a later claim, the Army has adequately demonstrated that materials it withheld fell under a FOIA exemption for attorney-client privileged documents.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: McFadden, Filed On: September 11, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv2770, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Public Record, Due Process, Privilege
J. Moreno dismisses the employee's race, gender and age discrimination claims against her employer. She has failed to plausibly allege that white, male coworkers were similarly situated to her, so they cannot be used as comparators for the purposes of her claims. Given the absence of other evidence, she has failed to state any of her federal law claims, and one remaining local-law claim is dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Boasberg, Filed On: September 11, 2024, Case #: 1:24cv1392, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Employment Discrimination
J. Chutkan partially grants the employer's motion to dismiss the employee's suit alleging disability discrimination, retaliation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, but grants the employee's motion for leave to amend her complaint. The employee's claims are at least partially precluded by a prior suit, but she is permitted to bring claims not addressed in that case and to amend her complaint to do so.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Chutkan, Filed On: September 11, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv2956, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation