34 results for 'judge:"Rowland"'.
J. Rowland partially grants a health care analytics company’s motion for summary judgment on one of its former employees’ discrimination claims. The former employee says the company refused to accommodate her depression, anxiety and Sjögren’s Syndrome, then fired her in retaliation for taking FMLA leave. The court finds the former employee has sufficiently alleged her disability discrimination, failure to accommodate and retaliation claims, but grants the company judgment on her FMLA interference claim. The court also denies the company’s motion for sanctions.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv1612, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities-Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Rowland finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for two counts of murder, sentencing him to death. Defendant became the prime suspect after a bank employee notified police of a series of transactions on the victim's debit card after her and her young son's deaths at their home. Defendant was identified by ATM photos and the testimony of the victim's sister, as well as testimony of multiple witnesses of preceding events. Even if the "knowingly creating a great risk of death" aggravator is invalid on certain counts, the remaining valid aggravating factor outweighs mitigating evidence and supports the sentence. The jury's finding the murder was especially heinous or cruel, as well as defendant's high risk for reoffending, is well supported. Affirmed.
Court: Oklahoma Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Rowland , Filed On: April 18, 2024, Case #: D-2019-542, Categories: Death Penalty, Murder, Sentencing
J. Rowland partially grants both a commuter rail service’s and a construction company’s motions for summary judgment on damage claims. This case is a contract dispute between the parties over a rail replacement project that the commuter rail paid the construction company to undertake. The construction company finished the project long after its contractual deadline, but it alleges that the delay was partly the commuter rail service’s own fault. The court will allow the commuter rail service to seek damages for structural steel storage, crosshole sonic logging testing, field office credit, additional review and subcontractor mechanic liens. The construction company can pursue damages for late payments plus interest.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv2901, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Construction, Damages, Contract
J. Rowland grants a number of Illinois municipalities’ motion to remand this ongoing negligence, nuisance and product liability suit to the Circuit Court of Cook County. The municipalities sued Monsanto and several other companies over their contamination of public land and water with polychlorinated biphenyls, highly carcinogenic chemicals whose production was banned in the U.S. under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. The municipalities initially filed suit in Cook County, but companies had the case moved to federal court from in 2023 on the grounds that federally administered lands and waters were implicated in the complaint. But the court grants the remand on the basis of the municipalities disclaiming any injuries to federal holdings, and only seeking restitution for damage done to their own jurisdictions.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv3140, NOS: Property Damage Product Liability - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Environment, Product Liability, Venue
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J. Rowland finds the trial court properly dismissed the DUI under suspended license case. The court lacks jurisdiction, as the offense occurred in Indian territory by the Indian defendant. Though it is true that a case cited by the state offers no guidance as to how the balancing test should be applied to Indian defendants, the General Crimes Act is logically read to preempt state jurisdiction over Indians, while not preempting another class, without mentioning either class. Affirmed.
Court: Oklahoma Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Rowland , Filed On: March 7, 2024, Case #: S-2023-409, Categories: Dui, Jurisdiction
J. Rowland denies a Chicago YWCA’s motion to dismiss contract breach and race discrimination claims brought by the founder of “World of Money," a financial tutoring program for children of color. The YWCA incorporated World of Money as one of its own programs in 2020, hiring the founder as its executive director. However, despite claiming World of Money as its own, the YWCA did not financially support the program or hold up the founder’s attempts to broaden it, then abandoned it entirely in 2023. The founder has adequately alleged her race discrimination and contract breach claims.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv2821, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Contract
J. Rowland denies a delivery company’s motion to dismiss a class of workers’ claims that it violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act. The court also grants the workers’ motion for conditional class certification. The class representatives claim that, from 2020 to 2022, the delivery company wrongly classified them as independent contractors to avoid providing them with the pay, protections and benefits employees enjoy. The court finds the class representatives have sufficiently alleged those claims and have shown sufficient evidence that they are among a class of similarly situated workers for the delivery company.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv1859, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Class Action, Labor
J. Rowland grants a bank’s motion to dismiss a defamation claim brought by the former estate manager for a deceased account holder. A bank employee allegedly filed documents with a trust firm accusing the former estate manager of using her power of attorney on behalf of her mother to appoint herself as her mother’s primary estate beneficiary upon death. The former estate manager denies this is the case and claims defamation over the issue, but the court finds she has provided insufficient evidence to back up her claim.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: February 5, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv1361, NOS: Assault, Libel, & Slander - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Wills / Probate, Defamation, Banking / Lending
J. Rowland grants a medical billing agency’s motion for summary judgment on a debtor’s claims it issued statements that did not comply with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The court finds, contrary to the debtor’s claims, that the agency isn’t an FDCPA-regulated debt collector in relation to the debtor's accounts, and therefore it has no obligation to comply with FDCPA disclosures.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: January 22, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv1509, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Debt Collection, Health Care
J. Rowland partially grants an Illinois city’s motion to dismiss a local bar’s due process and equal protection claims. The city temporarily suspended the bar’s liquor license after a “criminal incident” took place outside it in 2021, but the parties reached a settlement that allowed the bar to stay open. A second incident resulted in another suspension in 2022, but after that incident the bar’s Black owners called into questions the city’s racial biases, given that other non-Black owned bars in town had faced less stringent settlement agreements to address criminal activity. The bar’s owners subsequently brought due process and equal protection claims at the state and federal level. The court now dismisses the due process claims, but allows the equal protection claims to stand.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: January 17, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv728, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Constitution, Equal Protection, Business Practices
J. Rowland denies the Chicago Transit Authority’s motion for summary judgment on its employee’s disability discrimination claims. The CTA took the employee, who is diabetic, off his electrician job in June 2018 after he fainted due to low blood sugar. Despite a doctor clearing him to return to work a few weeks later, the CTA fought to keep him off-duty until October 2019, even going to an arbitrator over the issue. The court finds the employee has sufficiently alleged that the CTA’s efforts to keep him away from his job were discriminatory.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: January 2, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv2881, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities-Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Health Care, Employment Discrimination
J. Rowland grants Hyundai’s motion to compel arbitration in this class action represented by a frustrated customer who subscribed to “connected services,” such as an emergency SOS button, in his vehicle only to discover the 3G-based services were already obsolete and not compatible with then-modern 4G networks. Despite his grievances, the court finds the customer signed multiple binding user agreements that compel arbitration in conflicts such as this.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: January 2, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv282, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Arbitration, Vehicle, Class Action
J. Rowland partially grants a class of hair product consumers’ motion to compel production of materials related to hair care products sold outside the U.S. The class of consumers claim they were injured in various ways by using L’Oreal, Revlon and other companies’ hair care products, and they seek information regarding what safety and marketing standards the products adhered to domestically as opposed to when they’re sold abroad. They seek materials pertaining six specific categories of information: foreign regulatory materials, product labels and usage instructions, scientific studies, articles in scientific journals, organizational charts and board of director materials. The hair care product companies must produce all but the organizational charts and board of director materials.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: December 27, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv818, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Product Liability, Discovery, Class Action
J. Rowland finds the trial court improperly convicted defendant for first-degree murder. Though defendant originally requested to represent himself, then agreed to have counsel appointed after admonishment, any obstructionist or delay tactics did not occur until after his second request to defend himself, which was denied. The record does not support the state's assertion that defendant's requests were attempts at delay. Reversed.
Court: Oklahoma Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Rowland , Filed On: December 21, 2023, Case #: F-2021-1390, Categories: Murder, Speedy Trial, Self Representation
J. Rowland grants Mercedes-Benz’s motion to compel arbitration in a class action suit over its onboard navigation service, for which the suing class claim to have never fully agreed to use. The court finds that, per a user license agreement, the parties are contractually bound to arbitrate the dispute.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: December 11, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv6099, NOS: Contract Product Liability - Contract, Categories: Arbitration, Product Liability, Contract
J. Rowland partially grants the defendant real estate investors’ motion to dismiss a fraud complaint brought by one of their former business partners, the plaintiff real estate investor. During a fight over the partner’s shares of their mutually owned business, the sued investors began to box plaintiff out of communications and financial documents, and using financial maneuvers to ensure he didn’t receive payouts from the company’s general partners. The court finds the plaintiff investor has sufficiently alleged this constituted securities fraud, shareholder oppression and fraudulent concealment as to one account, but dismisses his breach of fiduciary duties claims and his fraudulent concealment claims as they regard another account.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: December 6, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv5628, NOS: Stockholders’ Suits - Contract, Categories: Fraud, Real Estate, Securities
J. Rowland finds the district court improperly dismissed defendant's application for post-conviction relief in connection with his drug and firearms convictions and 77-year sentence. Defendant's application for post-conviction relief was dismissed as time-barred, having been filed more than one year after the convictions were finalized. No time limit existed when the convictions were affirmed, though a new statute later imposed the limit. A 1-year grace period is appropriate, as it affords affected petitioners as much time as their counterparts whose convictions became final after the limitations statute. Reversed.
Court: Oklahoma Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Rowland , Filed On: November 28, 2023, Case #: PC-2023-176, Categories: Drug Offender, Firearms, Sentencing
J. Rowland partially dismisses this consolidated, multidistrict product liability class action over multiple cosmetic companies’ allegedly carcinogenic hair products. The court dismisses two of the companies as defendants entirely, and also tosses three of the claimants’ negligence per se, fraud and unfair and deceptive trade practices claims. The remaining dozen counts survive.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: November 13, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv818, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Consumer Law, Product Liability, Class Action
J. Rowland issues final judgment in favor of a church on its substantial burden claim under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act against Chicago, limiting damages to $14,590. It successfully argued that the city imposed restrictive parking limits on religious assemblies. The parties are ordered to file a joint status report by Nov. 9, 2023, for the motion of fees and the civil case terminated.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: October 30, 2023, Case #: 1:17cv932, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Civil Rights, Damages
J. Rowland grants the plaintiff farm equipment manufacturer’s motion to apply a permanent injunction against the defendant farm equipment manufacturer, barring the defendant from marketing a modular storage bin sweep whose design the plaintiff says violated the patent on its own version of the sweep. The court also alternatively grants and denies multiple miscellaneous post-trial motions from both parties, before entering judgment in the plaintiff’s favor and terminating the case.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: September 7, 2023, Case #: 1:16cv2212, NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: Agriculture, Patent, Injunction
J. Rowland grants the Mexican parent's petition to have her child returned to her in Mexico. The child is currently living with the father in the U.S., but per the International Child Abduction Remedies Act, the father illegally kidnapped the child from Mexico and from the mother in July 2021. The father has not shown that the child would be at "grave risk" if returned to Mexico.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Rowland, Filed On: August 23, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv3806, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Family Law, International Law, Guardianship