[Consolidated.] J. Pinson finds that the trial court properly convicted defendants of murder and aggravated assault. Sufficient evidence was presented to support defendants' convictions and the trial court therefore correctly denied one defendant's motion for a directed verdict. One defendant's right to a fair trial was not violated by the trial court's decision to allow a heavy police presence in the courtroom. The trial was for offenses which occurred inside a prison involving rival gangs, all three defendants were maximum-security inmates and some witnesses were also inmates and rival gang members. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Pinson, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: S23A0139, Categories: Murder, Assault, Gangs
J. Breckenridge finds that the lower court properly found for the employer on a former employee's claims that it refused to re-hire him because he exercised his right to workers' compensation during his previous employment with the company. The law protecting a worker's right to workers compensation prohibits discrimination only against current employees, not against former employees. Affirmed.
Court: Missouri Supreme Court, Judge: Breckenridge, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: SC99670, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Workers' Compensation
J. Williams remands claims brought after a blown tire caused a dump truck to crash into plaintiff's vehicle, causing severe injuries. The drivers did not act in bad faith since they engaged in appropriate discovery, and neither caused delay nor intentionally employed "removal-defeating strategies."
Court: USDC Northern District of Iowa, Judge: Williams, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv15, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Civil Procedure, Negligence, Discovery
J. Pirtle finds the trial court properly denied defendant’s motion for postconviction relief from his sexual assault conviction. All evidence suggests that defendant’s girlfriend’s inebriated 17-year-old daughter was not capable of giving consent. Defendant failed to obtain forensic testing of bedding which the victim claimed to have blood on it prior to the evidentiary hearing on his motion. He has failed to establish a reasonable probability that forensic testing of the bedding would have altered the outcome. Affirmed.
Court: Nebraska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Pirtle, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: A-22-621, Categories: Evidence, Ineffective Assistance, Sex Offender
J. Kornmann denies a professor's motion for summary judgment after the professor alleged that the university wrongfully interfered with his use of paternity leave and retaliated against him for several protected activities by refusing to give him tenure. The professor may have been treated unfairly by the university, however, the unfair treatment may not have been sufficient to grant judgment. The university has not met its burden to warrant judgment.
Court: USDC South Dakota, Judge: Kornmann, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 1:19cv1023, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Education, Employment
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J. Boyle denies, in part, two companies' motion to dismiss an engineer recruiter's contract claims arising from the companies' alleged poaching of its engineers. The recruiter has sufficiently alleged a claim for tortious interference with contract and tortious interference with prospective business relations.
Court: USDC Northern District of Texas , Judge: Boyle, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv397, NOS: Other Personal Property Damage - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Employment, Interference With Contract, Contract
J. Holland denies in part an employer's partial motion to dismiss an Alaskan Native employee's allegations that she was fired after being falsely accused of cheating in a competition among Department of Public Safety recruits. The employee alleges that she was retaliated against for filing a report against a male individual who entered the female dormitories on two occasions in violation of training academy rules, and that she and the only other Alaskan Native employee were both fired while non-Alaskan Native recruits who were also accused of cheating were not fired. The employee's racial discrimination, retaliation and equal protection claims continue. The employee is granted leave to amend her conspiracy claim.
Court: USDC Alaska, Judge: Holland, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv29, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
[Consolidated.] J. Edwards upholds the district court's dismissal of a wire fraud indictment against a foreign service officer. The government only showed that the officer had lied to keep his security clearance, not in an effort to deprive his employer of money or property. Affirmed.
Court: DC Circuit, Judge: Edwards, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 22-3011 , Categories: Fraud
J. Rao dismisses, in part, and denies, in part, two environmental groups' petition for review of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's authorization to a gas line development company to build and operate natural gas facilities in Alaska. Certain claims were not exhausted, and the commission's decision was reasonable and lawful.
Court: DC Circuit, Judge: Rao, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 20-1379 , Categories: Energy, Environment
J. Foster grants the employee's motion for leave to amend her complaint to add a claim for punitive damages in her action against her former employer alleging that she was fired in response to making a protected report of state wage-theft law violations. The employee's allegations are sufficient to create a plausible inference that the employer knew of her report and acted with deliberate disregard for her right not to be terminated for it, and the report could be reasonably interpreted to have complained about the employer's alleged violation of law and so would be protected under the Minnesota Whistleblower Act.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Foster, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 0:22cv1203, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Whistleblowers, Employment Retaliation
J. Murphy finds that the trial court properly denied defendant a mistrial on charges of assault and possession of a firearm by a felon based on the contention that the state failed to timely disclose recorded jail calls because the calls were not exculpatory, and defendant did not point to testimony that could have been more exculpatory in conjunction with one of the calls. Affirmed.
Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals, Judge: Murphy, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: COA20-656, Categories: Firearms, Assault, Discovery
J. Wilson finds that the trial court improperly ruled in favor of the assignee and associated parties in deciding that the assignor of oil and gas lease interests was a "stranger to title" and that its purported reservation of an overriding royalty interest was void. Based on the estoppel-by-deed doctrine and court precedent, the reservation was binding and effective, and neither the stranger to title rule nor stranger to deed rule applies in this case. Reversed in part.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Wilson, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 14-20-00412-CV, Categories: Energy, Real Estate, Contract
J. Jewell finds that the trial court properly granted the village's plea to the jurisdiction and dismissed a negligence suit against it stemming from an auto accident caused by its employee. There was no waiver of governmental immunity since the evidence shows the employee was running a personal errand at the time of the incident and was not in the course and scope of his employment. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Jewell, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 14-22-00085-CV, Categories: Immunity, Negligence, Jurisdiction
J. Doyle finds that the trial court properly ruled in favor of the lender in a breach of contract action against the borrower arising from nonpayment of a commercial equipment lease. The trial court correctly found that an affidavit provided by the borrower could not impose additional terms on the lease under the parol evidence rule. The borrower's affidavit attesting to an escrow account was not evidence of additional terms consistent with the lease. The lease provided that the borrower did not tender any advance payment and the borrower failed to show that the lease was an incomplete agreement. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Doyle, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: A23A0031, Categories: Contract
Per curiam, the Supreme Court of Ohio finds the mother and adoptive parents of the child are entitled to a writ of prohibition to prevent the juvenile court judge from issuing any orders to grant parenting time to the biological father. The probate court has priority jurisdiction over the case and any order from the juvenile court would interfere with its assessment of potential actions taken in the child's best interest.
Court: Ohio Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-1593, Categories: Family Law, Judiciary, Jurisdiction
J. Gregory finds the lower court properly denied the state officials' sovereign immunity. The company claims that the issued citations for the deaths of two employees were unlawful because they stemmed from North Carolina’s occupational health and safety plan, which in their view, violates the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act. The officials do not get immunity because they are alleged to be acting in violation of the Constitution. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 22-1465 , Categories: Employment, Immunity, Agency
J. Powell finds that the lower court improperly exceeded its authority by ordering a woman to show cause why she should not be held in contempt of court for failing to comply with a court order to prepare a spreadsheet of court costs assessed in criminal cases. The judge had the authority to request this information, but not the authority to enforce that directive through a contempt proceeding. Reversed.
Court: Missouri Supreme Court, Judge: Powell, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: SC99794, Categories: Contempt, Government
[Consolidated.] J. Baca finds that an administrative hearing correctly concluded that an oil and gas services company was entitled to tax credits under the Technology Jobs and Research and Development Tax Credit Act after New Mexico tax authorities had previously denied the company those credits. Tax authorities argued on appeal that the company had not followed legal requirements for obtaining the credits, including using a “cost accounting methodology to allocate wages,” but the company presented evidence to show it was entitled to the credits and nothing in the record suggests the administrative hearing made legal errors. Affirmed.
Court: New Mexico Court of Appeals, Judge: Baca, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: A-1-CA-38779, Categories: Administrative Law, Tax, Business Practices
J. Rodriguez holds that substantial evidence supported the trial court determination that an insured had agreed to arbitrate any disputes over the provision of health care. She personally operated the computer and clicked a "Save" button to electronically sign the arbitration agreement when enrolling in an employer-sponsored health plan. Also, an arbitrator was not required to disclose the results of other arbitration cases involving the health plan provider that were pending when the arbitrator was appointed. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Rodriguez, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: A165140, Categories: Arbitration, Health Care, Insurance
J. Hagedorn finds the circuit court improperly determined a ballot question regarding an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution codifying Marsy's Law, which reconfigured the respective rights of victims in criminal proceedings and those accused of crimes, failed to meet all the constitutional requirements for formulating and submitting ballot questions to voters. Taken in context of the original meaning of the relevant constitutional provisions, which give the legislature broad authority over the manner of submitting ballot questions to voters, the Marsy's Law ballot question was not "fundamentally counterfactual" to its intended purpose such that voters were misled by it, so the advocates' challenge to the question on that basis and the argument that it should have been split into more than one question fail. The ballot question was not submitted to the people in violation of the state constitution, and it was validly ratified. Reversed.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Hagedorn, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 2020AP002003, Categories: Constitution, Elections, Government
J. Trauger partially grants the franchisor defendants' motion to compel arbitration in this suit alleging fraudulent inducement to contract. The plaintiff franchisee will be required to "submit his claims to arbitration," as the franchise agreement does not exclude fraudulent inducement claims from arbitration. The court will also stay the case, except for the request for a preliminary injunction, which is partially granted.
Court: USDC Middle District of Tennessee , Judge: Trauger, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv775, NOS: Franchise - Contract, Categories: Arbitration, Civil Procedure, Contract