177 results for 'court:"USDC Northern District of Ohio"'.
J. Pearson denies, in part, Norfolk Southern's motion to dismiss, ruling claims brought by residents of East Palestine are not preempted by federal law because the claims involved in the train derailment either involve conduct not covered by federal law or seek damages for a breach of safety regulations. Additionally, Norfolk Southern's transport of more than a million pounds of hazardous chemicals and intentionally setting them on fire in a residential neighborhood following the derailment constitute "abnormally dangerous activity" and establishes a claim for strict liability.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Pearson, Filed On: March 13, 2024, Case #: 4:23cv242, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Environment, Tort, Negligence
J. Pearson denies, in part, the chemical and rail companies' motion to dismiss, ruling that when they leased railcars and used them to transport chemicals, they knew the cars would pass through Ohio, which is sufficient to establish jurisdiction in this court for claims filed by the New Palestine residents harmed by the train derailment.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Pearson, Filed On: March 13, 2024, Case #: 4:23cv242, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Environment, Negligence, Jurisdiction
J. Nugent grants Target's motion for summary judgment, ruling there is no evidence any store employee knew the dock plate was wet or slippery when the truck driver made the delivery or that the plate was wet at all. Furthermore, considering the driver finished unloading his delivery without checking or wiping the dock plate down, he cannot prove his claim the store made an unreasonably safe condition that led to his fall.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Nugent, Filed On: March 5, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv328, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Evidence, Negligence, Premises Liability
J. Carr denies, in part, the aircraft sellers' motion to dismiss, ruling that because the buyer was located in Ohio, performed an inspection of the aircraft and conducted a test flight in Ohio prior to buying the plane, this court has jurisdiction over its claims regarding defects in the engine that rendered it not flightworthy. However, the Texas inspection company made no contacts in the state of Ohio, and the transfer of its logbooks with the aircraft when it was shipped to Ohio is insufficient to establish jurisdiction; therefore, it will be dismissed from the case.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Carr, Filed On: March 5, 2024, Case #: 3:19cv1645, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Jurisdiction, Contract
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J. Calabrese denies the sanitary napkin company's motion for partial judgment on the pleadings, ruling the magazine's affirmative defense of apportionment of any special damages may proceed because it is not the only periodical to publish the allegedly defamatory letter about heavy metals contained in the napkins. Therefore, if special damages are eventually awarded, the magazine may seek to apportion the damage between itself and the Wisconsin magazine because the publications did not share readership.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Calabrese, Filed On: March 4, 2024, Case #: 5:23cv376, NOS: Assault, Libel, & Slander - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Damages, Defamation
J. Adams denies the city's motion to alter its consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency, ruling that while its proposed amendment to allow overflow of 100 million gallons of untreated sewage into the Cuyahoga Valley National Park is significantly less than the amount of overflow at the time the decree was established, it does not amount to a de minimis impact on the watershed and surrounding area. Additionally, the increase in treatment costs from $56 million to $209 million is not a significant change in circumstances that allows for an adjustment in the consent decree because the city provided no evidence to explain the cost increase and relied on outdated treatment data when it submitted cost predictions.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Adams, Filed On: March 1, 2024, Case #: 5:09cv272, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Environment, Evidence, Water
J. Gwin denies the property manager's motion to dismiss, ruling that even though he was not an owner of the management company, he can still be held liable under federal law for acts of sexual harassment and abuse toward tenants and applicants. Meanwhile, the management company's failure to discipline the manager after it became aware of years of harassment toward female tenants renders it liable for his actions; therefore, the management company's motion to dismiss is also denied.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Gwin, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 4:23cv1744, NOS: Housing/Accommodations - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Housing
J. Parker grants, in part, the city's motion for summary judgment, ruling the lessees of the basement condo units became aware of flood damage caused by the remodeling of an adjacent parking lot in July 2020 at the latest and that their takings claims did not require structural damage to the building to accrue. Therefore, their takings claims are barred by the two-year statute of limitations. Although flooding has continued on an intermittent basis since the remodeling, the continuing violation doctrine is inapplicable because all of the flooding was caused by a single, discrete event - the construction work at the parking lot - and so the statute of limitations clock was not tolled at any point.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Parker, Filed On: February 15, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv1007, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Civil Procedure, Government, Property
J. Helmick grants the employer's motion for summary judgment, ruling the Hispanic employee cannot establish a prima facie case for race discrimination. He cites only one allegedly racist comment from a coworker - a remark disputed by the coworker, made about wearing a sombrero - while the employer had several legitimate reasons to fire him, including repeatedly showing up late to work and threatening a coworker following a disciplinary meeting.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Helmick, Filed On: February 13, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv1551, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Evidence, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Knepp grants the village's motion to dismiss, ruling the unlawful takings claim filed by the quarry owner must be dismissed for failure to state a claim. The owner fails to identify a property interest other than the property itself, which the owner concedes it will be compensated for through appropriation proceedings.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Knepp, Filed On: February 12, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv2282, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Government, Property
J. Knapp grants the employer's motion for summary judgment, ruling any of the female employee's claims of gender-based retaliation or harassment that occurred before November 9, 2019 are time-barred based on the filing date of her EEOC complaint. Additionally, although the employee undoubtedly engaged in protected activity when she reported alleged discrimination and filed the EEOC complaint, her failure to comply with an expectations sheet implemented after previous disciplinary issues gave the employer a legitimate reason to fire her.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Knapp, Filed On: February 9, 2024, Case #: 5:21cv1573, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Evidence, Employment Discrimination
J. Zouhary grants the insurer's motion for summary judgment, ruling salvage expenses related to the sunken yacht are not covered by its policy, which includes a captain's warranty that provides coverage only if the vessel is being navigated by a single, named captain. Therefore, because the yacht's owner changed captains and failed to inform the insurance company, his claim was properly denied because the captain named in the policy was not operating the vessel at the time of its sinking.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Zouhary, Filed On: February 6, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv2047, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Maritime
J. Knapp denies, in part, the insurer's motion to dismiss, ruling that while there are discrepancies between the property owner's representations and several sworn statements about the value of possessions destroyed by a fire in the home, the insurer has failed to establish whether the owner intentionally misled investigators, and such an issue of fact allows the contract claim to proceed.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Knepp, Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv1187, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Contract
J. Brennan denies the automotive clutch manufacturer's motion for summary judgment, ruling the issue of notice provided to the part manufacturer cannot be determined by the court because of numerous issues of fact, including when the clutch manufacturer made the part maker aware of defects and whether the defects were the result of a design or manufacturing problem.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Brennan, Filed On: January 30, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv893, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Warranty, Contract
J. Lioi denies the employer's motion for summary judgment, ruling that although a large portion of the employee's job was related to manual labor and conversing with patients at the nursing home, deposition testimony from each party creates questions of fact regarding how much oversight and ultimate decision-making authority the employee had in terms of implementing facility upgrades and prevents the court from determining her exempt status at this stage of the litigation.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Lioi, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 5:21cv2259, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Evidence, Labor
J. Carr grants the assisted living facility's motion for sanctions against the former employee and her new employer, ruling the employee's admission she knew of a litigation hold shortly after accepting the job offer from the competitor contradicts her claim she was unaware she could not delete thousands of text messages and is sufficient to prove spoliation of evidence. Therefore, the jury in any eventual trial will be instructed to infer the deleted messages were efforts by the competitor to solicit former employees to violate restrictive covenants.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Carr, Filed On: January 25, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv606, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Jury, Sanctions, Trade Secrets
J. Calabrese grants the employer's motion for summary judgment, ruling the employee's First Amendment retaliation claims fail as a matter of law. Although the gender pay disparity issue involved a matter of public concern, she failed to raise it before the board of commissioners until a hearing when she expressed other frustrations with her supervisor that involved issues related only to their work relationship, a hearing that took place more than five months after the pay gap issue arose.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Calabrese, Filed On: January 16, 2024, Case #: 1:18cv522, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Government, Employment Retaliation, First Amendment
J. Barker grants, in part, the employers' motion to dismiss, ruling the former CFO's failure to execute a release agreement at the end of his employment or present evidence he completed all requirements of his employment contract requires dismissal of the contract claim related to severance and vacation pay. Meanwhile, the CFO's decision to lump all the employers together in the aiding and abetting discrimination claim requires dismissal of that claim because if all the employers took part in the discriminatory conduct, it is not possible for them to aid and abet themselves in the same discriminatory conduct.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Barker, Filed On: January 12, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv986, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Contract
J. Carr denies, in part, the university's motion for summary judgment, ruling the employee's conversations with five different supervisors and coworkers about a potential hiring she believed would violate EEOC laws was protected activity and, given it occurred less than two weeks before her demotion, is sufficient to support her claim of retaliation in regard to the demotion.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Carr, Filed On: January 10, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv2151, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Education, Evidence, Employment Retaliation
J. Gwin denies the roofing company's motion for a preliminary injunction against its former sales employee, ruling none of the more than 2,000 files taken by the employee before he left to join a competitor constitute trade secrets because no proprietary software was stolen and any previous bid information was rendered useless by shifting material costs.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Gwin, Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv1341, NOS: Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) - Property Rights, Categories: Trade Secrets, Contract, Injunction
J. Barker denies, in part, the prison guard's motion for summary judgment, ruling a question of fact precludes judgment on the excessive force claim filed by the inmate related to being shoved down the stairs. Video footage does not clearly disprove the inmate's claim the officer pushed him into the door frame and caused him to fall. However, the rest of the complaint will be dismissed because none of the officer's remaining conduct, including roughly helping the inmate up to his feet and failing to give him medication at a precise time, rises to the level required for a deliberate indifference claim.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Barker, Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv1913, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Evidence, Prisoners' Rights
J. Nugent grants the Ohio Secretary of State's motion for summary judgment, ruling all of the changes to election procedures contained in House Bill 458 are minor in nature and, therefore, do not constitute an undue burden on voters that would render the bill unconstitutional. Although only photo IDs may be used for in-person voting moving forward, evidence indicates the majority of registered voters already have a valid driver's license. Furthermore, the elimination of early, in-person voting the Monday before Election Day does not impact a large number of voters, especially considering the voting hours were reallocated elsewhere.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Nugent, Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv26, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Elections, Government
J. Helmick denies, in part, the pizza chain operator's motion for summary judgment, ruling too many factual disputes exist regarding terms of its franchise agreement with the development company, including what qualifies as opening a restaurant, to determine at this stage whether the development company met its obligations under the agreement.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Helmick, Filed On: January 5, 2024, Case #: 3:20cv2024, NOS: Franchise - Contract, Categories: Evidence, Contract
J. Helmick grants the federal government's motion for summary judgment, ruling the administrative review board properly considered all of the evidence presented by both the employer and the government regarding payment of subminimum wages to disabled employees; therefore, its decision was not arbitrary or capricious. Because the board's decision was supported by credible evidence and the employer failed to prove the wages were based only on the productivity of the employees, the employer will pay the full amount of liquidated damages requested by the government to the employees.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Helmick, Filed On: January 4, 2024, Case #: 3:20cv2325, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, Government, Labor
J. Pearson grants the insurer's motion for summary judgment, ruling evidence in the policyholder's medical history clearly indicates he had lymphoma at the time he applied for the relevant insurance policy, regardless of whether he had been diagnosed with the condition. Therefore, the insurer properly denied coverage because it was a preexisting condition.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Pearson, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: 4:22cv1514, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Evidence, Insurance, Contract