98 results for 'filedAt:"2024-01-03"'.
J. Matsumoto grants a New York City school teacher leave to file a second amended employment retaliation complaint against the city’s educational department, but denies his motion to file with what he proposes is his second amended complaint. The court finds that, while he proposes three claims for retaliation, only one claim regarding allegations that he was issued a negative performance review for filing complaints regarding discriminatory treatment resolved factual deficiencies cited by the court.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Matsumoto, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv3117, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Education, Employment Retaliation
J. Dorsey grants summary judgement to the purchaser of an automobile that the seller later repossessed. The purchaser says the car was repossessed before any default on the financing agreement and filed suit for breach of contract, deceptive trade practices and other claims. The seller failed to appear for more than two years, and the clerk entered default against it. The seller was properly served and has not shown good cause to set aside the judgment.
Court: USDC Nevada, Judge: Dorsey , Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv20, NOS: Consumer Credit - Other Suits, Categories: Trade, Consumer Law, Contract
J. Wright denies in part an employer's motion to dismiss an employee's allegations of quid pro quo harassment, hostile environment harassment and wrongful termination. The employee alleges that as CEO, she "was subjected to verbally abusive and denigrating behavior" and was fired before her equity could vest. Venue is proper, as the employee was residing in California during the alleged harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination. The employee's claims for quid pro quo harassment and hostile environment harassment continue.
Court: USDC Central District of California, Judge: Wright, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv4320, NOS: Other Labor Litigation - Labor, Categories: Employment, Employment Retaliation
J. Mazzant grants summary judgment to the apartment complex owner and dismisses most of a former tenant's claims that stem from his arrest by federal agents for threatening messages he posted on social media while in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021. The former tenant's claim for wrongful eviction fails since the evidence indicates he "voluntarily vacated his apartment" when the apartment owner posted a notice to vacate. Also, the invasion of privacy claim fails since it was federal law enforcement who executed the search warrants and arrested the tenant at his apartment, and the apartment owner's disclosure of the tenant's rental application to the federal agents was not an "act of intrusion."
Court: USDC Eastern District of Texas , Judge: Mazzant, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 4:22cv787, NOS: Rent Lease & Ejectment - Real Property, Categories: Landlord Tenant, Tort, Emotional Distress
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J. Douglas finds the district court properly denied qualified immunity to employees of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which had found exigent circumstances justified the emergency removal of the 4-year-old child from his mother without parental consent or court order. The removal of a child without parental consent, court order or exigent circumstances violates clearly established rights of the child and mother, which precludes qualified immunity. Affirmed in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Douglas , Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 23-20107, Categories: Constitution, Family Law, Agency
J. Logue finds the wife has failed to point to reversible error by the trial court in granting a motion to enforce a charging lien from the lawyer who represented her in her divorce. The trial court was within its power to grant the lawyer a charging lien for $38,281, which was around $6,000 more than the magistrate judge previously granted the wife in attorney fees and costs, as the magistrate's order settled the amount of attorney fees the husband owed to the wife but not any additional fees the lawyer might seek under his and the wife's contract. Affirmed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Logue, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 23-0094, Categories: Family Law, Attorney Fees
J. Miller finds the trial court partially erred in its order outlining a parenting plan and child support obligations in a dispute between the mother and father regarding their teenage daughter. The portion of the trial court's parenting plan order awarding the father long-distance timesharing after he relocated back to Hawaii from Key West before a ruling was handed down in the parties' trial is reversed, and on remand the trial court must make specific findings on whether the timesharing plan is in the best interests of the child. Affirmed in part.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Miller, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 23-0178, Categories: Family Law
J. Heyten finds the lower court improperly convicted the couple's three convictions for conspiring to obtain U.S. citizenship fraudulently for the noncitizen and making false statements in their efforts to do so. The couple met in college and married shortly after but lived on opposite sides of the country. Although the evidence was sufficient to support the jury’s verdict, the jury was allowed to consider a legally insufficient theory. The government told the jury that a form filled out by the originating citizen labeled herself as married despite the pair being separated. Because it was a separation and not a divorce, she is considered married for the form and, therefore, did not lie as the government portrayed. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Heytens, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 22-4128, Categories: Evidence, Government, Immigration
J. Zahn finds that the Sex Offender Registry was within its discretion to rely on documents used to convict defendant of sexual abuse in Oregon to establish the substantially equivalent offense in Idaho for registration purposes. Also, the Registry was not required to consider whether the Oregon offense was a misdemeanor or felony in its equivalence determination. Affirmed.
Court: Idaho Supreme Court, Judge: Zahn, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 49547, Categories: Sex Offender
J. Torres denies a former Customs and Border Patrol employee’s motion for appointment of counsel after she sued the agency on her own behalf for discrimination. Not only is the employee unlikely to succeed in her case, but she has demonstrated “sufficient financial resources to continue her search for counsel,” including because she has savings and paid an initial filing fee.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Torres, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv139, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities-Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Civil Rights, Employment Discrimination
J. Sessions grants a college and its current president’s motion to stay in this employment contract dispute brought by the former president alleging discrimination and retaliation. The college argues this case needs to go to arbitration on all claims as stated in the employment agreement. The college and its current president have met the burden that arbitration is needed and its inherent power to control the docket.
Court: USDC Vermont, Judge: Sessions, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv393, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Arbitration, Employment, Contract
J. Colombell grants the garbage collector's motion to amend his slip and fall complaint. The worker, who slipped on ice at a mechanic shop, had put the current owners of the property as the defendant rather than the owners at the time of the fall, but the amendment is not prejudicial to any party.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Virginia, Judge: Colombell , Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv578, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Negligence, Jurisdiction, Premises Liability
J. Immergut partially grants the software company's motion for a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit asserting that the domain holders sold unauthorized licenses for the software company's hosting automation management software online. An asset freeze is issued against the domain holders for all assets related to infringing domains because they took multiple steps to hide their identities and avoid the software company's scrutiny. However, the software company's motion to freeze all assets is not justifiable as it is indiscriminate and lacks knowledge.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Immergut, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv1963, NOS: Copyrights - Property Rights, Categories: Copyright, Injunction
J. Piersol finds that a hotel would not be unfairly prejudiced by an amended complaint alleging discrimination. Individuals' second amended
complaint repeated the claims and added claims for assault and battery. "It is not anticipated that amendment will disrupt the existing schedule, and there is no indication of bad faith or dilatory tactics on plaintiffs' part."
Court: USDC South Dakota, Judge: Piersol, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 5:22cv5027, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Assault
J. Bryan finds in favor of the title company against the property owner's complaint that the title company refused to defend and indemnify him after it did not properly pay off the property loan to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), resulting in HUD garnishing his wages. It is not clear which federal claims the property owner makes in his complaint. He does not point to facts that would support a viable Bivens claim against the title company, such as what constitutional right it allegedly violated.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Bryan, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv5317, NOS: All Other Real Property - Real Property, Categories: Property
J. Tymkovich finds that the lower court improperly ruled against a gold mine operator after it was sued for alleged unlawful wastewater discharges into areas within the South Platte River floodplain. The lower court found the company was discharging unpermitted pollutants into navigable waters, but the ruling did not consider the entire picture. The lower court incorrectly found that groundwater discharges into settling ponds were the "functional equivalent" of direct discharges into the South Platte River, two entirely different discharges under the Clean Water Act. As a result, the lower court did not fully take into account all of the "geophysical factors" of the case. Reversed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Tymkovich, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 22-1340, Categories: Environment, Water
J. Mercier finds that the trial court improperly dismissed the insured's action against the insurer arising after the insurer failed to issue a full refund to the insured following her early cancellation of a car insurance policy. The trial court incorrectly found that the insured's interpretation of a refund provision in the policy was unreasonable. The insured could have reasonably believed that her refund would be calculated based only on the amount of premium she had already paid. Reversed in part.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Mercier, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: A23A1529, Categories: Insurance
J. Fernandez finds the trial court failed to hold an evidentiary hearing before deciding that the brother would be awarded more than $800,000 in attorney fees and the sister would be granted only $6,718 of the $742,732 in fees she sought in the parties' dispute over the incapacity and guardianship of their mother. Because this was an abuse of the trial court's discretion, in part because the sister never waived her right to an evidentiary hearing, on remand the trial court is ordered to hold such a hearing on whether the parties' attorney fees are reasonable. Reversed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Fernandez, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 23-0180, Categories: Guardianship, Attorney Fees
[Consolidated] J. Oldham grants the e-cigarette manufacturers' petitions for review of the Food and Drug Administration's denial of their applications for premarket tobacco approval. The FDA sent the manufacturers on a "wild goose chase" of regulatory requirements before pretending "it never gave ... instructions ... [and] imposed new testing requirements without notice." The FDA’s standards for adjudicating premarket tobacco applications are discretionary, the applications being highly fact-specific. Such decisions must turn on the agency's changing understanding of public health requirements and the harmless-error rule does not apply.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Oldham, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 21-60766, Categories: Administrative Law, Commerce
J. Davis finds the lower court properly granted the employer's motion for summary judgment and determined it was not a common carrier under the Federal Employers' Liability Act. While a portion of its corporate structure qualifies, the entity that controlled the bridge repairs and employed the injured employee was not inextricably linked to the railway chain of commerce and, therefore, could not be held liable under the Act. Affirmed.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Davis, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 22-5794, Categories: Employment, Negligence
J. Lindsey finds the trial court properly found for the insurance company in its dispute against the British Virgin Islands entity which sued over the dismissal of its claim for damages to one of its yachts caused by a fire. The trial court correctly determined that personal jurisdiction was not satisfied because the British Virgin Islands entity had not established sufficient business contacts in the state of Florida for its lawsuit to fall under Florida's applicable long-arm statute. Affirmed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Lindsey, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 22-1324, Categories: Insurance, Contract
J. Brodie grants summary judgment to the government agency tasked with preserving Fire Island’s seashore lands on claims that it violated a local grocery store operator’s rights under the Administrative Procedures Act. The store’s owner is contesting the agency’s decision to issue him a weekend-only driving permit to allow him to transport provisions through protected seashore lands when the local ferry is out of service due to inclement weather during the winter months. The court finds the agency’s decision, which was based on several factors including the existence of several other grocery stores on the island that help service the island’s inhabitants and workers during the week, was not arbitrary, illegal or capricious.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Brodie, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 2:20cv6330, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, Environment