135 results for 'filedAt:"2024-02-16"'.
J. Hillman declines to reimburse costs to an insurer accused of manipulating premiums to force a real estate development and management company to pay more because even if the company prolonged litigation by pursuing a meritless appeal, the insurer had other remedies related to costs.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Hillman , Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 1:19cv13638, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Fraud, Insurance
J. Oxley finds that the district court improperly suppressed a blood test indicating defendant used methamphetamine in an action stemming from a car accident. The arresting officer falsely claimed he smelled alcohol on defendant's breath while seeking a warrant for the blood draw, but the relevant information had been excised from the warrant and the remaining claims supported the warrant. Affirmed.
Court: Iowa Supreme Court, Judge: Oxley, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 22-0162, Categories: Drug Offender, Search
J. Currault grants a request by a New Orleans property owner, ordering her insurer to produce written materials pertaining to her claim for damages by Hurricane Ida. The insurer’s nine-month delay in the production of documents identified in the court’s discovery protocols is improper. Likewise, the insurer’s discovery responses, most of which reflect boilerplate, unsubstantiated objections, are insufficient.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Currault, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv761, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Damages, Discovery
J. Holmes finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of murder and unlawful firearm possession as part of his involvement in the Syndicato de Nuevo
México, a prison gang. Defendant claims that the lower court violated his right to a speedy trial and allowed prejudicial evidence during trial, but his claims are without merit. Any prejudice injected into proceedings from certain murder evidence did not outweigh its overall value and was properly allowed, and the duration of his legal proceedings did not violate the Speedy Trial Act. Affirmed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Holmes, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 22-2034, Categories: Murder, Speedy Trial, Gangs
J. Saylor denies a subcontractor’s motion for summary judgment against a contractor that allegedly failed to pay it fully for its work. The contractor may have fabricated its desire to be provided as-built drawings, as the contract between the parties stipulated — rather than having the drawings given directly to its surety — as a way to avoid having to pay the subcontractor because the contractor’s president felt denigrated by the subcontractor's president. But there is not proof of this that could support summary judgment at this time.
Court: USDC Massachusetts, Judge: Saylor, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv10238, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Construction, Contract, Labor
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J. Moore finds that the lower court improperly entered a divorce judgment that failed to comply with the statutory requirements, specifically as to the alimony awarded. The amended judgment did not indicate that "rehabilitation was not feasible, nor did it make any of the other findings that would justify awarding periodic alimony as opposed to rehabilitative alimony." Accordingly, the matter is remanded for the lower court to make the necessary findings. Reversed.
Court: Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, Judge: Moore, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: CL-2023-0511, Categories: Civil Procedure, Family Law
Per curiam, the Texas Supreme Court finds the court of appeals properly and improperly ruled in an easement case filed by a railroad company against the owner of a concrete plant, whose vehicles cross the railroad tracks via a gravel path to access the plant and a highway. The right of the owner to use the gravel path under estoppel and necessity are not supported by the evidence. However, a prescriptive easement does exist and is supported by the evidence. Affirmed in part.
Court: Texas Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 22-0424, Categories: Corporations, Property
J. Carroll finds the trial court properly convicted a man of sexual assault, sexual exploitation by luring a child and carrying a weapon while committing a felony. The man argues the trial court erred by not instructing the jury carrying the gun and the sexual assault was related. The court also struck portions of his probation conditions, which he challenged for being unrelated to his conviction. Affirmed in part. Reversed in part.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Carroll, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-106, Categories: Firearms, Probation, Sentencing
J. Reidinger denies the passenger in a car collision his motion to voluntarily dismiss the court’s exclusion of expert testimony he brought against a car manufacturer. The manufacturer claims the expert’s testimony is flawed because his recreation of the collision was inaccurate. Also, a voluntary dismissal would not take into account the significant expense the manufacturer has paid in service of the litigation so far. Thus, the motion is denied, but the expert will be allowed to recreate the crash study and submit it to the manufacturer at the expense of the passenger.
Court: USDC Western District of North Carolina, Judge: Reidinger, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv112, NOS: Motor Vehicle Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Evidence, Vehicle, Experts
J. Byrne finds that the trial court properly and improperly ruled against a woman who sued her boss and his company for damages after her car was struck by a car driven by the employer. The evidence supports the notion that her boss was still acting in his professional capacity when the collision occurred, thus making the company party to the suit. However, the evidence did not support the woman’s direct negligence claims against the company and the court properly ruled to dismiss them. Affirmed in part.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Byrne, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 03-22-00736-CV, Categories: Tort, Negligence
[Consolidated.] J. Sellers finds that the lower court properly ruled that a casino cannot be held liable for stating the bad weather would be manageable when a bus crashed due to severe weather, killing a passenger and injuring others on board. The evidence does not show the casino had a duty to provide "accurate" weather information to the person who chartered the bus. Affirmed.
Court: Alabama Supreme Court, Judge: Sellers, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: SC-2023-0520, Categories: Transportation, Negligence, Wrongful Death
J. Armistead denies the boyfriend summary judgment against the girlfriend's complaint that the boyfriend did not pay her $400,000 after he broke the infidelity provision of their domestic partner agreement. The agreement does not prohibit the boyfriend from cheating, but the agreement states that the property is divisible if the boyfriend cheats and the relationship dissolves.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Armistead, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv459, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Property, Contract
J. Shea grants the employer's motion for summary judgment, ruling the Muslim employee cannot establish a prima facie case for race and religious discrimination. The paid leave following his reporting of racist comments by coworkers does not constitute an adverse employment action, while his resignation in the weeks that followed was entirely voluntarily and not based on any intolerable conditions created by the employer. Meanwhile, even though the employee's reporting of racist comments can be considered protected activity to support a retaliation claim, the supervisor's negative performance review and request for disciplinary action was based on past performance issues of the employee and is insufficient to be considered an adverse action.
Court: USDC Connecticut, Judge: Shea, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv946, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Gleason denies registered guides' motion for a temporary restraining order regarding the award of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-issued permit to guide commercial big game hunting on federal lands within Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge to another party. The registered guides allege that without the temporary restraining order, their "clients will be precluded from obtaining brown bear tags for hunting on Native lands," while the other party's permit would allow others to receive all of the brown bear tags for the area in question. The guides' "purported injury is speculative and does not demonstrate a likelihood of irreparable harm."
Court: USDC Alaska, Judge: Gleason, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 3:24cv36, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, Restraining Order
J. Taranto finds that the district court improperly ruled in claims concerning a patent for speech recognition services because the court incorrectly construed certain claim terms.
Court: Federal Circuit, Judge: Taranto, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 22-1939, Categories: Patent
J. Hicks grants the Securities and Exchange Commission's motion for partial summary judgment in its case against a bestselling author and wealth coach that sold oil and gas securities as an unregistered broker. No question of material fact exists that she acted as an investment adviser who failed to disclose conflicts of interest such as her entitlement to compensation for the sales. Claimed exclusions do not exempt the coach and her associates from their fiduciary duties.
Court: USDC Nevada, Judge: Hicks, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv269, NOS: Securities/Commodities/Exchange - Other Suits, Categories: Fraud, Securities, Fiduciary Duty
J. Furman sanctions plaintiffs counsel for failing to comply with nearly every deadline the court has set in this case. The attorney must pay $5,000 for wasting the court's time, and complete two additional hours of continuing legal education on issues relating to law office management given his inability to keep up with deadlines, not only in this case, but his extremely large docket in New York federal courts. Further, this matter is referred to the court's Committee on Grievances to determine if the attorney's conduct across the board violates the rules of professional conduct.
Court: USDC Southern District of New York, Judge: Furman, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv3516, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities - Other - Civil Rights, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Sanctions, Attorney Discipline
J. Wall finds a lower court properly convicted a defendant for commercial sexual exploitation of a child. The defendant, who paid a 17- year-old female to have sex with him after contacting her on Snapchat using the name "Wamma Jamma," argued that he was deprived of a speedy trial. However, the government sufficiently showed in court that the "crowded-docket exception" allowed it to order a single continuance for 30 days. Affirmed.
Court: Kansas Supreme Court, Judge: Wall, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 123687, Categories: Sex Offender, Speedy Trial, Child Victims
J. Garcia dismisses as moot a nonprofit's challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's grant of an energy company's request for a ruling that it's planned facility, which was to be built in Port St. Joe, Florida, fell outside the agency's regulatory jurisdiction. The company is not longer planning to build the facility.
Court: DC Circuit, Judge: Garcia, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 22-1251 , Categories: Administrative Law, Energy
J. Childs upholds the district court's ruling the government properly redacted the names of certain low-level employees from a spreadsheet of salaries of those who worked on former President Trump's outgoing transition teams in a news publication's Freedom of Information Act case. The redactions were proper under exemption 6 under the Act, as release of the information would have been an invasion of privacy. Affirmed.
Court: DC Circuit, Judge: Childs, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 22-5330 , Categories: Elections, Public Record, Privacy
[Consolidated.] J. Cassel finds the county court properly determined the sanitation district cannot levy a special assessment on property adjacent to, but not located within, its boundaries. A particular statute argued by the district authorizing a levy where exempt property has been “specially benefitted” by the district applies only to “property by law not assessable," and not to that outside the district. No reversible error is found as to the district's making a condemnation taking of part of the property or the jury's award to the owner for that taking. Affirmed.
Court: Nebraska Supreme Court, Judge: Cassel , Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: S-22-688 , Categories: Administrative Law, Municipal Law, Property
J. Miller-Lerman finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for second-degree murder. Surveillance video and witness testimony shows defendant, during an extended gun battle occurring between a house and vehicles, shot and killed the victim. The trial court properly denied his motion to withdraw his no contest plea, while the record is insufficient to consider claims of ineffective assistance or discharge on speedy trial grounds. Affirmed.
Court: Nebraska Supreme Court, Judge: Miller-Lerman, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: S-23-124, Categories: Evidence, Murder, Speedy Trial
J. Southwick finds the district court properly held a mineral lease is not yet in effect such that the developer has standing to pursue constitutional takings claims against the parish. The clear text of the lease shows the developer has not secured necessary governmental approvals. Therefore, the developer has no vested interest in the property at question or its clay deposits. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Southwick , Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 23-30084, Categories: Constitution, Energy, Property
J. Smith finds the district court improperly determined that legislative privilege did not apply to discovery documents sought by the migrant worker advocacy group. The documents were exchanged between the Texas legislature and members of the state executive branch, and involve elections integrity. The advocacy group alleges the legislature enacted the relevant elections integrity bill intending to discriminate against minorities. This fails to implicate federal interest beyond constitutional or statutory claims of racial animus. Legislative privilege was properly invoked and protects the documents. Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Smith, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 23-50201, Categories: Elections, Immigration, Privilege
J. Horan denies a roofing company's motion for summary judgment on a property owner's warranty-related claims. The property owner has validly assigned the previous property owner's claims and, thus, has standing to file the action.
Court: USDC Northern District of Texas , Judge: Horan, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv2607, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Property, Warranty, Contract