216 results for 'judge:"Brown "'.
J. Brown finds the circuit court properly granted the final decree for stepparent adoption. The biological father was convicted on mail fraud charges after the parents divorced. The mother then moved out-of-state with the couple's child and remarried. The biological father's consent to adoption by the stepfather was not required because he had failed without justifiable cause to communicate with the child for a one-year period. The adoption is correctly found to be in the child's best interest. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Brown , Filed On: March 13, 2024, Case #: CV-23-172, Categories: Family Law, Guardianship
J. Brown finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for delivery of a controlled substance and maintaining a drug premises. Several controlled buys of drugs from defendant were made by detectives using a confidential informant. Ample evidence supports the convictions, as well as defendant's more than 100-year sentence as a habitual offender. The informant identified defendant as the seller, and defendant's claim the exchange of money not being recorded on a device shows that evidence is lacking is unpersuasive. The informant's testimony does not require corroboration. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Brown , Filed On: March 13, 2024, Case #: CR-23-347, Categories: Drug Offender, Evidence
J. Brown grants the former colleagues' motion for partial summary judgment in a defamation action against the former attorney arising after he falsely accused them of criminal extortion in social media posts. The colleagues had threatened to sue the attorney if he did not accept a settlement demand arising after he failed to pay them under fee-splitting agreements. The threat to sue did not constitute extortion and no reasonable jury could find that the partners threatened to publicly question the attorney's mental health or interfere with his efforts to convince President Trump to award Richard Jewell the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The colleagues were not limited-purpose public figures. The parties' motions to seal are denied.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Brown, Filed On: March 12, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv1073, NOS: Assault, Libel, & Slander - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Defamation
J. Brown partially grants the manufacturer's and customer's motion to strike surplusage, irrelevant paragraphs and inappropriate arguments from the company's amended patent infringement counterclaims in a declaratory judgment action brought by the manufacturer. The manufacturer seeks a declaration that a pole for cleaning swimming pools does not infringe on the company's patents. Portions of the counterclaims describing the company's first pole patent application, discussing early communications between the parties and relating to allegations about the benefits of the company's patents are appropriate and will not be struck. The customer's motion to sever and stay the company's counterclaims against it is granted.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Brown, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv790, NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: Patent
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J. Jolivette Brown denies a request by insurers to exclude the damage estimates of a certified public accountant for a high school suing a flooring company for fire damage to its gymnasium. The insurers argue a reasonable juror is capable of adding numbers and calculating the soft costs element, which requires one act of multiplication to obtain a 10% sub-amount. While a jury may be capable of adding and multiplying numbers, the fact that a ���soft costs��� calculation requires a 10% sub-amount is not within the common knowledge of lay person. As such, the expert���s testimony will assist the jury.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Jolivette Brown, Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv5292, NOS: Property Damage Product Liability - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Insurance, Damages, Experts
J. Brown rules in favor of the insurer in a breach of contract action brought by the insured arising after the insurer refused to pay for a new roof on seven of the insured's buildings following alleged hail and vandalism damages. The insured failed to present evidence showing that its claim was timely or that vandalism damages to the roofs occurred after a company made repairs.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Brown, Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv4776, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance
J. Brown finds that the trial court properly held that a city's nuisance determinations were procedurally fair since they rested on zoning violations. But the city's appeals process for both zoning and building code violations that involves a single hearing officer is preempted by state law. The city must establish an appeals board or agency or allow its governing body to hear appeals as required by state law. Reversed in part.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Brown, Filed On: March 6, 2024, Case #: A167719, Categories: Property, Preemption, Zoning
J. Brown finds the trial court improperly sentenced defendant for felony domestic battery. The victim, defendant's girlfriend, testified that he, in a drunken rage, assaulted her after she told him that she was not "in the mood." She also testified to other instances of abuse, including defendant's punching her in front of her daughter. Photos taken by police showed the victim had been choked and that her arms were scratched. Though ample evidence supports the conviction, defendant had not yet been tried and convicted for a previous incident, which was improperly used as a sentencing enhancement. Reversed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Brown , Filed On: March 6, 2024, Case #: CR-23-184, Categories: Evidence, Sentencing, Battery
J. Brown adopts the magistrate judge's recommendation and partially rules in favor of the employer in a disability discrimination action. The employee, who has some hearing loss, alleged that he was retaliated against and unfairly fired after requesting accommodations. The employee abandoned his hostile work environment, retaliation and age discrimination claims. However, the employee presented sufficient evidence to create an issue of fact as to whether the employer failed to provide a reasonable accommodation. An issue of fact also exists as to whether the employer would still have fired the employee if not for his hearing loss and need for an accommodation.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Brown, Filed On: March 6, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv5246, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Employment Discrimination
J. Brown holds that the state met its burden at the preliminary hearing stage to allege that defendant murdered four victims for the benefit of a criminal street gang. "Page Street" is a gang because it is organized, though informally, has a defined turf, symbols, hand signs and common enemies. Also, its members have specific roles in committing shared crimes and it splits the proceeds of its crimes. Vacated.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Brown, Filed On: March 5, 2024, Case #: A168018, Categories: Murder, Gangs
J. Brown rules in favor of the officials in a civil rights and malicious prosecution action brought by the former social worker after she was arrested and lost her job for purportedly passing contraband to an inmate. The charges against the social worker were eventually dismissed. The special agent's motion to dismiss is granted only with respect to the social worker's illegal search claim. A reasonable jury could find that the agent intentionally made misstatements and omissions in the arrest warrant affidavit with respect to the contraband found in the inmate's cell and what was captured on a video of the social worker and the inmate. The agent is therefore not entitled to qualified immunity from the malicious prosecution claim.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Brown, Filed On: March 1, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv1992, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Malicious Prosecution
J. Brown denies summary judgment to a Long Island village and its planning board on a family estate���s constitutional takings claim. The estate alleges the village wrongfully denied three applications to build a dock on its waterfront property over a nine-year period. The village ultimately granted their application for the work in 2019, but only after the courts intervened. Federal courts find claims for regulatory taking are not rendered moot even though the underlying action is remedied. The court further finds the claim is timely.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Brown, Filed On: March 1, 2024, Case #: 2:19cv5760, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Property, Zoning
J. Brown denies the consumers' motion for class certification in a beach of contract action arising from the companies' failure to replace appliances after the appliances required more than three repairs under an extended service plan in one year. The consumers fail to identify a clear set of common issues and fail to show that their common issues predominate over individual issues raised by the variation in the companies' no-lemon guarantees. The consumers' motion to seal the class certification brief and supporting exhibits is denied and an earlier order requiring the companies to produce class discovery sought by the consumers is vacated.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Brown, Filed On: February 29, 2024, Case #: 4:22cv91, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Class Action, Contract
J. Jolivette Brown grants a request by an insurance company, dismissing a homeowner���s contract claims arising from her hurricane-related property damages. The policy was issued to the mortage lender. The homeowner, as mortgagor, has not established she is entitled to any benefits from the policy. She unsuccessfully argues the remaining balance on the mortgage is $695,000 and, because the policy limit of $1 million exceeds the mortgage balance by $387,000, the lower, remaining amount is intended to benefit her. The policy does not contain a provision stating that any excess payment would be given to the mortgagor.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Jolivette Brown, Filed On: February 28, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv6691, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Fiduciary Duty, Contract
J. Brown partially grants the couple's motions to dismiss an action brought by the ex-girlfriend alleging that the couple violated the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act by showing people at a restaurant an intimate video of the ex-girlfriend without her consent. She sufficiently alleges that the couple's behavior in showing the video on a phone to other people at a public restaurant counts as "disclosing" it. Since a phone is an instrumentality of interstate commerce, the use of a phone to show the video satisfies the statutory requirements.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Brown, Filed On: February 28, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv3169, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Privacy
J. Brown finds the trial court properly ruled in favor of the injured party, offsetting the judgment against costs awarded to the other party. The injured party filed for damages for a wrist injury more than two years after a minor traffic accident. Though he sought more than $300,000 in damages, the jury awarded the injured him $5,000, while awarding the other involved driver more than $11,000 in fees and costs. The court offset the judgment against the costs awarded to the other driver, ordering a judgment against the injured party for $6,000. The court did not act without due consideration in its deemed denial of the injured party's motion to vacate and to alter or amend its order denying his motion to reopen the record. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Brown , Filed On: February 28, 2024, Case #: CV-22-78, Categories: Vehicle, Damages, Attorney Fees
J. Jolivette Brown grants a request by a Nevada resident for an order freezing $294,000 worth of his cryptocurrency assets traced to private accounts held by a purported investor he is suing for fraud. The litigant has shown that irreparable harm will ensue absent a restraining order, considering the speed with which cryptocurrency transactions are made, as well as the anonymous nature of those transactions. The potential recovery of assets will disappear if the accused is allowed to transfer the allegedly stolen assets into inaccessible digital wallets, which could occur at any moment.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Jolivette Brown, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 2:24cv393, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Evidence, Fraud, Conversion
J. Brown, ruling on the oldest active case on Eastern District of New York���s docket, affirms in part a magistrate judge���s report and recommendation and trims a 17-count complaint down to a manageable eight counts. The lawsuit, which was first filed in 2008, alleges a small village in Nassau County violated a Jewish institution���s religious freedoms when it imposed additional building requirements on a proposed synagogue, which was to be located in a residential area. The court agrees with the magistrate���s conclusions that the claims are ripe and present facial challenges to the village���s Places of Worship law.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Brown, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 2:08cv5081, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Zoning, First Amendment
J. Brown finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for terroristic threatening. Defendant was arrested after the victim confronted him at his home regarding a threatening letter the victim had received that had mentioned defendant. Defendant immediately threatened the victim, then pulled out a machete, swinging it at the victim. Several witnesses testified defendant told the victim he was going to ���kill all you motherfuckers and take everything you got.��� Substantial evidence supports the conviction, and the letter was properly entered as evidence. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Brown , Filed On: February 14, 2024, Case #: CR-23-190, Categories: Evidence, Threats, Terrorism
J. Brown finds the county court properly terminated the father's parental rights to his three children. The department exercised an emergency hold on the children after an investigation into allegations of the mother's performing sex acts as a prostitute in front of them while living in a motel. The investigation also involved questions of the death of one of the children. The children tested positive for meth and cocaine, and neither parent showed any evidence of stability. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Brown , Filed On: February 14, 2024, Case #: CV-23-584, Categories: Evidence, Family Law, Guardianship
[Consolidated.] J. Brown finds that the trial court should not have denied an original property owner's petition to annul the quitclaim deed on grounds of fraud and ill practice. In this case, there is no dispute that the signature of the original owner's mother affixed to the quitclaim deed was a forgery. Since the owner alleged that the quitclaim deed that purported to transfer the property to the person who transferred it the new deed holder was a forgery and not in authentic form, the deed holder could not attain any rights to the property by virtue of the recorded quitclaim deed. Reversed in part.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Brown, Filed On: February 5, 2024, Case #: 2023-CA-0460, Categories: Property, Contract
J. Brown finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for illegal possession of a firearm, domestic battery and terroristic threatening. A neighbor testified the victim, who had previously attempted to evict defendant, banged on his door with handcuffs on one hand and her face bloodied, pleading, ���He���s got a gun, he���s going to kill me.��� The neighbor testified she seemed truly terrified. Officers responded to information on defendant's location and found him hiding behind a blanket in the corner of the laundry room. Thhe victim's out-of-court statements to her neighbor were properly admitted under the excited utterance hearsay rule. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Brown , Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: CR-23-321, Categories: Firearms, Battery, Terrorism