92 results for 'judge:"Gallagher"'.
J. Gallagher finds the state failed to prove the state of mind required to convict defendant of forgery for his application to use his employer's address on his driver's license and vehicle registrations. As a police officer, defendant was eligible to use his work address on the documents, and the state does not dispute a correctly filled out form would have prevented any criminal prosecution. Reversed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: December 28, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4787, Categories: Evidence, Forgery
J. Gallagher finds defendant's criminal mischief conviction was supported by sufficient evidence, including testimony he was involved in a heated argument with his supervisor before his termination on the night the office building was "trashed" by an unknown individual. Meanwhile, the trial court properly limited defendant's cross-examination of his supervisor because the EEOC complaint mentioned by his attorney was filed after he was charged with criminal mischief and, therefore, was irrelevant. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: December 28, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4790, Categories: Evidence, Trespass, Witnesses
J. Gallagher finds the trial court erroneously determined a letter between the buyer and its financing company constituted an enforceable contract. Testimony in the record established the buyer believed the letter entitled him to an unlimited number of closing date extensions, while the financing company clearly envisioned only a single month extension; therefore, there was no meeting of the minds that allowed for the formation of a contract. Reversed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: December 14, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4535, Categories: Evidence, Banking / Lending, Contract
J. Gallagher grants summary judgment in favor of Walmart in this lawsuit brought by two shoppers involved in a confrontation with the store’s employee. The shoppers allege a host of claims claims for battery, assault, defamation, racial discrimination, false arrest and imprisonment, malicious prosecution, intentional Infliction of emotional distress, and multiple negligence theories after an employee accused them of shoplifting. The evidence shows the employee used self-defense, had a legal reason to detain, did not pose an unreasonable risk of harm and the police did their own investigation when one of the shoppers physically attacked the employee first. A jury reasonably could not find emotional distress was inflicted, or that this was a racial incident.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: December 8, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv1029, NOS: Assault, Libel, & Slander - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Negligence, Defamation, Assault
J. Gallagher finds the trial court improperly refused to award the husband an equity interest in the marital home. Although the wife refused to sell the property and wanted to remain there after the divorce, her assumption of the mortgage debt did not result in an equal division of property. However, the wife's student loan debt was properly divided between the parties because it was used primarily for household and living expenses during her time in a masters program, which benefitted both parties equally and rendered it a marital debt. Reversed in part.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: December 7, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4411, Categories: Evidence, Family Law
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J. Gallagher finds the lower court properly granted permanent custody of a mother's children to family services. The mother failed to implement lessons from parenting classes into her everyday life and refused to take actions to prevent sexual and physical abuse, including continuing to allow their step-grandfather to be alone with them even after he was accused of abusing them. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: December 7, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4423, Categories: Evidence, Family Law
J. Gallagher finds that the lower court erroneously granted the ambulance driver's motion for summary judgment on the grounds of political subdivision immunity. It is undisputed she was not responding to an emergency call and her lights and sirens were not activated when she ran over the pedestrian's foot. Expert testimony from the pedestrian's reconstruction witness also established issues of fact regarding the right-of-way at the intersection when the collision occurred, which allows for the driver's conduct to be considered wanton or reckless. Reversed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: November 22, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4213, Categories: Immunity, Negligence, Experts
J. Coulson admits that the court’s previous order calculating damages was based on a legal error in the valuation of damages. The court grants an additional $1,720.96 in damages for a total of $6,894.96 owed to the logistics company whose trailer and cargo was never returned after an accident. The parties can petition to reopen discovery for the purpose of the value of the trailer and cargo while in the towing company’s possession.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: November 21, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv2409, NOS: Other Personal Property Damage - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Vehicle, Damages, Negligence
J. Gallagher grants a transport company’s motion to dismiss this amended complaint in this lawsuit brought by a former employee alleging negligence, defamation, constructive fraud and false light invasion of privacy based on the company’s drug testing procedures. The employee was terminated after he took a drug test at a different facility than the employer sent him to. The former employee fails to show facts plausibly to establish of any duty to the alleged claims and this amended complaint is dismissed without prejudice.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: November 21, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv2334, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Employment, Defamation, Privacy
J. Gallagher denies as moot a coalition of individual Black voters and two civil rights organizations motion for summary judgement in this Voting Right Act lawsuit against a town. The voters allege that the at-large method of electing members to the town council causes improper dilution of their votes, because the white voters still control three of the four seats. The claims are dismissed and moot because the court has no power to render the at-large method and the nominal damages request was belated.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: November 20, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv484, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Elections
J. Gallagher finds the juvenile court erroneously denied the state's request for mandatory bind-over of defendant's case to the common pleas court. Defendant admitted he purchased marijuana from the shooting victim and was seen on surveillance footage getting into the vehicle seen leaving the scene of the crime; therefore, the state provided credible evidence to support each element of the crimes and the case should have been transferred. Reversed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: November 2, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3975, Categories: Juvenile Law, Murder
J. Gallagher grants a merger mortgage company and a title firm’s motions to exclude expert testimony, then grants in part their motion to decertify the class and cross motion for summary judgment against a class of borrowers who sued for an illegal kickback scheme in violation of RESPA. The first witness was unable to state whether the class had obtained the lender’s policies, which does not address the issue, and the second witness lacked the knowledge to opine a RESPA compliance safeguard. Another hearing has been scheduled discuss additional questions answered for the motion to decertify the class and the cross motion of the mortgage and title firm’s summary judgment. Partial summary judgment in favor of the class borrowers is granted on the issue of the merger mortgage company can be held liable for the illegal kickback scheme.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: November 1, 2023, Case #: 1:20cv3489, NOS: Consumer Credit - Other Suits, Categories: Real Estate, Banking / Lending, Class Action
J. Gallagher dismisses in part a protester’s civil conspiracy and false imprisonment claim against police officers in Reading, Pennsylvania, who arrested him while he spoke about his religious beliefs outside of a school on a public sidewalk. The protester failed to provide facts to support these claims.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: October 25, 2023, Case #: 5:23cv1523, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Government, Police Misconduct
J. Gallagher finds the trial court properly determined the scope of the arbitration clause in the parties' vehicle purchase contract. There was no explicit language in the agreement that required arbitrability be determined by an arbitrator, while the lender's conduct in litigating the case for over 15 months before requesting arbitration was also a clear waiver of its arbitration rights. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: October 12, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3714, Categories: Arbitration, Contract
J. Gallagher finds the lower court properly denied defendant's request for a hearing on his motion for leave to request a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. While he did not present bloodstain analysis at his trial in 2004, the expert reports he now seeks to introduce are not based on new technology or science but are merely different interpretations of the evidence already introduced at his original trial. However, the Brady evidence cited by defendant - including the victim's state of mind in the days leading up to his murder - could have been used to impeach certain witnesses' testimony and was unavailable at the original trial, which requires a remand to the trial court for a hearing to determine the merits of that claim. Reversed in part.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: October 5, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3626, Categories: Evidence, Murder, Experts
J. Gallagher finds the performance of defendant's attorney did not fall below a reasonable standard when he failed to request removal of a juror who claimed his daughter was friends with one of the victim's children. Not only did the juror state on the record the relationship would not affect his impartiality, but he also had not spoken to his daughter in over four years, so the possibility of prejudice was remote. Meanwhile, the attorney's failure to object to the admission of cell phone records used to pinpoint defendant's location on the day of the crime did not constitute ineffective assistance because the witness's familiarity with cell phone location data properly authenticated the records. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: October 5, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3623, Categories: Evidence, Ineffective Assistance, Murder
J. Gallagher grants default judgment in favor of a female massage client who was sexually assaulted by a male masseuse when he touched her breasts and genitals inappropriately during a massage session. An award of $600,000 in combined compensatory and punitive damages is reasonable.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: September 12, 2023, Case #: 5:19cv6093, NOS: Assault, Libel, & Slander - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Settlements, Damages, Emotional Distress
J. Gallagher finds defense counsel's failure to repeatedly object to the prosecution's use of the term "victim" during his trial on rape, kidnapping, and assault charges did not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel. In the context of the case, the word was not used to imply defendant's guilt or elicit sympathy from the jury, while the attorney also made an initial objection when the word was first used. Meanwhile, the trial court properly denied defendant's motion to merge several kidnapping counts for sentencing purposes because each conviction was related to a separate course of conduct. Affirmed in part.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: September 7, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3148, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Sex Offender, Kidnapping
J. Gallagher partially denies Prince George's County its motion to dismiss allegations of ADA violations brought by a former police officer. The officer, a Black man with diagnoses of PTSD, ADHD and high blood pressure, alleges he was called a "thug" by a major, who then allegedly asked a lieutenant if the officer had "problems working with white people." The major ordered the officer to get a behavioral health analysis and then the department suspended him, supposedly for medical reasons. Based on these allegations, the officer has sufficiently pleaded his ADA claims.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: August 24, 2023, Case #: 8:21cv2528, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities-Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Employment, Employment Discrimination
J. Gallagher grants two Baltimore police officers summary judgment in a suit brought against them by two men whose 1984 conspiracy to murder convictions were vacated in 2019 following a petition for writ of actual innocence. Based on potential newly discovered evidence, a new trial was ordered and the men alleged 11 counts against the officers including constitutional violations and malicious prosecution. However, before the new trial begins, the evidence must be determined to be admissible or not. Although a third man claimed that he had been manipulated by detectives to testify falsely during the initial trial, at which time he was 13 years old, he is now deceased and his testimony is from 30 years ago is unreliable. The only admissible evidence comes from a witness who testified against the accused in the original trial.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: August 23, 2023, Case #: 1:20cv795, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Evidence, Discovery, Police Misconduct
[Consolidated.] J. Gallagher partially grants a mortgage and title firm’s motions to exclude expert testimony and for summary judgment against a class of borrowers who sued it for in an illegal kickback scheme in violation of RESPA. The class’s witness does not have enough experience in the title industry to qualify as an expert, but his extensive background in mortgages allows some of his testimony to be considered. Also, the class does not present enough evidence of its kickback claims to survive, but the class representative does for her individual claims.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Gallagher, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 1:16cv3938, NOS: Consumer Credit - Other Suits, Categories: Property, Real Estate, Banking / Lending