90 results for 'nos:"Torts to Land - Real Property"'.
J. Conley finds for the federal government in a lawsuit from property owners claiming that trees on their property have been damaged by road salt running off from a neighboring VA medical center. The property owners have failed to bring sufficient evidence to support their takings and private nuisance claims such that a reasonable jury could determine the VA center's salt storage is responsible for the damage to their trees, so the government's motion for summary judgment is granted.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv395, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Constitution, Property, Tort
J. Laplante determines the opinion of one of a group of property owners’ experts is inadmissible in this case, where the property owners are suing corporations whose manufacturing facility released toxic chemicals into the surrounding area, including the property owners’ groundwater. The property owners have other experts and didn’t object to this expert being excluded in their briefs.
Court: USDC New Hampshire, Judge: Laplante, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: 1:16cv242, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Water, Experts
J. Laplante certifies a class of property owners suing corporations for releasing toxic chemicals from a manufacturing plant into the surrounding area. Though the corporations claim that the property owners’ claims cover a wide range of issues not all suffered across the class, the property owners’ claims of trespass, negligence and negligent failure to warn all have to do with the corporations’ liability and are issues that can be jointly resolved across the class.
Court: USDC New Hampshire, Judge: Laplante, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: 1:16cv242, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Water, Class Action
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J. Land denies the farm's motion for reconsideration of an earlier order finding that the jury's excessive compensatory and punitive damages award for lake repair costs warranted a new trial. The evidence did not support the jury's $1.5 million award to repair the farm's property and the compensatory damages award for the loss of use and enjoyment of the farm's property exceeded the fair market value of the property. The instant court used its "enlightened conscience" to determine the remittitur amounts and the remitted damages are supported by the evidence. The farm's motions for leave to file an interlocutory appeal and to certify questions to the Georgia Supreme Court are denied.
Court: USDC Middle District of Georgia, Judge: Land, Filed On: December 13, 2023, Case #: 4:21cv134, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Damages
J. Kornmann dismisses a cattle rancher's second amended complaint with prejudice in a dispute over leasing various range units on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The dispute resulted in impoundment and subsequent holding of the rancher's cattle in Nebraska by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The rancher claimed that the impoundment caused an infection of Trichomoniasis to spread through his herd. The rancher offered no evidence that any action of the BIA resulted in the infection of his impounded cattle.
Court: USDC South Dakota, Judge: Kornmann, Filed On: December 8, 2023, Case #: 5:15cv5062, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Agriculture, Property, Native Americans
J. Peterson denies the city's motion to exclude the "tribal scenario" portion of the Monsanto's expert's opinion in the city's complaint accusing the agrochemical company of manufacturing polychlorinated biphenyls that contaminated the Lower Duwamish River. The city does not sufficiently argue how the tribal scenario's use of specific data from a 2000 fish consumption survey of the Suquamish Indian Tribe of the Port Madison Indian Reservation in the Puget Sound Region, rather than data from the entire Puget Sound Region, makes it irrelevant to this lawsuit.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: December 1, 2023, Case #: 2:16cv107, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Experts, Discovery
J. Richardson denies the waste management defendants' dismissal motion in this lawsuit brought by the City of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, over the alleged mismanagement of a landfill. The complaint sufficiently alleges a "compensable injury or loss" to support the city's negligence claim.
Court: USDC Middle District of Tennessee , Judge: Richardson, Filed On: November 28, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv605, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Civil Procedure, Environment, Negligence
J. Vascura denies, in part, the power supply manufacturer's motion for judgment on the pleadings on a fraud claim related to defective batteries. The stark difference between the condition of the batteries, including bulging cases and visible cracks, and the fully operational status reported by the manufacturer's inspectors just weeks before the failure is sufficient to allow the claim to proceed.
Court: USDC Southern District of Ohio, Judge: Vascura, Filed On: November 28, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv1398, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Fraud, Insurance, Negligence
J. Beistline denies the government's motion for summary judgment on an individual's trespass and nuisance claims. The individual alleges that the government placed hazardous substances on her Alaska Native Allotment without her permission or knowledge. The government argues that the individual tracked PCBs onto her own property from a hot spot on Air Force property. The individual alleges that the government created the hazardous hot spot adjacent to her property and failed to abate the contaminants in an unmarked, unfenced area. A question of fact remains as to whether the hazardous materials "were tracked from the point of the spill onto Plaintiff’s property by the 'usual course of events'.” There also remains a genuine issue of material fact regarding "whether or not there was appropriate signage warning of the hazard."
Court: USDC Alaska, Judge: Beistline, Filed On: November 21, 2023, Case #: 3:15cv221, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Tort
J. Cain declines to find in favor of the railway company on the property owner's class action claims that his property was contaminated by the storage and transfer of creosoting products from nearby properties by the railway company. Although further discovery will be necessary to support the property owner's claims, he has provided sufficient evidence at this point to refute the railway company's contention that there was no creosote contamination near the owner's property.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Cain, Filed On: November 3, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv53, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Property, Tort, Class Action
J. Proctor denies a couple’s motion for partial summary judgment in this lawsuit over flooding on their property caused by drainage from a steel company’s property for trespass and nuisance. The court grants, in part, summary judgment to the steel company on the couple’s injunction claim. The couple stated in the first amended complaint the injunction as a separate claim, however, “an injunction is a remedy, not a separate claim or cause of action.” All other claims are denied.
Court: USDC Northern District of Alabama , Judge: Proctor, Filed On: November 3, 2023, Case #: 2:18cv1693, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Property, Negligence, Injunction
J. Jackson declines to remand to state court the school board's lawsuit accusing Facebook, Instagram and Tik-Tok of being highly addictive to children and harmful to the learning environment it is required to provide for its students. The school board argues that it is an arm of the state and therefore immune from federal jurisdiction under the Eleventh Amendment, but this argument "has been squarely rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, each of the three Louisiana U.S. District Courts, and Louisiana's state courts, too."
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: November 2, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv807, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Tort, Immunity, Jurisdiction
J. Riggs grants, in part, the oil and gas companies' motion to dismiss, ruling the property owner does not state a plausible claim for ejectment because the oil companies did not possess the land on which they allegedly trespassed. However, the eight notices sent by the owner to the companies about their continued trespass with vehicles and through the construction of fences clearly made management aware of the trespassing and allows the claim for punitive damages to proceed.
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Riggs, Filed On: October 30, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv257, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Property, Tort, Damages
J. Peterson grants the city's motion to exclude the proposed expert testimony of Dr. David L. Sunding from its lawsuit alleging that polychlorinated biphenyls from Monsanto's product, Aroclor, contaminated the Lower Duwamish River. Dr. Sunding's supplemental report is time barred because he submitted it nearly six months after the November 2023 expert report deadline, and on the last day of the parties' expert discovery period.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: October 26, 2023, Case #: 2:16cv107, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Tort, Experts, Discovery
J. Land denies the companies' motions for judgment as a matter of law in a trespass and negligence action brought by the couple except with regard to the compensatory and punitive damages awards, which are remitted to various degrees. The couple alleged that the companies polluted their property and fishing lake while building a solar panel energy facility. The jury awarded the couple $10.5 million in compensatory damages and $125 million in punitive damages. The compensatory damages award to the couple's farm is remitted to $296,000 and the compensatory damages awards to the husband and wife are remitted to $487,000 each. The evidence at trial did not support the award to repair the couple's property. The award of damages for the couple's temporary loss of use of their property exceeds the fair market value of the property and is excessive. The punitive damages award against the energy company is remitted to $1.1 million and the punitive damages award against the construction companies is remitted to $1.5 million.
Court: USDC Middle District of Georgia, Judge: Land, Filed On: October 23, 2023, Case #: 4:21cv134, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Damages, Negligence
J. Joseph grants a request for a discovery order by multiple corporations being sued by 259 litigants for personal injuries and property damages, arising from toxic leaks at a now-closed pipe valve manufacturing facility in central Louisiana. Entry of a so-called “Lone Pine Order,” a discovery tool requiring litigants to meet an evidentiary threshold, will simplify complex issues, streamline costs, and help prepare for a consolidated, “Phase I” trial on common facts set for May 2024. District courts in the Fifth Circuit routinely enter Lone Pine orders in mass tort cases to facilitate case management and provide structure to the discovery process.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: October 10, 2023, Case #: 1:20cv1346, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Damages, Discovery
J. Winmill grants in part the government's motion for summary judgment in a property dispute with business owners. The government alleges that the couple has erected tepees, tents, a tent pad, a boat house, railings into the water, a hammock, shower, plumbing and electrical equipment and facilities, a boat ramp, dock, gazebo, and fence on property that is owned by the US government without permission. The couple is proceeding pro se, but their business cannot appear without representation, therefore the company has yet to appear. The government has shown that the couple has constructed encroachments on government land, including a fence which restricts access to that land, which they refuse to remove.
Court: USDC Idaho, Judge: Winmill, Filed On: October 4, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv439, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Real Estate, Tort
[Consolidated.] J. Dever partially grants a group of citizens' motion for class certification in its suit against DuPont and related companies and individuals for their alleged pollution of a major North Carolina river going back to the 1970s. The class claims DuPont dumped chemicals into the river for years, including perfluorinated compounds or PFCs, which are toxic to humans and last for up to 2,000 years in the environment. DuPont challenges the certification, arguing that individual suits would be more efficient. However, since there are potentially over 100,000 class members in this case, and the awards they might receive are relatively small, class certification is much more appropriate.
Court: USDC Eastern District of North Carolina, Judge: Dever, Filed On: October 4, 2023, Case #: 7:17cv189, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Tort, Class Action
J. Kovner denies ExxonMobil’s motion to dismiss two Brooklyn residents’ claims for injuries arising from exposure to an oil spill that had first been discovered in a nearby creak in a heavily industrialized area of Greenpoint in the late 1970s. The litigants claim they were diagnosed with leukemia in 2012 and 2019, respectively, due to their exposure to contaminated water. The court disagrees with ExxonMobil’s arguments and finds the claims are timely.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Kovner, Filed On: September 30, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv5508, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Negligence
J. Fleming grants the city's motion to dismiss, ruling the property owners' constitutional claims are time-barred. While the owners' harm may have continued throughout the duration of the construction project, they were not prevented from bringing their takings and nuisance claims immediately after the project was started.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Fleming, Filed On: September 29, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv2014, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Civil Procedure, Government, Property
[Consolidated.] J. Copenhaver, following an 18-day bench trial from July 6 through Aug. 3, 2022, finds the chemical and polymer producer violated the Clean Water Act by discharging unpermitted stormwater across adjacent industrial property owned by the management company and into the Davis Creek watershed via shallow ditches and culverts at its technical center in South Charleston.
Court: USDC Southern District of West Virginia, Judge: Copenhaver, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 2:18cv1230, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Property, Tort
[Consolidated.] J. Coogler grants the county defendants and federal defendants dismissal of the homeowners' property damage claims they say stems from a poorly placed storm drainage system. The homeowners claim that the placement of the storm drain contributed to the slope failure that damaged their homes and that the damage results in a "taking" of their property by the county defendants. However, these allegations do not show that the county defendants engaged in any conduct that would legally constitute a "taking." The court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the claims against the federal defendants.
Court: USDC Northern District of Alabama , Judge: Coogler, Filed On: September 26, 2023, Case #: 7:23cv314, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Government, Property, Tort
J. O'Connor grants, in part, the government's action seeking to enjoin individuals from constructing or maintaining certain structures on an easement near a lake allotted for flooding. The individuals' sheds, patios, porches, carports and electrical utilities are all considered structures prohibited under the terms of the easement at issue.
Court: USDC Northern District of Texas , Judge: O'Connor, Filed On: September 26, 2023, Case #: 4:21cv1257, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Property, Injunction