280 results for 'court:"USDC Minnesota"'.
J. Magnuson dismisses the employee's complaint alleging that she was harassed and ultimately terminated because of her age, race and disability and because she took medical leave. The employee's claims are untimely, and she has not adequately stated them, in part because she has failed to allege her age and has not exhausted her administrative remedies.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Magnuson, Filed On: February 28, 2024, Case #: 0:23cv2296, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Employment Discrimination
J. Wright denies the hotel owner's motion for prejudgment attachment of the $2.4 million down payment it made for an embattled construction project. The parties' agreement stated that the payment was non-refundable, and there is evidence that it was spent on the project. Additionally, the owner has not sufficiently demonstrated that the circumstances create a risk to collectibility of any judgment, nor that the harm suffered by the hotel owner if the payment is not returned would be greater than the harm suffered by the contractor if it s.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Wright, Filed On: February 27, 2024, Case #: 0:23cv2649, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Fraud, Contract
J. Schiltz partially grants the medical technology companies' motion to dismiss claims brought by the personal representative of the estate of an inventor who helped develop products for the companies under contract. Claims against three of the companies are dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction, since the representative has neither established that all of the companies are alter-egos of each other nor that the three dismissed companies have adequate contacts with Minnesota to exercise jurisdiction. Claims against the other two companies survive.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Schiltz, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 0:21cv2572, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Jurisdiction, Contract
J. Docherty partially grants the law firm's motion to compel discovery in its suit against the litigation finance company alleging consumer protection violations, fraud and abuse of process. The finance company must comply with the firm's discovery request, but is not sanctioned for prior failures to do so. J. Docherty, as a magistrate judge, also cannot grant the firm's request to enjoin the allegedly abusive arbitration.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Docherty, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 0:23cv1271, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Discovery, Contract
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J. Tunheim partially grants the university's motion for summary judgment that a Patent Cooperation Treaty application is not prior art which undermines the validity of the university's patents for cellular technology, and denies the various phone service providers and phone manufacturers' motions for summary judgment on the university's patent-infringement claims. The providers and manufacturers may rely on the application for prior art arguments, but the associated patent is not prior art. Issues of material fact remain as to the providers and manufacturers' non-infringement arguments, and they have not met the high bar to prove inequitable conduct required to support their allegations that the patents are unenforceable.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tunheim, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 0:14cv4672, NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: Patent
J. Tunheim affirms a magistrate judge's order denying the patent defendants' motions to strike portions of one expert's report and the entirety of another's supplemental report. The magistrate judge did not err in only addressing the challenge to the first expert's opinions on preclusion grounds, since that was the only argument raised. As to the second expert, the magistrate judge appropriately weighed the relevant factors.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tunheim, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 0:14cv4672, NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: Patent, Experts
J. Tunheim grants the brokerage account servicer's motion to dismiss the bank's suit related to a third party mutual client's transfer of assets which had been pledged as security for the bank's loan. The bank voluntarily released its claims to the client's brokerage account between the time the fund transfer was authorized and the time the client defaulted on the loan. The bank therefore does not have standing to pursue its claims, having broken the causal chain between the brokerage account servicer's wrongdoing and its own harm.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tunheim, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 0:22cv1104, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Jurisdiction, Contract
J. Tunheim grants the contest entrant's motion to confirm an arbitration award in a dispute centered on a promised reward for proof that data the pillow magnate used to dispute the 2020 election did not "reflect information related to the November 2020 election." An arbitration panel's did not exceed its authority in interpreting the parties' contract by determining that the contestant's finding that the data did not contain any packet capture data, which would be expected given the way the magnate claimed to have obtained the data, was sufficient to fulfill the contest's terms.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tunheim, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 0:23cv1433, NOS: Arbitration - Other Suits, Categories: Arbitration, Elections, Contract
J. Tostrud partially grants the employees' motion for judicial notice of a number of documents in their proposed class action alleging breaches of fiduciary duty and prohibited transactions in relation to their employer's 401(k) plan, and denies the employer and fiduciaries' motion to dismiss the suit. The employees' claims that the fiduciaries' use of particular preferred stock dividends rather than common stock to satisfy the employer's matching-contribution requirements were prohibited under ERISA are sufficient to plausibly allege claims under ERISA and for breach of fiduciary duty, and they have established that they have suffered an economic injury traceable to the allegedly unlawful conduct for standing purposes. As to the documents, the Plan is embraced by the pleadings and the remaining exhibits would not change the court's analysis.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tostrud, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 0:22cv2354, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Erisa, Securities, Fiduciary Duty
J. Tostrud makes rulings on six of the insurer's motions in limine in its declaratory-judgment suit related to child sexual abuse by its insured's priest. A single motion in limine brought by the priest's alleged victims seeking to exclude evidence of two prior alleged acts by the priest from the 1960s is denied, since while they did not cause physical injury they are nevertheless relevant to showing whether future sexual abuse was substantially probable.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tostrud, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 0:20cv2261, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Evidence, Insurance, Experts
J. Magnsuon denies the activists' motion for a preliminary injunction and dismisses their case asserting that the use of data from drivers' license databases to conduct state-sponsored voter-registration drives violates the federal Drivers Protection and Privacy Act. Sovereign immunity bars the activists' claims and there are no allegations in the complaint suggesting that the defendant state officials bear more than official responsibility for enforcing a legitimately enacted state policy. This suit, therefore, is substantially a suit against the state rather than the officials.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Magnuson, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 0:23cv3159, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Elections, Immunity, Privacy
J. Tostrud grants the Virginia auto parts seller's motion to dismiss its Minnesota competitor's suit alleging that it used confidential information to poach the Minnesota company's employees and business. The Minnesota company has not provided evidence of sufficient contacts with Minnesota by the Virginia company, since all the conduct alleged took place outside the state. It also has not suggested alternate judicial districts to which this case could be transferred, despite objecting to the Virginia company's requested venue in the Western District of Virginia.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tostrud, Filed On: February 12, 2024, Case #: 0:23cv2990, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Jurisdiction, Venue, Contract
J. Docherty denies the meat purchasers' joint motions for substitution of plaintiff in their case against the meat producers alleging a price-fixing scheme. Assigning the purchasers' claims to a company created by the entity financing the purchasers' litigation, apparently in an effort to bypass the purchasers while allowing the financier to pursue their claims as it sees fit, is "different from any other case to which the Court's attention has been directed by the parties," and the doctrine of antitrust standing weighs against the substitution.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Docherty, Filed On: February 9, 2024, Case #: 0:18cv1776, NOS: Antitrust - Other Suits, Categories: Antitrust, Jurisdiction
J. Doty grants the police officers' and city's motion for remittur in the mother's wrongful death suit on behalf of her son, but denies their motions for a new trial, to alter or amend judgment while agreeing to stay execution of the judgment pending appeal. The jury's $10,000,000 compensatory damages award is excessive and unsupported by the facts presented at trial. The court did not err, however, in excluding testimony and evidence about the presence of drugs in the son's system and apartment, about his ongoing criminal cases, about a witness's shoplifting convictions and about an officer's subjective opinions and fears and a psychopharmacologist's testimony about the effects a certain drug had on the son. Statements made in closing arguments were also not sufficiently improper to require a new trial, nor are jury instructions on punitive damages or the jury's decision to find one, but not another, officer liable for the death. The stay is unopposed and warranted.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Doty, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: 0:20cv707, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Jury, Damages
J. Wright partially grants the optical medical supplier's motion for post-judgment relief in a successful action against it under the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute. The motion is granted regarding a claim related to one doctor's trip to New York, since there is insufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict regarding this trip, and insofar as the penalties imposed under the False Claims Act violate the Excessive Fines Clause. The motion is otherwise denied, and judgment is reduced to the amount of $216,675,248.55.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Wright, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: 0:13cv3003, NOS: False Claims Act - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Damages, False Claims
J. Tostrud dismisses the insured's suit against the insurer alleging that it breached her insurance policy and discriminated against her based on disabilities in its handling of her claim for water damage. The insured has not identified any facts which plausibly show a breach of her insurance contract, nor has she identified any legal authority on which to base a disability-discrimination claim. Her appeal of a denial of her motion for leave to amend is also affirmed, since her proposed amendment was not intended to identify these deficiencies. Her suit is dismissed without prejudice to allow her an opportunity to file an amended pleading and attempt to cure these issues.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tostrud, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: 0:23cv2646, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Insurance, Contract
J. Tunheim denies the immigration officials' motion to dismiss the Ethiopian refugee's suit seeking action on his seven-year-old petitions for derivative refugee status for his wife and sons. Approval of those petitions a month after the filing of this action did not render the refugee's claims moot, since while that approval made the Department of State, rather than the Department of Homeland Security, responsible for the refugee's case, the immigration officials retain jurisdiction over his claims until either his petition is denied or travel authorization is issued. The seven-year delay is therefore sufficient to state an unreasonable-delay claim.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tunheim, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 0:23cv902, NOS: Other Immigration Actions - Immigration, Categories: Administrative Law, Immigration
J. Tunheim partially grants the bank's motion to dismiss the consumer's suit alleging that it permitted unauthorized transfers out of her checking account by a third party. The consumer's negligence and conversion claims are precluded by the independent duty rule, which requires that such claims arise from something other than a contract between the parties. They are therefore dismissed. Claims for breach of contract, aiding and abetting tortious conduct and for treble damages, however, are plausibly alleged and survive this motion.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tunheim, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 0:23cv885, NOS: Banks and Banking - Other Suits, Categories: Banking / Lending, Contract
J. Tunheim partially grants the university and its employees' motion to dismiss the former employee's suit alleging a pattern of race, gender and age discrimination and harassment. The university's status as a religious institution and its mission statements and Declaration of Christian Community are not sufficient on their own for its employees' conduct to fall under the ministerial exception to employment-discrimination claims at this stage of litigation. The doctrine of laches is similarly insufficient to dismiss the former employee's case at this stage, since the facts as pleaded suggest that the employee's action was initiated within a reasonable timeline. Two voluntarily-waived claims are dismissed.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tunheim, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 0:23cv2199, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Employment Discrimination, First Amendment
J. Tunheim dismisses a "repetitive" action centered on a dispute around probate proceedings, finding that the decedent's nephew's claims against the decedent's daughter, brother-in-law and estate planning attorney are variously barred by claim preclusion and the attorney's privity with the other parties. Claims against the state court are also barred by the court's sovereign immunity. The nephew, finally, is placed on this court's restricted filer list.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tunheim, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 0:23cv1181, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Civil Rights, Wills / Probate
J. Richard Nelson grants the police officers' motion for summary judgment in the prisoner's suit against them alleging that they violated his civil rights during his arrest for domestic assault and criminal property damage. The prisoner has yet to identify the specific officer who allegedly seized him from his room without consent, and such specificity is required to support his claims at this stage.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Richard Nelson, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 0:22cv187, NOS: Civil Rights - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Police Misconduct
J. Tunheim partially denies the insurers' motion for summary judgment and grants, sua sponte, summary judgment to the printer in the printer's suit seeking coverage for damages stemming from the failure of press pads installed in its rented printing facility. The printer did not have an obligation to preserve the insurers' subrogation rights since the insurers did not make any payments under their policies, and whether or not the insurers were relying on a promise from the printer, such reliance would not have been reasonable. The insurers' equitable estoppel defense is therefore dismissed.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tunheim, Filed On: February 6, 2024, Case #: 0:22cv1151, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Contract
J. Wright grants the insurer's motion to dismiss the school district's claims against it in a suit alleging that its insured, a construction company, allowed rainwater to accumulate near its construction site and damage a school gymnasium. The school has not established that an exception to the rain-damage exclusion in the insured's policy exists to warrant coverage of the damage to the gymnasium.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Wright, Filed On: February 6, 2024, Case #: 0:23cv2047, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Contract
J. Wright denies a motion for class certification in the nonprofit and the once-homeless individuals' suit against various government entities alleging that police sweeps of encampments of the homeless in Minneapolis parks have violated their civil rights. While the plaintiffs are no longer homeless, the transitory nature of homelessness qualifies them for an exception to typical standing requirements. They have not, however, successfully demonstrated that the proposed class is sufficiently numerous for class certification, nor identified predominantly common questions that would be more efficiently resolved in a class action. They have demonstrated that they would be adequate representatives of the proposed class, but not that their experience is typical of homeless people in Minneapolis. The need for tailored relief based on the circumstances of the various encampments would also prevent them from obtaining relief to the entire class through a single injunction.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Wright, Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: 0:20cv2189, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Housing, Class Action
J. Schiltz partially grants the law enforcement officers' motion for summary judgment in the Los Angeles Times journalists' suit alleging that they were unconstitutionally targeted by police while covering civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Claims stemming from an incident in which a tear gas canister struck one of the journalists' legs are dismissed, since the journalists have not produced evidence that any of the named defendants were responsible for the canister. A failure-to-intervene claim is voluntarily dismissed as to one of the officers, but survives as to the others. Supervisory-liability claims are also dismissed, but all other claims survive.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Schiltz, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 0:21cv1282, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, First Amendment, Police Misconduct
J. Tostrud grants the bus sellers' motion to compel arbitration of the buyer's claims, which stem from the sellers' alleged failure to disclose the sold bus's salvaged status. While the relationship between the sellers, or indeed whether there is any distinction between them, is unclear, they did not substantially invoke litigation machinery and therefore have not waived their right to compel arbitration under the parties' contract.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Tostrud, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 0:23cv748, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Warranty, Contract
J. Menendez partially grants the debtors' motion for attorney's fees in their Unfair Debt Collection Practices Act suit against the debt collectors. The debtors' claimed $450 hourly rate for their attorney is unreasonable given the relatively simple and minimal litigation involved in this matter, and the debt collectors' proposed $350 hourly rate for fees is adopted. His claimed hours are also more excessive than applied discounts can account for. Several fees are also not reasonable, and the debtors are awarded $12,239 in fees and costs rather than their claimed $29,139.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Menendez, Filed On: January 22, 2024, Case #: 0:23cv632, NOS: Consumer Credit - Other Suits, Categories: Debt Collection, Attorney Fees
J. Menendez grants the nursery and tree wholesaler's motions for summary judgment in the landscaper's suit against them alleging that they supplied trees infested by invasive moths, and denies the landscaper's motion for summary judgment. The landscaper has failed to provide sufficient evidence for its contention that the life stages of the spongy moth would have made it impossible for Canadian authorities to discover moths before their transport to the United States, and therefore has not established a factual dispute on that issue.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Menendez, Filed On: January 22, 2024, Case #: 0:22cv1291, NOS: Other Personal Property Damage - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Evidence, Contract
J. Wright grants the catheter-system patent claimant's motion to enforce a settlement in its suit against the medical device company. The company's uncontested response of "agreed" to a judge's email detailing the terms of the proposed settlement and a subsequent letter stating that the parties had agreed to settle this matter in principle are sufficient to confirm its agreement to the settlement terms and render the settlement enforceable.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Wright, Filed On: January 18, 2024, Case #: 0:17cv5096, NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: Patent, Settlements