91 results for 'judge:"Jones"'.
J. Jones denies the charter company’s motions for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction preventing the Nevada Transportation Authority from exercising jurisdiction over its operations. The charter company owns a bus line that operates an interstate charter service in multiple states, including Nevada. It says that the authority “declared war” after issuing multiple citations which culminated in a vehicle being impounded due to noncompliance. “In actuality, the NTA went about its business as a regulator.” It dealt with the company’s inability to follow regulations for two years before acting, giving every opportunity to comply.
Court: USDC Nevada, Judge: Jones, Filed On: August 17, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv219, NOS: Constitutionality of State Statutes - Other Suits, Categories: Transportation, Agency, Injunction
J. Jones finds the district court properly dismissed defendant’s claims of ineffective assistance on charges of child pornography distribution, claiming that his counsel provided him “patently erroneous advice” regarding his Louisiana plea agreement which stipulated that he would not be tried for other offenses. His attorney did not know about a second indictment for child abuse in Texas. The district court’s application of the procedural bar to the breach-of-plea agreement claim was improper and the Fifth Circuit remands this to determine whether defendant can overcome this bar, and, if so, whether the plea agreement was breached. Affirmed in part. Reversed in part and remanded.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Jones, Filed On: August 17, 2023, Case #: 18-30694, Categories: Plea, Due Process, Child Pornography
Want access to unlimited case records and advanced research tools? Create your free CasePortal account now. No credit card required to register.
Try CasePortal for Free
J. Jones finds the district court properly convicted and sentenced defendant for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute meth and felon in possession of a firearm. Though the offenses are related, and guidelines call for credit for time served, the guidelines are not obligatory. The sentences were treated as concurrent from the day of the second sentencing without accounting for 13 months of back time. Trial counsel argued for the application of guidelines governing sentences handed down while a defendant is currently serving and was not constitutionally obliged to do more. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Jones, Filed On: August 16, 2023, Case #: 20-10478, Categories: Drug Offender, Firearms, Sentencing
J. Jones grants the electric company’s petition for review of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s order on remand for its cost allocation scheme for electrical grid improvements in the American West. FERC’s orders violate the Federal Power Act as a matter of law and the agency inadequately explains its actions. The cost causation principle does not authorize FERC to force its regulated jurisdictional utilities to assume the costs of providing service to non-jurisdictional utilities. The cost causation principle, which says that if a non-jurisdictional utility opts out, if the threshold ratio is met, the benefits for jurisdictional utilities will remain “roughly commensurate” with the costs, does not test whether benefits exceed costs, but whether benefits to particular utilities are linked to costs “caused” by those utilities. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Jones, Filed On: August 2, 2023, Case #: 18-60575, Categories: Energy, Agency, Jurisdiction
J. Jones grants, in part, an employee's motion to compel in her race, sex and age discrimination action. The record indicates defense counsel found additional documents that have not yet been submitted.
Court: USDC Eastern District of North Carolina, Judge: Jones, Filed On: August 1, 2023, Case #: 5:21CV225, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Discovery, Employment Discrimination
J. Jones grants the district court’s motion to dismiss this suit brought by the wife seeking to improperly enjoin state court divorce proceedings that have been ongoing for four years. The suit was brought against the presiding state court judge seeking federal intervention and declaratory and injunctive relief under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and requests that the divorce be removed to federal court since the state court could not accommodate the wife by executing proceedings entirely on Zoom as requested by her non-attorney advocate. The complaint is frivolous, brought in bad faith and fails to state a claim. This court lacks also jurisdiction over claims under the argued abstention doctrines.
Court: USDC Nevada, Judge: Jones, Filed On: July 31, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv324, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Family Law, Judiciary
J. Jones finds the district court improperly granted the rapper NBA YoungBoy’s motion to suppress a video showing him, a felon, violating federal gun laws. The rapper had no constitutionally protected property interest or reasonable expectation of privacy in the footage on a memory card belonging to a videographer his company hired for promotional purposes. Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Jones, Filed On: July 14, 2023, Case #: 22-30435, Categories: Constitution, Evidence, Firearms
J. Jones finds that the trial court properly and improperly ruled in a case arising out of a county constable carrying out a writ of execution against a property owner. The trial court applied an incorrect understanding of tort law when it dismissed the tort claims made by the property owner alleging that the seizure of their property was unlawful. However, other claims brought against the constable were properly dismissed based on governmental immunity. Reversed in part.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Jones, Filed On: July 12, 2023, Case #: 03-22-00303-CV, Categories: Property, Tort, Immunity
J. Jones finds that the trial court improperly ruled in favor of the employee in his lawsuit challenging a decision made by the district to reassign him to a different position. The school district gave the employee ample notice of his reassignment and offered him due process in addressing his grievances. Furthermore, the education commissioner properly upheld the school district's decision. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Jones, Filed On: July 12, 2023, Case #: 03-22-00083-CV, Categories: Employment, Government, Due Process
J. Jones finds that the trial court properly ruled to terminate a mother's parental rights to her child. A history of the mother’s substance abuse issues and lack of ability to care for her child qualifies as sufficient evidence to support the termination of her rights. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Jones, Filed On: July 11, 2023, Case #: 03-23-00054-CV, Categories: Family Law
J. Jones finds that the trial court improperly ruled in favor of the manufacturer and the supplier in a negligence and product liability action brought by the widower following the decedent's death from mesothelioma. The widower claimed the decedent's mesothelioma diagnosis stemmed from exposure to asbestos on her father's clothes while he worked for the manufacturer and from her three-month employment with the supplier. The trial court incorrectly characterized the decedent's father as a mere bystander because there was evidence he was often exposed to asbestos and there was foreseeable risk to household members who encountered contaminated work clothes. The trial court also incorrectly excluded the widower's expert's opinions. However, the trial court correctly denied the manufacturer's motion to dismiss the widower's claims as barred by the exclusivity provision of the Workers' Compensation Act.
Court: Kentucky Court Of Appeals, Judge: Jones, Filed On: July 7, 2023, Case #: 2022-CA-0184, Categories: Negligence, Product Liability
J. Jones finds the district court, after defendant exhausted all state remedies, properly rejected his federal habeas petition seeking investigative services to support his claims of ineffective assistance for counsel's failure to investigate alleged accomplices in the robbery and murder of a pastor for which defendant received the death penalty. Granted a certificate of appealability by the Fifth Circuit, defendant cannot demonstrate a reasonable probability that at least one juror would have recommended a life sentence had counsel investigated the purported accomplices. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Jones , Filed On: June 30, 2023, Case #: 17-70012, Categories: Evidence, Ineffective Assistance, Murder
J. Jones denies summary judgment to the machine industry company for the family member's claim that the company's ship exposed the decedent to asbestos while he was in the Navy, which led to his mesothelioma. The family member presents the testimony of Commander Andrew Ott, a Navy veteran and maritime expert with experience working as an engineering plant Ship Superintendent and Project Manager at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, stating that the company's products were on the ship with the decedent, which also corroborates the decedent's pre-death testimony.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Jones, Filed On: June 30, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv302, NOS: Asbestos Personal Injury Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Product Liability, Experts, Asbestos
J. Jones finds the trial court properly convicted defendant, a medical doctor, for tax evasion. All evidence on the record supports conviction. Defendant offers no reason to believe that the prosecutor's questions as to taxes for years that were not before the court prejudiced the jury. Given the weight of evidence presented, there is no significant possibility that these questions—which defendant did not answer, and the court instructed the jury to disregard—had a substantial impact on the verdict. The trial court assessed any prejudicial effect and the Fifth Circuit defers. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Jones , Filed On: June 29, 2023, Case #: 22-60350, Categories: Evidence, Tax, Jury Instructions
J. Jones finds the trial court improperly ruled against the individual in his Texas Public Information Act lawsuit against the University of Texas. The individual sufficiently establishes that the documents he requested are public information, thereby waiving the university’s claim to governmental immunity. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Jones, Filed On: June 22, 2023, Case #: 03-22-00196-CV, Categories: Government, Public Record, Immunity
J. Jones grants, in part, Butterball's motion for a protective order in a labor action. The worker's phase 1 broad discovery requests will be limited to only information regarding himself and the one opt-in plaintiff.
Court: USDC Eastern District of North Carolina, Judge: Jones, Filed On: June 21, 2023, Case #: 5:20CV585, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Civil Procedure, Discovery, Labor
J. Jones finds the trial court properly ruled in favor of the former wife regarding the custody provisions of the divorce decree. Given the testimony provided by the children, it can be concluded that modifying the provisions to name the mother as the children's sole managing conservator is in the best interests of the children. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Jones, Filed On: June 8, 2023, Case #: 03-22-00086-CV, Categories: Family Law
[Consolidated.] J. Jones finds the bankruptcy and district courts improperly approved two post-date class action settlements regarding the energy corporation’s failure to honor oil-and-gas lease market enhancement clauses prohibiting deduction of postproduction costs to transform extracted gas into a marketable form from lessors’ royalties. The post-confirmation bankruptcy jurisdiction does not extend to the agreements. The voluntary arrangements were already discharged by the bankruptcy. Affirmed and remanded with instructions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Jones, Filed On: June 8, 2023, Case #: 21-20323, Categories: Bankruptcy, Energy, Class Action
J. Jones finds the trial court improperly ruled against the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in a suit affecting the parental rights of a mother and father. On appeal, the department argues that the trial court erred by not terminating the parent's rights in the best interest of their child. The evidence supports the findings that it would be in the best interest of the child to terminate the parental rights of their parents. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Jones, Filed On: June 7, 2023, Case #: 03-22-00705-CV, Categories: Evidence, Family Law, Guardianship
J. Jones finds the trial court improperly ruled against the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in a suit affecting the parental rights of a mother and father. On appeal, the department argues that the trial court erred by not terminating the parent's rights in the best interest of their children. The evidence supports the finding that it would be in the best interest of the children to terminate the parental rights of their parents. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Jones, Filed On: June 7, 2023, Case #: 03-22-00704-CV, Categories: Family Law, Guardianship
J. Jones denies the construction company's motion to dismiss the lawsuit seeking damages for breach of contract, negligence, and fraud in relation to the renovation and restoration of the consumer's home. The company allegedly caused the disposal of lead paint residue and dust in the consumer's home. The consumer sufficiently pleaded their claims.
Court: USDC Western District of Virginia, Judge: Jones, Filed On: June 6, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv10, NOS: Property Damage Product Liability - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Fraud, Negligence, Contract
J. Jones finds the trial court improperly ruled against an energy company in a scarcity pricing dispute with the Texas Public Utility Commission. The company argues that the commission lacks the authority to regulate pricing in the manner it did. Under requirements set by the Texas legislature, the commission exceeded its statutory authority in its order. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Jones, Filed On: June 1, 2023, Case #: 03-21-00356-CV, Categories: Energy, Government
J. Jones finds the trial court properly ruled to terminate a mother’s parental rights to her child. A reasonable factfinder could have reached a similar conclusion that termination of parental rights was in the best interest of the mother’s child. Therefore, the evidence is sufficient. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Jones, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: 03-22-00780-CV, Categories: Family Law