151 results for 'filedAt:"2024-04-04"'.
J. Mackey finds that the lower court improperly denied a father's motion to vacate a default order issued when he failed to appear at an in-person settlement conference on a petition to eliminate his overnight parenting time because evidence indicated car trouble kept the father from attending the hearing, which did not prejudice mother, since she already was on notice that he would oppose modifying his visitation. Reversed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Mackey, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: CV-23-0419, Categories: Civil Procedure, Family Law
J. Markey finds that a trust executed by a husband during divorce proceedings in which he disinherited his wife was rendered void upon his death because the trust held marital assets that would have otherwise been equitably divided in divorce proceedings had the husband survived until entry of judgment. Affirmed in part.
Court: Michigan Court of Appeals, Judge: Markey, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 362112, Categories: Trusts, Wills / Probate
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J. Desmond affirms a mother and father’s parental rights to their twin daughters but vacates an order denying the twins’ and their older brother’s motions for sibling visitation. The mother and father engaged in substance abuse and domestic violence and then lied about doing so, but while the older brother exhibited troubling behaviors, he wasn’t shown to have put the twins at risk. Affirmed in part.
Court: Massachusetts Court Of Appeals, Judge: Desmond, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 23-P-294, Categories: Family Law, Guardianship, Assault
J. Mendoza vacates a sentence which was imposed at a previous resentencing and remands for resentencing. Defendant’s failure to challenge specific aspects of her initial sentence on a prior appeal does not waive her right to challenge comparable aspects of a newly imposed sentence. Defendant has twice been sentenced by the district court and twice appealed those sentences, stemming from her involvement in a money-laundering scheme. Vacated.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Mendoza, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 22-50240, Categories: Fraud, Sentencing, Money Laundering
J. Bordallo dismisses a former doctor’s claims against two attorneys who represented a North Carolina hospital that suspended his medical license suspension. The court does not have jurisdiction over the claims, in one part because the attorneys are not government representatives. The former doctor does not show there is diversity jurisdiction either, all parties reside in Guam and the former doctor does not prove he actually lives in Florida as he claims.
Court: USDC Guam, Judge: Bordallo, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv17, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Civil Rights, Health Care, Jurisdiction
J. Vitter grants summary judgment to a transportation company involved in moving large steel containers by truck, rail and ship, finding a truck driver has failed to present proof the company played a role in loading a container that caused the operator’s truck to tip over, resulting in his injuries.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vitter, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv797, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Evidence, Discovery
J. McCullough finds the lower court improperly reversed a defendant’s conviction for use of a firearm in the commission of a felon. The defendant fired a shotgun at an open window, badly wounding his girlfriend. He was indicted for several felonies; the most serious of those was aggravated malicious wounding, carrying the possibility of a life sentence. The defense strategy at trial was to contest only one issue: whether the defendant fired the gun with malice instead of accidentally or recklessly. The defendant pleaded not guilty to the other crimes but didn’t contest them when the evidence came in. The “approbate and reprobate” doctrine bars the defendant’s attempt to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence on the charge of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Ends of justice may help a convicted defendant to overcome a conviction where his lawyer failed to object or raised an issue too late, but it doesn’t cover intentional, strategic choices like this one. Reversed.
Court: Virginia Supreme Court, Judge: McCullough , Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 230343 , Categories: Evidence, Firearms, Sentencing
J. Mann finds the lower court improperly refused to submit a jury instruction supporting the hospital's theory of the case. A test conducted at an emergency room showed a patient's blood sodium level to be low. Still, the doctor missed the abnormality and sent the patient home with instructions to see her family doctor and a gastroenterologist for abdominal pain. Two weeks later, the patient collapsed and suffered a head wound. The patient successfully sued the hospital and doctor for failure to diagnose her with low blood sodium levels. The defense offered superseding-cause instructions and also one telling the jurors that if the injuries could have resulted from multiple possible causes, at least one of which wasn’t the doctor’s fault, and they couldn’t ascertain which one was the cause, they had to return a defense verdict. The offered instruction was a correct statement of the law and was supported by more than a scintilla of evidence. Reversed.
Court: Virginia Supreme Court, Judge: Mann, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 230199 , Categories: Jury, Due Process, Medical Malpractice
J. Overstreet finds that the appeals court improperly found that the state municipal code constitutional preempts the city's home rule authority to administratively adjudicate violations of its ordinances. Therefore, state law is not an appropriate basis to reverse the city hearing officer's decision finding the drivers liable for violating the city's ordinances prohibiting overweight and/or overlength vehicles on non-designated roads. This decision overturns the First District's opinion in Catom Trucking v. City of Chicago. Reversed.
Court: Illinois Supreme Court, Judge: Overstreet, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 129263, Categories: Administrative Law, Constitution, Municipal Law
J. Renwick finds that the lower court improperly granted the accounting firm's motion to dismiss accounting malpractice claims stemming from a minority owner's alleged "looting" of a family business, to the tune of $12 million in fraudulent loans. The business adequately claims that information obtained by the accounting firm from the minority owner while preparing the business's tax returns should have put it on notice about the impropriety of the owner's loans to himself, such that it had a duty to inform the majority owners of the questionable payments. Reversed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Renwick, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 01864, Categories: Accounting Malpractice
J. Bahr finds that the district court improperly dismissed a complaint after the district court granted summary judgment in favor of a plumbing company. An individual hired the plumbing company to perform a plumbing rough-in in a house built in the 1920s. The individual later discovered leaks and water damage. A genuine dispute of material fact exists as to the source and cause of the leak, therefore the district court erred in granting summary judgment. Reversed.
Court: North Dakota Supreme Court, Judge: Bahr , Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 2024ND53, Categories: Water, Contract
Per curiam, the appellate division finds that the lower court properly denied the defendant media company's motion to dismiss the plaintiff's claim that it is entitled to share in the $35 million fee paid to the media company for the relinquishment of certain air rights. Nothing in the parties' 2004 letter agreement excludes rights that are subsequently relinquished or transactions requiring the company's consent. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 01870, Categories: Business Practices, Contract
J. McEvers finds that the district court properly granted a partial motion for an order to show cause and to enforce a divorce judgment. The husband failed to adequately brief these issues with adequate citation to the record and legal authority. Affirmed.
Court: North Dakota Supreme Court, Judge: McEvers, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 2024ND58, Categories: Family Law
Per curiam, the North Dakota Supreme Court finds that the district court properly denied an application for post-conviction relief. Defendant claimed that his counsel was ineffective and in turn, his plea was not voluntary or intelligently made because counsel failed to explain the offense he was pleading guilty to could be used to enhance future criminal penalties. Defendant failed to establish his attorney’s conduct fell below an objective standard of reasonableness. Affirmed.
Court: North Dakota Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 2024ND67, Categories: Habeas, Ineffective Assistance
J. Tufte remands a matter in a divorce proceeding for clarification of the district court’s findings regarding equitable distribution of the marital estate. However, the matter is affirmed in all other respects. Affirmed in part.
Court: North Dakota Supreme Court, Judge: Tufte , Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 2024ND65, Categories: Family Law
J. Fox finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of sexual assault. Defendant claims that the lower court improperly allowed evidence into the record that came from audio recordings of phone calls defendant made while in custody. Defendant claims they should not have been admitted because the recordings were mostly in Portuguese, but defendant did not object to the use of the recordings during trial and there is no structural reason why their use would call for a reversal of his convictions. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Fox, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: S-23-0160, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender
J. Gordon McCloud finds that the lower court improperly found that breath alcohol tests performed in Kitsap County and done on Dräger Alcotest 9510 machines violated local state statutes and could not be used for evidence. The lower court is correct that under Washington law, a state toxicologist must approve the methods and math behind test result calculations and the Dräger Alcotest machines do not calculate the math correctly under the statue. However, the machines do not need to do the math alone, as the state is still allowed to do the math according to the law, and there is nothing under the law that states the breath machines have to do that math. As long as the calculations were done correctly by the state, results from the breath tests can still be used as evidence. Reversed.
Court: Washington Supreme Court, Judge: Gordon McCloud , Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 101171-7, Categories: Evidence, Dui
J. Benton finds a lower court properly denied a defendant's motion for a new trial. The defendant, who was charged on one count of attempted enticement of a minor, argued that he is entitled to relief for prosecutorial misconduct. However, the government sufficiently showed in court that the prosecutor's jury instructions did not violate his credibility for untrue facts. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Benton, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 23-2203, Categories: Evidence, Fair Trial, Child Victims
J. McCalla determines how the funds should be paid in this interpleader case arising from an alleged arson fire and alleged theft at the House of Blues recording studio. One of the individual defendants, who leased a studio and certain equipment from the owner, should receive $2,066,217 of the Business Personal Property award, as his lease "did not terminate with the fire."
Court: USDC Western District of Tennessee , Judge: McCalla, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 2:20cv2834, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Property, Damages
J. Tow finds the trial court improperly convicted defendant for trying to patronize a prostituted child and properly convicted him for soliciting for child prostitution, sexual exploitation of a child and attempted inducement of child prostitution. Defendant argues the attempted patronizing a prostituted child charge carries a harsher sentence and is the same charge as attempted inducement of child prostitution in a violation of his equal protection rights. The court agrees, so the charge is vacated and remanded back to the trial court for mittimus amendment. The rest of the charges remain. Affirmed in part. Vacated in part.
Court: Colorado Court Of Appeals, Judge: Tow, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 2024COA32, Categories: Constitution, Sex Offender, Prostitution
J. Forbes finds the trial court properly terminated the mother and father’s parental rights and granted permanent custody of the child to family services in the best interest of the children. The mother and father completed the case plan services but demonstrated that they did not benefit from the services as they continued their relationship and two more domestic violence incidents happened within a month. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Forbes, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1283, Categories: Family Law, Guardianship
J. Poochigian finds that a driver is entitled to a new administrative hearing to reconsider a DUI license suspension. The driver's due process rights were violated under this court's decision in California DUI Lawyers Association. The presiding public hearing officer impermissibly acted as both an adjudicator and as an advocate. His attempt to undermine the driver's expert during questioning and his decision's mischaracterization of the expert's testimony demonstrated advocacy for the Department of Motor Vehicles. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Poochigian, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: F085992, Categories: Administrative Law, Licensing, Due Process