267 results for 'judge:"Smith "'.
J. Smith denies a mobile home park and its owner���s motion to exclude reports in their entirety with a proviso to exclude the portion of the investigative report in connection with one of the tenant���s references to the owner���s refusal to submit a polygraph examination. The investigative report pertains to the government���s claim the owner violated the Fair Housing Act by demanding sex from female tenants, harassing them, watching them through their windows and entering their homes without permission, among other things. All the parties may raise specific objections to the remainder of the report at trial.
Court: USDC Northern District of Alabama , Judge: Smith, Filed On: January 25, 2024, Case #: 5:18cv1055, NOS: Housing/Accommodations - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Evidence, Housing
J. Smith finds that the district court improperly entered judgment holding that class members' Fourth Amendment rights were not violated when the FBI ���inventoried��� 700 safe deposit boxes at US Private Vaults. On remand the court orders the FBI to sequester or destroy the records of its inventory search pertaining to the class members. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Smith, Filed On: January 23, 2024, Case #: 22-56050, Categories: Constitution
J. Stuart- Smith finds a lower court properly denied a citizen of Nigeria's motion to remain in the U.K. The Nigerian citizen argued that he is entitled to relief based on his marriage to a Swedish national who was granted indefinite leave to remain. However, the home department sufficiently showed in court that he has a conviction in the U.S. for conspiracy to distribute heroin. Affirmed.
Court: Her Majesty's Court of Appeal, Judge: Stuart- Smith, Filed On: January 23, 2024, Case #: CA-2022-2228, Categories: Immigration
J. Stuart- Smith finds a lower court properly dismissed a law firm's contract claims against a client. The law firm argued that it properly billed the client for estate administration services. However, the client presented sufficient evidence in court that the law firm failed to undergo assessment of fees before billing him. Affirmed.
Court: Her Majesty's Court of Appeal, Judge: Stuart- Smith, Filed On: January 18, 2024, Case #: CA-2023-440, Categories: Attorney Fees, Contract
[Consolidated.] J. Smith finds the lower court properly terminated the parents' parental rights and granted permanent custody of the child to family services. Although the parents attended the majority of visits with the child, the deplorable conditions at their home and the child's nonverbal status at the time he was initially removed was sufficient to support the court's decision that it was in the child's best interest to remain in foster care. Interactions between the family were also negative during some of the visits, while the parents' failure to potty-train the child by the time he was 5 years old and their refusal to remove dangerous objects from their home prevented them from providing a safe environment for the child. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: January 16, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-315, Categories: Evidence, Family Law
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J. Smith finds the district court properly granted the police officers' motion to dismiss a mother's excessive force claims arising from the death of her son, who was killed after leading officers on a high-speed chase, then exiting his vehicle with a gun in his hands. Though the officers fired 19 times, hitting the deceased party 16 times, the use of force was justified. Body cam shows the deceased party exiting his vehicle with a gun and pointing it at one of the officers. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Smith, Filed On: January 16, 2024, Case #: 22-11210, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Police Misconduct
J. Smith finds that the trial court properly granted declaratory judgment in favor of the city and county, which claimed that the closing of a store in a shopping center "extinguished the public purposes" for which they could expend public funds in the form of tax grants. The record supports the finding that the grant of public money was tied to the "continued operation" of the store. Also, the parties' contracts are unconstitutional since they lacked "adequate controls to protect taxpayers." Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 10-17-00316-CV, Categories: Constitution, Real Estate, Contract
J. Smith finds that the trial court properly barred expert testimony as net opinion in claims in which an electric utility contends a fire started under a boardwalk after sustaining damage during Hurricane Sandy. The utility did not owe a duty to inspect customer-owned equipment before re-energizing, as such would require redundant inspections after a locations have been deemed safe. Affirmed.
Court: New Jersey Appellate Division, Judge: Smith , Filed On: January 9, 2024, Case #: A-1797-21, Categories: Energy, Negligence
J. Smith finds the trial court's decision to impose consecutive sentences upon the revocation of defendant's community control sanction was not unreasonable or improper. The court not only made the required findings at defendant's initial sentencing, but also made them at the revocation hearing, in which he cited defendant's positive drug tests and admission of his failure to comply with the community control conditions as aggravating factors. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-81, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Sentencing
J. Smith finds the husband's due process rights were not violated by the trial court's denial of his motion to continue the hearing on a protective order. The hearing had already been delayed once and he failed to submit any interrogatories to the court by its deadline, which would have allowed for more discovery. Meanwhile, the trial court properly denied the husband's request for a polygraph test because the wife objected to the results of the test, which rendered them inadmissible under Ohio law. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4822, Categories: Family Law, Due Process
J. Smith finds that the trial court properly ruled against the inmate in his suit alleging he received inadequate medical care from the University of Texas Medical Branch. The inmate failed to show a waiver of sovereign immunity, so the plea to the jurisdiction was correctly granted. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: December 28, 2023, Case #: 10-23-00239-CV, Categories: Health Care, Tort, Immunity
J. Smith finds a lower court properly dismissed a class of patients' medical privacy claims against a health system. The class of patients argued that the health system provided their personal information on Google and Facebook, in order to obtain incentive payments and targeted ads. However, the health system presented sufficient evidence that the information uploaded in its portal was "depersonalized" metadata, and that the online patient portal is not a "basic governmental task," which triggers a remand to State court. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Smith, Filed On: December 28, 2023, Case #: 23-1107, Categories: Health Care, Privacy, Class Action
J. Smith withdraws the court's prior memorandum opinion and substitutes the current opinion, holding that the lower court properly denied the appellant's request for attorney fees in this case regarding a protective order. The appellant failed to provide evidence of the amount of the fees or the appellee's "ability to pay such fees." Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: December 27, 2023, Case #: 05-22-01133-CV, Categories: Restraining Order, Attorney Fees
J. Smith finds that the lower court properly denied the appellant's special appearance in this case seeking a protective order against him based on his alleged "harassment campaign" against the officers of an investment management company. The appellees sufficiently alleged facts to bring the nonresident appellant "within the provisions of the Texas long-arm statute." Also, the fiduciary shield doctrine does not protect the appellant, who is a New York resident, in this case. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: December 27, 2023, Case #: 05-23-00434-CV, Categories: Restraining Order, Jurisdiction
J. Smith finds the trial court properly imposed consecutive sentences after defendant pleaded guilty to charges that stemmed from child pornography found on his computer and phone. The seriousness of his conduct, which included the downloads of at least 20 separate images, support the sentences. Additionally, the fact that each image involved a separate victim allowed the court to deny defendant's motion to merge various counts of his indictment for sentencing purposes. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: December 26, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4823, Categories: Sentencing, Child Pornography
J. Smith finds the lower court properly found for a garbage truck driver and his employer in a wrongful death case. Evidence in the record proved the garbage truck operator played no part in the fatal accident, including that he obeyed traffic laws and was stopped for more than 16 seconds before the collision, while the decedent made no effort to brake or swerve. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: December 26, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4760, Categories: Evidence, Negligence, Wrongful Death
J. Smith finds that the trial court properly ruled to terminate a mother���s parental rights to her two children. An independent fact finder would conclude that the mother endangered her children through her continued use of methamphetamine, thus creating a dangerous environment. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: December 22, 2023, Case #: 03-23-00396-CV, Categories: Family Law
J. Smith finds the trial court properly ruled against a husband in a domestic violence case in which his wife was granted a protective order. The evidence shows that the husband engaged in physical and verbal abuse against the wife, which is factually supported by the evidence. Nothing in the record indicates flaws in that evidence that would lead to an unjust ruling against the husband. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: December 22, 2023, Case #: 03-21-00693-CV, Categories: Restraining Order
J. Smith compels certain testimony in a sprawling lawsuit stemming from the latest round of legislative redistricting in Texas, which the United States and private plaintiffs argue improperly diluted the votes of Latino voters in Texas. Texas lawmakers have asserted legislative privilege in this case in an effort to avoid turning over documents, and while this privilege is sometimes valid, lawmakers have in some cases "waived their privilege" by communicating with outside third parties.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Smith, Filed On: December 21, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv259, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Elections, Discovery, Privilege
[Consolidated.] J. Smith finds for the U.S. in this post-award bid protest concerning a contract to provide support services to FEMA because the U.S. performed a fair and reasonable evaluation of the bid proposals.
Court: Court of Federal Claims, Judge: Smith, Filed On: December 19, 2023, Case #: 23-1013, Categories: Contract
J. Smith finds that a district court erred in approving a revised class action settlement between the lead plaintiff and Tinder, a mobile dating application. The lead plaintiff is not an adequate representative of the putative class because she has a conflict of interest with other class members. She also has a strong interest in settling her claim because, unlike the 7,000 or more class members who may not be bound by arbitration, she has no chance of going to trial. The claims against Tinder stem from an alleged age-discriminatory pricing scheme. Vacated.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Smith , Filed On: December 5, 2023, Case #: 22-55345, Categories: Arbitration, Class Action