J. Gruber finds the circuit court properly found for a brother, whose survivorship agreement with his mother transferred her interest in the property at issue to him upon her death. The other brothers challenged the mother's will, with the circuit court ruling it was the product of undue influence, setting it aside and imposing a constructive trust on the property in favor of the estate. The court then granted summary judgment, concluding relitigation was barred by the doctrines of law of the case and res judicata. The brother's cross-appeal for sanctions on the basis this appeal is frivolous is denied. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gruber , Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: CV-22-188, Categories: Sanctions, Trusts, Wills / Probate
J. Wood upholds defendant's guilty plea conviction for domestic battery and terroristic threatening. Defendant's suspended imposition of sentence was revoked for his failure to pay fines, costs and fees, and for his repeated rape of a minor child, which impregnated her. He was then sentenced to 22 years in prison. Witness and victim testimony, as well as DNA testing, support the conviction for rape. Defendant was originally sentenced to 120 months’ suspended imposition of sentence for the terroristic-threatening offense, which exceeded the six-year maximum sentence allowed for a Class D felony. This matter is remanded to correct the sentencing orders. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wood , Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: CR-23-496, Categories: Sex Offender, Threats, Battery
J. Dennis, in this interlocutory discovery appeal, finds the district court properly affirmed the magistrate's ruling the non-party genetic testing services failed to establish privilege. An owner of a testing facility was indicted for fraud and offering kickbacks related to services for Medicare beneficiaries. A protocol order challenged by the non-parties, which required a filter team to review their documents material to the indictee owner's defense, is not the basis for the magistrate's decision. The non-parties are required to sustain assertions of privilege under standards of federal common law. The magistrate correctly found the non-parties’ privilege logs “do not provide a description for the documents...to explain why each should be protected.” Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Dennis, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 22-30316, Categories: Dna, Fraud, Discovery
J. King finds in favor of the city against the protester's complaint that several of the city's unnamed officers used unreasonable force against her during a Seattle protest against George Floyd's murder on the night of June 7, 2020. The protester's First Amendment claim fails because he was not protesting or filming for journalistic purposes, he violated dispersal orders, and he does not produce any evidence that the police retaliated against him or the crowed for protected activities.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: King, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv1343, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, First Amendment, Police Misconduct
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J. Boomgaarden finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of felony stalking. Defendant claims there was not enough evidence on the record to support conviction, but entered into the record were numerous texts, repetitive communications and phone calls that contained a "malicious nature." Any rational jury could find these amounted to a specific intent to harass the victim. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Boomgaarden, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: S-23-0236, Categories: Harassment
J. Cooper partially grants the television network's motion to dismiss its former Capitol Hill producer's suit alleging that he was fired for opposing false reporting of voter fraud and inaccurate coverage of the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The producer has not plausibly alleged that he was discriminated against because of his political affiliation, since a D.C. law barring such discrimination narrowly defines "political affiliation" as membership in or endorsement of a political party. He also has not alleged that he was terminated as a reprisal for political activity, nor cited an established policy that the network violated by firing him. While he purports that the network's stated reason for firing him, failing to show up to work when he called in sick, was pretextual, he has plausibly stated a claim of retaliation under the Sick Leave Act because of that stated reason for termination.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Cooper, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv3401, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court finds that the landlord's successor in interest is entitled to collect damages for unpaid rent from Saks, which guaranteed it would pay rent on a department store retail space if the tenant did not pay. Saks waived the right to present affirmative defenses to liability in the guaranty it signed. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 23-1489, Categories: Landlord Tenant, Contract
J. Morrison denies the medical provider's motion for summary judgment, ruling undisputed facts show it prevented the claim recovery company from accessing its billing systems following a dispute about the parties' contract, which is sufficient for the breach of contract claim to proceed.
Court: USDC Southern District of Ohio, Judge: Morrison, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv1501, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Evidence, Health Care, Contract
J. Sykes finds that the lower court properly found for the insurer, ruling that its policy with a dialysis provider contains a bacteria exclusion that precludes coverage of a $2 million judgment against the provider stemming from a patient's sepsis diagnosis after suffering repeated infections resulting from his dialysis treatment. The bacteria exclusion plainly applies, and the insurer was not required to conduct any further investigation into the man's claims before denying coverage. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 22-1983, Categories: Insurance, Indemnification, Contract
J. Sales finds a lower court improperly dismissed the Secretary of State for the Home Department's order to deport a native of Belarus. The native of Belarus argued that he is entitled to remain in the U.K. in order to shed his limbo status. However, the Home Department sufficiently showed in court that he was convicted for carrying a false identity document, which landed him in prison for 10 months. Affirmed.
Court: Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Judge: Sales, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 2024UKSC13, Categories: Civil Rights, Fraud, Immigration
J. McDonough grants the sheriff's department defendants' summary judgment motion in this lawsuit brought by a former probation officer asserting claims of malicious prosecution and false arrest, in connection with her alleged arrest on charges of "official misconduct." The charges were dismissed against the former probation officer, but she fails to show that certain incident reports were false or that the defendants "intentionally or recklessly falsified the reports."
Court: USDC Eastern District of Tennessee , Judge: McDonough, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 4:22cv44, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Malicious Prosecution
J. McDonough grants the state defendant's motion for summary judgment in this disability discrimination lawsuit brought by a former employee asserting claims under the Rehabilitation Act for failure to engage in the interactive process and failure to provide a reasonable accommodation. The termination letter "cited job abandonment as the cause," and the record shows that the employee failed to provide the employer with a credible return-to-work date, after she allegedly suffered an injury that caused her to miss work for an extended period. The court concludes that she does not establish "a prima facie case of failure to accommodate."
Court: USDC Eastern District of Tennessee , Judge: McDonough, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv88, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Employment Discrimination
J. Trauger partially grants the pharmacy defendants' dismissal motion in this lawsuit seeking injunctive relief against a former employee who allegedly went to work for a direct competitor. The dismissal motion is granted as to two of the plaintiff companies, as the complaint "fails to state a claim on behalf of these entities for which relief may be granted." The court additionally finds that the remaining plaintiffs are entitled to a preliminary injunction, based on the relevant factors.
Court: USDC Middle District of Tennessee , Judge: Trauger, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv1217, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Interference With Contract, Contract
Per curiam, the appellate division finds that that lower court properly denied the man's petition to be deemed a member of the NYC Employees' Retirement System based on his work for 54 days in 1997 as a provisional assistant engineer. The man never applied for membership in the pension system, and cannot not seek retroactive membership. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 02198, Categories: Pensions, Labor / Unions
J. Osteen denies a retired businessman’s motion for preliminary injunction against the U.S. Department of Agriculture to prevent it from enforcing the Horse Protection Act against him. The department claims the businessman violated the Act when he entered his own horse into a Virginia horse show when the horse was sored, or exposed to harmful chemicals in order to make the horse produce a more desirable gait. The businessman denies that he sored the horse and contests the process by which he was accused. Because one of the department’s judicial officers, and not its secretary, filed the complaint against the businessman, he incorrectly believes this delegitimizes the process and demands a jury trial. He is not likely to succeed on the merits and his motion is therefore denied.
Court: USDC Middle District of North Carolina, Judge: Osteen, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 1:24cv175, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Agriculture, Constitution, Injunction
J. Hixson finds the circuit court properly terminated the parents' rights to their children based on sufficient evidence. The department was granted a petition for emergency custody and dependency-neglect after the mother tested positive for multiple drugs when giving birth. It then found each parent to be in partial and minimal compliance with the original case plan for reunification. Though certain evidence shows the parents were bonded with the children, the bond is not sufficient to prevent termination. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hixson , Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: CV-23-785, Categories: Evidence, Family Law, Guardianship
J. Mooney finds the trial court properly granted an industrial property seller's motion for directed verdict in a case involving an active underground storage tank. The buyer “had actual knowledge of the existence and location of the UST prior to the purchase.” Affirmed.
Court: Oregon Court of Appeals, Judge: Mooney, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: A178469, Categories: Property
J. Mooney rejects petitioner’s appeal of his overall post-prison supervision term. “Petitioner presents no authority that would allow us to address a proportionality challenge in this context.” Affirmed.
Court: Oregon Court of Appeals, Judge: Mooney, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: A180327, Categories: Sentencing
J. Sannes preserves claims for failure to intervene against two Syracuse police officers stemming from the alleged used of excessive force during the arrest of two local residents, finding material disputes remain as to whether either officer had the opportunity to intervene during the incident. The court however enters judgment in favor of one of the officers on failure to intervene and excessive force claims for actions that took place while transporting the litigants in an ambulance to a local hospital following the arrest, finding he was not involved in any use of force during that time.
Court: USDC Northern District of New York, Judge: Sannes, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 5:19cv995, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Energy, Tort, Police Misconduct
J. Merchant dismisses a Middle Eastern employee’s retaliation claims against a Brooklyn health care provider, finding that filing complaint she made against her supervisor, for forcing her to work near an employee who tested positive for Covid-19, is not protected activity for purposes of a retaliation claim. The court however preserves her discrimination claims, finding she provides enough detail to allege she faced differential treatment because of her national origin.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Merchant, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv3313, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Covid-19, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation