273 results for 'court:"USDC New Jersey"'.
J. Bumb stays class claims contending a payment processing company's electronic deposit product for cafeteria food failed to explain fees on deposits. Plaintiffs' discovery requests duplicated requests made in a similar action, and the facts are nearly identical to the other complaint. Meanwhile, the forum selection clause in the terms of service does not negate that the other case was filed first.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Bumb , Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: 1:20cv14929, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Civil Procedure, Fraud, Class Action
J. Hillman transfers false adverting claims to Utah concerning promises that the SeroVital supplement would decrease body fat, heighten sex drive, improve mood, and otherwise make users feel significantly younger. While many non-party witnesses reside in New Jersey, most are located in Utah, where the company houses its "nerve center" and manufactures the supplement.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Hillman , Filed On: September 18, 2023, Case #: 1:19cv20155, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Venue, False Advertising
J. Kirsch grants a nursing home sanctions in claims seeking a determination of whether the family of a now-deceased resident owes funds for the cost of care and residence. The decedent's son, a licensed attorney, has tried to obfuscate or delay resolution by failing to comply with discovery concerning funds held in the accounts.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Kirsch , Filed On: September 15, 2023, Case #: 3:18cv16020, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Sanctions
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[Redacted.] J. Day allows a company to amend claims contending its natural quartz surface products do not infringe a competitor's patented technology. The company is attempting to "inject a significant swath of new issues" at the last minute of litigation without justifying its failure to do so at an earlier date, but the competitor has not contended that allowing the amendments would cause prejudice.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Day , Filed On: September 12, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv10092, NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Patent
J. Skahill allows plaintiff to amend class claims contending defendants fraudulently removed funds from escrow accounts to pay illegal fees. The estate did not disregard the previous scheduling order, and no undue delay occurred in adding a subclass of plaintiffs or amending the complaint. Meanwhile, defendants may challenge the sufficiency of the class representative at a later point in the litigation, and additional discovery would not be unduly burdensome.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Skahill , Filed On: September 8, 2023, Case #: 1:20cv12130, NOS: Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) - Other Suits, Categories: Fraud, Discovery, Class Action
J. McNulty finds for a medical center that fired a registered nurse who failed to report for 12 weeks after she collided with a revolving glass door at work. Physicians concluded the nurse would be able to work without restrictions, and she was warned she was on an unauthorized leave of absence. Meanwhile, evidence did not indicate disciplinary writeups had been based on invalid or false information, or that she would have returned to her position after she decided to end leave.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: McNulty , Filed On: September 7, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv5510, NOS: Family and Medical Leave Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Employment Discrimination
J. Kugler transfers claims contending a now-deceased priest sexually abused, groomed, and raped plaintiff while he had been a minor in the 1960s. The archdiocese is based in Pennsylvania and had not availed itself of New Jersey law, and religious services performed for the family at its summer home had not been provided for the parish at large.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Kugler , Filed On: September 7, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv20556, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Negligence, Jurisdiction
J. McNulty allows plaintiff to continue certain claims contending three law enforcement officers assaulted him outside his home without identifying themselves, and that city police harassed his family after they spoke out about the assault. Some claims were not properly brought against the city, and evidence does not indicate the city's purported failure to train or discipline officers led to the incident. However, many facts of the case remain in the city's control, and thus Monell liability claims may proceed.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: McNulty , Filed On: September 5, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv6427, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights
J. Vasquez partially grants the former executive's motion to dismiss several of the packaging distributor's claims against him in its suit alleging that he misappropriated confidential information around the time of his departure from the company. The company's breach of fiduciary duty and duty of loyalty claims survive insofar as they allege that the executive breached those duties by sending himself information. A claim under the New Jersey Computer Related Offenses Act is dismissed since the company has not sufficiently pled that it was "damaged in business or property" by the alleged misappropriation of information, and a conversion claim is dismissed since the company has not alleged that the president took physical documents or that he deprived the company of the use of its confidential information. Claims under the Defend Trade Secrets Act and the New Jersey Trade Secrets Act survive.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Vasquez, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv4967, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Trade Secrets, Conversion, Contract
J. Skahill partially grants the electrical subcontractor's motion to file an amended complaint in its case against the solar project contractor alleging that it has not been paid for its subcontracted work. The addition of fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims against the contractor would not be futile, nor would breach-of-contract and breach of good faith and fair dealing claims against another subcontractor, but non-contractual claims against the other subcontractor would be futile.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Skahill, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv1275, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Fraud, Contract
J. Quraishi denies without prejudice the employer's motion to compel arbitration for claims brought by one of its former employees in a suit stemming from a data breach, finding that such questions cannot be resolved without considering the arbitration agreement at issue, which is evidence extraneous to the current pleadings. The parties are ordered to conduct expedited discovery on that issue and the employer may file a renewed motion to compel arbitration. Claims brought by a non-signatory to the arbitration agreement are stayed until resolution of this issue, and the employer's motion to dismiss is otherwise denied.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Quraishi, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv6739, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Arbitration, Privacy, Class Action
J. Shipp grants the employer's motion for summary judgment in the employee's suit alleging age discrimination. The employee has failed to provide evidence that he was qualified for two of the positions the employer declined to promote him to, and so has failed to state a prima facie age-discrimination case as to those positions. He has stated such a case for a third position, but has not shown that the company's decision to select what it considered a more qualified individual for that position was pretextual.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Shipp, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 3:19cv19599, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Employment Discrimination
J. Williams grants the employee's motion to remand his case against the employer to the Superior Court of New Jersey in Burlington County. The employer has failed to demonstrate that the employee had no reasonable basis to bring a claim against a workers' compensation physician alleging that he conspired with the employer to obstruct his workers' compensation claim, and so the physician was not fraudulently joined to this case. This court therefore does not have subject matter jurisdiction over this action, since the physician is, like the employee, a citizen of New Jersey.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Williams, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv7340, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Jurisdiction, Workers' Compensation
J. Castner grants the mutual fund managers' motion to dismiss the investors' complaint seeking a judgment that the managers' enforcement of their "frequent trading policy," under which they barred the investors from trading, breached their contracts with the investors and constituted conversion, among other civil violations. The investors have failed to state claims for any of the ten counts they list, since the managers' alleged actions appear to comport with the policy, the investors have not alleged facts supporting an inference that the managers acted in bad faith or with malice, and they have not alleged that they were deprived of property in which they had an interest, nor that the managers made misrepresentations or altered records.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Castner, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv3723, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Fraud, Securities, Contract
J. Bumb grants the city and its officials' motion to dismiss the farmer's federal claims against them, which allege a conspiracy to harm him and his farming business led by the city's fire marshal and his family. The majority of the farmer's allegations are time-barred, since the alleged conduct giving rise to the suit largely took place in and around 2018, well before the July 2020 cutoff for claims brought under the Civil Rights Act and the New Jersey Civil Rights Act. He has also failed to state a plausible selective enforcement claim, since he has not established that his neighbors were similarly situated under the city's plumbing code, and his substantive and procedural due process claims similarly fail. The failure of these claims leads the court to decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over a RICO claim.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Bumb, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv4384, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Civil Rights, Municipal Law, Property
J. Bumb denies the boat owner's summary judgment motion in his suit seeking to limit his liability for a fire which destroyed and sank his yacht and a neighboring yacht while also damaging the dock they were housed at. The boat owner's motion to exclude the neighboring boat's owner's expert witness fails, since the expert has complied closely enough with the methodology for fire and explosion investigations prescribed by the National Fire Protection Association to be reliable, and the boat owner's arguments against the admissibility of his investigation and opinions largely go to weight rather than admissibility. Rebuttal expert testimony and cross-examination, rather than summary judgment, are therefore better avenues to challenge the expert testimony.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Bumb, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 1:20cv6674, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Maritime, Experts
J. Kugler grants the insurer's motion to confirm an arbitration award but denies its motion to dismiss the insured's complaint, which alleges that the insurer systematically undervalued its insureds' vehicles using condition adjustments without actually investigating the conditions of vehicles it considered comparable to the insureds' vehicles. The insured has standing to bring her claims, having pled a sufficient injury-in-fact, and the confirmation of the appraisal award does not preclude the insured from stating a plausible breach-of-contract claim, which she has.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Kugler, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv6228, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Class Action, Contract
J. Castner partially grants the employer and its vice president's motion for summary judgment in the employee's suit against them alleging race discrimination, in which the employer has brought a number of counterclaims related to the employee's acceptance of bonuses meant to incentivize him to move to Boston and subsequent failure to move to Boston. Both of the employee's race-discrimination claims are dismissed since the employer has shown that its stated reason for termination of the employee, dishonesty, was nondiscriminatory and not pretextual, and the employee's arguments that the vice president harbored racial bias toward him are not sufficient to show that his termination resulted from that alleged racial animus, if it existed. The employer and vice president are also granted summary judgment on one of their two breach-of-contract counterclaims, since they have established that the employee's offer letters constitute express contracts and the employee's arguments that the doctrine of unclean hands bars recovery fails along with his race-discrimination claims. Equitable estoppel also does not apply. Summary judgment is not appropriate for a second breach-of-contract claim, since factual disputes remain as to whether a second bonus was claimed improperly. Summary judgment is similarly denied for counterclaims of unjust enrichment and breach of good faith and fair dealing.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Castner, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv4336, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Employment Discrimination, Contract
J. Quraishi partially grants the Bankers' Association's motion for attorney's fees in its successful suit seeking to overturn a state law which banned banks from making political contributions. The Association is a "prevailing party," having altered the parties' relationship in its favor in a "judicially sanctioned" manner. Its attorneys' hourly rates are reasonable, but certain hours billed are excessive and duplicative, and deductions are made accordingly. The Association's success, however, was "less than complete" since one of its counts was dismissed and it did not successfully obtain freedom for individual banks to make contributions under the law. The lodestar amount is therefore reduced. In total, the Attorney General is ordered to pay $1,217,634.65 in fees and $102,674.47 in costs.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Quraishi, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 3:18cv15725, NOS: Constitutionality of State Statutes - Other Suits, Categories: Constitution, Attorney Fees, First Amendment
J. Bumb dismisses the prisoner's claims against the prison officials in their official capacities and his individual-capacity claims against prison policymakers, finding that he has not adequately alleged a pattern of excessive force by corrections officers. His individual-capacity conspiracy claim claim against corrections officers who allegedly called him by racial slurs while badly beating him survive, since he has adequately pled a conspiracy to beat him in violation of his civil rights.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Bumb, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv1859, NOS: Civil Rights - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Prisoners' Rights
J. Hammer grants the government's motion to intervene and for a stay in this civil action, which alleges the creation of a Ponzi scheme by the founders of a real estate investment company, until the resolution of a parallel criminal case. The government's motion is timely, it has demonstrated a sufficient interest in the action since the issues in the criminal case substantially overlap with the issues in this one, and the government has demonstrated that continued discovery in this case could threaten its interests in the criminal case. Limiting a stay to the two defendants both cases have in common would also raise "difficult Fifth Amendment concerns" for the unindicted civil defendants, and a stay would not prejudice the civil plaintiffs while avoiding prejudice to the civil defendants. The public interest also favors a stay.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Hammer, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv53, NOS: Securities/Commodities/Exchange - Other Suits, Categories: Fraud, Government
J. Wigenton partially grants the deaf man's motion for summary judgment in his suit alleging that the city did not provide ASL interpreters when he sought to contest a parking ticket, and suspended his driver's license without first allowing him to meaningfully participate in a hearing. The city's municipal court's failure to provide an ASL interpreter was a clear failure to comply with the directives of the Americans with Disabilities Act, both before and after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. No reasonable juror could find that the city made reasonable efforts to accommodate the deaf man's disability, nor that its policy of providing interpreters to those who have already requested them on one day of each month was a reasonable accommodation. Requiring that the city provide ASL interpreters is also not unduly burdensome, nor did the Covid-19 pandemic excuse the conduct alleged, which largely occurred on or before March 4, 2020. The deaf man does not, however, have standing to pursue a permanent injunction since he has not shown that he faces a threat of future harm from these policies.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Wigenton, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv1755, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities - Other - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Ada / Rehabilitation Act
J. Castner grants the employer's motion for summary judgment and dismisses the employee's age and disability discrimination claims, along with his claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The employee's estate has not established that the employee had an ongoing disability, and taking medical leave for back issues was insufficient to establish a perceived disability discrimination claim. While the estate asserts a prima facie case for age discrimination, the employer has articulated a non-discriminatory reason for his termination and the estate has not sufficiently alleged that this reason was pretextual. Termination is also not sufficiently "extreme or outrageous" conduct to support a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Castner, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv1070, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Emotional Distress, Employment Discrimination
J. Vazquez partially grants the city and its police officers' motion to dismiss the civilian's suit alleging that he was unconstitutionally racially profiled. The civilian has failed to state a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress, and his failure-to-train and municipal liability claims are not sufficiently supported by allegations showing that city officers regularly engaged in racial profiling. He also has not sufficiently pleaded failure-to-investigate and gross negligence claims. Unlawful-search-and-seizure and conspiracy claims survive dismissal.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Vazquez, Filed On: August 29, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv2792, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Police Misconduct