120 results for 'cat:"Equal Protection"'.
J. Lake finds that a student, who was sexually assaulted by another student she was dating, is entitled to amend her demands for compensation for lost wages and diminished earning capacity from the school district, whose officials suggested she drop of school after the assault. She did. The student’s expert witness claims that the student would have been a doctor or a lawyer if not for the assault which is speculative, however the student has agreed to select a new expert witness for the amendments to the complaint. Because the student has agreed to new discovery, the leave to amend will not prejudice the school district as the district argues. The student’s leave to amend is granted.
Court: USDC Southern District of Texas, Judge: Lake, Filed On: May 16, 2024, Case #: 4:18cv2850, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Damages, equal Protection
J. DeGravelles denies a request by Louisiana’s chief elections officer to dismiss claims the state’s paperwork requirement places a severe burden on thousands of formerly incarcerated felons seeking to vote. Voting rights advocates allege the state already has access to all the information that it demands the voter to produce, including records of the individual’s order of imprisonment. Further, there is no uniform procedure for what documents are required under the Louisiana law, nor is there any directive as to where such documents may be found. Instead, formerly incarcerated “individuals must guess” as to how to obtain proof of voter eligibility. The court finds “subjecting thousands to a cat-and-mouse document chase is a severe burden on one’s right to vote.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: May 13, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv331, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, equal Protection
Per curiam, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts affirms the denial of relief to protesters and advocates’ challenge to the constitutionality of a 200-foot buffer area around a courthouse where protest is not allowed to occur, as a way of protecting the right to a fair trial and prevent jurors, witnesses and others coming to or leaving the courthouse from being obstructed. Protesters may still protest, just not within the buffer zone.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: SJC-13589, Categories: Judiciary, equal Protection, First Amendment
J. Ellison finds that FBI employees who were required to take regular Covid-19 tests, as part of an accommodation policy for those that requested a religious exemption to vaccine mandates, cannot sue Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray in their individual and official capacities for violations of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The court lacks subject matter jurisdiction because sovereign immunity prevents the plaintiffs’ claim under the Act, and the defendants’ location in Washington D.C. and their roles enforcing U.S. policy prevent the court from having personal jurisdiction. The suit is dismissed.
Court: USDC Southern District of Texas, Judge: Ellison, Filed On: April 29, 2024, Case #: 4:23cv1817, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: equal Protection, Jurisdiction, Employment Discrimination
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J. Jones finds the trial court properly granted the jury full access to the calls between the victim of sexual assault and the assailant. A criminal court may give a jury unrestricted access to recorded telephone calls between the victim and their assailant in which the assailant admits to criminal activity. The calls are not victim testimony, but are more similar to police interviews of a criminal defendant that are always available in full to a jury. Meanwhile, defendant's conviction and sentence for human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude did not violate his equal protection rights. Although he was convicted of lesser offenses at the same time, the conduct in his human trafficking charge was separate and more involved than that required for the lesser felonies. Affirmed.
Court: Colorado Court Of Appeals, Judge: Jones, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 2024COA41, Categories: Jury, Sex Offender, equal Protection
J. Robinson denies a civilian's motion to stay proceedings pending the outcome of a decision from a Supreme Court concerning claims of viewpoint-discrimination against a county commission. The county commissioners sufficiently showed in court that the civilian, who referred to them as "child abusing motherfuckers," is not entitled to relief based on qualified immunity.
Court: USDC Kansas, Judge: Robinson, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: 5:24cv4005, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, equal Protection
J. Kahn preserves a high school student’s equal protection claim against his school’s varsity baseball coach, who allegedly denied him a spot on the team on the basis that he is biracial. The litigant, in an attempt to establish an inference of discrimination, proffered a selection of white players who were selected for the team despite lower athletic scores, but the court is unable to conclude whether those players are sufficiently comparable and leaves that question to a jury. The court dismisses the district’s superintendent and athletics director from the case, finding they were not personally involved in the decision not to select him for the team.
Court: USDC Northern District of New York, Judge: Kahn, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv756, NOS: Education - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Education, equal Protection
J. Liman tosses a legal challenge against the U.S. Eastern District Court’s rule of automatically assigning related cases filed by self-represented litigants to the same judge. In this case the litigant, a father, filed several suits related to his state child custody hearings, each of which were assigned to the same judge, who promptly dismissed the cases for various reasons. The court rules the system does not violate pro se litigants’ equal protection or due process rights.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Liman, Filed On: April 12, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv4330, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Due Process, equal Protection
J. Brody finds that the district court properly rejected a challenge to recent legislation ending the acceptance of social security numbers and student identification cards at polls. While the challengers raised a constitutional issue sufficient for standing, the legislature has the authority to place qualifications and conditions on the right of suffrage and the new laws are reasonably related to preserving the integrity of the election process. The potential for additional burdens on some voters is not so great that the right of suffrage is annulled and the new laws' goal of creating uniformity does not violate equal protection rights. Affirmed.
Court: Idaho Supreme Court, Judge: Brody, Filed On: April 11, 2024, Case #: 51227, Categories: Elections, equal Protection
J. Dever dismisses with prejudice a former police chief’s motion to amend his complaint against a municipality and certain of its staff members, alleging they discriminated against him because he is Hispanic and blind in one eye. For instance, the town manager allegedly micromanaged the chief and made racist comments to him, such as “[you] should learn to dance the salsa.” The chief also cites not having been given a pay increase at the same time as others in similar positions, although he previously fought this and succeeded. He also claims constructive discharge based on his negative experiences, but the behavior of the manager and others does not rise to the level of discrimination under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.
Court: USDC Eastern District of North Carolina, Judge: Dever, Filed On: April 9, 2024, Case #: 5:23cv446, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: equal Protection, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Grasz finds a lower court properly dismissed four high school students' equal protection and due process claims against a school district. The high school students argued that they were wrongfully expelled from school for participating in a "joke" by joining a student's online petition calling for the return of slavery. The school's disciplinary action was rationally connected to its purpose of maintaining order and was not racially motivated. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Grasz, Filed On: April 2, 2024, Case #: 23-1119, Categories: Education, Due Process, equal Protection
J. Zamora holds that the compensation benefits sections for permanent total disability and permanent partial disability of the Workers’ Compensation Act violate the equal protection clause of the New Mexico Constitution. The employer asks why the term “secondary physical impairment” was coined by the appeals court. The New Mexico Supreme Court finds it inaccurate and that it should have been avoided while analyzing similarly situated workers equal protection claims. Workers with secondary mental impairments are similarly situated to workers with physical impairments, and the worker does meet her burden to show that they were treated differently. Affirmed.
Court: New Mexico Supreme Court, Judge: Zamora, Filed On: April 1, 2024, Case #: S-1-SC-39225, Categories: Constitution, equal Protection, Workers' Compensation
J. Robinson rules a civilian may pursue retaliation claims against a board of City commissioners. The civilian, a Republican candidate for County Commissioner, sufficiently showed in court that the board chilled his speech by interrupting him during public commentary.
Court: USDC Kansas, Judge: Robinson, Filed On: April 1, 2024, Case #: 5:23cv4107, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Elections, equal Protection
J. Thompson grants, in part, a college, its president, and its vice president’s renewed partial motion to dismiss and the chancellor of postsecondary education’s motion to dismiss this unlawful discrimination and retaliation dispute brought buy two former employees. The employees are both Hispanic and allege they were treated differently than their coworkers when denied promotions. The age discrimination declaratory relief against the president, vice president and chancellor in their official capacities are dismissed. The employees’ claim for monetary damages may proceed against the president and vice president in their individual capacities, as can the declaratory relief claim. The employees’ motion for order of substitution to add the interim president in her official capacity is denied as moot.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Thompson, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 3:14cv33, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: equal Protection, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Hurd dismisses claims for due process, age discrimination and equal protection against an Upstate New York municipality and its town board members alleging they unlawfully reduced and altered a retired officer’s medical insurance benefits and subsequently remands his remaining state law claims back to New York Supreme Court. Notably, his due process claim fails because he fails to allege that he has a cognizable property interest in his retiree health benefits.
Court: USDC Western District of New York, Judge: Hurd, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: 5:23cv1467, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Due Process, equal Protection, Employment Discrimination
J. Pallmeyer denies an insurance agency association’s motion for summary judgment, but grants the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s cross-motion for summary judgment, in this decade-old suit over whether insurers can be sued under the Fair Housing Act for making policy decisions based on risk that disparately impact people of color and other marginalized groups. A decade ago, the Housing Department decided insurers should face that legal liability, a decision insurers called “capricious” and the court found warranted further analysis. The Housing Department made the same decision last year, but this time it sufficiently backed up its conclusion to address the court’s concerns.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Pallmeyer, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: 1:13cv8564, NOS: Administrative Procedure Act/Review or Appeal of Agency Decision - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, Insurance, equal Protection
J. Hall dismisses a complaint against New York’s education department challenging its decision to revoke an impartial hearing officer’s certification after finding she had committed plagiarism and improperly advocated on behalf of a party in one of her cases. Her due process claim fails because she did not file a petition in state court appealing the decision as required, and her equal protection claim fails because she does not specify any comparators which would suggest she was singled out on the basis of her race.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Hall, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv2361, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Education, Due Process, equal Protection
J. Crabtree grants a City's motion to dismiss a former employee's equal protection claims. The employee, a municipal judge who underwent monthly infusions for an illness, failed to sufficiently show in court that she could assert a "class of one" claim in the public employment arena.
Court: USDC Kansas, Judge: Crabtree, Filed On: March 25, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv2043, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities - Other - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Employment, equal Protection
J. Kahn denies in part summary judgment to a New York County sheriff’s department and preserves claims alleging it discriminated against a disabled Black and Puerto Rican corrections officers when it arrested, charged and issued disciplinary charges against her after discovering she had brought her personal cellphone into the county prison, which the prison considers contraband. The court finds a jury could conclude that because a white, non-disabled cook who violated the same policy was not reprimanded to the same degree, a jury could find the prison acted with discriminatory intent. However, her claim for malicious prosecution was dismissed because the prison had reasonable cause to arrest and charge her.
Court: USDC Northern District of New York, Judge: Kahn, Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: 1:18cv941, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, equal Protection, Employment Discrimination
J. Huffaker denies a legal advocacy nonprofit’s motion for a preliminary injunction in this civil right lawsuit against the Alabama governor for considering race when appointing members to professional boards and commissions. The group, which files lawsuits opposing other race-based criteria in grants, scholarships and other programs, says this practice is discriminatory, demeaning, patronizing and unconstitutionally resulted in a white woman not receiving a seat on the Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board. The court finds the woman did suffer an injury and that the nonprofit has standing to sue for equal protection, but does not find that an injunction is necessary to prevent an irreparable injury.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Huffaker, Filed On: March 19, 2024, Case #: 2:24cv104, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Government, equal Protection
J. Cochran partially reverses the district court's denial of the customer's motions for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial on her claims against her local pharmacy and its head pharmacist, who refused to fill her prescription for emergency contraception. A refusal to dispense a valid prescription for emergency contraception is business discrimination under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, and the district court erred in instructing jurors that the customer needed to show a "material disadvantage" or "tangible change in conditions" to support a public-accommodations discrimination claim. The district court also erred in denying the motion for a new trial on the customer's claim against the pharmacy and aiding-and-abetting claims against the pharmacist for public-accommodations discrimination, but not in denying judgment as a matter of law or a new trial on the customer's business-discrimination claim against the pharmacy. Reversed in part.
Court: Minnesota Court Of Appeals, Judge: Cochran, Filed On: March 18, 2024, Case #: A23-0374, Categories: Civil Rights, equal Protection
J. Johnson partially reverses the district court's grant of summary judgment to the transgender weightlifter on her discrimination claims against the powerlifting competition sponsor, affirms its grant of summary judgment to the competition sponsor's purported Minnesota branch and reverses its orders for injunctive relief. Issues of material fact remain as to whether the competition sponsor excluded the weightlifter from its competitions because she was transgender, as well as whether it excluded her for a legitimate business purpose, namely its argument that having gone through male puberty, she would have an unfair competitive advantage due to increased bone density and muscle mass. No questions of material fact remain, however, as to the non-existence of the purported Minnesota branch of the sponsor. Reversed.
Court: Minnesota Court Of Appeals, Judge: Johnson, Filed On: March 18, 2024, Case #: A23-0373, Categories: Civil Rights, equal Protection