33 results for 'cat:"Government" AND cat:"Tort"'.
J. Young finds that the court of appeals improperly ruled against Texas State University in an injury case that was filed by an individual who was thrown from a golf cart being driven by a university employee. While the individual sued the driver and the university before the two-year statute of limitations expired under the Texas Tort Claims Act, she did not serve the university until three years after the limitations had expired. Both the action of filing a lawsuit and serving the parties involved is included in the two years allotted to plaintiffs. Because the individual failed to meet that standard, the claims against the university should be dismissed. Reversed.
Court: Texas Supreme Court, Judge: Young, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 22-0291, Categories: Civil Procedure, government, tort
J. Cartwright partially denies the government's motion to dismiss the government-contracted worker's complaint alleging that his excavator slid on the government's forest route, leading to his injuries. The government seeks to dismiss the worker's claims based on the discretionary function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act, but the worker's claim that the Forest Service allowed logging to begin over the stretch of road where the worker's accident happened despite the contractor pointing out the hazard of an eroded shoulder survives, because that depends on disputed facts that must be resolved at trial.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Cartwright, Filed On: April 2, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv5303, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: government, tort
J. Myers denies an airline traveler’s motion to set aside judgment after her federal tort claim was dismissed as her reason is not persuasive. Following her suit against some TSA officers for false imprisonment, which was dismissed, she appealed but the pleadings were deficient. She claims that as her mother was severely ill and the traveler herself was 18 years old at the time, she did not have the support she needed to further engage in litigation. However, this does not meet the criteria warranting setting aside judgment under federal rules of civil procedure.
Court: USDC Eastern District of North Carolina, Judge: Myers, Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: 5:21cv338, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, government, tort
J. Kobayashi partially denies dismissal on part of a claim against the government by military families regarding the military’s handling of the Red Hill fuel leak and subsequent water crisis. The government must face part of a negligence claim that accuses the government of not following protocols for flushing the fuel contamination from the families’ homes, as the government did not establish how following the protocols may have implicated other policy concerns. On the other hand, because the government did show how its failure to remediate constituted a discretionary decision under an exception under the Federal Torts Claims Act, that tort claim is dismissed with prejudice.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Kobayashi, Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv397, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: government, tort, Negligence
J. Douglas finds the district court properly dismissed most claims made by the black property owner against the postal service and two employees. Though the alleged conduct does not fall within tort claims act exceptions, and sovereign immunity does not bar tort claims, the owner fails to state a viable equal protection claim. No facts support her assertion the carriers continued to deliver to similarly situated white property owners while denying her delivery. Affirmed in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Douglas , Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 23-10179, Categories: Civil Rights, government, tort
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J. Armstead affirms the lower court's order granting the municipality summary judgment in the resident's suit claiming it is partially responsible for injuries she sustained from a fall when her foot was caught in wire wrapped around a pole owned by a church where the wire extended onto a defective portion of the adjacent sidewalk. The resident failed to demonstrate the city knew the wire was a hazard since there was never any prior reported problem in the 10 years since it was put there, and she had in the previous year walked along that portion of sidewalk without incident. Affirmed.
Court: West Virginia Supreme Court Of Appeals, Judge: Armstead, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: 22-625, Categories: government, tort, Negligence
J. Biery adopts a report and recommendations and dismisses, with prejudice, a medical malpractice suit brought against an Army hospital under the Federal Torts Claim Act because the pro se patient has failed to timely respond to court motions and did not properly serve the Army hospital despite an order from a judge explaining how to do so.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Biery, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: 5:23cv307, NOS: Personal Injury - Medical Malpractice - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: government, tort, Medical Malpractice
J. Cogburn grants the Postal Service’s motion to dismiss federal tort claims alleged by a driver after she claimed a postal employee crashed into her car. However, the driver did not correctly fill out a form required to sue the USPS, leaving out the amount of money she was claiming. Eventually, she filled it out correctly, but this was only after the two-year time limit to sue had already expired.
Court: USDC Western District of North Carolina, Judge: Cogburn, Filed On: February 29, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv657, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: government, tort, Vehicle
J. Soto finds a lower court did not err in granting El Paso County’s plea to the jurisdiction after it was sued by a citizen who accused the county sheriff’s office of ignoring reports that a stable was mistreating animals, including her own horse. The burden is on the citizen to show why immunity should be waived, which she “has not attempted to do.” Regardless, the Texas Tort Claims Act “does not waive immunity for intentional torts.” Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Soto, Filed On: February 28, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00192-CV, Categories: government, tort, Immunity
J. Dever grants partial summary judgment to the daughter of a deceased military colonel who qualifies as the colonel’s legal representative under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act. The federal government fails to sufficiently claim that there is a genuine triable issue about whether the daughter qualifies as a legal representative, and, thereby, has the right to sue under the Act.
Court: USDC Eastern District of North Carolina, Judge: Dever, Filed On: February 27, 2024, Case #: 7:23cv897, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Environment, government, tort
[Consolidated.] J. Bell grants the IRS’s motion to dismiss tort allegations brought by one of its employees and her husband, who claim another agent harassed the employee at work. The government correctly invokes sovereign immunity; further, the employee already filed a state case against the agent that was dismissed with prejudice, so this claim fails.
Court: USDC Western District of North Carolina, Judge: Bell, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 5:23cv149, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: government, tort, Immunity
J. Kobayashi partially dismisses a negligence claim regarding a jet fuel leak at the Navy’s Red Hill Facility that compromised military families’ drinking water. The Navy testing water samples for carbons, but not specifically jet fuels due to on-island laboratory capabilities, was discretionary and a legitimate policy consideration, granting the military sovereign immunity from a portion of the families’ negligence claims. A remediation claim requires more briefing before a ruling.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Kobayashi, Filed On: February 14, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv397, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: government, tort, Negligence
J. Rubin grants Baltimore’s motion to remand this case back to the circuit court of Baltimore City. The city claims that tobacco company Philip Morris’s cigarette filters are made of a non-biodegradable substance, cellulose acetate, that is toxic to plants and animals, and whose littered filters pollute the water and soil. The tobacco company opposes the motion to remand and had this case moved from circuit court stating the district court has supplemental jurisdiction and federal question over the claims. The company failed to demonstrate that the court has federal question jurisdiction, which is necessary for removal to federal court.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Rubin, Filed On: January 22, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv303, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: government, tort, Jurisdiction
J. Kobayashi partially dismisses failure-to-warn claims in a suit brought by military families who became sick after drinking water contaminated by jet fuel leaking from the Navy’s Red Hill storage facility. The lack of a water advisory after the fact constituted misrepresentation under the Federal Tort Claims Act, barring those claims. The failure-to-warn element of the families’ negligence claim survives since, under Hawaii law, a property owner has a duty to warn of any potential hazards to their lessees.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Kobayashi, Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv397, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: government, tort, Water
J. Alley finds a lower court erred in not dismissing a case on grounds of governmental immunity after the city of Fredericksburg was sued by a pedestrian who was injured by a falling tree branch. The city would only be liable if it had “actual knowledge of the dangerous condition” of the tree, which it did not in this case because the tree appeared healthy, was regularly maintained and had not been subject of any complaints. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: January 9, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00236-CV, Categories: government, tort, Premises Liability
J. Kuehn finds the district court improperly found the transportation company's claims were only for property loss and statutorily capped at $25,000. The company submitted a Tort Claims Act claim to the state Risk Management Department after its truck was damaged, catching fire after a head-on collision with a vehicle owned by the state college and driven by a college employee. The office settled for the statutory amount of $25,000 and the company claimed consequential damages of $68,636. The relevant statute allows for separate claims for property loss and any other loss caused by the state, and the consequential losses are subject to the $125,000 cap. Reversed.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Kuehn , Filed On: December 19, 2023, Case #: 121252, Categories: government, tort, Vehicle
J. Kauger finds the trial court improperly dismissed this suit arising from injuries sustained by citizens in a collision with an Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper. A letter asking the highway patrol to preserve evidence was determined by the Office of Management & Enterprise Services to be statutory notice of a governmental tort claim, triggering Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act limits. The trial court then determined that time limit had expired when the suit was filed. The letter did not include language and information complying with the Act as constituting notice. Reversed and remanded.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Kauger, Filed On: October 17, 2023, Case #: 121422, Categories: government, tort, Vehicle
[Consolidated.] J. Coogler grants the county defendants and federal defendants dismissal of the homeowners' property damage claims they say stems from a poorly placed storm drainage system. The homeowners claim that the placement of the storm drain contributed to the slope failure that damaged their homes and that the damage results in a "taking" of their property by the county defendants. However, these allegations do not show that the county defendants engaged in any conduct that would legally constitute a "taking." The court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the claims against the federal defendants.
Court: USDC Northern District of Alabama , Judge: Coogler, Filed On: September 26, 2023, Case #: 7:23cv314, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: government, Property, tort
J. Jones dismisses the parent's and child's abuse of process claim from their complaint alleging that the government abused the legal processes to initiate a prosecution of the parent in order to designate the child as an unaccompanied minor when they crossed the U.S. border near El Paso, Texas. The parent alleges that the government had the ulterior motive of designating the child as an unaccompanied minor when charging the parent with illegal entry, but this is an argument against the government's reasons for the charge rather than an argument against the process itself.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Jones, Filed On: September 25, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv1193, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: government, Immigration, tort
J. Zilly dismisses the bicyclist's claims against King County alleging that a gap in the road owned by the county caused his bicycle to crash, resulting in his injuries. The bicyclist and the county reached a settlement agreement, though the bicyclist may reinstate his claims against the county within 14 days of this order in the event that the parties are unable to perfect their settlement.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Zilly, Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv916, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: government, Settlements, tort
J. Hurson grants the United States its motion to dismiss tort allegations after an NSA employee failed to identify herself at a checkpoint, causing a different employee driving behind her to crash. An NSA police officer activated a barricade after the female employee failed to identify herself, causing the rear of the other employee’s car to hit a jersey barrier. He and his wife were injured but recovered related expenses through workers’ compensation, preventing them from suing the government or the female employee, who is considered to have had immunity.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Hurson, Filed On: August 22, 2023, Case #: 8:20cv2318, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: government, tort, Vehicle
[Consolidated.] J. White finds the lower court improperly dismissed the homeowners' claims against the federal government for its response to the 2016 Great Smoky Mountains forest fire. Although their notification forms to the Department of the Interior did not specifically mention "failure to act" as their primary cause of action, the presentment requirement of the Federal Tort Claims Act requires only written notification of the incident and a claim for money damages, both of which were included on the form. Reversed.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: White, Filed On: August 17, 2023, Case #: 22-5492, Categories: Civil Procedure, government, tort
J. Hsu finds in favor of the government against the parents' wrongful death lawsuit alleging that their son drove on a motorbike into the area surrounding the Whittier Narrows Dam and died because he crashed into a chain that the government's employee strung across a broken gate. The parents do not prove that the government and its employees exhibited a "conscious failure to act to avoid peril," because the employee painted the chain yellow, placed caution tape by the broken gate, and attempted to fix the gate immediately but could not do so at the time.
Court: USDC Central District of California, Judge: Hsu, Filed On: August 9, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv9377, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: government, tort, Wrongful Death
J. Burns finds that a marine cleaning service may pursue negligence claims against the Department of the Navy for allegedly failing to prevent a fire from destroying its equipment. The government argues that the claims in the lawsuit sound in contract and, therefore, the marine cleaning service was required to first exhaust its administrative remedies pursuant to the Contract Disputes Act. However, the cleaning service's claims "are entirely based in admiralty tort, thus falling within the purview of this court's jurisdiction."
Court: USDC Southern District of California, Judge: Burns, Filed On: July 26, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv741, NOS: Other Personal Property Damage - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Admiralty, government, tort
J. Hollander grants the United States its motion to dismiss a suit alleging violations of the Federal Tort Claims Act arising from an incident in which two civilians employed by the Army crashed into each other. Although neither of the civilians claimed injury, one of them brought a suit for $200,000 in damages. Federal civilian employees "may not file actions against the United States under the FTCA for work-related injuries." The U.S. Department of Labor found that the accident, which happened on the Army's property, was work-related. Therefore, the federal court is "stripped of its jurisdiction."
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Hollander, Filed On: July 26, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv1547, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: government, tort, Jurisdiction
J. Simms grants Washington Metro Transit’s motion to dismiss claims of negligence and liability brought by a rider, whom another wheelchair-using passenger assaulted while both rode the bus. The passenger allegedly assaulted the rider by hitting and choking her with her purse. When she reported this to the driver, he pulled over and got off the bus, leaving the rider to be further assaulted by the passenger. However, the transit authority is protected by qualified immunity as a government service and therefore owes no duty of care to the rider.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Simms, Filed On: July 10, 2023, Case #: 8:21cv2373, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: government, tort, Assault