103 results for 'court:"USDC Middle District of Alabama"'.
J. Huffaker grants, in part, the medical device maker’s motion to dismiss a product liability suit filed by a patient who claims that her Smart Port, implanted for the purpose of infusion therapy was defective. She alleges claims under the Alabama Extended Manufacturer’s Liability Doctrine as well as claims for negligence, breach of warranty and wantonness concerning the device’s catheter, which fractured near her heart. The patient’s claims have an articulated reasonable set of facts that could make the medical device maker’s liable for failure to warn. Therefore, the AEMLD, negligence and wantonness claims may proceed, and the patient concedes her warranty claim.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Huffaker, Filed On: April 23, 2024, Case #: 2:24cv112, NOS: Personal Injury - Health Care/Pharmaceutical Personal Injury/Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Tort, Negligence, Product Liability
J. Huffaker grants summary judgement in favor of an Auburn University associate dean for academic affairs and director of administration business and finance in this employment dispute brought by a former scholarship advisor after being investigated for falsifying an administrative assistant’s timecard. The scholarship advisor alleges she was put on administrative leave with pay and then terminated without an adequate pre-termination hearing. She argues her procedural due process rights were violated for not receiving the adequate pre-termination hearing. The court concluded the evidence shows that she received sufficient notice and had an opportunity to respond.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Huffaker, Filed On: April 19, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv504, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Due Process
J. Huffaker grants summary judgement in favor of an Auburn University associate dean for academic affairs in this employment dispute brought by a former coordinator of student services after watching a sensitive video on a colleague’s computer. The coordinator was put on paid administrative leave and later terminated without a pre-termination hearing, but her termination was upheld when she challenged it through the university’s grievance process. She argues her procedural due process rights were violated because she did not have an adequate pre-termination hearing. The court concluded the evidence shows that she received sufficient notice and had an opportunity to respond, and that her post-termination process was procedurally adequate.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Huffaker, Filed On: April 19, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv176, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Due Process
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J. Bryan grants, in part, the city, its administrator and director of the leisure services department motion to dismiss in this employment dispute brought by a former recreation program coordinator. The coordinator,a Black woman, alleges race discrimination, a hostile work environment, retaliation in the workplace. The coordinator fails to plead sufficient facts to state a plausible claim for administrative remedies, retaliation, causation, due process, protected speech and defamation in her complaint. Therefore, the administrator and director are dismissed from this case on all claims. The claim for race discrimination will proceed against the city.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Bryan, Filed On: March 30, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv153, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
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. Marks partially grants the city and three officers’ motion to dismiss this civil rights lawsuit brought by a Georgia resident, who is a Black woman. The citizen was traveling with her child in the backseat when an officer pulled her over for allegedly not using a turn signal; she was arrested and charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. She alleges race discrimination, malicious prosecution and negligence claims. The city’s motion to dismiss is dismissed with prejudice on all claims. The officers are not entitled to qualified immunity or state agent immunity. The officer who made the stop’s motion to dismiss is denied, while the other officers are dismissed from the race discrimination, negligence and wantonness claims.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Marks, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv418, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Negligence, Police Misconduct
J. Marks grants, in part, the mayor’s motion to dismiss this employment dispute brought by a former employee of the police department who is a white woman. The employee alleges she was forced to retire due to ongoing “discrimination, harassment, retaliation and bullying,” and she brings numerous claims, including equal protection, conspiracy, invasion of privacy and defamation. The court finds the intercorporate conspiracy doctrine prohibits the conspiracy claim. All other claims proceed.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Marks, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv458, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Thompson denies a chemical company’s partial motion to dismiss in this employment dispute brought by a former employee. The employee alleges sex-based discharge discrimination claim after she reported being sexually harassed and sexually assaulted by a male supervisor. The company alleges that the employee fails to exhaust her claim because the EEOC charge did not point to similarly situated comparators who were fired. None of those particulars are required at the charging stage and the evidence so far suffices to defeat the motion.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Thompson, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv531, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Huffaker grants, in part, a debt collector’s motion for summary judgment on the consumer’s unfair credit reporting and debt collection claims. The debt collector failed to reinvestigate the accuracy of the consumer’s name, addresses and social security number. Therefore, the discrepancies show that a dispute does exist as to the procedures being adapted to avoid discoverable errors making summary judgment inappropriate on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act claim. The consumer’s motion for partial summary judgment is denied because she fails to show that a reasonable investigation would have revealed the inaccurate reporting.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Huffaker, Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv299, NOS: Consumer Credit - Other Suits, Categories: Debt Collection, Consumer Law
J. Marks grants a consumer’s motion for default judgment in this Federal Odometer Act suit against an automotive sales company. The consumer alleges when he purchased the vehicle that the actual mileage on the dash was 66,125 miles, but he later found out it had over 100,000 miles. He does in fact establish the liability claim for false mileage certification in violation of the Act. The court dismisses most other claims for fraud, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Marks, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv66, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Evidence, Fraud, Product Liability
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. Thompson grants a hospital and its chief of surgery’s motion to stay and compel arbitration in this employment dispute brought by a former employee. The employee must pursue her numerous claims, including fraud, negligence, sex discrimination, and assault and battery claims, through arbitration and this case is administratively closed pending the outcome.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Thompson, Filed On: March 18, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv178, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Arbitration, Employment, Interference With Contract
J. Huffaker grants, in part, a trucking company’s motion for summary judgment in this wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of a motorist who died in a vehicle collision involving the company’s tractor-trailer, which was parked for 12 hours on the shoulder of an interstate’s travel lanes. The family alleges Alabama Wrongful Death Act and many negligence claims because the trucker had been parked on top of the rumble strip within inches of the fog line when it broke down. The trucking company argues that the decedent driver was at fault when he drifted out of his lane, and the truck driver did not create a safety concern. The estate’s negligence and wantonness claims concerning the tractor-trailer being parked in the place and for the amount of time it was there, and the decedent driver’s actions constitute as contributory negligence is denied. All other claims are granted along with the estate’s motion to file a sur-reply. The trucking company’s motion in limine is denied but may be refiled in advance of the jury trial.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Huffaker, Filed On: March 14, 2024, Case #: 2:20cv85, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Evidence, Vehicle, Wrongful Death
J. Marks denies an employer's motion for renewed judgment on liability and punitive damages after a former employee was awarded $811,000 in a race discrimination action. The employee's claim that a facially-neutral grooming policy was unevenly applied to African Americans with dreadlocks was supported by legally sufficient evidence and a reasonable jury could find its application was discriminatory. The damages award stands because the employer failed to argue at trial that the actions of the supervisor who sidelined the employee could not be pinned on the employer.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Marks, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 2:19cv767, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Damages
J. Thompson grants the Department of Agriculture’s motion for summary judgment in this discrimination suit brought by a Black veterinarian who worked for the department for two days in 1993, then unsuccessfully reapplied for positions in 1998 and 2010. She was not hired because she had been terminated in 1993, not for discriminatory reasons.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Thompson, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv99, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Employment, Employment Discrimination
J. Marks grants summary judgment in favor of the board of education in this case brought by a mother regarding her minor child. The mother alleged that the school failed to provide a free appropriate public education, address all disabilities and develop an education plan to help the child succeed academically. The court finds the mother failed to present evidence to show the child was denied a free and appropriate education.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Marks, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv705, NOS: Education - Civil Rights, Categories: Education, Evidence
J. Marks declines to grant judgment on the pleadings in favor of four people involved in a car wreck, who challenge the insurer’s declaratory judgment action seeking a decision that it has no obligation to defend or indemnify the insureds in the underlying lawsuit. One insured person’s son was driving at the time, caused the car collision and was not listed as a driver on the policy.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Marks, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv197, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Vehicle, Indemnification
J. Marks grants, in part, Hyundai’s motion for summary judgment in this ADA employment dispute brought by a former employee. The employee alleges Hyundai failed to accommodate after she disclosed, she had shoulder, back, neurological issues and her doctor advised her to not step on or off of a moving platform in the manufacturing facility. The overhead restrictions cannot be sustained for ADA because it falls short of the four process requirements, and her back and neurological issues accommodations note had expired. Therefore, the failure to accommodate and wrongful termination due to an actual disability is dismissed. Her motion to exclude an affidavit testimony is denied as moot. Hyundai’s motion to strike the EEOC position statement is denied. The claims of wrongful termination based on a perceived disability will proceed for the jury to determine.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Marks, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv530, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities-Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Employment, Experts
J. Huffaker grants summary judgment for the insurance company in this liability insurance dispute seeking a declaration that it has no obligation to defend a builder and its subcontractors for faulty construction. The conditions for coverage under the contractor’s special conditions endorsement in the policy were not met, it does not provide a defense against the homeowners’ claims. The policy plainly excludes coverage for tract housing residences of 25 or more houses with the same characteristics and there were at least 100 houses built by the builder. The insurance company is not required to defend the homeowners claims and they are dismissed without prejudice. The court denies as moot the insurer’s motion to strike certain documents and photographs.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Huffaker, Filed On: February 5, 2024, Case #: 2:19cv848, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Evidence, Insurance
J. Pate grants the suing driver motion to remand his vehicle collision claims back to the circuit court of Macon County, Alabama. The sued driver had this case removed alleging diversity jurisdiction, but has not met the burden of proof nor has he shown preponderance of evidence.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Pate, Filed On: February 2, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv654, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Vehicle, Negligence, Jurisdiction
J. Marks denies a U.S. Army pilot and co-copilot’s motion to remand this product liability personal injury claim against several helicopter companies. The pilot and co-copilot were on active duty when a UH-72A Lakota helicopter designed, manufactured and sold by the companies experienced both engines to fail during and uncontrollably descended and crashed. The companies removed the case from an Alabama circuit court to this court. One firm, M1 Support Services, has a “casual connection” between its behavior and the claims, and acted as a federal office or agency with the U.S. Army. Therefore, M1 can exercise federal question jurisdiction under the federal officer removal statute and the court does not address the diversity jurisdiction argument.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Marks, Filed On: February 1, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv212, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Product Liability, Jurisdiction