76 results for 'court:"USDC Western District of Wisconsin"'.
J. Peterson partially grants the motion for summary judgment from the city, city officials and fire and police commission in a lawsuit from a firefighter claiming his First and 14th Amendment rights were violated when, among other things, he was demoted from his position as assistant fire chief and had a restraining order entered against him when he began arriving at fire scenes while he was on leave. The firefighter's due process claim against the city and the commission will proceed to trial, as there is a dispute regarding whether he was deprived of his property interest in his position through his demotion after a change in the law governing how such employment decisions are made. Summary judgment is granted to the city, officials and commission on all of the firefighter's remaining claims, and the individual officials are dismissed as parties.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: April 10, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv640, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Due Process
J. Conley partially grants motions in limine from the police officer and the citizen in the latter's lawsuit claiming he was stopped and had his car searched without reasonable suspicion, was subjected to excessive force during his arrest and that false pretexts were used to secure a warrant to search his hotel room. The citizen's motion to bar the officer from introducing evidence of his five previous felony and misdemeanor convictions is partially granted, and the officer's lawyer is only allowed to ask him if he has been "convicted of five crimes punishable by imprisonment for more than one year," unless the citizen's answer opens the door to further inquiry. In part, the officer's motions are partially granted in that he can only inquire about the citizen's brother's past convictions in a similar way and the citizen is barred from making a "golden rule" argument asking the jurors to put themselves in his shoes.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: April 8, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv65, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Police Misconduct
J. Peterson partially grants motions to exclude expert testimony from the Wisconsin-based corn products exporter and the Switzerland-based agrichemical company in the exporter's lawsuit claiming the company negligently approved the sale of a genetically modified corn seed in the United States before China began rejecting products containing a trait in the seed, causing the exporter to sustain $18 million in damages. In part, the exporter's motion is granted such that one of the company's experts is barred from testifying about the economic benefits of the seed or other genetically modified corn and another is barred from testifying about whether China is a key market for corn products. Similarly, the company's motion is partially granted such that the exporter's expert can testify about whether the company's conduct caused the exporter's damages and a ruling is reserved as to whether another can testify about whether the exporter's mitigation steps were "speculative or unreasonable."
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv321, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Trademark, Negligence, Experts
J. Peterson grants the transportation broker and solar panel supplier's motion to dismiss or transfer the shipping company's lawsuit over issues with two shipments of solar panels, one of which was the result of fraud by an impostor who hacked the company's electronic credentials. In part because the record does not show that the Arizona-based supplier has sufficient business contacts with Wisconsin such that jurisdiction has been established, the case is transferred to the proper venue at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv356, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Jurisdiction, Venue, Contract
J. Conley grants the union's motion to affirm an arbitration award in its favor in a dispute with the paper mill owner over the union's demand for vacation pay during the indefinite idling of the mill, which lasted from August 2020 until the mill permanently closed in October of that year. There is no serious error, breach of authority or other cause to overturn the arbitrator's decision, so the decision is affirmed, judgment is entered in the union's favor and the clerk is directed to close the case.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv194, NOS: Labor/Management Relations - Labor, Categories: Arbitration, Labor / Unions
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J. Peterson partially grants the U.S. Coast Guard and Coast Guard officials' motion to dismiss a pro se lawsuit from a former member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary claiming he was removed from his position after refusing orders to remove posts he made on social media. The former Auxiliary member can proceed with his claim against the Coast Guard under the Administrative Procedures Act, but all his other claims, including those stating violations of due process and the First Amendment, are dismissed.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv170, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Government
J. Peterson grants the U.S. Secretary of the Army's motion for summary judgment in the citizen's pro se lawsuit claiming he was unlawfully denied jobs he applied for with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The citizen has not provided sufficient evidence to show he was denied employment as retaliation for testifying as a witness at his father's EEO hearing in 2002, so his motion for summary judgment is denied, the Army secretary's motion is granted, and the clerk is ordered to close the case.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv351, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Employment Retaliation
J. Conley denies motions for summary judgment from the employee and the paper manufacturer in the employee's lawsuit claiming he was unlawfully disciplined and fired because he needed accommodations at work limiting his physical movement because of chronic ankle pain and medical leave to have two surgeries on the ankle. Factual disputes over the manufacturer's alleged retaliation against the employee and its reasonable steps to accommodate him require the employee's claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act to proceed to trial.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv686, NOS: Family and Medical Leave Act - Labor, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Employment Discrimination
J. Peterson denies the widower's motion for sanctions against the prison healthcare company in his lawsuit alleging violations of his late wife's 14th Amendment rights that allegedly led to a fatal heart attack while she was incarcerated. While the widower's motion for sanctions is denied, he has successfully argued that the company misrepresented the availability of key information during discovery about deaths in facilities the company services such that the widower could not access this information until December 2023, so the case's schedule is struck and the parties will conduct a new pretrial conference to reset the schedule and set a new discovery plan. A motion to intervene from the estate of a man who also died while in custody at a facility the company services is denied, as its goal to obtain documents obtained through discovery in this case can be obtained through its own discovery procedures, but the motion is denied without prejudice so it can be brought back later if need be.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: 3:20cv1123, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Sanctions, Wrongful Death
J. Peterson grants the rubber flooring manufacturer's motion for attorney fees and costs in a breach of contract suit it faced from the flooring retailer. In part because the billing records the manufacturer submitted for its national counsel contain redactions that do not jibe with federal court requirements and do not make it possible to determine whether the fees requested are reasonable, the manufacturer's request for attorney fees is reduced by $20,089. In total, the manufacturer is awarded $60,701 in attorney fees plus $4,619 in expenses and costs.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv244, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Attorney Fees, Contract
J. Conley partially grants motions for summary judgment in the citizen's lawsuit against the police officers claiming unlawful search and seizure, illegal use of force, racial discrimination and other charges in connection with a traffic stop in which the citizen, who is Black and was on probation at the time, was pulled over after leaving a hotel known for illegal drug activity and had his car and hotel room searched, leading to drug and weapon possession charges against him. In part because genuine disputes of fact exist regarding whether the officer who originally pulled the citizen over had reasonable suspicion he had done anything illegal, that officer's motion for summary judgment is denied. Three other officers are granted summary judgment because they are entitled to qualified immunity, and two more officers are also awarded summary judgment because they were not involved enough in the citizen's claims.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv65, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Police Misconduct
J. Peterson grants the police officers and dispatchers' motion for summary judgment in the citizen's pro se lawsuit claiming he was blocked from filing a complaint against one of the officers, who the citizen also claims insulted him and called him racial slurs along with another officer when they were sent out to field his complaint. Because the weight of the audio and video evidence contradict the citizen's suggestion that he was unlawfully blocked from filing his complaint through the normal process, or that any of his constitutional rights were violated at any point, his First Amendment, Fourth Amendment and 14th Amendment claims all fail and his motion for summary judgment is denied. The citizen's case is dismissed on the merits, and because he repeatedly engaged in misconduct such as clearly fabricating allegations of race-based discrimination, the citizen is sanctioned, in part, by being blocked for two years from filing any civil lawsuit except habeas corpus petitions without prepaying the filing fee.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: February 29, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv555, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Police Misconduct
J. Conley grants the patient's motion to remand back to the circuit court a class action claiming the health system, without consent, used tracking technology on its website to share patients' personally identifiable information and private health care information with third parties. The fact that the health system operates an online patient portal to access health care records does not mean it is acting under a federal officer or agency's authority and does not support removal of this lawsuit to federal court, even if the system did participate in the federal government's voluntary "meaningful use program" incentivizing giving patients online access to health care records. The case is remanded back to La Crosse County Circuit Court.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv694, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Health Care, Class Action
J. Conley partially grants the insurance company's motion for a declaratory judgment saying it is not obligated to indemnify or defend the metals manufacturer in an arbitration proceeding with a customer claiming the manufacturer provided defective dredge tanks. Although three categories of the customer's claims are not covered by a provision in the manufacturer's policy related to "manufacturer's errors or omissions," there may potentially be coverage for the customer's claims of breach of contract, negligence and negligent misrepresentation if arbitration breaks in its favor.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv443, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Arbitration, Insurance, Contract
J. Conley grants summary judgment to Target in a lawsuit from an intellectual property transfer company claiming Target violated six of its patents for technology to help customers locate products in a store using computerized systems. Because all of the patents in question are directed to the same abstract idea of "collecting, analyzing, retrieving and displaying information," and nothing else about the patent claims make them into something more than abstract ideas, the company's arguments fail. The company's motion for partial summary judgment is denied, and its other motions to strike, for claims construction and for a claims construction hearing are denied as moot.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: February 6, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv425, NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: Patent
J. Peterson grants a motion in limine from the school district, the former teacher and other district employees seeking to define "garden variety emotional distress" as pertains to the scope of discovery and evidence in a lawsuit from former high school students claiming the former teacher secretly made video recordings of them in hotel rooms during field trips, occasionally while they were naked. The parties will proceed with a definition of garden variety emotional distress that includes, in part, that it is "emotional distress within the range of what a healthy, well-adjusted person would feel as a result of defendant's conduct." The students may claim they have suffered this kind of harm without waiving their right to keep their mental health records private, yet they also must give up any claims to more severe forms of emotional distress.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv683, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Emotional Distress, Discovery
J. Conley grants the retirement plan administrators' motion to dismiss the beneficiaries' class action claiming the administrators breached their fiduciary duties by selecting and retaining investments in index funds that perform poorly compared to other available funds. In part because the beneficiaries have failed to prove the disputed investments were made outside the administrators' "reasonable judgment," and because the investments did not always perform poorly during the class period, the beneficiaries have failed to a state a viable claim for breach of fiduciary duty. The beneficiaries' complaint is dismissed without prejudice, and they are given until February 26, 2024, to file an amended complaint, should there be a good-faith reason for it.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: January 26, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv449, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Erisa, Fiduciary Duty, Class Action
J. Conley grants summary judgment to the insurance company in the beneficiary's lawsuit claiming it wrongfully denied her claim for long-term disability benefits after she stopped working in June 2022 due to cognitive issues, eye problems, hand numbness, shoulder pain, chronic kidney disease and other complications from diabetes. Through the denial of her initial claim and two subsequent appeals, the insurance company was not arbitrary and capricious in making its decisions based on the beneficiary's medical records and ability to perform her job in light of the combined effect of all her ailments, many of which the evidence shows were stable or improving.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: January 24, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv494, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Erisa, Insurance
J. Peterson grants summary judgment to the insurance company in a lawsuit from a beneficiary claiming she was wrongfully denied long-term disability benefits after she stopped working in January 2021 due to eye pain and spasms. Through the beneficiary's initial claim and two subsequent appeals, the insurance company comprehensively reviewed all the evidence and medical opinions related to the beneficiary's pain and the limitations her conditions placed on her ability to do her job, and it cannot be found to have been arbitrary and capricious in its decisions.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: January 22, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv617, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Erisa, Insurance
J. Peterson partially denies the elections commission and Wisconsin Legislature's motions to dismiss the voters' lawsuit claiming that Wisconsin law's absentee-voting witness requirement violates the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. In light of two state-court lawsuits dealing with substantially similar issues, the merits of the voters' claims will not be decided at this time, and a partial stay is enacted which will allow parties to continue briefing for summary judgment. The elections commission itself is dismissed on sovereign immunity grounds, but the commission's individual commissioners will remain as parties to both of the voters' claims.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: January 17, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv672, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Elections, Immunity
J. Conley finds for the federal government in a lawsuit from property owners claiming that trees on their property have been damaged by road salt running off from a neighboring VA medical center. The property owners have failed to bring sufficient evidence to support their takings and private nuisance claims such that a reasonable jury could determine the VA center's salt storage is responsible for the damage to their trees, so the government's motion for summary judgment is granted.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv395, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Constitution, Property, Tort
J. Peterson partially grants the father's motion for attorney fees and costs in a lawsuit against his son and others involving a dispute between family over ownership of a company that runs multiple car dealerships. The father is awarded one-third of his total request for attorney fees, which will amount to $204,402, and he is also awarded $60,033 in costs, bringing his total award to $264,435.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: December 14, 2023, Case #: 3:19cv980, NOS: Stockholders’ Suits - Contract, Categories: Fiduciary Duty, Attorney Fees, Contract
J. Conley finds partially in favor of Hyundai and Genesis in a lawsuit from a car dealer claiming they breached the parties' contract by essentially forcing the dealer to close its Genesis dealership on the eve of a sale its Genesis and Hyundai dealerships to a third party, ultimately costing the dealer $2 million in the sale. Summary judgment is granted to Genesis on all the claims against it because the dealer has failed to allege that it is liable for Hyundai's conduct, denied to Hyundai on all claims against it except a state-law claim regarding the timing of the notice given to the dealer regarding changes to their agreement and another state-law claim for intentional interference with contract, and denied to the dealer entirely. Genesis is dismissed as a defendant, and the remaining claims and parties will proceed to trial on January 22, 2024.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: December 8, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv322, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Tort, Contract
J. Peterson grants summary judgment to the county, sheriff, jail administrator and others in a lawsuit from the parents of a woman who died by suicide while in custody at the county's jail. The parents concede that jail staff could not have known about their daughter's suicidal intentions at the time of her death, in part because she spent 18 days in general population denying feeling suicidal and showing no concerning behavior after spending two days on suicide watch, so there is no basis for an Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference claim. The parents' alternative arguments, including those blaming their daughter's death on unconstitutional excessive force and conditions of confinement, fail for a lack of evidence in the record, and their state-law claims are dismissed without prejudice.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: December 7, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv253, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Negligence
J. Conley denies the hospital's motion for summary judgment in an employment discrimination lawsuit from its former CEO, as the record has sufficient evidence that a jury could conclude the hospital fired the 75-year-old CEO because of age instead of his poor job performance, which the hospital claims included ignoring human resources concerns from hospital employees. The CEO's motion to supplement the record with the hospital's amended interrogatory responses is granted.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: November 29, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv375, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Employment Discrimination
J. Peterson finds for the county, city and police officers in a lawsuit from the estate of a man one of the officers shot and killed after he and another officer tased him during a violent struggle upon finding the man naked and acting bizarrely subsequent to crashing his car into a snowbank. The officers actions can be reasonably justified given the circumstances, so the officers and municipalities are granted summary judgment on the estate's Fourth Amendment claims pertaining to the man's detention and the officers tasing and shooting him. The estate's claims referencing municipal liability and federal disability statutes also fail, as it has not shown the man's death was caused by any inadequate municipal policies for dealing with those in a mental health crisis or a failure to accommodate the man's disabilities, so the municipalities are granted summary judgment on those claims as well.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: November 28, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv102, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Police Misconduct
J. Conley denies the hair care products company's motion to amend an injunction allowing the salon to be the exclusive distributor of its products in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and North Dakota. The motion, which would permit the company to sell its products on Amazon in the salon's territory, must be denied in part because the company has not met statutory notice requirements or shown good cause under Wisconsin's Fair Dealership Law. The salon's motion to amend its complaint to add the company's Swedish parent company as a defendant is granted, and the parties' joint motion to strike the case's schedule is denied.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: November 15, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv695, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Commerce, Contract, Injunction
J. Conley finds against the U.S.-Syrian dual citizen and her Syrian national son in the dual citizen's petition for a writ of mandamus forcing the federal government to finish adjudicating her son's bid for U.S. citizenship before he turns 18 on November 11, 2023, and can no longer acquire automatic U.S. citizenship under applicable federal laws. The relatively short delay in adjudicating the dual citizen's son's case since his visa interview on August 30, 2023, which led a consular official to deny his application and forward his case for "administrative processing," is not egregious or unreasonable enough to warrant an injunction, so the motion is denied.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: November 3, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv629, NOS: Other Immigration Actions - Immigration, Categories: Government, Immigration
J. Peterson partially grants the health care system's motion to dismiss a proposed class action lawsuit from two self-insured employers claiming the system violated federal antitrust law by using price fixing, unfair contracts and other anti-competitive practices to acquire a stranglehold on the market for inpatient and outpatient care in north-central Wisconsin at higher than average prices to consumers. Most of the employers' claims are stated and supported plausibly enough to avoid dismissal, but two claims alleging the system's exclusive dealing and conspiratorial efforts to influence competitors to reject reference-based pricing are dismissed.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: October 17, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv580, NOS: Antitrust - Other Suits, Categories: Antitrust, Health Care, Class Action