167 results for 'filedAt:"2024-03-20"'.
J. Thierry finds that the workers' compensation judge properly ruled in favor of the casino employee in her claim over on-the-job shoulder injuries she sustained in separate incidents. The evidence supports the finding that the employer's job offer to the employee upon her return to work was not suitable for her restrictions. Though, the past indemnity benefits award is reduced from $94,640 to $58,240 based on a cap at 104 weeks due to evidence of her retirement from the workforce. Affirmed as amended.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Thierry, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: WCA-23-578, Categories: Damages, Workers' Compensation
J. Kyzar finds that the workers' compensation judge erred as to the amount of average weekly wages (AWW) and compensation rate for the employee in a workers' compensation case. The calculation of the AWW improperly ignored the jurisprudence for overtime wages, so the correct AWW is $544 and compensation rate is $363. Reversed in part.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Kyzar, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: WCA-23-586, Categories: Employment, Damages, Workers' Compensation
J. Tharp partially grants a health care networking service’s motion to compel the production of documents from a number of pharmacies. The pharmacies allege the health care networking service has an illegal monopoly over e-prescription routing and patient eligibility transmission. The court compels the pharmacies to produce sales records of prescription medications to Michigan patients, but declines the networking service’s request for the pharmacies to produce a privilege log.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Tharp, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 1:19cv6627, NOS: Antitrust - Other Suits, Categories: Antitrust, Health Care, Discovery
J. Tharp grants a pro se litigant’s motion to dismiss and amend his complaint against Aurora, several police officers and members of state and local governments. The litigant, a Black man, believes he was unfairly targeted for a traffic stop by Aurora police and brought suit in parallel to his unsuccessful fight against the traffic citations. The court finds numerous deficiencies with his complaint as it stands, so will allow him to refile it with improvements to several claims. Other claims are so frivolous, the court opines, that they are dismissed outright with prejudice.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Tharp, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv2549, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Vehicle
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J. McKinnon finds that the trial court properly instructed the jury that it could conclude defendant was in actual physical control of his vehicle while intoxicated for the purposes of a DUI count even if he was unconscious. It was also proper to allow the state to rebut a closing argument in which counsel argued the state was dishonest in deciding not to introduce a photo of defendant asleep across the bench seat of his truck. However, the imposition of a $5,000 fine violated the constitutional proportionality requirement since it did not take into account defendant's ability to pay. Reversed in part.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: DA 21-0413, Categories: Sentencing, Dui, Jury Instructions
J. Bradford finds the trial court properly denied defendant's motion to dismiss. Defendant was charged with failure to register as a sex or violent offender after he returned to Indiana, where the offense had taken place. Defendant had previously transferred his parole from Indiana to Florida, where he is required to register for life, signing a form acknowledging residency in another state would require registration there as well. The requirement to re-register in Indiana does not impose an additional criminal penalty. Affirmed.
Court: Indiana Court Of Appeals, Judge: Bradford, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 23A-CR-1339, Categories: Sex Offender, Jurisdiction, Child Victims
[Consolidated.] J. Southwick grants the petition for panel rehearing, finding the district court properly concluded a setoff reducing the receiver's judgment would be inequitable, refusing to consider it. The bank was exposed as a Ponzi scheme and placed into receivership, and the receiver sought to recover estate assets from various parties. A party who allegedly received fraudulent transfers received a $79 million loan in contemplation of the bank's impending troubles. The court’s reasoning a setoff would be inequitable is consistent with a previous holding that an “otherwise valid” transaction must occur “prior to insolvency and not in contemplation thereof.”
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Southwick , Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 22-10235, Categories: Fraud, Banking / Lending
J. Wilson finds the district court properly found the corrections officer violated the inmate's constitutional rights but is entitled to qualified immunity. The inmate was assaulted by his cellmate and brought this suit alleging deliberate indifference. The officer testified he questioned inmates after hearing an argument, with both confirming no further conflict existed. If the district court, as alleged, abused its discretion in excluding evidence of the officer's ensuing disciplinary action, the inmate still fails to show any error prejudiced his substantial rights. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Wilson , Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 22-10483, Categories: Evidence, Police Misconduct, Prisoners' Rights
J. Brennenstuhl denies the doctor's motion for leave to reply to the medical group's response to his motion for leave to file a second amended complaint. The doctor brought this action against his employer alleging racial discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation. His current motion to amend adds six new claims and names nine new individual defendants, adding RICO, mail fraud, and money laundering allegations. The doctor does not have standing to bring the RICO claim nor has he established a pattern of racketeering. Making only conclusory statements, the doctors other claims are insufficiently pleaded.
Court: USDC Western District of Kentucky, Judge: Brennenstuhl , Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 4:23cv73, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation, Racketeering
J. Simon declines to dismiss the fraud claim against one of the company owners from the investor's complaint, which alleges that the company owners induced the investor to put money into the cannabis business while overstating its profitability. The investor alleges sufficient facts showing that one of the company owners concealed facts about the other business that his co-owners operated that used the cannabis business' equipment without the investor's knowledge.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Simon, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv601, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Fraud, Contract
J. Shorr finds the probate court properly voided an attorney's contingency agreement and calculated a different attorney fee. “It was the responsibility of the probate court to approve the terms of the settlement…including awarding attorney fees.” Affirmed.
Court: Oregon Court of Appeals, Judge: Shorr, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: A176105, Categories: Settlements, Attorney Fees
J. Arrowood finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant for possession of methamphetamine. Even if the officer's initial search of defendant and seizure of a pill bottle violated defendant's constitutional rights, the methamphetamine found in his boot was still admissible because its discovery was inevitable. Defendant still would have been arrested for driving with a revoked license and subsequently searched.
Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals, Judge: Arrowood, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: COA23-727, Categories: Drug Offender, Search
J. Gordo finds that the vessel owner's motion for a rehearing in its lawsuit over the denial of its claim to its marine insurance company after its vessel partially sank must be denied. Replacing a previous opinion in this matter, it is found that the trial court properly granted the insurance company's motion to dismiss on forum selection grounds. Affirmed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Gordo, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 22-1333, Categories: Admiralty, Insurance, Venue
J. Scales finds the trial court improperly denied the Brazilian airline's motion for attorney fees in a lawsuit from the aircraft leasing company over failed negotiations for the purchase of six Boeing 737 aircraft. The trial court was incorrect in deciding that the parties' joint settlement proposal was invalid in part because it did not properly apportion the settlement offer between the parties. Reversed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Scales, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 22-1736, Categories: Attorney Fees, Contract
J. Osterhaus finds that the trial court improperly imposed a restitution order in favor of the burglary victim. The court erred in awarding lost wages for working as an unlicensed cosmetolgoist, as operting as a cosmetologist without a license is illegal. Reversed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Osterhaus, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 1D2023-1253, Categories: Restitution
J. Hurd preserves an employment discrimination, retaliation and quid pro quo sexual harassment case against a Hudson Valley-based healthcare provider. The litigant alleges the company’s owner touched her inappropriately throughout her employment and ultimately fired her after she denied his advances. Though many of the acts that she alleges under her claim for hostile work environment occurred prior to 2018, the court finds the continuing violation doctrine applies. However, claims filed by the litigant’s daughter, alleging she also suffered sex discrimination and retaliation, are dismissed.
Court: USDC Northern District of New York, Judge: Hurd, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv1184, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination
J. Seybert trims a 60-year-old disabled veteran’s employment discrimination complaint against a Long Island-based law school and allows a single claim for age discrimination to proceed to discovery. The court finds comments made by one of the interviewers, who said the university wanted someone to remain in the position for several years, could suggest that age was a consideration not to hire the applicant and instead hire a younger, less qualified employee.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Seybert, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv1345, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities-Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Education, Employment, Employment Discrimination
J. Cogan reaffirms a jury’s verdict in which they awarded six women $500,000 each plus punitive damages after finding a bond trader had violated the Trafficking Victim Protection Act when he brought them to his New York City penthouse and forced them to engage in brutal, sadomasochistic sex acts. The court finds the trader’s argument that the Act did not apply to their claims as unpersuasive.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Cogan, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 1:17cv6404, NOS: Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) - Other Suits, Categories: Civil Rights, Damages, Assault
[Corrected.] J. Ledet finds that the trial court should not have found for a lessee's rule to evict an alleged occupant from a boathouse property. In this case, the boathouse is leased through a lease with the Lakefront Management Authority. There is no record of a lease to which the occupant is a party. Reversed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Ledet, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 2023-CA-0644, Categories: Landlord Tenant, Property
J. McKeig affirms the defendant's second-degree assault conviction, appealed on the grounds that the state did not provide sufficient evidence that the broom handle he broke over his wife's head was a "dangerous weapon" and that he could not be convicted for both second-degree assault and domestic assault. Domestic assault is not a "lesser degree" of second-degree assault, so the relevant Minnesota statute does not prohibit convictions for both offenses, and the state need only prove that death or great bodily harm is a "probable or reasonably expected" outcome of a defendant's use of an object to make it a dangerous weapon. Affirmed.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: McKeig, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: A22-0960, Categories: Assault, Weapons
J. Procaccini affirms the postconviction court's denial of the defendant's petition for postconviction relief for his third-degree criminal sexual conduct conviction. Guilty verdicts for both that conviction and a charge of attempted third-degree sexual assault are legally consistent, since the defendant was not convicted of, or punished for, the attempted offense. The defendant's counsel was therefore not ineffective for failing to raise that issue. Additionally, the district court did not abuse its discretion when it denied his request for an evidentiary hearing regarding expert testimony challenging the testimony used to convict him, since that purported newly discovered evidence would not probably lead to a more favorable result for the defendant. Affirmed.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Procaccini, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: A22-1063, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender, Double Jeopardy
J. Copenhaver grants in part the motions of the former Wood County sheriff, his chief deputy and the county commission for summary judgment in a former deputy sheriff's suit for sexual discrimination and retaliation. In addition to her failure to establish a prima facie case for retaliation, the court finds the commission is an improper party on that claim and that the former chief deputy is an improper party to her claim of sexual harassment. The commission and former sheriff remain as defendants on the deputy's remaining claim for sex discrimination by way of a hostile work environment under the West Virginia Human Rights Act.
Court: USDC Southern District of West Virginia, Judge: Copenhaver, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv388, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Government, Employment Discrimination
J. Stras finds a lower court improperly relieved a prisoner from having to pay restitution under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act violations after being convicted of sexual exploitation of a child. The defendant argued that he was not obligated to pay a special assessment based on lack of funds. However, the government sufficiently showed in court that he is not indigent based on his net worth of $120,000 from home equity and funds from a checking account. Reversed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Stras, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 23-1847, Categories: Sex Offender, Restitution, Human Trafficking
J. Grant finds that the district court properly sentenced defendant to 120 months in prison following his guilty plea to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The upward variance doubling the sentence recommended by the sentencing guidelines was appropriate in light of the district court's findings that defendant sold drugs which caused one person's overdose death and possessed Suboxone for distribution while in jail awaiting sentencing. The district court was entitled to infer from the warden's testimony that he could recognize the substance seized from defendant as Suboxone. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Grant, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 22-11799, Categories: Sentencing
Per curiam, the circuit finds that a decision must be reserved and a question certified to New York's high court on whether a six-month waiting period established at the start of the state's Child Victims Act, which opened a two-year window to claims of childhood sexual abuse, created a statute of limitations defense. A claim filed by a former student who alleges abuse by a teacher in high school occurred ahead of the waiting period set for the legislation's start date, and was eventually dismissed as untimely. That holding did not come, however, until after the filing window closed, leaving plaintiff unable to refile under the Act.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 22-1442, Categories: Civil Procedure, Jurisdiction