142 results for 'filedAt:"2024-04-26"'.
J. Liman denies former President Trump's motion for a new trial on author Jean Carroll's claim that he defamed her in two statements issued from the White House in 2019. The jury was entitled to conclude that Mr. Trump derailed Ms. Carroll's career, and exposed her to public threats due to his malicious attacks on her character. The compensatory damages award of $18.3 million is far from an anomaly in high-profile defamation cases, and the jury was entitled to find that Mr. Trump's continued attacks on Ms. Carroll, even during the course of trial, warranted a finding he would not stop making such remarks without a significant deterrent, supporting the $65 million punitive damages award.
Court: USDC Southern District of New York, Judge: Liman, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv7311, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Damages, Defamation
J. Waples finds that the trial court improperly granted the state’s motion to modify a condition of probation when imposing that the defendant must complete the Cognitive Self Change (CSC) program. The defendant argues that after his sentencing they changed the CSC program and his probation officer moved to modify the condition for the Risk Reduction Program, but he did not agree to the modification. The plain language of the condition was misinterpreted by the Department of Corrections to require the defendant to participate in CSC or an equivalent program. Therefore, the defendant could move to strike or modify the condition himself before it goes in effect. Reversed.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court, Judge: Waples, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 23-AP-140, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Murder, Probation
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J. Smith finds the district court improperly found the insurer owed the racing event organizer a duty to defend. The organizer sought legal defense when injured parties and estates of deceased sued after a vehicle careened into the crowd of spectators. A motor vehicle exclusion unambiguously excludes coverage for the damages at issue. The policy is not "illusory," as claimed by the organizer, as it does cover spectator slip and falls. Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Smith , Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 23-50336, Categories: Insurance, Damages, Wrongful Death
Per curiam, the circuit finds the district court properly dismissed civil rights claims filed by the individual against whom criminal trespass warnings were issued. He asserts more than 100 civil claims seeking millions of dollars in damages. Qualified immunity shields officials performing discretionary functions from civil liability. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 23-11190, Categories: Civil Rights, Government, Damages
J. Hess finds defendant's erratic and "moody" behavior during the traffic stop and field sobriety tests conducted by the arresting officer, along with his admissions he smoked marijuana and drank alcohol earlier in the day, was sufficient for a reasonable jury to find him guilty of DUI, especially considering he drove across the center line immediately before the stop. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1642, Categories: Evidence, Dui
J. Doughty grants a request by the former wife of a businessman whose two brothers and a national baby products manufacturer sued his former spouse for breach of contract and unjust enrichment related to the couple's alleged failure to reimburse to the Louisiana-based company a total of $1.7 million for unauthorized personal expenses on company credit cards. The two brothers and the baby products-maker have not made a clear showing of minimum contacts to the state sufficient to hale their brother's ex-wife into a Louisiana court. The former spouse says she is domiciled in Florida and she was never party to a contract in Louisiana.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Doughty, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv452, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Jurisdiction, Contract
J. Kinsley finds the trial court erroneously denied defendant's motion to suppress statements made to police after he was pulled over. The arresting officer ordered defendant out of his vehicle, made several commands, accused him of several crimes, and questioned him for more than 44 minutes, all of which would have led defendant to believe he was in custody at the time of the questioning and required the officer to read him his Miranda rights. Additionally, the trial court erroneously admitted evidence of defendant's actions in Georgia before the victim was found dead in her home. The evidence was used only to establish intent - which was never challenged by defendant - and, therefore, it was "other acts" evidence that should have been excluded. Reversed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Kinsley, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1604, Categories: Evidence, Miranda, Murder
J. Suarez finds sufficient evidence supported the lower court's decision in favor of the business owner on her emotional distress claims against the neighbor who photographed and tracked her movements after he suspected she was running a transportation business without a license, including the owner's testimony the neighbor conducted surveillance for more than two years before he submitted a complaint to the city's zoning committee. Additionally, testimony the owner complained to police at least 15 times and her raising her middle finger towards the neighbor's cameras on several occasions alerted the neighbor it was likely his actions would cause emotional distress and satisfied all elements of the claims. Affirmed.
Court: Connecticut Court Of Appeals, Judge: Suarez, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: AC45775, Categories: Evidence, Emotional Distress, Privacy
J. Lewis finds the trial court properly denied defendant's motion for acquittal on gross sexual imposition charges. The testimony from the victim, including that defendant asked her to touch his penis several times and was "happy" when she did it, proved his conduct was for the purpose of sexual gratification. However, the trial court erroneously denied defendant's motion to dismiss six counts of the indictment for a failure to bring the suit within the statute of limitations. The time limit for one of the victims began to run in 1993 after her first admission to police about defendant's conduct and expired several years before the state filed its initial indictment. Reversed in part.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Lewis, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1612, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Sex Offender
J. Immergut grants the insurance company's motion to compel arbitration in the insured's lawsuit alleging that the insurance company wrongfully disagreed with the value of the insured's claim for the injuries she sustained while pregnant during an accident with an at-fault, underinsured motorist. The insured implicitly agreed to arbitration when her demand letter stated that she “demands, consents, offers and commits to arbitration," so no new consideration is required. The insured also limited her ability her recovery attorney fees when she instituted arbitration proceedings.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Immergut, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 3:24cv25, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Arbitration, Insurance, Attorney Fees
J. Lin grants Amazon default judgment for its complaint that the sellers sold counterfeit products bearing the grill manufacturing company's trademark. Amazon and the grill manufacturing company will face prejudice without default judgment, because the sellers did not appear or participate in this litigation despite being personally served. Also, the grill manufacturing company presents a sufficient trademark case, because it alleges that it owns the "Weber" trademark that the sellers used without authorization.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Lin, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv1512, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Trademark
J. Murphy finds that the lower court properly denied a preliminary injunction request from a group looking to challenge a new Colorado law that requires certain language disclosures for ballot measures that contain a tax-related change. The group says that the mandated language in the ballot titles is unconstitutionally compelling its political speech, but they are not likely to succeed on the merits of their claims. The law governing the titles for the ballot measures falls under government speech that is not intended to represent any expressions or feelings from the ballot's proponents, leaving it protected under the law. Affirmed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Murphy, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 23-1282, Categories: Constitution, Tax, Injunction
J. Walton partially grants the employer's motion to dismiss the employee's suit alleging nonpayment of wages, failures to pay correct overtime rates for overtime hours and employee misclassification. The employee's misclassification claims under the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act fail because the Act does not create a private right of action for such claims, but her claims independent of that Act survive.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Walton, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv3094, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Labor
J. Chutkan denies a motion to reconsider a determination that a search warrant, which led officers to search a house where the suspect they were seeking did not live, was valid. The court's decision not to grant the searched civilians' request for an adverse inference based on the absence of a report from the database a detective said he searched before seeking the warrant was not "outcome determinative," a school employee's statement to the detective has not been shown to be inadmissible hearsay, a form used to confirm the address was not inadmissible by reason of being unauthenticated, and the searched civilians did not timely raise issues with testimony that another officer conducted a second database search, the admission of which would have been harmless error if it was error at all.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Chutkan, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 1:17cv1046, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution
J. Kugler allows plaintiff to continue claims challenging an insurer's decision to lower the actual cash value for a vehicle involved in an accident because the appraisal report listed a price higher than the amount the insured received for the vehicle.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Kugler , Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv6228, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance
J. Cogburn denies a hotel corporation’s partial motion to dismiss allegations of breach of contract brought by a class of guests. The guests claim they were placed on a “Do Not Rent” list after they complained about room conditions, but were not made aware of this fact. So, when they went to make reservations within the same hotel franchise again, they were allowed to make non-refundable payments in advance but then barred from staying in the rooms they’d paid for. The franchises refused refunds, saying they were invalid. The guests are correct that the corporation is responsible for its employees, including those of its franchises, so they may proceed.
Court: USDC Western District of North Carolina, Judge: Cogburn, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv663, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Corporations, Class Action, Contract
J. Cogburn grants the U.S. Postal Service’s motion to dismiss wrongful termination claims under Title VII brought by a former employee whom the service accused of theft. The employee denied the charge, but after an investigative interview, the service fired him. He was advised to sue the service federally within 90 days, but instead, he did so through state court 14 months later. Because he admitted the untimeliness of this, the service is granted dismissal.
Court: USDC Western District of North Carolina, Judge: Cogburn, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv747, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Government, Employment Retaliation
J. Conrad grants the father of a child who was illegally taken from Peru to the U.S. his petition for return of the child. The mother, originally from Venezuela, fled to Peru to escape political oppression, then met the child’s father, who is from Peru. On a trip to visit relatives in the U.S., the mother refused to return to Peru and would not let the father take the child back to Peru either. The mother has not shown sufficient evidence proving a grave risk of harm to the child if they returned to Peru.
Court: USDC Western District of North Carolina, Judge: Conrad, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 3:24cv226, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Family Law, International Law
J. Huddle finds that the court of appeals properly ruled to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the successors of a property owner whose property was foreclosed upon and the mineral rights were sold to the owner of an oil company. Because the foreclosure of the property occurred over 20 years ago, the statute of limitations on the successors' claim has already expired. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Supreme Court, Judge: Huddle, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 22-0913, Categories: Property, Public Record, Due Process
J. Frimpong grants the Nevada corporations a default judgment of $1.3 million in damages for their complaint that the construction company's subcontractors did not complete the unfinished work left by non-party Icon Identity Solutions. The construction company's lack of participation in this litigation would prejudice the Nevada corporations without default judgment. Also, the Nevada corporations successfully plead that the subcontractors did not uphold their end of the parties' deal.
Court: USDC Central District of California, Judge: Frimpong, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 8:22cv30, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Damages, Contract
J. Nelson finds that the district court properly declined to preliminarily enjoin a California Public Utilities Commission rule changing the mechanism for charging telecommunications providers to fund California’s universal service program. The district court properly denied preliminary injunctive relief because the carriers were unlikely to succeed on the merits of their express preemption claims. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Nelson, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 23-15490, Categories: Communications
J. Henderson finds the superior court properly ruled that the Copper River Native Association’s (CRNA) member tribes have not waived CRNA’s arm-of-the-tribe immunity. “CRNA’s member tribes use it to deliver tribal healthcare services, a core tribal governmental function necessarily connected to tribal self-governance and autonomy.” Affirmed.
Court: Alaska Supreme Court, Judge: Henderson, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: S-17965, Categories: Native Americans
J. Merchant grants a motion in limine and excludes a tenured law professor from St. John’s University School of Law as an expert witness in a trademark lawsuit concerning a dispute over the MED-AIRE brand of medical mattresses. The court finds a report he authored for the case relates to straightforward matters regarding trademark law that a jury can understand without the assistance of an expert.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Merchant, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1272, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Trademark, Experts
J. McDermott finds that an organization was improperly denied an open records request seeking emails sent between the state auditor’s office and two investigative reporters in regard to state Covid-19 policy because the auditor did not produce the emails for 216 days, which constituted an unreasonable delay. Reversed in part.
Court: Iowa Supreme Court, Judge: McDermott, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 23-0201, Categories: Civil Procedure, Public Record, Covid-19