89 results for 'filedAt:"2024-05-06"'.
J. Rabner finds that the appellate division improperly rejected an employee's constitutional challenge in claims contending she had been prohibited from talking about an internal sexual harassment complaint she filed against a supervisor because a duration had not been imposed upon the request that witnesses and involved parties refrain from discussing the case, and the request concerned a large swath of protected speech. Reversed.
Court: New Jersey Supreme Court, Judge: Rabner , Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: A-40-22, Categories: Constitution, Employment Discrimination
J. Boatright finds the lower court erroneously determined it held jurisdiction over the couple's divorce case. Although the husband owns several pieces of real estate in Colorado, he lives in Nebraska and has never moved to this state; therefore, he is "domiciled" in Nebraska under Colorado law and the lower court should have granted his motion to dismiss. Reversed.
Court: Colorado Supreme Court, Judge: Boatright, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 2024CO24, Categories: Family Law, Jurisdiction
J. Hart finds misjoinder of criminal offenses is reviewed under "plain error" analysis and that, even if a trial court improperly allowed numerous charges to be tried at the same time, it is not a structural error that requires reversal of a defendant's convictions. In this case, while evidence of defendant's drug charges may have persuaded the jury he was inclined to commit crimes, the error was harmless as it pertained to his murder charge because of the overwhelming evidence in support of that charge, including that he went to his backpack to retrieve a gun before he shot the victim following a scuffle. Affirmed.
Court: Colorado Supreme Court, Judge: Hart, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 2024CO26, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Evidence, Murder
J. Samour finds the appeals court properly overturned the trial court's decision to grant summary judgment to the university on contract claims filed by the male student accused of rape. When read in conjunction with the entirety of the school's Office of Equal Opportunity procedures handbook, the requirement for a "thorough, impartial, and fair" investigation into allegations of sexual assault created a contractual relationship between the parties. Additionally, the male student's allegations the university failed to interview four of the five witnesses he presented and failed to seek out missing portions of the victim's medical examination file render his contract claim plausible and prevent judgment in favor of the university. Affirmed in part.
Court: Colorado Supreme Court, Judge: Samour, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 2024CO27, Categories: Education, Due Process, Contract
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J. Berkenkotter finds the "centerline presumption," which grants title to the middle of a roadway in cases where a property owner grants a conveyance abutting a highway or street, also applies to the mineral rights underneath the roadway, so long as the conveyance includes no language to specifically exclude mineral rights. However, the lower court erroneously conditioned the application of the rule on whether a property owner retained ownership of at least a portion of the land that abuts the roadway because it effectively nullifies the rule. Therefore, the current owners of the property at issue in this case have sole ownership of both surface and mineral rights of the roadway following the developer's conveyance. Affirmed in part.
Court: Colorado Supreme Court, Judge: Berkenkotter, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 2024CO28, Categories: Property, Real Estate
J. King partially grants the city's motion to stay the family's complaint alleging that the city's employees killed the decedent by placing a spit mask on him after they choked him. The police officers plan to assert their Fifth Amendment rights for the potential federal charges against them, and their depositions are the only identified discovery that the family does not have, so a stay is appropriate. Unless the stay goes on beyond six months, the parties shall notify the court when the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington decides whether to pursue federal criminal charges against the police officers within 30 days of notification.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: King, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv5692, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Wrongful Death, Discovery, Police Misconduct
J. Diaz finds the lower court properly entered judgment voiding the contract between the star basketball player and his former agents. The basketball star signed an agreement with an agency after he played his final game for Duke but before he was drafted into the NBA. The agents argued that the player didn't count as a student-athlete for the purpose of the North Carolina Uniform Athlete Agents Act, which governs contracts between student-athletes and their agents. The player was still a student-athlete when he signed the contract because he had not yet left the university or signed a professional contract. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Diaz, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 22-1793, Categories: Education, Tort, Contract
J. Davis finds the district court properly convicted the doctor for unlawful distribution of controlled substances based on sufficient evidence. After the health management company developed concerns about the doctor's inability to maintain patient and medication records, warning him several times, he was terminated and opened a private practice. The DEA launched an investigation into his prescriptions after receiving a tip from a confidential informant, and the ensuing sting operation led to the doctor's arrest. That the prescriptions lacked a legitimate medical purpose is established in that they were issued outside the usual course of professional practice. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Davis , Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 23-30191, Categories: Drug Offender, Fraud, Jury Instructions
J. Suddaby finds Instagram and its parent company Meta are shielded by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, so they are shielded by a personal injury lawsuit alleging they failed to implement safety measures to protect young users from acts of bullying, as well as refusing to remove harmful comments about the litigant, a minor, posted to an account called “nrcs.anything.”
Court: USDC Northern District of New York, Judge: Suddaby, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv462, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Tort, Technology
J. Evanson grants the consumer's motion to amend his class action alleging that Amazon entered into an agreement with Apple to ban third-party Apple vendors from Amazon's marketplace, forcing the consumers to spend more on Apple's products. Despite their arguments to the contrary, Amazon and Apple do not show that the consumer's potential inadequacy as a class representative qualifies as an inherent defect, and there is no undue delay in amending the complaint.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Evanson, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1599, NOS: Antitrust - Other Suits, Categories: Antitrust, Class Action
J. Smith affirms the district courts' grants of the defendant's demands to execute his sentences in two cases in two separate counties. A district court may grant such demands even if the conditions of probation are less onerous than the conditions of an executed sentence. Affirmed.
Court: Minnesota Court Of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: A23-1342, Categories: Sentencing, Dui
J. Segal partially affirms the defendant's convictions of two counts of fifth-degree controlled-substance crime. The Minnesota Good Samaritan overdose medical assistance act provides immunity from prosecution for certain such crimes when a person "acting in good faith... seeks medical assistance" for someone suffering a drug-related overdose. The statute offers immunity, rather than an affirmative defense, but the "good faith" requirement for immunity applies only to seeking medical assistance, rather than the other criteria set out in the statute.
Court: Minnesota Court Of Appeals, Judge: Segal, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: A23-0685, Categories: Drug Offender, Criminal Negligence
J. Benton finds a lower court properly dismissed a structural engineering firm's request for research tax credit. The structural engineer argued that it was entitled to an incentive to invest for the creation of structural design and construction documents for various building plans. However, the Internal Revenue Commissioner sufficiently showed in court that the structural engineer is not entitled to R & D credits for non- qualified research expenses that lack technological aspects. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Benton, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 23-1523, Categories: Construction, Tax, Technology
J. Palafox finds a lower court did not err in convicting defendant of assault with a deadly weapon against someone with whom he’d had a dating relationship. Defendant argued the court had not adequately considered his self-defense argument that the woman had tried to run him over with a car, but the jury was “free to disbelieve” this “conflicting” explanation.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Palafox, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00238-CR, Categories: Evidence, Assault
J. Hamilton finds that the lower court properly found for the city on constitutional and defamation claims filed by a business owner who claims the city denied his business an emergency grant because he had gone to an illegal anti-lockdown rally at the Wisconsin State Capitol. The state's Safer at Home Order was a valid restriction on speech and public gatherings due to the government interest in stopping the spread of Covid-19. Further, it was not unreasonable for the city to have denied discretionary funds to a business whose manager had violated the law and contributed to the public health crisis. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Hamilton, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 23-1208, Categories: Defamation, Covid-19, First Amendment
J. Trauger partially grants the former employee’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim in this lawsuit asserting claims for conversion, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment in connection with his alleged use of a skid steer “for his own personal or family benefit.” The court will dismiss the company’s fiduciary duty claim, as it has not shown that the claim is timely under the relevant statute.
Court: USDC Middle District of Tennessee , Judge: Trauger, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv862, NOS: Other Personal Property Damage - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Employment, Fiduciary Duty, Conversion
J. Cabret finds the superior court properly entered an amended judgment in the property owner's favor in a dispute with her neighbor in part over payment of property taxes for properties on their adjacent plots. The superior court's judgment calling for reimbursement of property taxes paid by the property owner was the most equitable result given the competing interests of both parties, and the court did not abuse its discretion. Affirmed.
Court: Virgin Islands Supreme Court, Judge: Cabret, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 2024 VI 21, Categories: Property, Tax
J. Cronan finds for the agency in this SEC enforcement action and orders the manager of an investment club who engaged in fraudulent investment schemes to disgorge ill-gotten profits of $1.7 million, plus interest of $339,000. In addition, the manager shall be permanently banned from working in the financial sector again due to his conscious wrongdoing and the likelihood he will continue to violate federal securities laws.
Court: USDC Southern District of New York, Judge: Cronan, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 1:19cv10299, NOS: Securities/Commodities/Exchange - Other Suits, Categories: Fraud, Securities, Agency
J. Lipman grants customers’ unopposed motion for final approval of the proposed settlement in this case involving allegations that Family Dollar stores sold products “contaminated by a rodent infestation.” The proposed settlement was preliminarily approved, and the court now finds that notice to the class members was successful. The court will also deny without prejudice the customers’ motion for attorney fees, based on their failure to comply with certain local rules.
Court: USDC Western District of Tennessee , Judge: Lipman, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv2138, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Settlements, Attorney Fees, Class Action
J. Detjen finds that the trial court should have granted an employee's motion to withdraw from arbitration after his former employer failed to timely pay the arbitration fees and costs. The employer was $250 shy of the full amount due, and its argument that the employee had to pay one-half that amount fails because the arbitration agreement's sharing provision only applies to the initial case management fee, which had already been paid. Also, the employee's silence when the employer sought an extension did not mean he "agreed" to the extension. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Detjen, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: F086342, Categories: Arbitration, Employment, Sanctions