29 results for 'judge:"Boulee"'.
J. Boulee partially grants the former employee's motion for attorney fees and costs in a disability discrimination and employment retaliation action against the sheriff. The employee is awarded $287,000 in attorney fees. The employee's motion for prejudgment interest on her lost wages and reinstatement is granted in the amount of $8,000. The jury found that the employee would be capable of performing her job duties if reinstated.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: March 6, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv186, NOS: Family and Medical Leave Act - Labor, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Attorney Fees, Employment Retaliation
J. Boulee overrules the parties' objections and adopts the special master's report and recommendation with respect to claim construction of certain patent terms. The report arises from a dispute over a patent for a catheter tray packaging system. It is not necessary at this point in the proceedings to add any clarifications to the special master's proposed construction of the term "catheter assembly." The special master's construction of other terms resolved the parties' dispute with respect to those terms. The action is referred to private mediation.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv3981, NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: Patent
J. Boulee grants the corporation's motion to compel arbitration in a putative class action brought by the news website subscriber alleging that the corporation shared her personal information without her consent in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act. The subscriber, who signed up for an account on the news website via Facebook, agreed to the arbitration provision through a valid browsewrap agreement when she registered her account.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: February 12, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv4462, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Arbitration, Privacy, Class Action
J. Boulee rules in favor of the insurer in a declaratory judgment action against the insured. The insurer sought a determination of its obligations under the policy with respect to an underlying action arising from the insured's employee's car collision. The employee was acting in the scope of his employment at the time he was injured in the collision. The workers' compensation exclusion of the policy therefore applies and the insurer has no obligation to the employee under the policy. The employee is also not entitled to coverage under the uninsured motorist coverage endorsement.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv1913, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance
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J. Boulee denies the organizations' motion for a preliminary injunction to enjoin provisions of Georgia's election law relating to runoff election procedures which allegedly discriminate against Black voters. The two provisions say runoffs will be held four weeks after the general election and mandate that advance voting for runoffs begin no later than the second Monday immediately prior to the runoff and end on the Friday before the runoff. The organizations have not shown that eliminating the registration period before a runoff or shortening the early voting window disproportionately impacts Black voters. The officials presented legitimate justifications for the provisions, including creating a more efficient runoff schedule. The lead-up to the law's passage may show a motivation to curtail new Democratic voters but it does not show a racially discriminatory motivation.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: January 12, 2024, Case #: 1:21mi55555, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Elections
J. Boulee denies the employer's motion for attorney fees after a jury found in its favor in a race discrimination action brought by the ex-employees alleging that they were wrongfully terminated. The employer's motion was filed 24 days after final judgment was entered in the case, therefore the motion is not timely. Even if the motion was timely, an award of attorney fees would not be appropriate because the case was not frivolous. The former employees' motion for a new trial is also denied.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: November 17, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv5191, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Attorney Fees
J. Boulee rejects the organizations' joint motion for a preliminary injunction in a civil rights action seeking to block enforcement of five provisions in a Georgia law governing election-related processes. The organizations alleged that the provisions in S.B. 202 are racially discriminatory and violate the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The provisions at issue govern the number and location of drop boxes, prohibit distribution of food and drink to voters waiting in line, set a deadline for submitting applications to vote absentee, prohibit the counting of out-of-precinct provisional ballots cast before 5:00 p.m. and require voters applying for an absentee ballot to provide their driver's license or state identification card number. The organizations failed to show that they are substantially likely to succeed in showing that the provisions have a disparate impact on Black voters. The organizations also failed to show that the legislature intended to discriminate against Black voters with the law's passage.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: October 11, 2023, Case #: 1:21mi55555, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Elections, Injunction
J. Boulee partially grants the state officials' motion for summary judgment in an action brought by nonprofit organizations challenging the constitutionality of two ballot application provisions of Georgia Senate Bill 202. The provisions at issue bar groups from sending voters absentee ballot applications with pre-filled information and require that groups send applications for absentee ballots only to those who have not already requested, received or voted an absentee ballot. The provisions do not impose severe restrictions on the organizations' First Amendment freedom of association rights and serve the state's interest in decreasing voter confusion and combatting complaints of fraud. However, the officials failed to show that they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the organizations' free speech claim.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: September 27, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv1390, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Elections, First Amendment
J. Boulee rules in favor of the contractor in a negligence action brought by the crane company's employee arising from injuries he suffered after being electrocuted while disassembling a crane. The contractor contractually retained the company to provide the crane in order to fulfill its own contract with a customer, therefore the company was a subcontractor. The employee was injured during the performance of the contract. The contractor is entitled to immunity because it was the employee's statutory employer under Georgia Workers’ Compensation Act.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv5241, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Negligence
J. Boulee rules in favor of the insurers in a declaratory judgment action and finds that they do not owe any duty to defend or indemnify the apartment owner or manager in an underlying negligence lawsuit arising from a fatal shooting on their property. The owner and manager failed to timely notify the insurers of the shooting. Although the owner and manager learned about the shooting in August 2020, they waited more than five months to give the insurers notice. An ordinary policyholder would have foreseen the possibility that the shooting would lead to an insurance claim warranting notice to the insurers.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv1265, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Indemnification
J. Boulee grants the insurance company's motion to intervene as a plaintiff in a declaratory judgment action brought by the insurers against the insured. The action arises from a coverage dispute related to an underlying lawsuit against the insured for allegedly improper construction work. Although the company could protect its interests by filing its own action against the insurers, allowing the company to intervene in the instant action is in the interest of judicial economy.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv2739, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Civil Procedure, Insurance
J. Boulee refuses to find in favor of the technology company in a fraud and breach of contract action brought by the financial services corporation. The corporation claimed the company surreptitiously entered into transactions with the corporation's protected investors in an effort to avoid paying fees to the corporation. It is not clear that the company's conduct complied with the terms of the agreement. The word "introduce" in the agreement does not require personal contact between the company and an investor. A genuine issue of fact exists as to whether the corporation introducing the company to an investor means the corporation also introduced the company to the investor's affiliates.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv594, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Fraud, Contract
J. Boulee grants Google's motion to dismiss an antitrust action brought by an individual alleging that Google drove search traffic to YouTube copies of videos launched on the individual's video platform instead of to the original content. The individual alleged that Google's anticompetitive practices prevented his platform from gaining visibility. The individual failed to show that he suffered an antitrust injury in his individual capacity. The alleged harms were suffered by the video platform, not the individual.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: August 28, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv4204, NOS: Antitrust - Other Suits, Categories: Antitrust
J. Boulee grants the rental company's motion to exclude testimony from a physical and biomedical engineer in an action brought by the employees alleging a claim for negligent bailment arising from injuries they suffered when they fell from a boom lift rented to the employer by the company. The engineer's opinions about the risk of injuries to the employees are not reliable. The company's motion to exclude expert testimony from a mechanical engineer and boom lift inspector is partially granted. The employees withdrew the mechanical engineer as a witness but they will not be unfairly prejudiced if the company calls him as a witness. The inspector may gave opinions as to the pre-delivery and post-delivery inspections of the boom lift.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: August 24, 2023, Case #: 1:19cv1083, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Negligence, Experts
J. Boulee adopts the magistrate judge's recommendation and denies the parties' motions for summary judgment in an employment action brought by the employee alleging violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act. The employee claimed she was fired for requesting FMLA leave for a knee surgery. The employer's departure from normal policies by failing to put the employee on a performance improvement plan or implement progressive discipline raises a genuine issue of fact as to whether its stated reasons for firing her are pretextual.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: August 21, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv5256, NOS: Family and Medical Leave Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Employment Retaliation
J. Boulee denies the nonprofit organizations' motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to block the officials from enforcing two provisions of Georgia's voting law, S.B. 202, which require absentee ballot drop boxes to be placed inside advance voting locations and make it a felony for an unauthorized person to return an absentee ballot for another person. The organizations failed to show a likelihood of success on their claim that the provisions violate the ADA and Rehabilitation Act by discriminating against voters with disabilities. Difficulties faced by the organizations' constituents do not deny them ready access to absentee voting.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv1284, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Elections
J. Boulee grants the nonprofit organizations' motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to block county officials from enforcing a provision of Georgia's voting law, S.B. 202, allowing absentee ballots to be rejected for errors or omissions relating to a birthdate requirement on ballot return envelopes. The birthdate is immaterial to determining whether the voter is qualified to vote and is only used to verify the voter's identity. The organizations established a likelihood of success on their claim that the requirement violates the materiality provision of the Civil Rights Act. A voter's injury arising from the rejection of a ballot due to a missing birthdate is traceable to a county official because county officials are responsible for accepting or rejecting absentee ballots. However, the motion is denied as to state officials because they are not involved in the process of accepting or rejecting absentee ballots.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv1259, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Elections
[Consolidated.] J. Boulee grants the renewed motions for preliminary injunction by the organizations and bars the officials from enforcing a provision of Georgia's voting law, S.B. 202, as it relates to initiating criminal prosecutions or imposing criminal penalties for passing out food and drinks to voters waiting in line at polling places. The organizations are likely to show that the practice known as "line relief" is expressive conduct under the First Amendment and that the ban on the practice is a content-based regulation of speech. There is evidence showing that reasonable people would interpret line relief efforts as conveying messages about community support. Long lines are likely to continue in the 2024 elections such that the groups will suffer irreparable injury without an injunction.
Court: USDC Southern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 1:21mi55555, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Elections, First Amendment
J. Boulee adopts the magistrate judge's recommendation and grants the employer's motion to dismiss a civil rights and retaliation action brought by the employee alleging violations of the Family Medical Leave Act. The employee failed to name the sheriff in the charge of discrimination filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The employee failed to show that the exception to the naming requirement applies. He also failed to specify what statutorily protected activity he engaged in. The magistrate judge correctly found that three internal grievances filed by the employee did not constitute protected activity because the employee failed to allege that he was discriminated against on the basis of his gender.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: July 27, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv2413, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Equal Protection, Employment Retaliation
J. Boulee grants the police officer's motion to set aside the clerk's entry of default in a civil rights, malicious prosecution and battery action brought by a mother and daughter. The action arose after the officer allegedly assaulted the daughter when she refused to speak to him. Although the officer gave timely notice of the lawsuit to the city's department of law, a city official failed to submit a request to hire outside counsel for the officer until after the clerk entered default. The mother and daughter will not be prejudiced by the decision to set aside default.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: July 20, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv3185, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Malicious Prosecution
J. Boulee partially grants two companies' motions to partially dismiss a wrongful death and negligence action brought by a widow and a grandmother arising after the decedent was crushed and his grandson was trapped by a camper's slide-out room extender. The strict liability claims are dismissed as barred by the statute of repose because the claim was filed more than 10 years after the date of the original camper purchase. A 2020 tolling order issued by the Georgia Supreme Court related to the Covid-19 emergency order did not apply to the statute of repose. However, the negligence claim is not barred by the statute of repose because the widow and grandmother sufficiently alleged that the companies acted with at least reckless disregard for life.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: June 29, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv3605, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Negligence, Wrongful Death
J. Boulee denies the doctors' motions to dismiss or transfer a fraud and breach of contract action brought by the radiology corporation arising from alleged violations of the terms of share purchase agreements. The corporation claims that the doctors committed Medicare and Medicaid fraud by telling the radiology practice's secretaries to sign medical reports on the doctors' behalf. The corporation's claims are not compulsory counterclaims in litigation which is ongoing in Kentucky state court because the claims in each case are distinct and raise different issues of law and fact. Abstention under the Colorado River doctrine is also not warranted.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: June 9, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv4694, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Fraud, Contract
J. Boulee adopts the magistrate judge's recommendation and partially grants the employer's motion to dismiss the employee's age discrimination action. The employee's claims for hostile work environment, breach of contract and unjust enrichment are dismissed with prejudice. The employee's objections to the recommendation are overruled. The magistrate judge applied the proper standard of review and did not commit any error by failing to clarify whether the dismissal was with or without prejudice.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: June 1, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv3941, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination
J. Boulee denies the driver's motion to transfer venue of a negligence action brought by the injured individual to the middle district of Florida. The convenience of witnesses and the location of documents do not support a finding that the action, which arises out of a car collision, should be transferred. The collision at issue also occurred entirely in the northern district of Georgia.
Court: USDC Northern District of Georgia, Judge: Boulee, Filed On: May 25, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv3760, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Vehicle, Negligence, Venue