17 results for 'judge:"Duffin"'.
J. Duffin denies the technology corporation's motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit from a pet distributor over a contract for the corporation to develop a new web portal for the distributor's services that the distributor says never functioned properly. Because it is supported by admissible lay testimony from the distributor's project team, most of the distributor's breach of contract claim does not necessarily require expert testimony and has enough substance to survive the corporation's motion.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv563, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Experts, Contract
J. Duffin partially grants the city and city officials' motion to dismiss the former city planning and development director's lawsuit alleging the officials conspired to force him out of his job for political reasons based on false accusations involving an incident in which he repeated a racial slur a citizen had previously said during a public meeting. In part because the director has sufficiently pleaded that he was labeled as a racist and targeted for retaliation because he is a heterosexual white male and the officials were intent on "boosting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging programs," his hostile work environment, disparate treatment and equal protection claims against the city and the officials will proceed, except for equal protection claims against two officials. The director's First Amendment prior restraint claim against the city survives, but the same claim against the individual officials is dismissed. His First Amendment retaliation claim is dismissed in its entirety, as are all of his official capacity claims against the individual officials.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1048, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Employment Discrimination
J. Duffin partially grants the trucking company's motions in limine in the former employee's lawsuit claiming the company refused to accommodate his observation of the Sabbath in violation of his rights against religious discrimination. The company's motions to prohibit testimony at trial from any witness other than the employee himself and to prohibit the employee from testifying about his termination and discharge from the company are granted, in part because the employee failed to timely disclose other witnesses and because the scope of the trial is focused solely on alleged religious discrimination during his employment. The company's motion in limine to prohibit the employee from offering hearsay testimony is denied as unnecessary, and the employee's motion for reconsideration of summary judgment and for appointment of counsel for him is denied.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 2:20cv169, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination
J. Duffin partially grants the employee's motion to certify class for his lawsuit alleging the waste management company did not pay him and other garbage truck drivers proper overtime by failing to include bonuses in the overtime calculation and did not compensate them for time they spent inspecting their trucks before they clocked in for their shifts. The employee's motion for conditional certification is denied for drivers who inspected their trucks before clocking in and beginning their scheduled trips, but the motion is granted as to all drivers who received a bonus on or after October 3, 2020.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv504, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Class Action, Labor
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J. Duffin partially grants the public schools district officials' motion to dismiss a lawsuit from a former employee claiming she was targeted for retaliation and discrimination as a white woman because she opposed the promotion of an unqualified Black male to the position of chief academic officer. The employee's claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act and a Wisconsin labor statute are dismissed, as are her constitutional claims against the district and members of the district's board of directors in their official capacities. Her federal-law race and sex discrimination claims, public records claims against the district and the board, and a First Amendment claim against one board member in her individual capacity survive the motion to dismiss.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: January 19, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv948, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Due Process, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Duffin denies the equipment rental company's motion to dismiss counterclaims and a third-party complaint in its lawsuit against the construction machinery manufacturer, in which both parties allege multiple breaches of agreements involved with the company being the distributor of the manufacturer's products in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana. The manufacturer's unjust enrichment, breach of contract and breach of guaranty counterclaims will all move forward, in part due to unresolved questions regarding the validity of contracts underlying the claims.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: December 14, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv777, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Contract
J. Duffin denies Caterpillar's motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit from a widow whose husband died when the Caterpillar dump truck he was driving rolled over. Based on the facts at hand a reasonable jury could find the dump truck was defectively designed and the widow's husband endured pain and suffering before he died after the truck rolled over, so Caterpillar's summary judgment motion must be denied. Also denied is Caterpillar's motion to exclude testimony from a mechanical engineer appearing on the widow's behalf, as the engineer is qualified and his conclusions were reached based on sufficient data and reliable computer modeling.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: November 3, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv1874, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Experts, Wrongful Death
J. Duffin finds partially in favor of the patient and the medical device company in a lawsuit alleging multiple product liability claims over a vena cava filter that caused severe complications after it migrated to the patient's heart, which was not discovered until five years after it was implanted. The patient's partial motion for summary judgment is denied, and the company's motion for summary judgment is granted except for the patient's design-defect product liability claim and the portion of her negligence claim regarding the company's sale of a filter with a defective design. The company's motion to exclude testimony and opinions from six experts for the patient is partially granted, including as to one doctor's opinions on the patient's need for psychological services, another doctor's opinions on her mental health, and a biomedical engineering professor's opinions on the company's state of mind or subjective motivations and certain design aspects of the filter.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: October 31, 2023, Case #: 2:19cv988, NOS: Personal Injury - Health Care/Pharmaceutical Personal Injury/Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Health Care, Negligence, Product Liability
J. Duffin grants the manufacturer's motion for sanctions against the insurance company for violations of discovery rules in the company's lawsuit over fires caused by the manufacturer's defective dryers. The company litigating a motion to compel documents that its expert had already purchased in some form from a third party was an abuse of the discovery process, so even though the federal rule the manufacturer cites does not apply to discovery requests, the motion is granted in that it is awarded costs and fees it incurred responding to the company's motion to compel. The insurance company's motion to reopen discovery in light of a recall of dryers that occurred shortly after discovery closed is denied.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: October 19, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv1455, NOS: Tort Product Liability - Real Property, Categories: Tort, Product Liability, Discovery
J. Duffin denies the nutritional supplement company's motion to reconsider a previous decision dismissing all the claims in its lawsuit against the packaging manufacturer over defective packaging it provided for the company's products. The decision will not be reconsidered because it is too late for the arguments the company now brings, for the first time, against the court's finding that the majority of its claims were time-barred under statutes of limitations in New York, Florida and Texas. Because the company's motion to reconsider is denied, the manufacturer's motion to file a sur-reply is also denied.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: October 19, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv305, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Negligence, Warranty, Contract
J. Duffin finds partially in favor of the police officers in a pro se lawsuit from a citizen bringing multiple constitutional claims related to the search of a residence where he was arrested after refusing to reveal himself and exit the residence while the officers were investigating a previous battery report. The citizen's First Amendment retaliation claim blaming his arrest on a prior lawsuit he filed against other police officers, Fourth Amendment unlawful entry claim over the officers' lack of a warrant and Eighth Amendment cruel and unusual punishment claim all fail and are dismissed. Summary judgment is granted to the officers on those claims but not the citizen's Fourth Amendment unlawful seizure claim, as there are factual disputes over whether the citizen was still detained while being transported to the hospital for self-reported chest pains after reasonable suspicion had ended, and the officers have not proven they are entitled to qualified immunity.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv911, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, First Amendment, Police Misconduct
J. Duffin partially grants the city, the city's mayor and other city officials' motions to dismiss the former city administrator's lawsuit alleging they and others conspired to block him from official city business, put him under investigation and remove him from office because he refused to fund a diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging program. One of the administrator's First Amendment claims is dismissed for a lack of standing, and also dismissed entirely are his claims that a city false statements ordinance is unconstitutionally vague, that his occupational liberty interest was violated under the 14th Amendment, that the mayor defamed him, and that the mayor, an alderperson and a private attorney inflicted emotional distress upon him. The administrator's due process claim is dismissed as to the alderpersons, the mayor and the city attorney in their official capacities, in part on qualified immunity grounds.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: September 5, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv149, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Due Process, First Amendment
J. Duffin partially grants the insured's motion to compel discovery for the bad-faith claim in her lawsuit against the insurance company over underinsured motorist benefits she is attempting to claim stemming from in a car accident. The insured is granted limited discovery regarding the formula and method the company uses to calculate its cash reserves, and the company is ordered to produce a complete attorney-client privilege log within 21 days. The insured's motion is denied as to her demand that the company identify its people "most knowledgeable" of certain facts, and resolution is deferred as to other matters withheld by the company based on work product, attorney-client privilege and post-litigation information, as well as discovery of its actual cash reserve amount. The company's motion for a protective order and court review of its privilege log is denied, and the insured's motion for sanctions is denied without prejudice.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: June 29, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv200, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Discovery, Contract
J. Duffin finds in favor of the plastic bag manufacturer in a lawsuit from a nutritional supplement company bringing breach of contract, warranty, conspiracy and other claims over thousands of defective bags the manufacturer made for the company's products. The manufacturer's motion to dismiss is denied regarding personal jurisdiction over the case, but it is granted as to each of the company's six claims, as its two warranty claims and contract and negligence claims are barred by expired four-year statutes of limitation, and its conspiracy and fraudulent misrepresentation claims are barred by Wisconsin's economic loss doctrine. The company's case is dismissed with prejudice.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: June 29, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv305, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Tort, Warranty, Contract
J. Duffin grants Caterpillar’s motion to exclude certain testimony from two experts appearing for the widow in her lawsuit alleging the defective design of one of Caterpillar’s dump trucks led to her husband’s death when the truck he was driving rolled over. One medical professional will not be permitted to opine about whether the husband was conscious for minutes after his accident before he died and another will not be permitted to opine about whether the husband felt pain or terror or suffering before he lost consciousness, as the opinions are either untimely, based on unclear or unsound methodology or they otherwise violate civil procedures. Caterpillar’s motion for oral argument and the widow’s motion for supplemental briefing are both denied.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: June 20, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv1874, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Product Liability, Experts, Wrongful Death
J. Duffin partially finds in favor of the foodstuffs packaging company in a lawsuit it brought against the cookie dough company over nonpayment for packaging products it provided. The packaging company's motion for judgment as a matter of law is granted in that the individual guarantors are found to have breached a personal guaranty to pay for product they received and are liable to pay $132,000 for goods delivered between March and May of 2019, and the packaging company is also granted judgment as a matter of law as to the guarantors' misrepresentation claims under Wisconsin law.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: June 15, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv499, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Tort, Contract