16 results for 'judge:"Tymkovich"'.
J. Tymkovich finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of wire fraud and stealing government property for carrying out a scheme to defraud the Department of Veterans Affairs by exaggerating his disability. As part of the investigation, agents for the department installed a camera near his house to record his activities, and defendant claims that the lower court wrongfully admitted evidence used from those cameras to convict him. Legal precedent has established, however, that he did not have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" regarding the view of the front of his house. Affirmed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Tymkovich, Filed On: March 19, 2024, Case #: 22-3276, Categories: Evidence, Fraud
J. Tymkovich finds that the lower court properly tossed employment claims from a former employee of the Colorado Department of Corrections who claims that the training program he was placed in subjected him to a hostile work environment and promoted race-based policies. While it is noted that some of the messaging in the training materials is "troubling on many levels," the former employee has nonetheless failed to show how the training materials resulted in direct harassment or poor conduct in the workplace. His arguments that such training could still cause those problems "eventually" are too speculative to save his suit. Affirmed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Tymkovich, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 23-1063, Categories: Employment
J. Tymkovich finds that the lower court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress evidence regarding his conviction for murder. Defendant's appeal arises from a new ruling finding that a tribal reservation covered more land than was previously thought, leading many crimes that were once thought to have been committed outside tribal jurisdiction to actually have taken place within tribal jurisdiction. Defendant's crimes fall within the group that is influenced by that decision, but his convictions stand The lower court was still within its rights to use evidence and statements gathered from the officers' initial investigation, and all of the officers acted in accordance with the "prevailing factual and legal landscape at the time." Affirmed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Tymkovich, Filed On: March 4, 2024, Case #: 22-7028, Categories: Murder
J. Tymkovich finds that the lower court improperly ruled against a gold mine operator after it was sued for alleged unlawful wastewater discharges into areas within the South Platte River floodplain. The lower court found the company was discharging unpermitted pollutants into navigable waters, but the ruling did not consider the entire picture. The lower court incorrectly found that groundwater discharges into settling ponds were the "functional equivalent" of direct discharges into the South Platte River, two entirely different discharges under the Clean Water Act. As a result, the lower court did not fully take into account all of the "geophysical factors" of the case. Reversed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Tymkovich, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 22-1340, Categories: Environment, Water
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J. Tymkovich finds that the lower court properly denied an injunction from a class of employees looking to stop Vail Resorts from carrying on with a nationwide settlement it reached with some of the employees over wage claims. Their motion to stop the settlement was barred by the Anti-Injunction Act, as they did not show how any of the Act's exceptions, such as the necessary-in-aid-of-jurisdiction exception, applied to their request. Affirmed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Tymkovich, Filed On: December 27, 2023, Case #: 22-1226, Categories: Employment, Settlements, Injunction
J. Tymkovich finds that the bankruptcy court properly ruled in dispute over a question of earmarked funds. The funds were earmarked to pay off a debt to the mother of a man who owned a petroleum company before filing for bankruptcy, which the trustee tried to recover because the mother was being paid before creditors who were given a higher priority under the bankruptcy plan. The lower court properly rejected the trustee's claims on the basis that the petroleum company did not have an interest in those funds, as well as the fact that the overall bankruptcy estate was not diminished by allowing the payments to the mother. Affirmed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Tymkovich , Filed On: December 12, 2023, Case #: 22-2073, Categories: Bankruptcy
J. Tymkovich finds that the lower court properly denied a motion to enjoin a resort company from consummating a settlement regarding class allegations that its workers were owed unpaid overtime wages. The company would go on to reach a nationwide settlement with some of the plaintiffs, leading those bringing the suit from Colorado to ask that the settlement be put on hold. Their motion, however, is barred by the Anti-Injunction Act, and arguments that the Act does not apply to their suit are without merit. Affirmed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Tymkovich, Filed On: October 17, 2023, Case #: 22-1226, Categories: Employment, Settlements
J. Tymkovich finds that the lower court properly dismissed a suit from victims of the Roosevelt Fire who sued the U.S. Forest Service with claims that the agency delayed its fire suppression response. Under the Federal Tort Claims Act, government entities are shielded from certain suits when they show they had to exercise a "discretionary function" that requires judgment and choice in tackling an event or problem. Responding to a wildfire falls under that umbrella, leaving the Forest Service immune from the suit due to the discretionary function exception. Affirmed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Tymkovich, Filed On: September 15, 2023, Case #: 22-8023, Categories: Environment, Tort, Agency
J. Tymkovich vacates a judgment that was issued in favor of a former employee for an oilfield company. The employee sued the company with claims that it wrongfully exempted him from overtime pay, and the lower court found in his favor and awarded him $40,000. However, the jury was improperly instructed to determine if his salary was exempt from regulations relating to the Fair Labor Standards Act, a question that should have been left for the court to decide. Because that question was improperly handed off to the jury, a new trial is needed. Vacated.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Tymkovich, Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 21-1231, Categories: Employment, Jury, Labor
J. Tymkovich finds that the lower court improperly issued an order that reopened an employment case where an individual sued his employer with age discrimination claims after he was fired. The individual voluntarily dismissed his suit when his contract required him to arbitrate his claims, but when the arbitrator did not find in his favor, he moved to reopen his case. The lower court did not have the authority to grant this request because it was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice, and as a result, was not a final order. Reversed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Tymkovich , Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 22-1252, Categories: Arbitration, Civil Procedure, Employment
J. Tymkovich finds that the lower court properly dismissed a lawsuit from two sign companies that alleged Colorado's regulations regarding road signs are unlawful. Under state law, a sign that was paid for requires a permit, such as a company advertisement, while a sign that nobody paid for, such as a public service announcement, does not require a permit of any kind. The two companies allege this distinction violates free speech rights, but the law passes constitutional muster because it allows the state to further its goals of promoting important issues, such as roadside safety. Affirmed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Tymkovich, Filed On: August 22, 2023, Case #: 21-1448, Categories: Civil Rights, Government
J. Tymkovich finds that the lower court properly upheld the approval of a project in Wyoming designed to drill exploratory wells on land to which the project developer, an energy company, has development rights. A series of conservation groups say the feds did not look hard enough into the impact the project would have on the local wildlife population, such as sage-grouse and pronghorn antelope. The record shows the government properly collected all the relevant data and approved a plan that met their requirements under the law. The groups also did not exhaust administrative remedies. Affirmed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Tymkovich, Filed On: August 7, 2023, Case #: 22-8022, Categories: Environment, Agency
J. Tymkovich finds that the lower court properly denied qualified immunity to an officer in an excessive force dispute. The officer used his knee to strike a pretrial detainee at a jail when the detainee was seated on the ground and handcuffed, and it is clear at this stage that the knee strike was excessive and that the officer cannot be shielded by immunity. The lower court did, however, improperly deny immunity to the sheriff. There was no way for the sheriff to know at the time of the incident that his supervision over the officer was deficient, as there is no evidence that there was a pattern of violence against inmates by jail staff. Reversed in part.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Tymkovich, Filed On: July 11, 2023, Case #: 22-5086 , Categories: Immunity, Police Misconduct
J. Tymkovich finds that the lower court properly ruled in favor of the government in a dispute over a water contract deal between the Bureau of Reclamation and the state of Utah over the water distribution from the Green River Basis. Environmental groups claim that the deal was approved without carrying out the proper "hard look" into how the deal would impact the environment, such as local fish. The deal does not drastically change the water or fish resources, however, because the main thrust of the deal only affects the state's point of diversion from the water source, not the amount of water to which the state is already entitled. Because of the relatively little change taking place, the methodology and materials used by the feds passes muster. Affirmed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Tymkovich, Filed On: July 10, 2023, Case #: 21-4098, Categories: Environment, Water, Agency