Free Newsletter
Jurisdiction – Hotel – Discovery
Where a complaint over a fatality that occurred at a hotel in Canada was dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction, the lower court abused its discretion by disallowing jurisdictional discovery into the involvement of one of the defendants in the hotel's operation, including advertising and room-booking activities.
Criminal – Sentencing – Hearsay
Where a defendant who was sentenced to 57 months for conspiring to traffic firearms has filed an appeal arguing that the district court erred procedurally by applying a six-point enhancement to his offense level computation based on prior statements of a co-conspirator to agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the sentence should be affirmed because the district court d[...]
Damages – Homemaker – Loss of consortium
Where a U.S. District Court judge awarded damages to a plaintiff who alleged that her doctors and nurse practitioner at a federally funded health center breached their duty of care, the damages for loss of consortium must be vacated for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, while a remand is necessary because the judge’s per-diem calculation of homemaker damages was unsupported by the evid[...]
Zoning – Standing
Where a complaint challenging the creation of a new zoning district in a Massachusetts town was dismissed for lack of standing, the dismissal order should be upheld because the plaintiffs have not adequately demonstrated that they have been or likely will be injured in fact.
Fraud – False Claims Act – Sovereign immunity
Where a False Claims Act complaint alleging retaliation at Veterans Affairs Maine Healthcare System was dismissed, the judgment of dismissal should be affirmed because Congress has not expressly waived the federal government's sovereign immunity to permit FCA-based retaliation claims against federal employers.
Criminal – Sentencing
Where a defendant who was sentenced to 90 months has challenged an 18-month upward variance, that variance was properly based on 279 rounds of ammunition and 10 magazines (seven of which were high-capacity) that the defendant possessed at the time of his arrest.
Criminal – Sentencing
Where a defendant has challenged a 19-month upward variance, the defendant’s two concurrent 60-month prison sentences should be upheld based on the large amount of ammunition and number of magazines in his possession.
Verdicts & Settlements
- Injury during baby’s adenoidectomy leads to stroke
- Construction worker’s hand caught in cement mixer
- Worker trapped in freezer, dies during steam cleaning
- Pedestrian, 69, hit by motor vehicle while in crosswalk
- Four-vehicle pileup leaves driver with spinal cord injury
- Nursing home staff blamed for kidney-failure death
- Pharmacy’s late delivery blamed for patient’s death
- Man, 25, drowns after swimming lesson at fitness club
Opinion Digests
- Jurisdiction – Forum selection clause – Non-signatory
- Criminal – Responsibility
- Attorneys – Lien
- Landlord and tenant – Default judgment
- Zoning – Constructive grant – Comprehensive permit
- Fraud – False Claims Act – Settlement share
- Civil practice – Discovery – Cybersecurity
