A whistleblower’s retaliatory termination suit against her former employer has survived dismissal, but the judge limited her allegations to those presented in her complaint to the Office of the Inspector General, or OIG. The veterinarian plaintiff alleged that her government ...

Tagged with: Judge Thomas T. Cullen U.S. District Court - Western District Whistleblower

Where town officials testified they retained an attorney to investigate an employee’s hostile work environment complaints, and that investigation may determine the town’s liability, the magistrate judge did not err in ordering the town to respond to discovery about the ...

Tagged with: Employment Discrimination Judge Thomas T. Cullen U.S. District Court - Western District

Where photos showed that two wooden pallets in a Walmart garden center over which a shopper tripped were an open and obvious condition of which she was aware or should have been aware, the store was granted summary judgment. Background ...

Tagged with: Judge Thomas T. Cullen Negligence U.S. District Court - Western District

Where a passenger grabbed the wheel of a car while in motion and crashed it into a business, the vehicle’s insurer had no duty to defend the resulting suit. The passenger never had a driver’s license and a passenger’s grabbing ...

Tagged with: Insurance Judge Thomas T. Cullen U.S. District Court - Western District

Where the former girlfriend of a company owner, who also worked at the company, alleged that the owner made “unwelcome” sexual advances, but the owner did not know she was ending their relationship at the time, and any animus against ...

Tagged with: Employment Discrimination Judge Thomas T. Cullen U.S. District Court - Western District

Where the plaintiff sued various police officials for violating his Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable seizures, but the record showed there was probable cause to arrest him, his Fourth Amendment claims were dismissed. Background In the early ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Judge Thomas T. Cullen U.S. District Court - Western District

Where an employee allegedly downloaded over a thousand files containing an elevator repair company’s confidential business information onto a personal hard drive at the same time he was operating a competing business, the employer’s statutory and common law claims survived ...

Tagged with: Employment Judge Thomas T. Cullen U.S. District Court - Western District

Where a man killed in an automobile accident had $1.5 million in uninsured and underinsured, or UM coverage, motorist coverage, and his estate accepted a $1.25 million wrongful-death settlement from the responsible driver’s carriers, the estate is awarded $250,000 in ...

Tagged with: Insurance Judge Thomas T. Cullen U.S. District Court - Western District

Where medical centers sought coverage for COVID-related business losses under the biocontamination and decontamination costs provisions in their policy, their claims are dismissed. The provisions require changes to the nature of the insured property that necessitates either repair or replacement ...

Tagged with: Insurance Judge Thomas T. Cullen U.S. District Court - Western District

Where a woman claimed her co-workers repeatedly made racially charged jokes and her supervisor refused to intervene, she performed her job satisfactorily and was terminated and replaced by a white woman with less experience, she plausibly alleged claims for race ...

Tagged with: Employment Discrimination Judge Thomas T. Cullen U.S. District Court - Western District