ORDER GRANTING SECOND MOTION FOR ATTORNEY FEES VICTOR A. BOLDEN , District Judge . Jed Horwitt, Esq., the Court-appointed Receiver in this action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), filed a Second Interim Application for Attorney Fees and Expenses Incurred by the Receiver and his Professionals. ECF No. 33. The application covers professional fees and expenses incurred between July 1, 2017 and September 30, 2017. Mr. Horwitt shared his application with counsel for the...
RULING ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT VICTOR A. BOLDEN , District Judge . 62-64 Kenyon Street Hartford, LLC, ("Rooming House" or the "Kenyon Street LLC"), a Connecticut limited liability company that operated a rooming on Kenyon Street in Hartford, and its sole member, Paul Rosow, filed this lawsuit alleging violations of statutory and constitutional rights by the City of Hartford ("the City" or "Hartford"). The claims relate specifically to an ordinance passed by the City that...
RULING ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT VICTOR A. BOLDEN , District Judge . Raymond and Kimberly Gabriel sued Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company after Liberty Mutual denied coverage for crumbling basement walls in the Gabriel's Ellington Home. The lawsuit alleged breach of contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and unfair and deceptive trade practices. Liberty Mutual now moves for summary judgment on all counts. For the reasons discussed below,...
RULING AND ORDER ON DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT VICTOR A. BOLDEN , District Judge . Earl Osborn ("Plaintiff" or "Mr. Osborn"), currently incarcerated at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution ("MacDougall") in Suffield, Connecticut, has sued various MacDougall employees under 42 U.S.C. 1983 for their failure to protect him in violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishments." U.S. Const. amend. VIII. Mr. Osborn seeks declaratory relief and...
RULING ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS VICTOR A. BOLDEN , District Judge . Sean McNamee ("Mr. McNamee" or "Plaintiff"), a certified public accountant, has sued the United States Department of Treasury Internal Revenue Service ("United States"), claiming an unconstitutional denial of his right to appeal a proposed penalty assessed against him. Compl. at 2, ECF No. 1. Mr. McNamee does not seek damages — only "his constitutional right to an appellant hearing." Am. Compl. at 1, ECF No. 11....
RULING ON MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTIVE RELIEF STEFAN R. UNDERHILL , District Judge . Jose Anthony Torrez ("Torrez") filed this complaint asserting a claim for deliberate indifference to serious mental health needs. Torrez has filed a motion for temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction seeking to be transferred to a designated mental health facility. The same standard is used to evaluate a request for temporary restraining order as a motion for preliminary injunction....
ORDER RE PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO COMPEL [#45] AND DEFENDANTS' CROSS MOTION [#51] SARAH A.L. MERRIAM , Magistrate Judge . On October 30, 2017, plaintiff filed a Motion to Compel seeking an order directing defendant Long View R.V., Inc. ("Long View") to permit an inspection and road test of the vehicle at issue in this matter. [Doc. #45]. In response, defendants filed an Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion to Compel and Cross Motion for an Order for Inspection. [Doc. #51]. Plaintiff filed a...
MEMORANDUM OF DECISION GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART VANESSA L. BRYANT , District Judge . MOTION TO DISMISS [DKT. 13] Plaintiff Giuseppe Boccanfuso ("Plaintiff" or "Boccanfuso") has filed this action against Town of Westport officials Edward Zygmant ("Zygmant") and Terrance Dunn, Jr. ("Dunn"), and Westport Police Department official Phillip Restieri ("Restieri") (collectively, "Defendants") arising out of his arrest, the prosecution, and his acquittal of alleged violations of...
ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT JEFFREY ALKER MEYER , District Judge . Plaintiff Andres Acevedo is a prisoner in the custody of the Connecticut Department of Correction (DOC). Plaintiff has suffered significant eye ailments that have required extensive treatment. He alleges that DOC Nurse Debra Wilson failed to comply with prescribed treatment by destroying plaintiff's prescription for special glasses, failing to fulfill prescriptions for Prilosec and artificial...
ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS JEFFREY ALKER MEYER , District Judge . Plaintiffs Todd Anderson and Seana Coughlin bring this action in their capacity as co-administrators of the estate of their deceased son, Skyler Anderson-Coughlin. 1 They seek to hold the United States liable under the Federal Tort Claims Act for the tragic death of their son after his car was struck by a tractor trailer truck that was carrying U.S. mail. I will dismiss this lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction because...
OMNIBUS RULING ON IN LIMINE MOTIONS CHARLES S. HAIGHT, JR. , Senior District Judge . A number of limine motions, filed by Plaintiff TMI or Defendant WMC on the authority of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993) and its progeny, seek to preclude or limit the proposed testimony of expert witnesses. These motions also turn upon the proper interpretation of Fed. R. Evid. 702. This Ruling resolves those motions. A number of Daubert motions are generated by or...
RULING WITH RESPECT TO IAN MITCHELL, A WITNESS CHARLES S. HAIGHT, JR. , Senior District Judge . Plaintiff's Emergency Motion [Doc. 250] "with respect to WMC's New Witness, Ian Mitchell" will be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. This Ruling modifies the Court's prior Electronic Order [Doc. 251] regarding the same Emergency Motion. The motion is granted to the extent necessary to ensure that Plaintiff has the opportunity to depose Mitchell before Mitchell appears at the trial in New...
RULING AND ORDER ROBERT N. CHATIGNY , District Judge . Defendant Markos Pappas moves for reconsideration of the order of July 7, 2017 [ECF No. 606], which denied his Rule 60(b) motion for relief from the order of December 13, 2006 [ECF 411] denying his motion to vacate or correct his sentence under 28 U.S.C. 2255. 1 Alternatively, he moves for a certificate of appealability pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2253(c)(2). For reasons that follow, the motions are denied. I. Background In 1997,...
RULING GRANTING MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT JEFFREY ALKER MEYER , District Judge . One day in early 2013, plaintiff John Lapaglia decided to call a U.S. military recruiter in New Haven, Connecticut. When no one answered the phone, he left an angry voicemail describing how he would like to detonate a nuclear bomb and kill millions of Americans. Not surprisingly, plaintiff was arrested for harassment and threatening. The charges were later dismissed because the military recruiter whom...
ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT JEFFREY ALKER MEYER , District Judge . Plaintiff Christopher Farrow filed this lawsuit after he was subject to discipline for threatening a prison counselor. Plaintiff claims that the counselor falsely charged him with threatening her in retaliation for his having filed a complaint against her. Plaintiff further claims that three more correctional officials violated his due process rights during the subsequent disciplinary hearing...
RULING GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT JEFFREY ALKER MEYER , District Judge . Plaintiff Shakeema Gill uses an inhaler for her asthma. One day while using the inhaler she breathed in a thumbtack that had somehow become lodged inside her inhaler. She has filed this product liability lawsuit against both the manufacturer of the inhaler (defendant Teva Respiratory, LLC) and the retailer (defendant CVS Pharmacy, Inc.). Because no genuine issue of fact remains to show that the...
RULING ON PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT VICTOR A. BOLDEN , District Judge . Allstate Insurance Company ("Allstate" or "Plaintiff") seeks a declaratory judgment that it has no obligation to defend or indemnify Sudha Swaminathan and Kanishka Tankala in an underlying state court lawsuit. Compl., ECF No. 1. Following the close of discovery, Allstate now moves for summary judgment. Mot. Summ. J., ECF No. 24. For the reasons discussed below, Allstate has no duty to defend or to...
RULING AND ORDER ON MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER VICTOR A. BOLDEN , District Judge . William Metcalf ("Mr. Metcalf" or "Plaintiff") has filed a Complaint against his former employer, Yale University ("Yale"), alleging violations of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. 623 et seq., and the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act ("CFEPA"), Conn. Gen. Stat. 46a-60 et seq. See generally Am. Compl., ECF No. 27. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), Yale...
RULING AND ORDER ON MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT VICTOR A. BOLDEN , District Judge . Michael Drena ("Plaintiff" or "Mr. Drena"), acting pro se, filed a seven-count Complaint against his mortgagee, Bank of America, N.A. ("Defendant" or "Bank of America") for allegedly improperly (i) increasing his mortgage payments and (ii) delaying review of his applications for modification of his home mortgage. Compl., ECF No. 1. The Court dismissed two of his claims—a breach of the covenant of good...
RULING GRANTING SENIOR PHILANTHROPY'S MOTION TO DISMISS JANET BOND ARTERTON , District Judge . Plaintiff Frantz Petion alleges that Senior Philanthropy of Westport, LLC ("Senior Philanthropy") failed to provide him with a reasonable accommodation and subsequently terminated his employment because of his medical disability or perceived disability in violation of Section 46a-60(a)(1) of the Connecticut General Statutes (Count Four), and retaliated against him in violation of both Conn. Gen....
