OPINION PETER J. MESSITTE, District Judge. I. Introduction Eileen Hylind won a jury verdict against Xerox Corporation on claims of sexual discrimination and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, and the jury awarded her compensatory damages, subsequently capped at the statutory maximum of $300,000. The Court now addresses various post-trial motions of the parties. Hylind has filed: 1) A Motion for Economic Damages, claiming entitlement to back pay and...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ALEXANDER WILLIAMS, JR., District Judge. Pending before the Court is Defendant's Motion to Dismiss, or Alternatively, for Summary Judgment. Doc. No. 29. For the reasons articulated below, the Court GRANTS the summary judgment aspect of Defendant's motion, so the Court need not address Defendant's argument for dismissal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). I. FACTUAL & PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND The following facts are not disputed by the Parties, unless otherwise...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ALEXANDER WILLIAMS, JR., District Judge. Pending before this Court are the following motions: (1) Defendant Pathfinder's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 75); (2) Plaintiffs' Motion for Leave to Amend (Doc. No. 84); (3) Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment as to Defendant Gressett (Doc. No. 85); (4) Defendant Gressett's Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 89); (5) Plaintiffs' Motion for Default Judgment as to Defendant Mark Field (Doc. No. 94); (6)...
MEMORANDUM J. FREDERICK MOTZ, District Judge. Plaintiff T-Mobile Northeast LLC ("T-Mobile"), a wireless telecommunications service provider, applied to the Frederick County Board of Appeals ("the Board") 1 for a special use exception to install a cell tower in Frederick County, Maryland in order to close a gap in T-Mobile's service coverage. Following the Board's denial of the application, T-Mobile filed this action seeking an injunction directing the Board to grant its application, as well...
MEMORANDUM CATHERINE C. BLAKE, District Judge. Pending before this court is a motion for summary judgment filed by the plaintiffs, Asbestos Workers Local 24 Pension Fund (the "Fund") and the trustees of the Fund, Lino Cressotti, Brian Cavey, Dave Nichols, W. Paul Stonebreaker, Rick Pumphrey and Dave Trumble (collectively, the "trustees"). The plaintiffs have sued NLG Insulation, Inc. ("NLG") under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA") to collect withdrawal liability,...
Memorandum Opinion ALEXANDER WILLIAMS, JR., District Judge. Pending before the Court are three motions filed by various Defendants. First, Defendants Tony Jackson and Robert DiGennaro ("individual Defendants") have filed motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and for failure to state a fraud claim with the required level of particularity. See Doc. Nos. 8, 10. Second, Defendant Precision Recovery Analytics, Inc. ("Precision Recovery") has filed a motion to compel arbitration...
MEMORANDUM OPINION WILLIAM D. QUARLES, JR., District Judge. Pending is Christian Castellon-Gutierrez's motion to vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence under 28 U.S.C. 2255. Also pending is the Government's motion to dismiss. A hearing was held on October 7, 2010. For the following reasons, Castellon-Gutierrez's motion will be denied, and the Government's motion will be granted. I. Background In February 2008, Castellon-Gutierrez and two other men robbed Marvin Flores at knifepoint....
MEMORANDUM BENSON EVERETT LEGG, District Judge. This case arises out of the tragic death of Racheal Wilson, a Baltimore City firefighter recruit in training, during a "live burn" training exercise. Ms. Wilson' family and personal representative ("Wilson' Estate") brought suit against the Mayor and City Council of the City of Baltimore, as well as three individual members of the Baltimore City Fire Department. Now before the Court is the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint....
MEMORANDUM OPINION ROGER W. TITUS, District Judge. In late 2006, AHL Development ("AHL") and Resurrection Baptist Church ("Resurrection Baptist"), entered into a contract under which AHL agreed to construct a worship facility for Resurrection Baptist at 900 Ednor Road, Silver Spring, Maryland for $994,000. Compl. 9. Around the same time, Resurrection Baptist and AHL entered into a separate contract under which AHL agreed to perform preliminary site development work for the Silver Spring...
OPINION PETER J. MESSITTE, District Judge. After finding Dustin Higgs guilty of the kidnapping and murder of Tamika Black, Mishann Chinn, and Tanji Jackson, a jury determined that he should receive the death penalty. The Court thereafter entered judgment on the verdict and Higgs appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which affirmed the conviction and sentence. See United States v. Higgs, 353 F.3d 281 (4th Cir.2003) (" Higgs I "). The Supreme Court...
OPINION PETER J. MESSITTE, District Judge. The Court considers Plaintiffs' Motion for Attorney Fees and Expenses [Paper No. 160]. For the following reasons, the Motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. I. Plaintiffs brought suit against Lee Wagner, Sam D. Scholar, Ronald Beddow, Donald Molnar, Harry Perry, James Lertora, and Edgar Pepper, alleging that, while serving as fiduciaries to the Plasterers' Local Union No. 96 Pension Plan ("Pension Plan" or "Plan"), they violated the...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ALEXANDER WILLIAMS, JR., District Judge. Pending before the Court is Chevron Corporation's Ex Parte Application for and Order Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1782 to conduct discovery on Daniel Rourke and Carlos Picone for Use in Foreign Proceedings (Doc. No. 1); Chevron's Ex Parte Notice for Judicial Notice of Court Filings and Orders in the Lago Agrio Litigation (Doc. No. 4); and Joint Motion for Leave to File a Sur-Reply in Response to Chevron's Memorandum in Reply to Support...
MEMORANDUM OPINION RICHARD D. BENNETT, District Judge. Plaintiff Marsha Plunkett ("Plunkett"), brings this employment discrimination action against Defendant John E. Potter, in his official capacity as Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service ("Defendant" or "USPS"), Plunkett's former employer. Plunkett claims that she was unlawfully discriminated against because of her disability in violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 701 et seq., and that she was...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PAUL W. GRIMM, United States Magistrate Judge. This Memorandum and Order addresses the Motion for Summary Judgment, Paper No. 16, that Defendant Villa St. Catherine's Inc. d/b/a St. Catherine's Nursing Center (the "Nursing Center") filed; Plaintiff Lori Kennedy's Opposition to Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment, Paper No. 25; and the Nursing Center's Reply Memorandum in Support of its Motion for Summary Judgment, Paper No. 28. For the reasons stated herein,...
MEMORANDUM CATHERINE C. BLAKE, District Judge. The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") and Christopher Fultz have sued Rite Aid Corporation ("Rite Aid") under the Americans with Disability Act ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq., and Maryland anti-discrimination laws, Md.Code Ann., State Gov't 20-601 et seq., for discrimination, harassment and hostile work environment, retaliation, and failure to accommodate. Now pending before the court is the defendant's...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ALEXANDER WILLIAMS, JR., District Judge. Plaintiff Jane Powers Huggins, trading as SADISCO of Maryland ("Plaintiff" or "SADISCO"), brings this actions against Defendants Prince George's County, Maryland ("the County") and several Prince George's County officials, claiming a violation of Substantive Due Process pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983 (Count I). Currently pending before the Court is Defendant Prince George's County, Maryland's Motion for Summary Judgment. (Doc. No. 255)...
MEMORANDUM OPINION DEBORAH K. CHASANOW, District Judge. Presently pending and ready for resolution in this consumer lending case are two motions: a motion to dismiss (ECF No. 16) filed by Defendant Koons Automotive, Inc. ("Koons") and a motion to intervene (ECF No. 21) filed by Prestige Financial Services, Inc. ("Prestige"). The issues have been fully briefed and the court now rules pursuant to Local Rule 105. 6, no hearing being deemed necessary. For the reasons that follow, Koons' motion...
MEMORANDUM CATHERINE C. BLAKE, District Judge. Now pending before the court is a motion to dismiss filed by defendant LVNV Funding, LLC ("LVNV"). Plaintiffs Jason Hauk and Freddy Velazquez have sued LVNV, a debt collection company organized in Delaware, alleging violations of federal and state debt collection statutes based on lawsuits LVNV filed in Maryland to collect debts it had purchased while those debts were in default. The plaintiffs allege violations of the Fair Debt Collection...
OPINION PETER J. MESSITTE, District Judge. Steven Syrja has sued his former employer, Westat, Inc. ("Westat"), alleging violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), and the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law. With respect to his FLSA claim, Syrja has also filed a Motion for Conditional Class Certification [Paper No. 14], in which, pursuant to 29 U.S.C. 216(b), he asks the Court...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ROGER W. TITUS, District Judge. "The political franchise of voting ... is regarded as a fundamental right, because preservative of all rights." Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356 , 6 S.Ct. 1064, 30 L.Ed. 220 (1886). It is axiomatic that a state may not erect obstacles which deprive a group of citizens of the fundamental right to vote absent sufficient justification. Louisiana v. United States, 380 U.S. 145 , 85 S.Ct. 817, 13 L.Ed.2d 709 (1965). This case requires the...
