ORDER & OPINION 1 RONALD A. WHITE, District Judge. Star Insurance Company (hereinafter "Star") filed this action on April 4, 2012, seeking a declaratory judgment pursuant to the Federal Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. 2201 et seq. Star seeks a declaration that Bear Productions, Inc. (hereinafter "Bear") is not entitled to defense or indemnity coverage under a commercial general liability policy in connection with an environmental damage lawsuit originally filed in the District Court...
OPINION AND ORDER RONALD A. WHITE, District Judge. Petitioner has filed a petition for a writ of mandamus (Docket No. 28), again challenging the court's substitution of the warden at his facility as the respondent in this case and claiming the proper respondents are the Director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and the Executive Director of Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board. The court previously has explained to petitioner that the proper respondent in a habeas petition is the...
ORDER RONALD A. WHITE, District Judge. Before the court are motions to dismiss of various defendants. Plaintiff is under a filing restriction imposed by the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. See Order dated November 29, 2012, CIV-12-1131-HE, attached as Exhibit 1 to docket #42 in this case. He evidently sought to file the present complaint in that court and was denied for failing to observe the restrictions imposed. He then filed the complaint in this court....
ORDER RONALD A. WHITE, District Judge. Before the court is the motion of defendants Narconon of Oklahoma, Inc., Narconon International, and Social Betterment Properties International to recover legal fees. This action commenced on April 17, 2012, with plaintiff filing a complaint for declaratory judgment. The case was assigned to Judge Payne of this court. Plaintiff sought a declaratory judgment that it did not owe a duty to defend or indemnify regarding an ongoing state court lawsuit in...
OPINION AND ORDER JAMES H. PAYNE, District Judge. Before the Court are Plaintiff's Motion to Vacate Order/Judgment, [Doc. No. 123], and Defendants' Motion to Enforce Settlement Agreement, [Doc. No. 127]. After review of the briefs, and for the reasons stated below, both Plaintiff's Motion to Vacate Order/Judgment, [Doc. No. 123], and Defendants' Motion to Enforce Settlement Agreement, [Doc. No. 127], are DENIED. BACKGROUND On March 6, 2012, Plaintiff commenced this action by filing a...
ORDER RONALD A. WHITE, District Judge. Before the court are various motions. Plaintiff commenced this action by filing a petition on May 10, 2012 in the District Court for Coal County, State of Oklahoma. Plaintiff filed an amended petition on May 10, 2013. Defendants Ada Ford and Ken Davis were served on May 25, 2013 and May 28, 2013, respectively. Those defendants filed a notice of removal in this court on June 13, 2013. The notice of removal represents that defendant On Time Events, LLC...
OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO ASSESS FEES AND COSTS STEVEN P. SHREDER, Magistrate Judge. The Plaintiff Charles Nease was involved in an automobile accident with Amanda Dennis. He had insurance with the Defendant State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company in the amount of $25,000.00, and State Farm tried unsuccessfully to settle with Ms. Dennis, who eventually sued the Plaintiff and obtained a jury verdict in excess of $190,000.00. The Plaintiff then brought this action...
ORDER RONALD A. WHITE, District Judge. Before the court is the Notice of Removal filed on July 19, 2013 [Docket No. 3]. This case was originally filed in the District Court in and for Pittsburg County, State of Oklahoma on June 17, 2013. On July 22, 2013, the court directed the parties to show cause as to why the case should not be remanded to the state district court for lack of jurisdiction [Docket No. 6]. The parties have responded [Docket Nos. 7 and 8]. The Petition states that Plaintiff...
ORDER RONALD A. WHITE, District Judge. Before the court is the motion of the defendants to dismiss the amended complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) F.R.Cv.P. The court held a hearing regarding the motion on June 20, 2013 and now issues its ruling. 2 "Rule 12(b)(1) motions generally take one of two forms: (1) a facial attack on the sufficiency of a complaint's allegations as to subject matter jurisdiction; or (2) a challenge to the actual facts upon...
OPINION AND ORDER AWARDING ATTORNEY'S FEES UNDER 42 U.S.C. 406(b) STEVEN P. SHREDER, District Judge. The Plaintiff Barbara L. Hill appealed the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration's denial of benefits. Upon appeal by the Plaintiff, the Court reversed and remanded for further proceedings, which resulted in a disability determination and an award of $85,692.00 in past-due benefits. The Plaintiff now seeks an award of costs and attorney's fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 406(b)(1)....
OPINION AND ORDER AWARDING ATTORNEY'S FEES UNDER 42 U.S.C. 406(b) STEVEN P. SHREDER, District Judge. The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration denied an application for benefits by the Plaintiff Theresa Batcheller. On appeal, this Court reversed the decision of the Commissioner and remanded the case for further administrative proceedings, which resulted in a disability determination and an award of past-due benefits to the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff filed a motion on December 18,...
ORDER RONALD A. WHITE, District Judge. Before the court is Defendant's motion to dismiss [Docket No. 6] filed on April 26, 2013. The response was due May 10, 2013. On June 21, 2013, this court entered an Order giving Plaintiffs an additional fourteen days to respond to Defendant's motion to dismiss. The court stated that if Plaintiffs failed to respond to Defendant's motion to dismiss by July 5, 2013, this action would be dismissed. 1 Despite the court's Order, Plaintiffs have not...
ORDER RONALD A. WHITE, District Judge. Before the Court is the motion of the plaintiffs to remand. Plaintiffs, who are Oklahoma residents, filed this action on September 28, 2011, in the District Court of Okfuskee County, alleging negligence in a vehicular accident. The petition concludes by expressly requesting judgment in an amount less than $75,000.00, plus costs and interest. A notice of removal was filed in this court on April 24, 2013. In that document, defendants assert that on...
ORDER & OPINION RONALD A. WHITE, District Judge. Plaintiff filed this action on July 21, 2011, alleging that while attempting to navigate a vessel through the Newt Graham Lock and Dam 18 (the "Lock"), Defendant lost control of the vessel, struck the upstream short wall and caused damage in violation of 33 U.S.C. 408. Plaintiff seeks damages thereunder in an amount sufficient to demolish the damaged wall and rebuild it to original specifications. The action was transferred to the...
OPINION AND ORDER JAMES H. PAYNE, District Judge. Petitioner, Stanley N. Trammell, was convicted following a jury trial, in the District Court of Bryan County, Case No. CF-2003-245, of manslaughter in the first degree 1 and shooting with intent to kill. Petitioner was sentenced to life on each of the two counts. The trial court ordered that the sentences be served consecutively. These sentences were formally imposed on March 16, 2007. On direct appeal, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals...
OPINION AND ORDER JAMES H. PAYNE, District Judge. Before the Court are Defendant Jimmy Long's Partial Motion to Dismiss [Doc. No. 7] and Plaintiffs' Motion to Dismiss [Doc. No. 17]. After review of the briefs, and for the reasons stated below, Defendant Long's Partial Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED, and Plaintiffs' Motion to Dismiss is DENIED. BACKGROUND On October 31, 2012, Plaintiffs commenced the instant action in the District Court of Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, seeking a variety of...
OPINION AND ORDER AWARDING ATTORNEY'S FEES TO THE PLAINTIFF UNDER THE EAJA STEVEN P. SHREDER, Magistrate Judge. Plaintiff Frank Walters was the prevailing party in this action under the Social Security Act. Plaintiff seeks an award of attorney's fees in the amount of $3,486.00, pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. 2412(d). The Commissioner does not object to the fee award. Upon review of the record herein, the Court finds that said amount is reasonable and that the...
OPINION AND ORDER AWARDING ATTORNEY'S FEES UNDER 42 U.S.C. 406(b) STEVEN P. SHREDER, Magistrate Judge. The Plaintiff Charles L. Harvey appealed the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration's denial of benefits. The Court reversed the Commissioner's decision and remanded the case to the Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") for further proceedings. On remand, the Commissioner found the Plaintiff disabled and awarded $50,419.00 in pastdue benefits, out of which attorney's fees have been...
OPINION AND ORDER RONALD A. WHITE, District Judge. This action is before the court on the respondent's motion to dismiss petitioner's petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2241. Petitioner, an inmate in the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections who is incarcerated at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma, is challenging the execution of his sentence in Oklahoma County District Court Case No. CF-90-1614 for Larceny of Merchandise from a...
ORDER AFFIRMING AND ADOPTING THE REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE JAMES H. PAYNE, District Judge. On June 10, 2013, the United States Magistrate Judge entered a Report and Recommendation in regard to Plaintiff's Amended Motion to Compel [Doc. No. 42]. The Magistrate Judge recommended that Plaintiff's Amended Motion to Compel [Doc. No. 42] be denied, in part, and granted, in part. [Doc. No. 68]. On June 24, 2013, Defendant filed a Partial Objection to the Report...
