REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION WILLIAM I. ARBUCKLE , Magistrate Judge . INTRODUCTION On March 3, 2009, Carl Weidenhof had knee replacement surgery. He believes the replacement was defective because the artificial knee has caused him great pain. He hired two law firms who filed a complaint on his behalf in 2012 in the Eastern District. His case was transferred to a multi-district litigation court. After two years his case was remanded because the artificial knee he had was not one of the...
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION MARTIN C. CARLSON , Magistrate Judge . I. INTRODUCTION The plaintiff in this action, Victor Northern, is a former employee of Susquehanna University, where he worked in the areas of development and fundraising. Northern, who is African American, has alleged that co-workers and supervisors in his office created a hostile work environment and discriminated against him on the basis of his race and physical disabilities, eventually causing him to leave his job...
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION JOSEPH F. SAPORITO, JR. , Magistrate Judge . This is an action brought under Section 1631(c)(3) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 1383(c)(3) (incorporating 42 U.S.C. 405(g) by reference), seeking judicial review of the Deputy Commissioner of Social Security's ("Deputy Commissioner") final decision denying Tamica M. Moon's ("Moon") claim for supplemental security income under Title XVI of the Social Security Act. This matter has been referred to the...
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION MARTIN C. CARLSON , Magistrate Judge . I. Statement of Facts and of The Case Pennsylvania law provides a cause of action for insured individuals who believe that they have been victimized by bad faith handling of an insurance claim by their insurance companies. 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. 8371. The instant case, which come before us for consideration of a motion to dismiss, invites us to address the legal question of what an insured must allege to state a claim...
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION KAROLINE MEHALCHICK , Magistrate Judge . Plaintiff Timothy Lee Hatten ("Hatten"), proceeding pro se , is a former federal inmate incarcerated at USP Lewisburg in Union County, Pennsylvania. On January 28, 2013, Hatten initiated this action upon the filing of a fee paid complaint. (Doc. 1). In his complaint, Hatten brought a Bivens and Federal Tort Claims Act ("FTCA") action against the Federal Bureau of Prisons ("BOP"), Warden Bryan Bledsoe, and various...
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION MARTIN C. CARLSON , Magistrate Judge . I. Statement of Facts and of the Case This workplace discrimination lawsuit comes before us for consideration of a motion to dismiss some, but not all, of the plaintiff's claims. In particular, the defendant seeks to dismiss Haaijer's retaliation and hostile workplace claims, as well as her pendent state law wrongful termination claim. (Doc. 18.) With respect to these claims, the pertinent well-pleaded facts set forth...
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION MARTIN C. CARLSON , Magistrate Judge . I. INTRODUCTION There is a certain measure of jurisdictional irony in his case. This litigation began in the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County as a malpractice action against the law firm that represented the interests of the plaintiff in a complex bankruptcy case. That bankruptcy case, in turn, was litigated in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit is now before this...
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION MARTIN C. CARLSON , Magistrate Judge . I. Statement of Facts and of The Case This case, which comes before us for consideration of a preliminary dispositive motion filed by the defendant, (Doc. 4), 1 involves a dispute relating a claim under an automobile insurance policy and began its life as an action filed in state court that was later removed to federal court. The plaintiffs' initial complaint, which was filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna...
ORDER JOSEPH F. SAPORITO, JR. , Magistrate Judge . AND NOW, this 21 st day of December, 2018, in accordance with the accompanying Memorandum, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT: 1. The plaintiff's pro se "Motion to Object to Magistrate Judge Saporito Order Doc # 42," (Doc. 46) is DENIED to the extent it may be liberally construed as motion for reconsideration; 2. The plaintiff's pro se "Motion to Object to Magistrate Judge Saporito Order Doc # 42," (Doc. 46) is DENIED to the extent...
MEMORANDUM JOSEPH F. SAPORITO, JR. , Magistrate Judge . This is a pro se prisoner civil rights action. The plaintiff, Roscoe Chambers, asserts First Amendment, First Amendment retaliation, and Fifth Amendment due process claims against the defendants pursuant to Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971). On October 11, 2018, the Court received and filed the plaintiff's pro se motion for summary judgment. (Doc. 30). On November 19,...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ROBERT D. MARIANI , District Judge . I. BACKGROUND Through this lawsuit, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("Plaintiff" or "CFPB") seeks to prove that Navient Corporation, Navient Solutions, Inc., and Pioneer Credit Recovery, Inc., (collectively, "Defendants" or "Navient"), committed various violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act, 12 U.S.C. 5531, 5536, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. 1692e, and Regulation V of the Fair Credit...
ORDER MATTHEW W. BRANN , District Judge . AND NOW , this 31 st day of December 2018, for the reasons discussed in this simultaneously filed memorandum, it is hereby ordered that: 1. Plaintiff's appeal of the Commissioner's denial of benefits (Doc. 1) is granted; 2. Pursuant to the fourth sentence of 42 U.S.C. 405 (g), this matter is remanded to the Acting Commissioner of Social Security for further consideration consistent with the simultaneously filed memorandum; and 3. The Clerk...
MEMORANDUM OPINION MATTHEW W. BRANN , District Judge . I. Procedural Background. The Court considers here Plaintiff Michael Soltishick's appeal from an adverse decision of the Social Security Administration ("SSA" or "Agency") on his applications for Disability Insurance Benefits ("DIB") and Supplemental Security Income ("SSI"). Plaintiff's applications were denied at the administrative level and he then requested a hearing before an administrative law judge ("ALJ"). He received his...
ORDER MATTHEW W. BRANN , District Judge . 1. On April 10, 2018, Defendants Daniel J. Barrett, Brian Gallagher, Albert C. Ondrey, and Richard Wilson moved to dismiss Plaintiff Joseph Robert Markle's Amended Complaint. 2. On May 7, 2018, Defendant Michael R. Adams also moved to dismiss that complaint. 3. On October 29, 2018, Chief Magistrate Judge Susan E. Schwab recommended that this Court grant the motion filed by Mr. Barrett, Mr. Gallagher, Mr. Ondrey, and Mr. Wilson, but deny the...
ORDER CHRISTOPHER C. CONNER , Chief District Judge . AND NOW, this 28th day of December, 2018, upon consideration of the motion (Doc. 106) to stay the above-captioned case pending appeal filed by defendant Benjamin Smith ("Officer Smith"), wherein Officer Smith seeks a stay of all deadlines set forth in this court's September 26, 2018 order (Doc. 91) until the Third Circuit Court of Appeals decides his appeal of this court's September 18, 2018 interlocutory order (Doc. 88), and it...
ORDER MATTHEW W. BRANN , District Judge . In accordance with the accompanying Memorandum Opinion, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 1. Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. 66, is GRANTED. 2. The Clerk of Court is directed to enter judgment in favor of Defendant and to close this case.
ORDER CHRISTOPHER C. CONNER , Chief District Judge . AND NOW, this 27th day of December, 2018, upon consideration of the defendants' concurred in motion (Doc. 57) to stay remaining deadlines, it is hereby ORDERED that said motion is GRANTED. This case is removed from the March 2019 trial calendar and the remaining pretrial schedule is suspended, pending resolution of defendants' motion (Doc. 52) for summary judgment. The court shall issue a revised pretrial and trial schedule, if...
MEMORANDUM OPINION MATTHEW W. BRANN , District Judge . Years of litigation have distilled Plaintiffs' multi-count complaint into a single claim for private nuisance against Defendant Chesapeake Appalachia, L.L.C. ("Chesapeake"). Chesapeake now moves for summary judgment, and for the following reasons, Chesapeake's motion will be granted. I. BACKGROUND On December 27, 2013, Plaintiffs filed a five-count complaint in the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania alleging...
MEMORANDUM ORDER MARTIN C. CARLSON , Magistrate Judge . I. Factual Background The plaintiff in this litigation, Thomas Thompson, brought this civil rights lawsuit against the defendant, Joshua Poplin, a police officer, arising out of a December 2017 arrest on state DUI and related traffic charges. On September 20, 2018, the defendant removed this case to federal court, (Doc. 1), and filed a motion to stay this civil case pending the completion of Thompson's state criminal case. (Docs....
MEMORANDUM ORDER MARTIN C. CARLSON , Magistrate Judge . THE BACKGROUND OF THIS ORDER IS AS FOLLOWS: The pro se petitioner in this case is currently serving a 600-month sentence following his conviction for child sexual exploitation offenses. Walpole has a filed Section 2255 petition, (Doc. 115), which was alleges that his counsel was ineffective in failing to secure a favorable plea agreement for Walpole. This motion was referred to the undersigned on December 20, 2018, (Doc. 125), and...
