Memorandum Opinion and Order ANDREW S. HANEN, District Judge. Pending before the Court is the Motion to Dismiss pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure filed by Montana Resources, Inc. and Montana Resources, LLP. 1 [Doc. No. 23; Br. in Supp., Doc. No. 24; Supplement to Mot., Doc. No. 78]. Having reviewed the motion, the responses thereto and the applicable law, the Court hereby GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Defendants' motion. I. Factual...
MEMORANDUM AND OPINION LEE H. ROSENTHAL, District Judge. The Affordable Care Act mandates coverage for contraceptive services in group health plans that employers must provide their employees. Churches, nonprofit religious organizations, and for-profit corporations owned by deeply religious individuals challenged this mandate as offensive to their religious beliefs. The federal government responded. Recent regulations exempt "religious employers," primarily churches, from the mandate; provide...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER GREGG COSTA, District Judge. This case arises from an accident at Camp Davis, an American military base in Afghanistan. Plaintiff Angela Graham, a resident of Oklahoma, filed suit against DynCorp International, Inc. (DynCorp Inc.) and DynCorp International, LLC (DynCorp LLC). Both DynCorp entities move to dismiss for improper venue on the ground that they lack continuous and systematic general business contacts in this forum. See Docket Entry Nos. 4; 13. Alternatively,...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER GREGG COSTA, District Judge. The real estate at issue in this proposed class action is part of an 800-acre development along the mid-Gulf Coast of Texas. But the allegations of fraud reach back to decisions made in Washington and Wall Street during the height of the financial crisis in the fall of 2008. In the spasm of bank merger activity that occurred during that period, when troubled banks bought their even more troubled brethren, Wells Fargo purchased Wachovia. As a...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER LEE H. ROSENTHAL, District Judge. Carpenters Pension Fund of Illinois sued Imperial Sugar Company and two of its officers, Chief Executive Officer John C. Sheptor and Senior Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer Harold P. Mechler, alleging securities fraud under 10(b) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C. 78j(b) and 78t(A), and Rule 10b-5, 17 C.F.R. 240.10b-5. Carpenters sought to represent a class of investors who purchased Imperial's stock between...
STIPULATION AND ORDER IN ADVANCE OF MOTION TO DISMISS BRIEFING KEITH P. ELLISON, Distrit Judge. WHEREAS, on November 30, 2012, plaintiffs Alameda County Employees' Retirement Association, et al., filed their First Amended Consolidated Complaint in case no. 4:12-cv-01256 ("Alameda"); WHEREAS, on December 21, 2012, BP p.l.c. ("BP"), BP America Inc., BP Exploration & Production Inc., Anthony Hayward, Douglas Suttles, Andrew Inglis, Robert Malone, David Rainey, H. Lamar McKay and Robert Dudley...
MEMORANDUM AND OPINION LEE H. ROSENTHAL, District Judge. This Memorandum and Opinion addresses the motion for summary judgment on claims against Michael Manners and companies he owned or controlled. Manners founded Royce Homes, LP, and was a 50% owner between 1998 and 2006. The Trustee of the Royce Homes bankruptcy estate, Rodney Tow, alleges that Manners conspired to breach the fiduciary duties owed to Royce Homes by both Manners and by defendant John H. Speer, who was the president of Royce...
MEMORANDUM AND OPINION LEE H. ROSENTHAL, District Judge. This Memorandum and Opinion addresses motions relating to the foreclosure and sale of Westwood Gardens. Rodney Tow, Trustee of the Royce Homes, L.P. bankruptcy estate, seeks to void that sale under the Texas and Delaware Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Acts ("TUFTA" and "TUFTA"). Wachovia Bank transferred its interest in Westwood Gardens to Amegy Bank, N.A. and Amegy Mortgage Company (together "Amegy"), and Amegy foreclosed on the...
ORDER GRANTING ALL DEFENDANTS' PARTIAL MOTIONS TO DISMISS AND PARTIAL MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND AFFIRMING COMMISSIONER'S DECISION, AND GRANTING ISD DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO STRIKE RANDY CRANE, District Judge. I. Factual and Procedural Background Now before the Court is the "Partial 12(b)(1) Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction and Partial 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss For Failure To State A Claim Upon Which Relief Can Be Granted" (Dkt. No. 31) filed by Defendants...
ORDER NELVA GONZALES RAMOS, District Judge. Texas Ruiz (Texas), an 18-month-old child, died from brutal injuries suffered while in the care of his mother and her boyfriend. Texas' father, Raul Ruiz (Ruiz), has brought this action on his own behalf and on behalf of Texas against Eva Cadena (Cadena) and Angela Arredondo (Arredondo), two social workers. Cadena and Arredondo, employees of the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (TDPRS), 1 were involved in the investigation of...
OPINION ON SUMMARY JUDGMENT STEPHEN WM. SMITH, United States Magistrate Judge. This dispute is before the court on defendants' motion for summary judgment (Dkt. 74). After consideration of the parties' submissions, argument at a hearing on September 30, 2013, and the law, the motion is granted. 1 Background Plaintiff Archie Bell is a recording artist who in 1968 had a hit song called "Tighten Up" with his group Archie Bell & The Drells. "Tighten Up" was recorded on the Ovide Records...
Opinion on Dismissal LYNN N. HUGHES, District Judge. I. Introduction. The State of Texas has a law to minimize unprincipled lawsuits based on a person's public discussion of pubic matters. It requires a court to dismiss those suits unless the initial pleading and a quick, short hearing evinces with clear and specific facts that convince the court of its factual and legal merit. The plaintiffs have several theories of liability for indirect injury arising from a decision of a county that...
ORDER LEE H. ROSENTHAL, District Judge. In light of the recent filings in this case, the Joint Pretrial Order deadline and the Docket Call setting of October 25, 2013 are moved 30 days, to November 15, 2013 for the Joint Pretrial Order, and November 22, 2013, at 2:00 p.m., for Docket Call. After the deadline for the plaintiffs to respond to the defendants' Motion to Render Summary Judgment Final and to Abate Counterclaim has passed, the court will rule on the motion or may first set a hearing...
ORDER LEE H. ROSENTHAL, District Judge. The defendant filed an unopposed motion for continuance of the sentencing hearing, (Docket Entry No. 46). The motion for continuance is GRANTED. The sentencing hearing is reset to October 22, 2013 at 9:00 a.m.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER EWING WERLEIN, Jr., District Judge. Pending is Sterling Bank's Motion for Summary Judgment (Document No. 70), Compass Bank's Motion for Summary Judgment (Document No. 72), Receiver's Motion for Summary Judgment (Document No. 79), Sterling Bank's Motion to Preclude Expert Testimony of Patrick Finn and to Strike His Expert Report and Declaration (Document No. 87), Compass Bank's Motion to Preclude the Purported Expert Testimony of Mr. Patrick Finn, and to Strike His...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER NANCY F. ATLAS, District Judge. This age discrimination case is before the Court on Defendants Hajoca Corporation, LCR-M General LLC, LCR-M LP, and Moore Supply Company's (collectively, "Defendants") Motion for Summary Judgment as to Plaintiffs Dan Love [Doc. # 46] ("Love Motion") and John Stewart [ Stewart Doc. # 48] ("Stewart Motion"). 1 The Motions are fully briefed and ripe for consideration. 2 After carefully considering the record, the arguments of both parties,...
ORDER EWING WERLEIN, Jr., District Judge. Pending is Pride International, Inc.'s and Mexico Drilling Limited, LLC's Motion for Summary Judgment (Document No. 333). Pride International, Inc. and Mexico Drilling Limited, LLC ("the Pride Defendants") previously moved for summary judgment, 1 which motion the Court denied, finding that "the Pride Defendants have not established as a matter of law that Tesco (US) or its predecessor was not the seller of the top drive unit." 2 Although the present...
ORDER GRAY H. MILLER, District Judge. Pending before the court is third-party defendant, Flowserve Corporation's ("Flowserve") motion for more definite statement under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(e). Dkt. 197. After considering the motion, response, and applicable law, the court is of the opinion that the motion should be denied. I. BACKGROUND The Third Party Complaint at issue stems from a much larger case originally filed by plaintiffs on January 2, 2009. Dkt. 3. Plaintiffs are U.S....
ORDER OF DETENTION JOHN R. FROESCHNER, Magistrate Judge. On September 10, 2013, this Court conducted a Detention Hearing in the above-styled and numbered cause; the Government had moved for the Defendant's detention pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 3142(f)(1)(E). The Government offered the testimony of Michael Henson, a member of the Dickinson Police Department assigned to the Drug Enforcement Agency (D.E.A.) Task Force; the Defendant offered no evidence except for a proffer concerning the testimony...
OPINION AND ORDER JOHN R. FROESCHNER, Magistrate Judge. Before the Court is the "Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim" of Defendant, City of Kemah (City). The Court ordered O'Brien to file her response to the Motion by August 23, 2013. To date, no response has been filed and the Court has had no related contact from O'Brien or her attorney. The Motion is, therefore, ripe for determination. In her original petition, O'Brien alleges that officers of the Kemah Police Department...
