ORDER ON AMENDED MOTION FOR ATTORNEYS' FEES GEORGE Z. SINGAL, District Judge. Before the Court is Plaintiff Jason Spooner's Amended Motion for Attorneys' Fees and Costs (Docket #124). As explained herein, the Motion is GRANTED IN PART. I. INTRODUCTION This Court has already found Plaintiff was entitled to an award of attorneys' fees in connection with its Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law, which stated in relevant part: Under the Copyright Act, the Court may "award a reasonable...
ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. A recreational boat manufacturer moves for judgment on the pleadings, claiming a personal injury Plaintiff's causes of action are time-barred. The Court denies the motion because in response, the Plaintiff presented sufficient contested facts to preclude judgment. Further, if the contested facts are viewed in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff, the Defendant received sufficient notice of the action...
ORDER ON MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. The Court concludes that the Plaintiff, a former employee of the Defendant construction company, produced sufficient evidence when viewed in the light most favorable to him to generate jury questions as to whether the Defendant violated his rights under the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA) by terminating his employment because it regarded him as being disabled and/or because of his record of disability. The Court also...
ORDER ON DAUBERT HEARING JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. Following a December 9, 2010 Daubert hearing, the Court grants Dr. David Kaplan's motion to exclude the expert testimony of Dr. Ravi Tikoo concerning the consequences of the failure to administer tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) to Anton K. Samaan within three hours of the onset of his stroke symptoms. The battle line in this motion is drawn on whether it is more likely than not Mr. Samaan would have benefited if he had...
ORDER ON MOTION TO DISMISS OR REDUCE CHARGE JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. Viewing the jury verdict on Count One in the light most favorable to the verdict, the Court denies Robert J. Venti's post-conviction motion to dismiss or to reduce charge since there is sufficient evidence from which the jury could have concluded that Mr. Venti committed a felony violation of 18 U.S.C. 641 within the five-year statute of limitations period. I. STATEMENT OF FACTS On December 9, 2009, a federal...
ORDER AFFIRMING THE RECOMMENDED DECISION OF THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE GEORGE Z. SINGAL, District Judge. The United States Magistrate Judge filed with the Court on October 19, 2010, his Recommended Decision (Docket No. 17). Plaintiff filed his Objection to the Recommended Decision (Docket No. 18) on November 5, 2010. Defendant filed his Response to Plaintiff's Objection to the Recommended Decision (Docket No. 19) on November 22, 2010. I have reviewed and considered the Magistrate Judge's...
ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION OF THE COURT'S DENIAL OF THE DEFENSE MOTION FOR POST-VERDICT RELEASE JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. The Court denies the Defendant's request to reconsider his motion for release pending sentencing, concluding that he has not clearly shown under 18 U.S.C. 3145(c) that there are exceptional reasons why his detention would not be appropriate. I. STATEMENT OF FACTS A. Procedural History On August 23, 2010, after a jury-waived trial,...
ORDER ON MOTION TO RECONSIDER BAIL FORFEITURE JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. After an Order forfeiting the Defendant's bail, the Defendant, now returned to custody, moves to set aside the Order pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 46(f)(2)(B). Applying the First Circuit's four factor test for a motion to set aside a bail forfeiture, the Court reconsiders the Government's motion to forfeit bail and grants the Government's motion. I. FACTS James Mattero was indicted on June 24,...
ORDER AFFIRMING RECOMMENDED DECISION OF THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE D. BROCK HORNBY, District Judge. On October 1, 2010, the United States Magistrate Judge filed with the Court, with copies to the parties, her Recommended Decision on 28 U.S.C. 2254 Petition. Standring did not file an objection to the Recommended Decision, despite the Magistrate Judge's explicit direction that he must do so or waive his right to de novo review and to appeal the district court's order. Apparently Standring...
ORDER ON MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT GEORGE Z. SINGAL, District Judge. Before the Court is the unopposed Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket # 21) by Defendants Town of Waldoboro, Zachary Curtis, William Labombarde and William Post (collectively "Defendants"). As explained herein, the Court GRANTS Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment. I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND On September 23, 2009, Plaintiffs Natalie and Millard Jackson filed a five count complaint in Maine Superior Court alleging...
ORDER REGARDING TEMPORARY CUSTODY GEORGE Z. SINGAL, District Judge. Before the Court is the Emergency Motion to Modify Stay (Docket # 101), which was filed by Petitioner/Appellee Savvas Charalambous ("Father" or "Savvas"). The Motion was transferred to this Court by the First Circuit. ( See Nov. 10, 2010 Order of Court (Docket # 100).) Pursuant to the First Circuit's Order, this Court is to make necessary factual findings and rule upon three specific requests in Petitioner's Emergency Motion:...
ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS' MOTION TO REMAND JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. Because the Plaintiffs' Second Amended Class Action Complaint relates back to their original complaints, which were filed before the passage of the Class Action Fairness Act, Pub. L. No. 109-2, 119 Stat. 4 (2005) (CAFA), the Court concludes that CAFA does not apply and grants Plaintiffs' Motion to Remand (Docket # 245) ( Pls.' Mot. ). I. STATEMENT OF FACTS A. Procedural History 1 On April 18, 2003, Loretta...
ORDER ON PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC.'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON PLAINTIFFS' CLAIMS FOR LACK OF CAUSATION JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. In this multi-district litigation, Philip Morris USA, Inc. (PM) moves for summary judgment against six plaintiffs on the ground that because they continued to purchase light cigarettes after learning the truth about their health risks, as a matter of law, they cannot show that PM's misrepresentations caused them to buy light cigarettes. 1 The Court...
ORDER ON PHILIP MORRIS USA INC.' MOTION FOR JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS ON PLAINTIFFS' UNJUST ENRICHMENT CLAIMS AND OTHER REQUESTS FOR EQUITABLE RELIEF JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. In this multi-district litigation, Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM) moves for judgment on the pleadings against the Plaintiffs' unjust enrichment claims on the ground that unjust enrichment sounds in equity and the Plaintiffs have adequate remedies at law, and as regards the Mississippi claim, PM says it is...
ORDER ON PHILIP MORRIS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON PLAINTIFFS' CLAIMS FOR PURCHASES AFTER DECEMBER 1, 2002 JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. Occasionally, the law's logic leads to peculiar positions. To succeed on its motion for summary judgment, Philip Morris USA, Inc. (PM) must accept the Plaintiffs' premise that it spent decades lying to the consuming public about the health effects of its light cigarettes, 1 but it urges the Court to grant summary judgment against all claims that...
ORDER ON MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. Prime Tanning Co., Inc. and Prime Tanning Corp. (Prime Tanning) and Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. (Liberty Mutual) filed cross-motions for summary judgment on whether Liberty Mutual has a duty to defend Prime Tanning against civil actions pending in Missouri (the Missouri Suits); Liberty Mutual also moves for summary judgment on whether it has a duty to indemnify Prime Tanning in the Missouri Suits. 1 Because the...
ORDER ON MOTION TO REMAND JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. Applying Fayard v. Northeast Vehicle Services, LLC, 1 and Pejepscot Industrial Park, Inc. v. Maine Central Railroad Co., 2 the Court preliminarily concludes that it has jurisdiction over Canadian National Railway Company's (Canadian National) complaint against Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, LTD., (MMA) and declines to remand the case to state court. I. STATEMENT OF FACTS A. The Parties and the Intervenor Canadian...
ORDER ON MOTION TO REGISTER JUDGMENT IN DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND D. BROCK HORNBY, District Judge. Cianbro began this lawsuit under 46 U.S.C. 31343(c)(2), seeking a declaratory judgment that two vessels were not subject to maritime liens claimed by George H. Dean, Inc. d/b/a Dean Steel. Compl. (Docket Item 1). I adopted the recommended decision by the Magistrate Judge, and a Declaratory Judgment was entered in favor of Cianbro. Order Adopting Recommended Dec. (Docket Items 77 and 78). Next,...
ORDER ON MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT GEORGE Z. SINGAL, District Judge. Before the Court is the Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket # 26) filed by Defendant John Hills d/b/a Glenwood Building & Remodeling. As explained herein, the Court GRANTS Defendant's Motion. I. LEGAL STANDARD Generally, a party is entitled to summary judgment if, on the record before the Court, it appears "that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of...
ORDER ON MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. A food wholesaler moves for summary judgment in its breach of contract claim against a warehousing company. The Court concludes that the food wholesaler demonstrated that the warehousing company breached its contract, but there remain genuine issues of material fact regarding the nature and extent of damages. I. STATEMENT OF FACTS A. Procedural History On March 30, 2010, Tate & Lyle Ingredients Americas, Inc. (Tate...
