MEMORANDUM & ORDER JOHN E. JONES III, District Judge. I. INTRODUCTION Before the Court in this declaratory judgment action are the Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss and, alternatively, Rule 14(a)(4) Motion to Strike, (Doc. 40), of Third-Party Defendant Miller, Kistler, Campbell, Miller, Williams, and Benson, Inc. ("Miller Kistler") and the Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss and, alternatively, Rule 14(a)(4) Motion to Strike, (Doc. 41), of Third-Party Defendant Rhoads and Sinon, LLP ("Rhoads")....
MEMORANDUM & ORDER JOHN E. JONES III, District Judge. THE BACKGROUND OF THIS ORDER IS AS FOLLOWS: Pending before the Court is Defendant/Third-Party Plaintiff ACF Industries, LLC's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Claims for Lack Subject Matter Jurisdiction (Federal Preemption). (Doc. 127). For the following reasons, we shall deny the pending motion. I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY and FACTUAL BACKGROUND On June 5, 2009, Plaintiff filed suit against ACF Industries, LLC, ("ACF"), Norfolk Southern...
MEMORANDUM RICHARD P. CONABOY, District Judge. Pending before the Court is Defendant's Motion to Dismiss or in the Alternative for Summary Judgment (Doc. 25). This personal injury action arises under the Federal Tort Claims Act ("FTCA"), 28 U.S.C. 2671, et seq., concerning an incident that took place on Sunday, July 5, 2009, at the George W. Childs Recreation Area which is part of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area ("Recreation Area") (Doc. 1). Plaintiff, Nina Lingua, filed...
ORDER LAWRENCE F. STENGEL, District Judge. AND NOW, this 20th day of May, 2011, upon careful and independent consideration of the defendants' motion for summary judgment (Doc. # 17), and all responses and replies thereto, and after review of the thorough and well-reasoned Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge Thomas M. Blewitt (Doc. # 26), it is hereby ORDERED that: 1. The defendants' objections to the report and recommendation of the United States Magistrate Judge (...
MEMORANDUM A. RICHARD CAPUTO, District Judge. Presently before the Court is the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss of Plaintiff's Complaint. (Doc. 6). Plaintiff alleges she was expelled from Defendant University of Scranton in breach of her contract with the University, and based upon fraudulent misrepresentations made by the Defendants. The Defendants argue that Plaintiff has failed to state a claim on both counts. The Court agrees, and for the reasons below will dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint,...
MEMORANDUM A. RICHARD CAPUTO, District Judge. Defendant State Farm Fire and Casualty Company moves for summary judgment on plaintiffs' breach of contract and bad faith claims. The plaintiffs, Michael and Deborah Verdetto, were victims of a fire at their rental property. At the time of the incident, they had renters insurance with State Farm. The Verdettos allege the company unreasonably focused its investigation into the fire on them rather than pay out on their claim. State Farm argues in...
MEMORANDUM ORDER YVETTE KANE, Chief Judge. Plaintiffs, parents of children attending the Lebanon School District who have been fined for their children's truancy, initiated this action by filing a complaint against Defendant Lebanon School District on January 20, 2011. (Doc. No. 1.) On March 25, 2011, Defendant filed a motion to dismiss. (Doc. No. 12.) After the parties had fully briefed Defendant's motion, the Court referred this matter to Magistrate Judge Mildred E. Methvin. (Doc. No. 16.)...
MEMORANDUM SYLVIA H. RAMBO, District Judge. Before the court are two motions to dismiss, one filed by Defendant Lincoln Intermediate Unit ("LIU") (Doc. 18) and one filed jointly by The Paradise Protectory and Agricultural School, Inc.; Paradise School for Boys; Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Inc.; and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg ("Paradise Defendants") (Doc. 20). Plaintiff brought claims pursuant to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973...
MEMORANDUM A. RICHARD CAPUTO, District Judge. Presently before the Court is Plaintiff's Motion for Default Judgment. Default judgment against Defendants Brad Sutter and Patrick Walko 1 is appropriate based on their intentional destruction of relevant evidence, so the Plaintiff's motion will be granted in part. But because genuine issues of material fact remain as to whether the Defendant Corporations engaged in spoliation, the Plaintiff's motion will be denied in part. I. Background...
MEMORANDUM YVETTE KANE, Chief Judge. Sandy R. Hernandez, ("Hernandez"), presently a detainee of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") confined at the York County Prison, Pennsylvania, filed this counseled petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2241 on June 2, 2011. (Doc. No. 1.) Hernandez contends that his mandatory detention pending the resolution of removal proceedings pursuant to 8 U.S.C. 1226(c) is not authorized and therefore unlawful. For...
MEMORANDUM WILLIAM W. CALDWELL, District Judge. I. Introduction The plaintiffs are Gerald Kohn, Julie Botel, and Rebecca Hostetler. Kohn is the former superintendent of the Harrisburg School District, Botel the deputy superintendent, and Hostetler the assistant superintendent. They brought this suit to contest the termination of their employment. The action was filed in state court and removed here by the defendants under our federal question jurisdiction. See 28 U.S.C. 1331 and 1446(...
MEMORANDUM A. RICHARD CAPUTO, District Judge. Defendant Electronic Custom Distributors moves to dismiss the present action for lack of personal jurisdiction. (Doc. 8). Because the Court lacks personal jurisdiction over the Defendant, the Motion will be granted. I. Background Arlington Industries, Inc. (Arlington), brought this action against Electronic Custom Distributors, Inc. (ECD). Arlington seeks a declaratory judgment of non-infringement and invalidity of one of ECD's patents....
MEMORANDUM CHRISTOPHER C. CONNER, District Judge. One of the benefits of the myriad challenges to the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (hereinafter "Health Care Act" or the "Act"), Pub. L. No. 111-148, 124 Stat. 119 (2010), as amended by the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010, Pub.L. No. 111-152, 124 Stat. 1029, is the distillation of relevant issues. As a threshold matter, I emphasize, as Judge Vinson emphasized in...
MEMORANDUM YVETTE KANE, Chief Judge. On May 4, 2009, this Court granted Defendants' motion for summary judgment and denied Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. (Doc. No. 40, 2009 WL 1230309.) Plaintiff appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. (Doc. No. 42.) On October 4, 2010, the Third Circuit affirmed this Court's order in part and vacated the order in part. Kelly v. Borough of Carlisle, 622 F.3d 248 , 256-58 (3d Cir.2010). The Third Circuit remanded the...
MEMORANDUM YVETTE KANE, Chief Judge. Pending before the Court is Defendants' motion for summary judgment. (Doc. No. 30.) The motion has been fully briefed and is ripe for disposition. For the reasons that follow, the Court will grant Defendants' motion. I. BACKGROUND Plaintiff attended high school in the Loyalsock Township School District ("the District") and graduated at the end of the 2008-2009 school year. (Doc. No. 32 9.) Plaintiff played basketball for the school until she quit the...
MEMORANDUM JOHN E. JONES III, District Judge. I. INTRODUCTION Plaintiffs, a class of individuals with intellectual disabilities (formerly known as mental retardation) who are institutionalized in state intermediate care facilities for persons with mental retardation ("ICF/ MRs") initiated this litigation in June 2009. Plaintiffs alleged that they were appropriate for, and not opposed to, community-based services, and that Department of Public Welfare and the Secretary of Public Welfare (...
MEMORANDUM JAMES M. MUNLEY, District Judge. Before the court are the parties' motions for summary judgment in this declaratory judgment action. Having been briefed, the matters are ripe for disposition. Background This case arises from a dispute over insurance coverage between Plaintiff Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company ("Nationwide") and Defendants Timothy Shaw, the Shaw Brothers Donkey Ball Company and Robert Eisenberry. On September 4, 2007, Defendant Robert Eisenberry suffered a...
MEMORANDUM JAMES M. MUNLEY, District Judge. Before the court are the defendants' respective motions for summary judgment. The motions are ripe for disposition. BACKGROUND Plaintiff Jose Luis Urena Berdejo ("Berdejo") is an unauthorized illegal alien who worked for a company named, alternatively, Ideal Systems, Inc., Ideal Systems Constructions, Inc., or Ideal Systems USA, Inc. ("Ideal"). (Def.'s Statement of Material Facts ("SMF") 2, 9 (Doc. 62)). Berdejo was working on a home...
MEMORANDUM JAMES M. MUNLEY, District Judge. Before the court for disposition are the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment. (Docs. 55, 58). Having been briefed, the motions are ripe for disposition. BACKGROUND Plaintiff Herman Douglas was injured in a car accident on August 21, 2005. (Joint Stip. of Facts 1 (Doc. 55-1)). 1 Herman Douglas settled a claim with the third-party tortfeasor and seeks underinsured motorist ("UIM") benefits from Defendant Discover Property & Casualty...
MEMORANDUM and ORDER JOHN E. JONES III, District Judge. Presently before the Court are two pending motions to compel arbitration (Docs. 32, 36) and a motion to stay proceedings, including discovery, pending ruling on the motion for summary judgment to compel arbitration. (Doc. 43). For the reasons that follow, the two motions to compel arbitration will be granted and the motion to stay proceedings pending ruling on the motion for summary judgment to compel arbitration will be denied as moot....
