MEMORANDUM and ORDER OF COURT GIBSON, District Judge. This matter comes before the Court on the Defendant's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and Motion for a More Definite Statement (Document No. 25). Plaintiff filed a Brief in Opposition to Defendant's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and Motion for a More Definite Statement (Document No. 31). Defendant, without requesting leave of court, filed a Reply in Support of Its Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and Motion for a More...
OPINION DAVID STEWART CERCONE, District Judge. I. INTRODUCTION Paul L. Mussi ("Plaintiff") brings this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 405(g), seeking review of the final determination of the Commissioner of Social Security ("Defendant" or "Commissioner") denying his application for disability insurance benefits ("DIB") under Title II of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 401-433 ("the Act"). This matter comes before the court on cross-motions for summary judgment. (Docket Nos. 7, 11)....
MEMORANDUM OPINION CONTI, District Judge. Ademola Ilori ("plaintiff"), an African-American software engineer, commenced this race-based discrimination action against his former employer, Carnegie Mellon University ("CMU") and former supervisor Leonard Brush ("Brush," together with CMU, collectively "defendants"). Plaintiff's complaint includes the following claims: (1) race-based hostile work environment implicating a constructive discharge in violation of the Pennsylvania Human Relations...
MEMORANDUM OPINION McVERRY, District Judge. Plaintiffs, Douglas M. Hodczak ("Hodczak"), James M. Crossan ("Crossan"), Thomas J. Magdic ("Magdic") and Joseph A. Litvik ("Litvik") (collectively, "plaintiffs"), commenced this action under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 ("ADEA"), as amended, 29 U.S.C. 621 et seq., alleging that defendant Latrobe Specialty Steel Company ("LSS"), discriminated against them because of their age when it terminated their employment in November...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER TERRENCE F. McVERRY, District Judge. Pending before the Court is DEFENDANT AARON WEISS' MOTION TO DISMISS WITH PREJUDICE (Document No. 5). Defendant has filed a Memorandum of Law in support of the motion (Document No. 6). The pro se Plaintiff in this case, Davut Kilinc, has filed "Plaintiff Davut Kilinc's Rejection to Motion to Dismiss With Prejudice of Defendant Aaron Weiss" (Document No. 10), as well as several exhibits. Defendant's motion is ripe for...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER OF COURT TERRENCE F. McVERRY, District Judge. I. Introduction Before the Court for disposition are the Plaintiffs' MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT ( Document No. 28 ), with their supporting brief and exhibits ( Document Nos. 29-37 ), the MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT filed by Defendants William J. Savatt and the Township of Stowe ( Document No. 38 ), with their supporting brief, appendix and concise statement of material facts ( Document Nos. 39 & 40 ),...
MEMORANDUM OPINION CONTI, District Judge. Defendant Dewayne Crews ("defendant" or "Crews") objected to the court's tentative findings with respect to the advisory guideline sentence applicable in this case. Crews contested the court's failure to apply retroactively the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 ("Fair Sentencing Act"), Pub. L. 111-220, 124 Stat. 2372 (2010). The Fair Sentencing Act changed the drug amount which triggered a mandatory minimum term of ten years' imprisonment for the offense...
MEMORANDUM ORDER DONETTA W. AMBROSE, District Judge. The Complaint in the above captioned case was filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania on or about January 16, 2009. Subsequently, this action was removed to this Court by Defendant on March 18, 2009, and was referred to United States Magistrate Judge Lisa Pupo Lenihan for pretrial proceedings in accordance with the Magistrate Judges Act, 28 U.S.C. 638(b)(1), and Local Rules of Court 72.C and 72.D. The...
MEMORANDUM OPINION SEAN J. McLAUGHLIN, District Judge. Presently pending before the Court is Defendants' Second Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). For the reasons which follow, the motion will be denied. I. BACKGROUND Defendants Anne Jane Kulhanek, Barbara J. Smith, and Susan C. Ulf ("Defendants") are the surviving daughters of Robert Q. Roth, Sr. ("Roth"), who died in Erie, Pennsylvania on June 10, 1991. (Amended Complaint 4-6, 8). At the time of...
OPINION LENIHAN, United States Chief Magistrate Judge. Currently pending before the Court in this civil rights action are two motions to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) filed by Defendants Township of Smith and Michael North (ECF No. 14), and Defendants Borough of Burgettstown and Amber Price (ECF No. 17). Plaintiffs instituted this lawsuit on March 11, 2010, under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging violations of their constitutional rights under the Fourth and...
Opinion MAURICE B. COHILL, JR., Senior District Judge. Dilbagh Singh M.D., Paul Kirsch, M.D., V. Rao Nadella, M.D., and Martin Jacobs, M.D., commenced this qui tam action pursuant to the federal False Claims Act ("FCA"), 31 U.S.C. 3729, et seq., against Bradford Regional Medical Center ("BRMC"), V & S Medical Associates, LLC ("V & S"), Peter Vaccaro, M.D., and Kamran Saleh, M.D. The Relators, Drs. Singh, Kirsch, Nadella, and Jacobs, allege that Defendants submitted, or caused to be...
MEMORANDUM OPINION HAY, United States Chief Magistrate Judge. Plaintiffs commenced this citizen suit against defendant RRI Energy Northeast Management Company ("RRI"), 1 in an effort to secure RRI's compliance with the Clean Water Act ("CWA"), 33 U.S.C. 1251, et seq., and the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law ("PCSL"), 35 P.S. 691.1, et seq. Plaintiffs allege that RRI has been discharging illegal levels of at least five different metals into the Conemaugh River from its Conemaugh...
MEMORANDUM OPINION RE: PLAINTIFF'S PETITION AND AMENDED PETITION FOR ATTORNEY FEES (DOC. NOS. 19 & 24) ARTHUR J. SCHWAB, District Judge. I. Introduction Before this Court are Plaintiff's Petition and Amended Petition for Attorney Fees in the amount of $6,205.00, plus an additional $1360.00 for a total of $7,565.00, under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. 2412, as amended (doc. nos. 19 and 24), based upon an expenditure of 36.5 hours at the rate of $170.00 per hour (the...
OPINION DAVID STEWART CERCONE, District Judge. McMillen Engineering, Inc., ("plaintiff") commenced this action seeking a determination as to which of the two defendants, Travelers Indemnity Company ("Travelers") or Navigators Insurance Company ("Navigators") has an obligation to provide coverage for a demand for payment arising from a slippage of lateral ground support on a site where plaintiff provided engineering services. Presently before the court are defendants' motions for summary...
MEMORANDUM OPINION SEAN J. McLAUGHLIN, District Judge. This civil action arises from events involving the Plaintiff's unsuccessful attempts to obtain custody of her two minor grandchildren following the death of her son, who was the children's biological father. Plaintiff Barbara Rees has asserted a cause of action under 42 U.S.C. 1983 for the alleged violation of her federal civil rights as well as various claims premised on Pennsylvania tort law. She has named as Defendants the Erie...
MEMORANDUM GARY L. LANCASTER, Chief Judge. This action arises out of a lease for a natural gas compressor (the "Unit"). Plaintiff, Kingsly Compression, Inc. ("Kingsly"), alleges that defendant, Mountain V Oil & Gas, Inc. ("Mountain V"), breached the parties' lease agreement by, inter alia, refusing to accept the Unit when Kingsly made it available (Count I). Alternatively, Kingsly brings a claim against Mountain V on a theory of promissory estoppel (Count II). Kingsly seeks to recover the...
MEMORANDUM GARY L. LANCASTER, Chief Judge. This is a qui tam action under the Federal False Claims Act ("FCA"), 31 U.S.C. 3729-3732. August W. Arnold ("relator") alleges that defendants falsified credentials of their consultants in order to obtain higher pay rates and other benefits for those consultants. Defendants are several engineering and consulting firms that provided services to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation ("PennDOT") on road and bridge projects for which...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER CATHY BISSOON, 1 United States Magistrate Judge. I. MEMORANDUM Introduction This is an appeal from the final decision of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services ("Secretary") denying Medicare coverage under Part C of the Medicare Program for care provided to Wanda Papciak ("Plaintiff"), between July 10 through July 19, 2008. The administrative law judge (the "ALJ") found that Plaintiff did not require Medicare-covered skilled nursing...
ORDER ALAN N. BLOCH, District Judge. AND NOW, this 22nd day of September, 2010, upon consideration on remand of "Plaintiff's Motion for Approval of Fee Agreement and Authorization of Payment of Attorney Fees Withheld to Counsel" (Document No. 21), filed at Civil Action No. 02-1046 on February 9, 2007, and "Plaintiff's Motion for Approval of Fee Agreement and Authorization of Payment of Attorney Fees Withheld to Counsel" (Document No. 20), filed at Civil Action No. 01-1946 on October 17, 2007,...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER OF COURT GIBSON, District Judge. I. SYNOPSIS This matter comes before the Court on a motion for summary judgment (Doc. No. 24) filed by the Defendant, Honeywell Building Solutions SES Corporation ("Honeywell"), pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. The Plaintiff, Sauer Incorporated ("Sauer"), opposes the Motion for Summary Judgment. For the reasons that follow, the motion will be granted in part and denied in part. II. BACKGROUND Sempra Energy...
