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Federal Court
Philadelphia argues lieutenant fired for sending bestiality videos did not support his discrimination claims
PHILADELPHIA – The City of Philadelphia has motioned to dismiss a discrimination lawsuit brought by a Philadelphia police lieutenant who claimed he faced disparate treatment prior to dismissal for sexual harassment, arguing that he had not stated plausible claims and is thus not entitled to relief.
Federal Court
Flixbus removed from case where woman's son died aboard Greyhound bus bound for Philly
PHILADELPHIA – Flixbus has been dismissed from a lawsuit brought by the mother of a 32-year-old man who died from cardiac arrest while aboard a Greyhound bus bound for Philadelphia over two years ago, litigation which argued the transportation companies were negligent, reckless and responsible for his death.
Federal Court
U.S. Steel says class action wage claims are time-barred
PITTSBURGH – Citing what it believes are improperly pled and time-barred claims, U.S. Steel has motioned to dismiss class action litigation alleging it violated the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act (PMWA) by not paying employees for the time they spent showering and walking to their worksites, among other pre- and post-work activities.
Federal Court
SCI-Benner Township officials immune after pepper spray causes inmate to have an asthma attack
PHILADELPHIA – A federal appellate court has upheld a lower court’s decision to grant qualified immunity to corrections officials accused of deliberate indifference by an inmate at SCI-Benner Township, who suffered an asthma attack when those officials pepper sprayed another nearby inmate.
Federal Court
Suit alleging driver data was sold to third parties may be consolidated into MDL
SCRANTON – A lawsuit from a Pennsylvania man who alleged that collective conduct between General Motors, OnStar and LexisNexis resulted in driver behavior data being collected without drivers’ consent has been stayed while a motion for transfer currently before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation is resolved.
Federal Court
Pa. man who said Las Vegas law firm violated TCPA settles his class action case
WILLIAMSPORT – A Central Pennsylvania man who filed a class action lawsuit against the Accident Attorneys of America which alleged that the firm has violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) with its unsolicited phone calls to potential clients, has settled his case.
Federal Court
Parents who alleged their home was stormed by Philly deputies lose case
PHILADELPHIA – Parent plaintiffs who claimed multiple officers from the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Department violated their civil rights when they executed a search warrant at their home in an attempt to find the plaintiffs’ son – who had been murdered five months before the search took place – have seen their case dismissed by the City per the doctrine of res judicata.
Federal Court
Judge: Lien holder cannot intervene in injury suit alleging chocolate factory worker was trapped in tank
ALLENTOWN – A federal judge has rejected a company’s attempt to intervene in a lawsuit filed by a man tasked with cleaning a chocolate batching tank at its facility and who claimed he became trapped in the machinery for more than six hours.
Federal Court
Settlement reached for server over alleged wage shortages
PITTSBURGH – An Allentown man who worked as a waiter for more than six years and filed a class action lawsuit alleging that tipped, non-exempt servers like himself were shortchanged out of mandated wages in violation of both state and federal laws, has tentatively settled his claims.
Federal Court
Federal judge says state-created danger case against Marple Township police will proceed
PHILADELPHIA – The estate of a man left at a bus stop while in an intoxicated state by Marple Township police officers and killed by a passing vehicle shortly thereafter more than two years ago, will proceed in its case that the Township, its Police Department and a plethora of officers are responsible for the man’s death.
Federal Court
Judge throws out suit from estate of man who threatened his wife's nursing home
WILLIAMSPORT – A federal judge has dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit brought by the estate of a man who made violent threats against his wife’s nursing home, was involuntarily committed and had his weapons seized, prior to his death, for a failure to prosecute.
Federal Court
Philly man allegedly burned by exploding candle settles personal injury lawsuit
PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia man’s lawsuit claiming that a candle he had lit nearly three years ago caught fire and ignited in an explosive fashion – causing him to suffer severe burns to his fingers, hands and arms – has been settled, after a successful arbitration session.
Federal Court
Wind Creek Bethlehem looking to strike negligence and punitive damages from excessive force case
ALLENTOWN – After the father of an intoxicated man trying to find their hotel room claimed Bethlehem Police Department officers assaulted him when they confronted the duo, Wind Creek Bethlehem Hotel & Casino counters that the plaintiff had not properly pled allegations of negligence or to support a request for punitive damages.
Federal Court
HomeGoods operating company removed from woman's desk chair injury lawsuit
PHILADELPHIA – A HomeGoods operating company has been dismissed from a lawsuit brought against a Marshalls HomeGoods store in Northeast Philadelphia, which alleged a local woman was injured more than two years ago, when a desk chair she was seated on unexpectedly moved and she fell.
Federal Court
City of Philadelphia wants to dismiss 'vague' civil rights lawsuit from transgender firefighter
PHILADELPHIA – The City of Philadelphia is looking to dismiss litigation from a transgender Philadelphia firefighter, who said she was blocked from gaining insurance benefits to pay for her gender-affirmation surgeries and subsequently became suicidal.
Federal Court
Cisgender male who said he was fired from adult establishment loses PHRA claim for now
PHILADELPHIA – A former cleaner and clerk at a Bucks County-based adult establishment who claimed that he was discriminated against and terminated from his employment, based upon his designation as a cisgender male, has retained his federal law claim and, for the moment, lost a claim brought under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.
Federal Court
Families of Chester children killed by passing Amtrak train have case dismissed without prejudice
PHILADELPHIA – For the moment, a federal judge has dismissed litigation from the estates of two minor children from Chester, who were killed one year ago by a passing Amtrak train going from New York to Washington, D.C., through granting the transit company’s motion for judgment on the pleadings.
Federal Court
S.C. woman who alleged hair dye caused chemical burn has case stayed for mediation
SCRANTON – Litigation from a South Carolina woman who claimed that using a hair dye product sold by a Nevada beauty company caused her to suffer a chemical burn on the back of her head, has been stayed pending the result of mediation.
Federal Court
Wrongful death suit which alleged Safelite window killed plaintiff’s wife in crash is dismissed
PHILADELPHIA – The estate of a woman killed when a piece of metal came through her windshield while driving and which had sued Safelite, has voluntarily dismissed its case.
Federal Court
Delaware County corrections guard union alleges County and officials targeted and terminated its members
PHILADELPHIA – More than a dozen members of an independent union of corrections guards in Delaware County contend they were terminated without cause or due process after the County resumed control of their workplace, George W. Hill Correctional Facility, in 2022 and tried to disband their union.