Tag Archives: federal judge

Judge Tosses Dakota Pipeline Motion Seeking to Block Construction

A federal judge has denied a motion brought by the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes seeking a preliminary injunction against an easement needed to construct the Dakota Access Pipeline.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote in a court filing Tuesday that the tribe had waited too long to raise the religious concerns upon which the motion was based.

“At this point … the [Army] Corps has granted the permits and easement, and DAPL’s construction under Lake Oahe is days from completion,” Boasberg wrote. “Rerouting the pipeline around Lake Oahe would be more costly and complicated than it would have been months or years ago, as doing so now requires not simply changing plans but abandoning part of a near-complete project and redoing the construction elsewhere.”

full read – http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/dakota-pipeline-protests/judge-tosses-dakota-pipeline-motion-seeking-block-construction-n730271?

Best Buy- FBI link explored in Newport doctor’s effort to toss out computer photos in child porn case

Best Buy employees Thursday denied allegations by a Newport Beach doctor’s legal team that the FBI directed them to look for illicit material on customers’ computers during repairs.

Attorneys for Dr. Mark Albert Rettenmaier, a gynecological oncologist who practiced at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach until he was indicted in 2014 on two felony counts of possession of child pornography, are asking a federal judge to throw out photographic evidence in the case, alleging that it was discovered by Best Buy’s Geek Squad technicians improperly acting as paid FBI informants.

Thursday’s hearing in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana was the second and final day of testimony in which Judge Cormac Carney allowed Rettenmaier’s attorneys to call witnesses to examine the relationship between the FBI and Geek Squad technicians.

Rettenmaier’s case began in November 2011 when he took a computer hard drive to a Best Buy store in Chino for repairs.

Read Full – http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-rettenmaier-20170112-story.html

Judge dismisses personal injury case against Smith & Wesson

A federal judge reasoned Smith & Wesson was not at fault in a personal injury case in which a pistol accidentally discharged and caused a man to lose a finger.

U.S. Judge Todd Campbell followed recommendations from the court when he dismissed the case, according to his order issued Sept. 16 from a Nashville federal court.

A Tennessee couple, Randy and Vicki McNeal, sued the Massachusetts’ gun maker for more than $75,000 in January. According to their complaint, Randy McNeal was shot in the finger as he attempted to make the gun safe inside a gun store in Murfreesboro, a town just outside of Nashville. They claimed a loose screw on the built-in laser sight of their Bodyguard .380 pistol prevented the slide from locking in position.

The couple’s lawsuit says McNeal dropped the gun as he tried to lock the slide back, which he was having trouble because the screw obstructed the locking mechanism, and the gun discharged when he tried to catch it. Afterward, he needed the small finger on his left hand amputated.

The court’s report cited past rulings that state an injury is not proof of a defective product, a product failure or malfunction does not necessarily make a company liable, and the company has no duty to create an “accident proof” product.

Full article – http://www.guns.com/2016/10/04/judge-dismisses-personal-injury-case-against-smith-wesson/

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