Thursday, April 23, 2015
- Supreme Court: The Court held that the Federal Tort Claims Act two-year deadline for filing with federal agencies and six-month deadline for filing in court after administrative denial are subject to equitable tolling
- Second Circuit: The court held that the Fair Labor Standards Act anti-retaliation provision, which makes it unlawful “to discharge or in any other manner discriminate against any employee because such employee has filed any complaint . . . related to” FLSA’s provisions, covers an oral complaint made to an employer and is not limited to complaints to a government agency
- First Circuit: In resolving the question whether a defendant may seek to remove a state-court action to federal court before being formally served, the court held that service is generally not a prerequisite for removal and that a defendant may remove a state-court action to federal court any time after the lawsuit is filed but before the statutorily-defined period for removal ends
- US District Court ME: Magistrate Judge denied police officer’s motion to summary judgment on Fourth Amendment excessive force during arrest claim, finding that a trier of fact could conclude that, while plaintiff was handcuffed and compliant, defendant swore at and threatened him, and then delivered a knee strike rather than simply using a knee stabilization technique to facilitate a search
- US District Court ME: In awarding $60,639.50 in attorney’s fees to plaintiff in unpaid wage case, the court held, in part, that the successful and unsuccessful claims arose from a “common core of facts”, and that it was impossible to accurately separate out plaintiff’s attorney’s work on the successful and unsuccessful claims
- Maine Supreme Court: Proposed amendment to Maine Rules of Small Claims Procedure would make M.R. Civ. P. 52(a), regarding findings of fact, inapplicable to small claims proceedings
- US DOL: Consent judgment awarded 300 employees more than $1.4 million in back wages for, in part, paying straight time wages rather than time and one-half and misclassifying employees as independent contractors
