Timothy M. Cain
How Judge Cain rules, drawn from 4 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
How Judge Cain decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Cain will not dismiss state-law overdraft/deposit claims on National Bank Act preemption grounds at the Rule 12(b)(6) stage, finding the In re Checking Account Overdraft MDL reasoning persuasive that such claims only incidentally affect a bank's deposit-taking power.
“only Plaintiffs' claim of unconscionability is dismissed. Accordingly, Defendant TD Bank's Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 25) is DENIED in part and GRANTED in part.”
Procedural preferences
On a public-employee First Amendment retaliation claim he applies the Elrod/Branti and Pickering/Connick confluence and weights the policymaking or confidential character of the job heavily, holding that a deputy clerk in a confidential public-contact role has no First Amendment right to keep her job after challenging the elected clerk.
“Gault's motion for reconsideration (ECF No. 39) and motion for summary judgment or, in the alternative, to dismiss (ECF No. 26) are GRANTED.”
Cautions
At the pleading stage, Cain preserved hostile-work-environment and retaliation claims supported by detailed allegations involving supervisors, while dismissing narrower disparate-discipline and disparate-investigation theories.
“given the totality of the circumstances, including the fact that one supervisor allegedly hung two separate nooses within the hospital in areas known to be frequented by Plaintiff and other employees and that a second supervisor referred to Plaintiff as a ‘slave’ in the presence of other staff, doctors, and colleagues, the court finds that Plaintiff has sufficiently pled alleged facts to justify an inference that Defendant’s conduct was ‘sufficiently pervasive or severe’ to support a claim for a hostile work environment.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“only Plaintiffs' claim of unconscionability is dismissed. Accordingly, Defendant TD Bank's Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 25) is DENIED in part and GRANTED in part.”
“Gault's motion for reconsideration (ECF No. 39) and motion for summary judgment or, in the alternative, to dismiss (ECF No. 26) are GRANTED.”
“The court grants the motion to reconsider, and issues this order, which supersedes the court's order dated August 14, 2014.”
“It is therefore ORDERED that Defendant's motion to dismiss (ECF No. 17) is GRANTED.”
“Defendant’s motion to dismiss (ECF No. 9) is GRANTED as to Plaintiff’s claims for disparate discipline and disparate investigation. Defendant’s motion to dismiss is DENIED with respect to Plaintiff’s defamation claim, Title VII wrongful termination claim, Title VII hostile work environment claim, Title VII disparate hours, scheduling, and compensation claim, and Title VII retaliation claim.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 288 days (N = 8).
The sampled docket spans consumer-credit suits, employee-benefit disputes, Social Security appeals, employment discrimination, prisoner civil-rights and habeas cases, trademark and contract matters, and a long-running False Claims Act case. The eight-case duration cohort is illustrative rather than a complete measure of the Chief Judge's caseload.
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