Omnitracs files motion for retrial over Motive copyright case
The fleet tech provider sued Motive in October 2023 alleging it violated several patents related to fleet management systems and technologies. After a nearly two-year legal fight, the jury delivered a unanimous verdict finding Motive not guilty of these charges on April 25.
On Thursday, Omnitracs filed a 33-page motion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California claiming that Motive's conduct during the original trial was 'prejudiced.'
'In lieu of actual non-infringement evidence, Motive relied on a host of improper and irrelevant assertions designed to prejudice the jury against Omnitracs,' the motion obtained by FreightWaves stated. 'When cross examining Omnitracs' technical expert, for instance, Motive lobbed an accusation that Omnitracs (and its witness) were racially and religiously insensitive for not explaining that Motive's co-founder allegedly used an American-sounding email alias to avoid discrimination from truck drivers against Muslim[s].'
'There may not be a more prejudicial statement to make to a jury in the Northern District of California, particularly when one of the jurors was born and raised in and wore a head scarf every day of trial,' the statement continued. 'What's more, Motive's accusations were not supported by the record and were not substantiated by any later witness.'
In addition to religious and racial insinuations, Omnitracs alleged that Motive violated court orders regarding the disclosure of their legal investigation.
'Motive followed up these accusations by repeatedly violating this Court's MIL [motion in limine] order prohibiting references to the alleged legal investigation that Motive conducted but withheld from discovery, in addition to numerous other improper arguments,' the motion stated. 'Second, the highly unusual split verdict form — and the language the Court used in explaining the verdict form — severely and unfairly prejudiced Omnitracs by suggesting that the Court believed Omnitracs' liability case was deficient.'
Omnitracs contended that these actions prevented a fair trial.
'This behavior, combined with Motive's seizure of the Court's bifurcated verdict form to give the jury a 'everyone-gets-to-go-home' early option, guaranteed that this case would not be decided on the evidence presented,' the motion stated.
Presiding U.S. Judge Rita Lin is expected to respond to the proposed order from Omnitracs by Thursday.
Motive told FreightWaves in an emailed statement that it stands behind the jury's verdict and statements provided in its initial news release on the matter.
The post Omnitracs files motion for retrial over Motive copyright case appeared first on FreightWaves.
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San Francisco Chronicle
5 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
FACT FOCUS: Trump claims cashless bail increases crime, but data is inconclusive
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'I don't know of any valid studies corroborating the President's claim and would love to know what the Administration offers in support,' said Kellen Funk, a professor at Columbia Law School who studies pretrial procedure and bail bonding. 'In my professional judgment I'd call the claim demonstrably false and inflammatory.' Jeff Clayton, executive director of the American Bail Coalition, the main lobbying arm of the cash bail industry, also pointed to a lack of evidence. 'Studies are inconclusive in terms of whether bail reforms have had an impact on overall crime numbers,' he said. 'This is due to pretrial crime being a small subset of overall crime. It is also difficult to categorize reforms as being 'cashless' or not, i.e., policies where preventative detention is introduced as an alternative to being held on bail.' Different jurisdictions, different laws In 2023, Illinois became the first state to completely eliminate cash bail when the state Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law abolishing it. The move was part of an expansive criminal justice overhaul adopted in 2021 known as the SAFE-T Act. Under the change, a judge decides whether to release the defendant prior to their trial, weighing factors such as their criminal charges, if they could pose any danger to others and if they are considered a flight risk. Loyola University of Chicago's Center for Criminal Justice published a 2024 report on Illinois' new cashless bail policy, one year after it went into effect. It acknowledges that there is not yet enough data to know what impact the law has had on crime, but that crime in Illinois did not increase after its implementation. Violent and property crime declined in some counties. 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A more recent paper, published in February by the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, also explored the effects of California's decision to suspend most bail during the COVID-19 pandemic. It reports that implementation of this policy 'caused notable increases in both the likelihood and number of rearrests within 30 days.' However, a return to cash bail did not impact the number of rearrests for any type of offense. The paper acknowledges that other factors, such as societal disruption from the pandemic, could have contributed to the initial increase. Many contributing factors It is difficult to pinpoint specific explanations for why crime rises and falls. The American Bail Coalition's Clayton noted that other policies that have had a negative impact on crime, implemented concurrently with bail reforms, make it 'difficult to isolate or elevate one or more causes over the others.' Paul Heaton, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who studies criminal justice interventions, had a similar outlook. 'Certainly there are some policy levers that people look at — the size of the police force and certain policies around sentencing,' he said. 'But there's a lot of variation in crime that I think even criminologists don't necessarily fully understand.'
Hamilton Spectator
5 minutes ago
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FACT FOCUS: Trump claims cashless bail increases crime, but data is inconclusive
As his administration faces mounting pressure to release Justice Department files related the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case, President Donald Trump is highlighting a different criminal justice issue — cashless bail. He suggested in a Truth Social post this week that eliminating cash bail as a condition of pretrial release from jail has led to rising crime in U.S. cities that have enacted these reforms. However, studies have shown no clear link. Here's a closer look at the facts. TRUMP: 'Crime in American Cities started to significantly rise when they went to CASHLESS BAIL. The WORST criminals are flooding our streets and endangering even our great law enforcement officers. It is a complete disaster, and must be ended, IMMEDIATELY!' THE FACTS: Data has not determined the impact of cashless bail on crime rates. But experts say it is incorrect to claim that there is an adverse connection. 'I don't know of any valid studies corroborating the President's claim and would love to know what the Administration offers in support,' said Kellen Funk, a professor at Columbia Law School who studies pretrial procedure and bail bonding. 'In my professional judgment I'd call the claim demonstrably false and inflammatory.' Jeff Clayton, executive director of the American Bail Coalition, the main lobbying arm of the cash bail industry, also pointed to a lack of evidence. 'Studies are inconclusive in terms of whether bail reforms have had an impact on overall crime numbers,' he said. 'This is due to pretrial crime being a small subset of overall crime. It is also difficult to categorize reforms as being 'cashless' or not, i.e., policies where preventative detention is introduced as an alternative to being held on bail.' Different jurisdictions, different laws In 2023, Illinois became the first state to completely eliminate cash bail when the state Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law abolishing it. The move was part of an expansive criminal justice overhaul adopted in 2021 known as the SAFE-T Act . Under the change, a judge decides whether to release the defendant prior to their trial, weighing factors such as their criminal charges, if they could pose any danger to others and if they are considered a flight risk. Loyola University of Chicago's Center for Criminal Justice published a 2024 report on Illinois' new cashless bail policy, one year after it went into effect. It acknowledges that there is not yet enough data to know what impact the law has had on crime, but that crime in Illinois did not increase after its implementation. Violent and property crime declined in some counties. A number of other jurisdictions , including New Jersey, New Mexico and Washington, D.C., have nearly eliminated cash bail or limited its use. Many include exceptions for high-level crimes. Proponents of eliminating cash bail describe it as a penalty on poverty , suggesting that the wealthy can pay their way out of jail to await trial while those with fewer financial resources have to sit it out behind bars. Critics have argued that bail is a time-honored way to ensure defendants released from jail show up for court proceedings. They warn that violent criminals will be released pending trial, giving them license to commit other crimes. A lack of consensus Studies have shown mixed results regarding the impact of cashless bail on crime. Many focus on the recidivism of individual defendants rather than overall crime rates. A 2024 report published by the Brennan Center for Justice saw 'no statistically significant relationship' between bail reform and crime rates. It looked at crime rate data from 2015 through 2021 for 33 cities across the U.S., 22 of which had instituted some type of bail reform. Researchers used a statistical method to determine if crime rates had diverged in those with reforms and those without. Ames Grawert, the report's co-author and senior counsel in the Brennan Center's Justice Program, said this conclusion 'holds true for trends in crime overall or specifically violent crime.' Similarly, a 2023 paper published in the American Economic Journal found no evidence that cash bail helps ensure defendants will show up in court or prevents crime among those who are released while awaiting trial. The paper evaluated the impact of a 2018 policy instituted by the Philadelphia's district attorney that instructed prosecutors not to set bail for certain offenses. A 2019 court decree in Harris County, Texas, requires most people charged with a misdemeanor to be released without bail while awaiting trial. The latest report from the monitoring team responsible for tracking the impact of this decision, released in 2024, notes that the number of people arrested for misdemeanors has declined by more than 15% since 2015. The number of those rearrested within one year has similarly declined, with rearrest rates remaining stable in recent years. Asked what data Trump was using to support his claim, the White House pointed to a 2022 report from the district attorney's office in Yolo County, California, that looked at how a temporary cashless bail system implemented across the state to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks in courts and jails impacted recidivism. It found that out of 595 individuals released between April 2020 and May 2021 under this system, 70.6% were arrested again after they were released. A little more than half were rearrested more than once. 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Paul Heaton, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who studies criminal justice interventions, had a similar outlook. 'Certainly there are some policy levers that people look at — the size of the police force and certain policies around sentencing,' he said. 'But there's a lot of variation in crime that I think even criminologists don't necessarily fully understand.' ___ Find AP Fact Checks here: . Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Business of Fashion
6 minutes ago
- Business of Fashion
Maison Kitsuné Is Closing All Its US Stores
Parisian label Maison Kitsuné is closing its physical retail locations in the US. The closures are part of a reorganisation of Maison Kitsuné's retail operations, according to the company. It's refocusing its efforts on its digital operations and wholesale distribution. Despite the uncertainty in the US marketplace due to the Trump administration's tariff policy, which is set to raise costs for many businesses, the brand said its decision to shutter its stores isn't connected to those recent changes. 'This strategic repositioning allows us to optimize our footprint in the North American market while remaining true to our brand DNA,' brand deputy managing director Johanna Lellouche said in a statement to The Business of Fashion. This isn't the first time Maison Kitsuné has pulled back from the US market. The brand partnered with Want Les Essentials in 2012 to open a location in New York City's NoMad hotel. It also launched another location on the Lower East Side in 2015. Eventually, in 2016, the two partners split, and both locations were closed. Maison Kitsuné took a hiatus from the American marketplace before returning with a new flagship location in New York City in 2017. It's unclear whether the brand plans to reopen physical locations in the US moving forward, but Lellouche did say that North America remains a priority for the company. 'We are actively exploring new ways to reinvent our presence, while continuing to offer our collections through our e-commerce platform and a network of selected wholesale partners,' her statement said.
