Since 2011. An occasional commonplacing of the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal.
Neither an authoritative statement of the law nor legal advice. Quick work.
DC Circuit: USA v. TDC Management Corporation
Corporations, FDCPA
Husband and wife's holding of stock in an S-corporation as tenants by the entirety doesn't support an FDCPA action against the assets of the corporation.
Remanded to consider whether to pierce the veil.
USA v. TDC Management Corporation
DC Circuit: Trent Coburn v. Patrick J. Murphy
Administrative
Department's physician had control of the medical review, and the department's ruling that the physician was permitted to end the administrative proceeding was therefore not arbitrary or capricious.
Trent Coburn v. Patrick J. Murphy
DC Circuit: USA v. Gerry Burnett
Fourth Amendment, FRE, Sentencing, Conspiracy
Probable cause for search and stop of car, given GPS data and ongoing investigation, despite the fact that the trip was atypical.
Accidentally destroyed evidence was in no way exculpatory.
Given association of the defts outside the house, reliance on GPS data from inside of a house to establish probable cause was not constitutional error.
Admission of prior bad acts harmless.
Calculation of drug amounts included some from before one deft joined the conspiracy -- remanded for resentencing.
USA v. Gerry Burnett
DC Circuit: USA v. Henry Williams
FRE, Fourth Amendment, FRCrimP, Sentencing
Undisclosed investigations didn't make wiretap/ wiretap application unlawful.
Lay expert testimony by agent constituted sufficient error for reversal.
Sufficient evidence for retrial.
Guilty plea not unconstitutionally compelled due to requirement that a codeft plead guilty.
Acquited conduct properly considered in sentencing.
USA v. Henry Williams
Ninth Circuit: ADAM BROOKS V. CLARK COUNTY
Judicial Immunity, S1983, Circuit Split
Although a court officer's shove was not specifically ordered by the judge and therefore did not enjoy judicial immunity, it did not violate any clearly established constitutional right, and the bailiff therefore enjoys qualified immunity.
Circuit split flagged on the first question.
ADAM BROOKS V. CLARK COUNTY
Ninth Circuit: LONE STAR SECURITY AND VIDEO, V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES
First Amendment, Free Speech
Restrictions on mobile advertising are content neutral and sufficiently narrowly tailored.
Concur: The distinction between signs and decals is philosophically untenable.
LONE STAR SECURITY AND VIDEO, V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES
Ninth Circuit: ROBERTO SILVA-PEREIRA V. LORETTA E. LYNCH
Immigration
Sufficient evidence for adverse credibility determination, given omissions from petition.
Foreign indictment corroborated by eyewitness testimony is sufficient evidence for finding of likelihood of prior bad acts.
As no tribunal has yet ruled on disposition of final immigration question, law of the case does not bind.
ROBERTO SILVA-PEREIRA V. LORETTA E. LYNCH
Eighth Circuit: United States v. Demetrius Colbert
Crim, Fourth Amendment, FRE, Conspiracy, Sentencing
Sufficient showing of alternative means before wiretap.
Connection to the person sufficed for search warrant for house.
No abuse of discretion in refusing to allow evidence of circumstances in a similar police search.
Conspiracy counts appropriately joined to firearms counts, as they arose from same conspiracy.
Sufficient evidence.
Life sentence procedurally & substantively reasonable.
United States v. Demetrius Colbert
Eighth Circuit: Debra Jenner v. Kay Nikolas
S1983, Due Process
As the state statutory right to a parole hearing isn't protected by a liberty interest under the Federal Constitution, allegations of unfair process cannot be raised under S1983.
Debra Jenner v. Kay Nikolas
Eighth Circuit: Felicia Zeah v. Loretta E. Lynch
Immigration, Administrative
Agency did not require an entirely novel theory of harm in deciding whether to allow a late petition, and a continued threat of a severe harm that might have been asserted by a timely petition did not save the late petition.
Felicia Zeah v. Loretta E. Lynch
Eighth Circuit: United States v. Colin Boone
FRE
No abuse of discretion in admission of prior misconduct by police officer -- however distant in time, it was relevant to determining the required intent in the present action.
United States v. Colin Boone
Seventh Circuit: Jeffrey D. Cochran v. Illinois State Toll Highway
S1983, Tolls, Due Process
Notice and hearing provisions for state highway toll system do not violate Due Process.
Rational basis for providing transponder owners an extra grace period for the payment of tolls.
Jeffrey D. Cochran v. Illinois State Toll Highway
Seventh Circuit: Vera Putro v. Loretta E. Lynch
Immigration, Administrative
Error for IJ not to construe request for waiver as a claim that the requirement did not apply -- this shifted the burden to the petitioner, contrary to statute.
Vera Putro v. Loretta E. Lynch
Seventh Circuit: Sheet Metal Workers Internatio v. Horning Investments, LLC
Labor, FCA
Union can bring a False Claims Act action relative to its members work -- primary jurisdiction of the Department of Labor does not displace the claim to the NLRB.
Payroll deductions for an insurance plan for which the worker was not yet eligible did not constitute a violation of the relevant Act.
Reliance on accountants dos not completely dispel mens rea.
Sheet Metal Workers Internatio v. Horning Investments, LLC
Seventh Circuit: Alfonso Torres-Chavez v. USA
Habeas, Ineffective Assistance
Error for District Court to deny the Writ without an evidentiary hearing where petitioner reasonably clams that defense counsel urged the refusal of a plea deal, claiming the government's case was weak.
Alfonso Torres-Chavez v. USA
Sixth Circuit: Carrie Braun v. Ultimate Jetcharters
JMOL, FRCP, Discrimination
Given proximacy of protected conduct to the ending of employment and refutation of the nondiscriminatory bases for the action, court properly declined to issue JMOL. Some question as to whether the grounds for the motion were properly preserved.
Proper to amend the judgment from Inc. to LLC corporate form, given representations by the corporation at trial and subsequent refusal to recognize the judgment as valid against the LLC.
Carrie Braun v. Ultimate Jetcharters
Sixth Circuit: Brandon Hefferan v. Ethicon Endo-Surgery
Conflict of Laws, Federal Jurisdiction, Subject Matter Jurisdiction, Torts
No abuse of discretion in court's refusal to hear claim under forum non conveniens, despite Germany's lack of adversarial process and lack of remedy for loss of consortium -- US courts would likely apply the law of the place of the delict (Germany), and the medical manufacturer has consented to service there.
&c, &c...
Brandon Hefferan v. Ethicon Endo-Surgery
Fifth Circuit: Rainier DSC 1, L.L.C., et al v. Rainier Capital Mg
Arbitration, FRCP, securities
A stay of the litigation pending compulsory arbitration is at the discretion of the court, and where the legal issues are distinct from those being arbitrated, although both arise from the same transaction or series of transactions, the proceedings may continue, simultaneous with the arbitration.
No genuine issue of material fact as to whether a partnership was created by estoppel in securities
memorandum, given that there was no evidence that the relevant parties were aware of the statements.
Rainier DSC 1, L.L.C., et al v. Rainier Capital Mg
Fifth Circuit: USA v. Henry Walker
Drugs, Guns, FRCrimP, Crim
Given quantity of drugs, sufficient facts in evidence to support a guilty plea for possession of a firearm in furtherance of the drug crimes, despite lack of showing as to proximacy of guns to drugs or presence of ammunition.
USA v. Henry Walker
Fourth Circuit: Melanie Lawson v. Union County Clerk of Court
Free Speech, Employment, First Amendment, S1983
[Assuming S1983, since QI is discussed. c/a not specific.]
A deputy clerk need not have political allegiance to the boss -- it was clearly established law that a clerk who opposed the head clerk in an election should not have been placed on leave for the simple fact of having done so.
The head clerk is not shielded from suit under the 11th Amendment.
Insufficient facts in record for judgment on whether the speech was ultimately protected under a non-categorical balancing test. Insufficient record for ruling on summary judgment.
Long dissent: given burden to establish lack of retributive character to the employment action, there are sufficient facts for judgment in the record
Melanie Lawson v. Union County Clerk of Court
Fourth Circuit: Hunter Laboratories, ex rel. v. Commonwealth of Virginia
Federal Jurisdiction, Subject Matter Jurisdiction, FRCP
Although the injury alleged in a state false claims act suit implicated a question of federal law, federal resolution of the question is not necessary to provide the plaintiff complete relief, and the District Court is therefore without subject matter jurisdiction over the claim.
Hunter Laboratories, ex rel. v. Commonwealth of Virginia
Fourth Circuit: Gabriel Santos Alvarez v. Loretta Lynch
Statutory Construction, Immigration
Commonwealth's crime of Forgery is categorically relevant to decisions under the federal immigration law, since the federal standard is largely the same -- the document has to be transformed into something other than it was.
Gabriel Santos Alvarez v. Loretta Lynch
Second Circuit: United States v. Faux
Fourth Amendment, Miranda
Regulation of deft's movements during two hour interrogation held during a search of the personal residence did not amount to custody for purposes of determining the admissibility of statements made to police prior to arrest.
United States v. Faux
Second Circuit: Collymore v. Lynch
Statutory construction, Immigration
State statute is categorically a crime relevant to the immigration statute, since the prohibition on counterfeit controlled substances incorporates the proximate definition of controlled substances.
Collymore v. Lynch
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