Eleventh Circuit: Joan Simring v. GreenSky, LLC

 District court remand to state court under the local controversy exception to the class action statute is reviewable despite the ouster clause of the statute, since the remand is neither for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction nor due to a procedural defect.  The appeal didn't require an authorization of permissive appeal, as the remand order is sufficiently final.

Despite the stipulated limit to the damages by the lead plaintiff, the deft's estimate of relief across the class prevails, since the lead plaintiff has no authority to bind the relief granted the class; the relief therefore exceeds the limit for the local controversy exception.

For purposes of determining residency of class members, only the explicit definition of the class can limit the class to a certain state, and the plaintiff has the burden of establishing the required fraction of in-state class members.

Joan Simring v. GreenSky, LLC

Eleventh Circuit: Southern Coal Corporation, et al v. Drummond Coal Sales, Inc.

 District court properly considered industry usage in determining whether a certain term was ambiguous, ultimately basing its judgment upon finding both the specific referent and the industry benchmark to be reasonable readings.

Agreement not susceptible of reformation, since the claimed error was the mutual mistake of sophisticated parties, so there's no basis for saying that the present agreement doesn't reflect the original intentions of the agreement.

District court abused its discretion in denying fees, as the movant prevailed on their central claim.

Counter-party's refusal to proceed under an industry benchmark once the specific rate-setting mechanism ceased to exist wasn't an anticipatory repudiation, since they were still performing their unaffected obligations under the contract. Since the dispute went to pricing and not the special purpose of the contract, neither was it a material breach of the contract.

CONCURRING IN PART, CONCURRING IN THE JUDGMENT:

The question on fees isn't whether a party was a prevailing party, but whether, under the contract, a party was a defaulting party.

Southern Coal Corporation, et al v. Drummond Coal Sales, Inc.

Ninth Circuit: USA v. Volodymyr Kvashuk

 Proof that an IP associated with the house was used to access relevant email and crypto-coin sites, combined with affidavit statement that financial and personal records are often kept at the home, was sufficient probable cause for a search of the house in an online fraud investigation.  The fact that the fraudulent transactions were committed before moving there isn't dispositive of whether there was likely to be evidence at the house.

A 15-20 month gap between the thefts and the affidavit didn't make the affidavit claims stale, given the nature of computer memory.

Discrepancy in URL TLD on the warrant affidavit was inconsequential.

Personally issued website development test accounts sufficiently identify their authorized users to be the basis for a charge of aggravated identity theft.

Deft's immigration status wasn't critical to establishing a defense for the use of crypto-coin; court did not abuse its discretion in excluding it.

Juror's work with the same large corporate division was insufficient for a claim of implied bias, since the fact patterns at issue in the trial weren't similar to the events of their employment.

USA v. Volodymyr Kvashuk

Eighth Circuit: Barry Segal v. Metropolitan Council

 Although a violation of the transit agency's regulations might not suffice to establish a claim under the discrimination statute, the violations here presented a genuine issue of material fact for trial.

Barry Segal  v.  Metropolitan Council

Eighth Circuit: Scott Gustafson v. Bi-State Development Agency

 Concession at the motion for judgment on the pleadings that the plaintiff wasn't seeking to enforce a private right of action under the statute judicially estops plaintiff from making such a claim at the motion for summary judgment.

 Frustrating but isolated incidents of inability to access services don't support a discrimination claim under the statute.

Earlier denial of motion to amend the complaint isn't automatically raised in an appeal of subsequent denial of summary judgment.

Scott Gustafson  v.  Bi-State Development Agency

Seventh Circuit: Indigo Old Corp., Inc. v. Thomas Guido

 Since the guarantor's obligation was part of an obligation subordinated to a second debt, the lender can't proceed against the guarantor until the second debt is retired and the subordinated obligation comes due.  Under state law, the fact that the debt was subordinated by a contemporaneous instrument means that the subordination didn't count as a modification of the guaranteed obligation that would trigger the guarantor's obligation.

Indigo Old Corp., Inc. v.   Thomas Guido

Seventh Circuit: Alhadji Bayon v. Marshall Berkebile

 As the facts still in dispute bear on the objective reasonableness of the force used by the police officers to arrest the plaintiff, the appellate court has no jurisdiction over an interlocutory claim arising from a denial of qualified immunity,

Alhadji Bayon v.  Marshall Berkebile

Seventh Circuit: USA v. Darrick Vallodolid

In that the political beliefs expressed about immigration policy and discriminatory law enforcement were not exclusively rooted in the venirepersons' ethnicity, their removal from the pool of jurors wasn't constitutionally impermissible.

Given the small size of the sample, statistical analysis and disparate impact analysis alone is insufficient to establish discriminatory nature of the strikes.

As the eyewitness testimony was riddled with inconsistencies beyond the exculpatory ones, it was for the finder of fact to determine its credibility.

Sufficient evidence to find that the crime was gang-related, even absent formal affiliation with the gang, in that it furthered the activities of the former gang.

Sufficient evidence of the conspiracy to admit the statement of the co-conspirator.  Statement indicating possession of drugs in the house admitted not for the truth of the matter asserted, but to establish that the robbers believed there to be drugs there.

Sufficient evidence for conspiracy, given the customary procedures of the gangs and the defts' involvement with them.  Sufficient circumstantial evidence to establish drug quantities.

Federal RICO proceeding wasn't required to incorporate state predicate offense's procedural requirement of bifurcated penalty phase.

USA v.  Darrick Vallodolid

Fifth Circuit: USA v. Singletary

Given that the deft conspired to supply firearms to drug dealers, the conspiracy among the drug dealers to sell drugs is distinct from the conspiracy to supply them with firearms, and therefore a valid predicate for the increased sentence.

The distinction between these conspiracies also serves to separate the two relevant sentencing factors, so that they're not double-counting the same offense.

USA v. Singletary

Second Circuit: Kakar v. USCIS

 Agency's ruling was arbitrary and capricious in that it didn't explain how petitioner's conduct would have been illegal in the United States, given that there is a genuine and reasonable dispute as to the context of the events, and also as to the affirmative defense of duress.  

(Although petitioner had challenged for lack of substantial evidence, vacated and remanded to agency as arbitrary and capricious.)

Kakar v. USCIS

First Circuit: Williams v. Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A.

 Although the District Court excluded the expert testimony, a precise reading of the testimony establishes that the plaintiff hasn't met their burden on causation; the question is not if the fractured weld caused the accident, but whether the defect in the weld caused the accident.

Williams v. Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A.

First Circuit: Puerto Rico Farm Credit, ACA v. Eco-Parque del Tanama Corp.

Statute requires that the lender attempt a restructuring of the loan obligations only where the restructuring ultimately proves less costly than foreclosure; borrower's inability to demonstrate means for a satisfactory repayment removed the requirement.

Under the statute, a lender must consider the restructuring plan's credibility and viability, and need not accept a plan that the counterparty can't perform.

Putting forward a credible plan for restructuring is a threshold requirement for challenging the lender's estimated foreclosure costs.

Puerto Rico Farm Credit, ACA v. Eco-Parque del Tanama Corp.