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.
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
Ninth Circuit: USA V. LAVELLE PHILLIPS
Sentencing, Guns
No procedural error in sentencing--sufficiently explained.
Active concealment required for misprision suffices to make constitutional a bar on possession of firearms after conviction for Misprision of Felony.
USA V. LAVELLE PHILLIPS
Ninth Circuit: JENNY FLORES V. LORETTA LYNCH
Immigration
Consent decree applies to both accompanied and unaccompanied minors, since the potential policy issues do not preclude reading the contract in its plain terms.
Decree does not create a duty to release parents, though.
JENNY FLORES V. LORETTA LYNCH
Eigth Circuit: United States v. Charles Ewert
Sentencing
Sentencing guidelines not unconstitutional.
State misdemeanor with penalty of more than a year in prison was properly considered a felony in sentencing.
Not substantively unreasonable.
United States v. Charles Ewert
Eighth Circuit: United States v. Santos Chavarria-Ortiz
Sentencing
Lack of contemporaneous objection to explanation of sentence at trial is forfeiture of claim, not waiver.
Within-guidelines sentence sufficiently explained, as the court characterized the sentence as reasonable and evinced some knowledge of the deft's circumstances.
Within-guidelines sentence not substantively unreasonable.
United States v. Santos Chavarria-Ortiz
Eighth Circuit: Katie Moore v. Kansas City Public Schools
Federal Jurisdiction, IDEA, FRCP
As school-based tort claim did not explicitly invoke IDEA, removal and dismissal for lack of exhaustion was improper.
The claim's reference to similar terms did, however make the claim colorable, so fees are denied.
Katie Moore v. Kansas City Public Schools
Eighth Circuit: Jerome Emmanuel Davis v. Warden Kent Grandlienard
Habeas, AEDPA, Miranda
As the post-invocation statement admitted at the trial was facially exculpatatory and cumulative, state court did not err in denying Habeas.
Concur in J -- The statement was the only evidence placing the deft at the scene of the crime, but state court could have reasonably read it as harmless error.
Jerome Emmanuel Davis v. Warden Kent Grandlienard
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