Eighth Circuit: United States v. Deborah Brabant-Scribner

As the regulation requires the IRS to consider alternatives for collection and not alternatives to collection,   agency need not have resolved a compromise offer before an Article III court can permit the sale of the primary residence.

http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/18/08/172825P.pdf

Eighth Circuit: United States v. Michael John Walker

Sentencing bump for possession of a weapon in support of the crime inappropriate where the weapon was locked in the trunk and the crime was use or possession of a user's amount of drugs.

http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/18/08/171680P.pdf

Seventh Circuit: Marcus Muhammad v. Del Pearson

Where contemporaneous documents establish that the warrant was vague due to clerical error, and that the vagueness was resolved by actual knowledge of the officers, the question can be resolved as a matter of law.

Arguable probable cause for arrest.

http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2018/D08-17/C:15-3044:J:Hamilton:aut:T:fnOp:N:2204382:S:0

Seventh Circuit: Volney McGhee v. Cameron Watson

Where ineffective assistance at trial isn't used to establish ineffective assistance on direct review, state habeas petition for ineffective assistance on direct review does not exhaust the ineffective assistance at trial for subsequent federal habeas review.

http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2018/D08-17/C:15-3881:J:Wood:con:T:fnOp:N:2203949:S:0

Seventh Circuit: USA v. David Watson

Phone tip that children were playing with guns had insufficient indicia of criminality to justify blocking in of vehicle and subsequent searches.

http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2018/D08-17/C:17-1651:J:Hamilton:con:T:fnOp:N:2204352:S:0

Seventh Circuit: Elliott Levin v. William Miller

Corporate officers had no obligation to counsel the board on the wisdom of not disbursing the tax refunds to the soon-to-fail banks, given the stated board policy of support for the banks.

http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2018/D08-17/C:17-1775:J:Sykes:aut:T:fnOp:N:2203966:S:0

Seventh Circuit: Daniel Martinez v. City of Chicago

S1983 plaintiff has to carry the burden on all disputed questions, including exigent circumstances.

Probable cause for custodial detention in own home after police entry, given proximity to scene of crime. 

http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2018/D08-17/C:17-1888:J:Ripple:aut:T:fnOp:N:2203888:S:0

Seventh Circuit: Peggy A. Berg v. SSA

The Act's 90-day look-back period considers accrued SSA benefits as of the date of their accrual, rather than as of the date of the administrative notice of the accrual of benefits.

http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2018/D08-17/C:17-2389:J:Rovner:aut:T:fnOp:N:2204132:S:0

Sixth Circuit: Miami-Luken, Inc. v. DEA - Drug Enforcement Agency

Agency head's order quashing an ALJ's subpoena is not a final agency action for the purpose of statutory Article III review.

http://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/18a0173p-06.pdf

Fifth Circuit: Sealed Appellee v. Sealed Appellant

Deft waived right to non-conflicted counsel when accepting that counsel had a conflict while fully aware that, additionally, counsel was a potential co-defendant in the present action.

http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/17/17-50487-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit: IAS Service Group, L.L.C. v. Jim Buckley & Associates

Fraudulent inducement pleaded with sufficient particularity; Contractual term did not operate as a disclaimer of reliance; no clear error in court's determination that breach of contract regarding assignment was harmless; party asserting breach had the obligation to establish performance of the condition precedent.

http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/17/17-50105-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit: USA v. Henry Reddick

After hash values of suspect images were flagged by the private vendor, subsequent opening of the files by law enforcement did not violate the Fourth Amendment, as the opening didn't expand the scope of the search.

http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/17/17-41116-CR0.pdf

Fifth Circuit: Ashley Krawietz, et al v. Galveston Independent Schools

School district did not act quickly enough after having cause to know of the need for action.  Plaintiff was correctly categorized as a prevailing party for the purpose of the fee award when the court ordered the deft. to comply with their obligations under the Act.

http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/17/17-40461-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit: Veritext Corporation v. Paul Bonin, et al

State regulation of business practices of shorthand court reporters is justified by a sufficiently strong state interest.

The practice is not immunized against antitrust scrutiny, though, as there is no active state oversight; while the regulations are a creation of the legislature, and the Board is merely administering them.

http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/17/17-30691-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit: Gregory Samples v. Harris County

Grant of qualified immunity for police use of taser on fellow who might have struck a fighting stance.

http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/17/17-20350-CV0.pdf

There's more

...elsewhere.  viz:

http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Time=today&FromMonth=&FromDay=&FromYear=&ToMonth=&ToDay=&ToYear=&Author=any&AuthorName=&Case=any&CaseY1=&CaseY2=&CaseN1=&CaseN2=&CaseN3=&CaseN4=&Submit=Submit&RssJudgeName=Wood&OpsOnly=yes

http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/TodayOpn.pl

https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/opinions/?pk_id=0000009531

http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/todays-published-opinions

http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions-orders

All for now.  Back tomorrow if the crick don't rise.

-CB

Seventh Circuit: BRC Rubber & Plastics, Inc. v. Continental Carbon Company

Conditional right of first refusal requiring counterparty to allow vendor the chance to match any lower price for the contracted item is sufficiently binding on the first party to operate as consideration for the contract.  As the factual statements of the original claim support a theory of anticipatory repudiation, the court may allow the new theory of claim at summary judgment, absent prejudice.

http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2018/D08-16/C:17-2783:J:Ripple:aut:T:fnOp:N:2203557:S:0

Seventh Circuit: Naperville Smart Meter Awarene v. City of Naperville

As it gives the government data that would be otherwise unavailable without a physical search, electrical consumption data collected at fifteen-minute intervals retained for a space of years constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment.  Given the significant government interests in the program, the fact that excessive electricity use isn't a crime per se, and that, according to a guarantee sent to users by the utility, third parties, including law enforcement, need a warrant for access to customer data, the search is a reasonable one.

http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2018/D08-16/C:16-3766:J:Kanne:aut:T:fnOp:N:2203659:S:0

Sixth Circuit: Jena McClellan v. Midwest Machining, Inc.

Where a plaintiff alleging discrimination attempts to return the contractual consideration for an earlier waiver of the claim within a reasonable period of learning of their rights under the discrimination statute, the common-law tender-back rule is satisfied. 

http://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/18a0171p-06.pdf

Sixth Circuit: Ian Davis v. Margaret Bradshaw

Recantation of trial witness insufficiently credible to trigger the actual-innocence exception to the statutory limitation on Habeas petitions.

http://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/18a0172p-06.pdf