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.
First Circuit: US v. Alvarez-Nunez
Sentencing
Lyrics and music videos are protected expression under the First Amendment, and absent extrinsic evidence linking them to the criminal conduct, they cannot be considered in sentencing.
Grease can be gotten from geese.
US v. Alvarez-Nunez
First Circuit: Aponte-Davila v. Municipality of Caguas
FRCP
When a litigant has relocated for medical treatment, domicile is a context-specific inquiry, one that is not predetermined by the litigant's having indicated the new place of residence on medical and employment forms.
Aponte-Davila v. Municipality of Caguas
First Circuit: US v. Rodriguez-Melendez
Sentencing
Misleading PSR language made above-guidelines sentence proceedurally unreasonable and plain error.
US v. Rodriguez-Melendez
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
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