Posts

Sentence for drug crimes is affirmed where there was no clerical error in defendant’s sentence, as nothing in the record indicates that a relevant conduct finding involving the amount of crack cocaine was added to the overall sentencing calculation without the district court’s knowledge or approval and thus there is no jurisdiction to change the finding under Fed. R. Crim. P. 36. Read US v. Johnson, No. 08-3393 Appellate InformationAppeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois....

Petitioner’s petition for review of the denial of his application for withholding of removal is denied, where there was substantial evidence supporting the Immigration Judge’s adverse credibility findings. Read the full decision in Zhao v. Holder, No. 07-4117. Appellate Information: On Appeal from the Board of Immigration Appeals.No. A76 513 761.Submitted: October 28, 2008Decided and Filed: January 16, 2009 Judges: Before MARTIN and GILMAN, Circuit Judges, DOWD, Senior District Judge. The Honorable David D....

The news about former Ninth Circuit Judge Kozinski’s resignation amid allegations of misconduct came as a shock to the public. And now, the Second Circuit’s opinion that the judiciary is powerless to pursue the complaint against him is definitely leading to some unpleasant reactions. In case you’ve had your head buried in Second Circuit caselaw, or some sandy beach, since before Christmas, then you’ve heard about Kozinski’s misconduct towards staff and abrupt his retirement....

A three-member panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals (mostly) upheld a lower court ruling that found U.S. border officials exceeded their authority when they imposed $38 million in fines against Union Pacific Corp. for failing to discover illegal drugs in Mexican-controlled railcars that crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into the US of A. The case explores under what circumstances U.S. Customs and Border Protection have power to impose fines on railroad companies and seize railcars....

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday that the daughter of the writer who co-authored source material for the Martin Scorcese film Raging Bull waited too long to file her copyright claims, reports Courthouse News Service. Paula Petrella filed a copyright infringement action against assorted Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer companies, United Artists, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, (the defendants) in 2009. According to Petrella, the defendants infringed her purported interest in the material that allegedly formed the basis for the 1980 film, Raging Bull....

If you’re looking for some holiday reading material, have you considered looking into books on the Eighth Circuit? Whether you’re in transit or relishing your time off during the holidays, an exploration into the Eighth Circuit’s history or the life of a judge may be the perfect way to keep your mind sharp over the winter lull – with a mug of hot chocolate in hand, of course. Not sure where to look?...

In plaintiff’s tort case against defendant-general contractors arising from an injury sustained while working on renovation of Soldier Field, district court’s failure to give a joint control instruction to the jury was a harmless error and the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is a red herring in this case as the question is not whether and in what sense defendant controlled the scaffold, but whether it failed to make a timely inspection of it....

2023 feels more like Y2K with the exponential growth in artificial intelligence. My, how far we’ve come from SmarterChild. It seems like just yesterday we could barely imagine the world of “WALL-E”; now, we can’t imagine a world without DALL-E. But with the recent tsunami of tech layoffs, people are naturally apprehensive about the dark side of the newest and strongest AI wave. While we shouldn’t blame the bots for most of our job losses just yet (especially since robots might have feelings too), it’s reasonable to speculate that exponential advancement in technology may render many human roles obsolete....

A Colorado inmate is heading back to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to challenge his murder conviction 25 years after a court convicted him. Patrick Wood was convicted of murdering a pizza shop assistant manager and other crimes in 1987. In 2008, he filed a federal habeas petition. Though the government never argued that Wood’s petition was untimely, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals raised the issue sua sponte and rejected Wood’s petition as time-barred....

It seems that the Church of Scientology experiences renewed interest — both good and bad — every time Tom Cruise’s personal life endures a major shift. (Maybe that’s why The Village Voice named Cruise as number 4 among the top 25 people crippling Scientology.) But a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in favor of the Church of Scientology on Tuesday could generate far more buzz than Cruise’s personal life....

A civil rights lawsuit over the New York Police Department’s post-September 11th spying on Muslims in New Jersey was reinstated on Tuesday in a Third Circuit opinion. A group of Muslim plaintiffs had alleged that the program unconstitutionally treated their religion as a “proxy for criminality,” resulting in “pervasive surveillance not visited upon … any other religious faith or the public at large.” Under the program, New York police officers infiltrated Muslim groups, from student associates to mosques, in New York City and beyond, videotaping them and tracking their activities....

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a failure to warn lawsuit against Eli Lilly over Cymbalta on Friday. The appellate court found that there was a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether Lilly’s failure to warn about increased suicide risks among teens would have affected the plaintiff’s doctor’s decision to prescribe Cymbalta. Cynthia Schilf took her 16-year-old son Peter to discuss his depression with their family practitioner, Dr. Richard G....

This post was updated on December 16, 2022. With a major winter storm affecting 13 million people in the West and heading to the Northeast, those renters stuck with no heat in their homes may wonder if they have any legal recourse. The answer depends on many factors, specifically, why you’re without heat. For example, if there is a power outage due to a storm, it is unlikely that you can sue your power company....

In an action for breach of an insurance contract and bad faith, district court judgment against defendant is affirmed where: 1) defendant failed to preserve for review its contention that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on its bad-faith claim; 2) objection to the instruction on bad faith was waived as defendant failed to raise the objection during the instruction conference before the case was submitted, and the jury instructions as a whole fairly and adequately submitted the issues in the case to the jury; 3) the court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant’s motion for a mistrial or a new trial based on juror misconduct, as the misconduct was innocuous and the juror was removed from the panel; 4) the jury verdict on the bad faith claim was supported by sufficient evidence, and the damages award was not excessive; and 5) the court did not err in submitting the punitive damages issue to the jury, and the jury’s award was neither excessive nor unconstitutional....

In his 1839 play Richelieu, Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote that “the pen is mightier than the sword.” It seems that Nevada inmates at Ely State Prison (ESP) took their cues from Richelieu and started using their typewriters as weapons to attack correctional officers and fellow inmates. Not surprisingly, the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) responded by adopting a prison rule banning typewriters at ESP. Inmates who possessed typewriters had the option of shipping the typewriters out of the prison, donating the typewriters to charity, or having the typewriters destroyed....

Sara Marentette checked the label twice: “Similac Advance Organic Infant Formula.” Like many parents, she wanted to make sure the baby formula was organic. So she bought some and took it home. But when she double-checked, she discovered a bunch of ingredients that prompted her to file a class-action lawsuit. In Marentette v. Abbott Laboratories, the plaintiffs said the defendant sold them non-organic baby formula. Organic Food Production Act The suit was over before it began....

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of Obamacare. That is, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was constitutional. Now, this decision might not hold up, seeing as how there are healthcare lawsuits across the nation in various district courts. If conflicting decisions come out, then there will most likely be review by the United States Supreme Court regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and whether it was enacted under a proper use of the government’s power to tax for the general welfare....

Last week, the Seventh Circuit must have had a serious case of déjà vu. Last year, the court reversed the district court’s decision to deny class certification to a group. Sears, the defendant, appealed to the Supreme Court and, in light of the Court’s recent decision in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, the case was remanded for reconsideration. Forbes notes that he second time around, the Seventh Circuit came to the exact same conclusion, and distinguished the Court’s decision in Comcast....

In habeas proceedings arising from defendant’s capital murder conviction, district court’s grant of habeas relief on the ground that the state prosecutors had withheld several pieces of material exculpatory evidence in violation of Brady is affirmed where the cumulative effect of the multiple Brady violations was to undermine confidence in the verdict. Read Simmons v. Beard, No. 05-9001 Appellate Information On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania(No....

The Supreme Court has long recognized that U.S. citizens do not have a constitutional right to a “general education." However, it has been vague about whether a “minimally adequate education" – for example, schools that teach the ability to read – is guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. In the cases that have addressed this issue, the Supreme Court has always deferred. The Sixth Circuit was tired of waiting. A Sixth Circuit panel recently found that failing to provide for access to basic literacy violates students’ substantive due process rights....