2018 Sixth Circuit US Court of Appeals Case Law
Opinions 501 - 1000 of 1090
Date: July 17, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5710
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2006, Gilmore pleaded guilty to federal offenses and began serving a 188-month sentence. South Carolina, planning to charge Gilmore with assault and battery and failure to pay child support, filed a detainer,…
Date: July 17, 2018
Docket Number: 18-1107
Justia Opinion Summary: Nakhleh entered a post office with an open package. An employee stated that he would have to tape his box closed and that she could not give him free tape. Nakhleh left to buy tape, returned, and sealed his package but…
Date: July 16, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3663
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2008, plaintiffs filed a class action concerning 540 properties in Dayton’s McCook Field neighborhood, alleging that the groundwater is contaminated with carcinogenic volatile organic compounds, released by…
Date: July 13, 2018
Docket Number: 17-2014
Justia Opinion Summary: ATC, a Michigan manufacturer, outsources orders, including to YiFeng, a Chinese company. ATC pays vendors in four separate payments, based on manufacturing progress. YiFeng emails ATC invoices. On March 18, 2015, ATC’s…
Date: July 12, 2018
Docket Number: 17-2056
Date: July 12, 2018
Docket Number: 17-6142
Justia Opinion Summary: In November 2010, Hayes engaged Cybriwsky to represent him related to the denial of Hayes’s application for Social Security disability benefits. In February 2011, the case was remanded for further administrative hearings…
Date: July 11, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3485
Justia Opinion Summary: Barry, a judicial administrative assistant, alleged that Franklin County Municipal Judge O’Grady created a hostile work environment with vulgar comments about women, either coming from O’Grady directly, encouraged by…
Date: July 10, 2018
Docket Numbers: 16-6252, 16-6360
Justia Opinion Summary: The VA determined that West, a Viet Nam veteran, was eligible for a disability pension. Two days later West died. Four days later—without knowing that West had died—the government sent West a check for $8,660--his…
Date: July 10, 2018
Docket Number: 16-6360
Date: July 10, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5070
Justia Opinion Summary: Slusser pleaded guilty in 2011 as a felon in possession of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. 922(g), waiving his right to “file any motions or pleadings pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2255 or to collaterally attack [his] conviction[] and/or…
Date: July 6, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1468
Justia Opinion Summary: Lossia used a Flagstar Bank checking account to initiate Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions--electronic payments made from one bank account to another. Common ACH transactions include online bill pay and an…
Date: July 5, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1869
Justia Opinion Summary: The IRS issued two “John Doe” summonses to Chase Bank without first obtaining approval in a federal district court as required by Internal Revenue Code section 7609(f), to obtain financial records relating to two limited…
Date: July 5, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5743
Justia Opinion Summary: Williams, a CPA, was manager or co-owner of Sexton’s Kentucky companies. Flynn was the office manager. From 2006-2010, they secured loans by misrepresenting the businesses’ assets and the identity of the true borrowers.…
Date: July 5, 2018
Docket Number: 18-8003
Justia Opinion Summary: Debtor filed a chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, seeking the discharge of his student loan debt as an “undue hardship,” 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(8). Debtor graduated with an architectural drafting certification in 2008 and, since…
Date: July 3, 2018
Docket Number: 17-6057
Justia Opinion Summary: Maynard and others stole over 700 pounds of blasting agent from a Revelation Energy job site. He pled guilty to possessing an explosive as a felon, 18 U.S.C. 842(i)(1). Relying on Maynard’s prior convictions for…
Date: June 29, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3954
Justia Opinion Summary: Fleming pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to distribute, 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1), stipulating that his base offense level would be 24, based on his possession of at least 500 grams but less than 2 kilograms of…
Date: June 29, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5741
Justia Opinion Summary: Upsher-Smith manufactures a generic form of amiodarone hydrochloride, which is FDA-approved as a drug of last resort for patients suffering from ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia, life-threatening…
Date: June 28, 2018
Docket Number: 17-2166
Justia Opinion Summary: Rhinehart, then a prisoner, filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that medical providers associated with the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) denied him necessary treatment for his end-stage liver disease…
Date: June 28, 2018
Docket Number: 17-6082
Justia Opinion Summary: Montgomery pled guilty as a felon in possession of ammunition. He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment plus three years of supervised release. Months after his release the government alleged that Montgomery had…
Date: June 27, 2018
Docket Number: 17-4007
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2010, Earley applied for disability benefits, 42 U.S.C. 423(d)(2)(A), 1382c(a)(3)(B) . In 2012, an ALJ rejected the application on the ground that Earley, who suffered from fibromyalgia, mild carpal tunnel syndrome,…
Date: June 26, 2018
Docket Numbers: 16-2279, 16-2310
Justia Opinion Summary: The Warden appealed the district court's conditional grant of petitioner's application for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. 2254 and petitioner cross-appealed the denial of relief on several alternative claims.…
Date: June 26, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1799
Justia Opinion Summary: The Sixth Circuit reversed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress evidence obtained via a search warrant. The court held that the district court erred in denying defendant's motion to suppress…
Date: June 26, 2018
Docket Number: 17-6073
Justia Opinion Summary: The Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to defendants in an action alleging that jail personnel and members of Healthcare's medical staff violated federal and state law tort claims after…
Date: June 25, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3461
Justia Opinion Summary: In Ohio, judges in all courts of record are selected by election. Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct, Canon 4, governs the fundraising and political conduct of judicial candidates. Platt, an Ohio attorney, formed the Platt…
Date: June 25, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5410
Justia Opinion Summary: Dr. Paulus, a cardiologist at Ashland, Kentucky’s KDMC, was first in the nation in billing Medicare for angiograms. His annual salary was around $2.5 million, under KDMC’s per-procedure compensation package. In 2008, HHS…
Date: June 22, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1632
Justia Opinion Summary: Leone’s employer used a degasser, a large vat lined with brick, to extract gas impurities from molten steel. The degasser’s components include an alloy chute near the top of the vat. The employer hired BMI to “tearout”…
Date: June 22, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3424
Justia Opinion Summary: Following Columbus, Ohio robberies, the government obtained an arrest warrant against Satterwhite for interstate robbery, 18 U.S.C. 1951; felon in possession of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. 922(g); and brandishing a firearm…
Date: June 22, 2018
Docket Number: 17-4093
Justia Opinion Summary: Susany conspired with Courtney and Quinn to obtain explosives to crack safes at jewelry and coin shops. They planned to finance their purchase of explosives by breaking into shops. Susany and Quinn met with an FBI…
Date: June 22, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5475
Justia Opinion Summary: On March 31, 2014, the government obtained a single 30-day electronic surveillance order authorizing the wiretapping of cell phones used by Williams (TT1), and TT2 used by Cooper. The government intercepted Cooper’s TT2…
Date: June 20, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1431
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2008, facing insolvency, Chrysler offered certain employees incentives to take early retirement, in addition to benefits they had earned under its Pension Plan. Pearce, then 60 years old, had worked for Chrysler for…
Date: June 15, 2018
Docket Number: 17-2374
Date: June 14, 2018
Docket Numbers: 17-5933, 17-5997
Justia Opinion Summary: More than 95% of the world’s bourbon comes from Kentucky. One distiller, Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr., was called “the most remarkable man to enter the whiskey industry during the post-Civil War years.” Taylor…
Date: June 12, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3427
Justia Opinion Summary: Cathedral Buffet, an Ohio for-profit corporation, does not generate a profit. Its sole shareholder is Grace Cathedral, a 501(c)(3) non-profit religious organization, which subsidizes the restaurant. The restaurant…
Date: June 11, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3881
Justia Opinion Summary: Shabo immigrated to the U.S. in 1985. In 1992, at the age of 25, he was convicted of an aggravated felony: possession with the intent to deliver 50-225 grams of cocaine. He served 60 months of imprisonment. An…
Date: June 11, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5826
Justia Opinion Summary: Brookdale employed Prather to review Medicare claims before their submission for payment. Many of these claims were missing required certifications from physicians attesting to the need for the medical services provided.…
Date: June 8, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3277
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, retirees who worked at Honeywell’s Greenville, Ohio plant, were members of a bargaining unit. The final collective bargaining agreement (CBA) did not expire until May 2014. Honeywell sold the plant in 2011…
Date: June 8, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5646
Justia Opinion Summary: At the age of 19, Barcus had sex with a 12-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated sexual battery against a victim less than 13 years old in Tennessee, spent three years in prison, is subject to…
Date: June 7, 2018
Docket Number: 17-4018
Justia Opinion Summary: Officers obtained a search warrant for Robinson’s Ohio apartment after observing him sell drugs outside and making controlled buys from him. When the officers arrived to execute the warrant, Robinson fled and was chased,…
Date: June 6, 2018
Docket Numbers: 17-8029, 18-8013
Justia Opinion Summary: Trustee and Creditor filed an adversary complaint against Debtors and NonDebtor Defendants, including BIT, seeking a declaration that Debtors were not entitled to a discharge, and to recover assets from the Non-Debtors.…
Date: June 5, 2018
Docket Number: 15-3116
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1996, at Madison Correctional Institution, Stojetz and other inmates stormed a unit housing juvenile offenders. After overpowering the guard, they proceeded to the cell of 17-year-old Watkins and attacked him. Watkins…
Date: June 5, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5046
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2008, a jury convicted Cradler of violating 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1), which prohibits convicted felons from possessing a firearm. This offense typically carries a maximum imprisonment penalty of 10 years. Under the Armed…
Date: June 4, 2018
Docket Numbers: 17-3692, 17-3694
Justia Opinion Summary: A DEA agent learned that a particular tractor-trailer traveling to Cleveland likely contained narcotics. When the truck arrived, investigators watched as the driver parked in a fenced-in lot and a car driven by…
Date: June 4, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3807
Justia Opinion Summary: Sunrise, an Ohio agricultural cooperative, owns one-third of Lund, which sells crop insurance. Sunrise pays “patronage,” a rebate, to its Ohio and Michigan members based on how much Lund insurance they buy. The Risk…
Date: June 1, 2018
Docket Number: 16-8013
Justia Opinion Summary: Giese claimed that HNRC paid royalties derived from coal mining into an escrow account. After buying the property on which the mining occurred, Giese sued, asserting a right to the escrowed royalties. Lexington Coal…
Date: June 1, 2018
Docket Numbers: 17-1222, 17-1250
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, 11 minority firefighters who were laid off by Detroit in 2012 as part of a reduction in force (RIF) that followed the city’s bankruptcy, sued the city and their union, (DFFA), alleging a violation of Title…
Date: May 31, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1828
Justia Opinion Summary: Abramge is a Brazilian nonprofit professional association of private health insurance providers, many of whom were impacted by a bribery and kickback scandal in the medical device market that broke in the Brazilian media…
Date: May 31, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3519
Justia Opinion Summary: Three-and-a-half years ago, a Kentucky state court issued a judgment in plaintiffs’ favor against class-action plaintiffs’ attorney Chesley for $42 million. Since then, the plaintiffs have been trying to collect on that…
Date: May 30, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3167
Justia Opinion Summary: Sorrells, looking out of a window, saw men arguing. She knew Johnson, Levingston, and Grace from the neighborhood. Johnson knocked Grace to the ground. Sorrells saw the men standing over Grace, followed by flashes from…
Date: May 29, 2018
Docket Numbers: 16-2680, 16-2383
Justia Opinion Summary: Two individuals obtained unemployment benefits from the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency to which they were not entitled because they were being paid wages. Each was ordered to pay restitution and a penalty; each…
Date: May 29, 2018
Docket Number: 16-4345
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, who profess disbelief in God and one Jewish individual, alleged that the inscription of the Motto “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency, (31 U.S.C. 5112(d)(1) and 5114(b)), violates their rights under the…
Date: May 29, 2018
Docket Number: 17-2275
Justia Opinion Summary: The Honorable Michael J. Theile is a Michigan state-court judge. In 2020, the year of the next election for the seat he now holds, Theile will be 71 years of age. Because the Michigan Constitution and a statute prohibit…
Date: May 25, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3768
Justia Opinion Summary: Sweeney’s parental rights over his daughter, T.R., were terminated after he was convicted of raping his niece. He had no contact with T.R. during his 10-year imprisonment. Upon his release from prison in 2013, Sweeney…
Date: May 24, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1666
Justia Opinion Summary: As a school principal, Buendia took kickbacks from Shy. Detroit Public Schools (DPS) paid Shy for supplies he never delivered. Some of the money came from the federal government. The FBI searched Shy’s home and found a…
Date: May 15, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5517
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2012, after attempting to sell a sawed-off shotgun, Richardson pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a felon, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1). Based on Richardson’s three prior Georgia burglary convictions, each of which…
Date: May 14, 2018
Docket Number: 16-3864
Justia Opinion Summary: Comey was the administrator of her brother, Warehime's, estate. Martin and Simons fraudulently took ownership of Warehime’s property. Martin, a nurse, accessed Warehime’s medical records without authorization so that…
Date: May 11, 2018
Docket Number: 15-3440
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2006, Lang shot and killed Cheek and Burditte during a botched drug deal. Lang was indicted on two counts of aggravated murder and for aggravated robbery with firearm specifications. After two witnesses had testified,…
Date: May 11, 2018
Docket Number: 17-8006
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2013, Jackson filed a voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. The bankruptcy court lifted the automatic stay on Jackson’s residence. The bank foreclosed on Jackson’s residence in May 2014. Jackson’s right to redeem…
Date: May 10, 2018
Docket Number: 16-5063
Date: May 10, 2018
Docket Numbers: 16-5124, 16-5063
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1991, Norton merged predecessor retirement plans into one Plan governed by ERISA. As of 1997, the Plan included a traditional defined-benefit formula applicable to members of the predecessor plans and a cash-balance…
Date: May 9, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1973
Justia Opinion Summary: Mohawk, a seller of prescription drugs sent junk faxes to medical providers, advertising the seller’s prices on Bristol-Myers and Pfizer drugs. A recipient filed a putative class-action lawsuit under the Telephone…
Date: May 8, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5727
Justia Opinion Summary: Knoxville police stopped Malone for driving with unlit tail lights. A handgun was found under Malone’s seat and he was charged as a felon-in-possession, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1). A witness-intimidation charge was added after…
Date: May 4, 2018
Docket Number: 18-1037
Justia Opinion Summary: Stevenson is serving life in prison in Michigan for first-degree murder, assault with intent to commit murder, and possessing a firearm in the commission of a felony. His convictions and sentence were affirmed on direct…
Date: May 3, 2018
Docket Number: 14-5457
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1994, Carruthers and Montgomery assaulted three people, robbed them, then buried them alive. The bodies were found buried in a Memphis cemetery, a week after they disappeared. Carruthers’ family retained Wharton to…
Date: May 3, 2018
Docket Numbers: 17-1981, 17-1975, 17-1977, 17-1978, 17-1980, 17-1979
Justia Opinion Summary: Based on allegedly deceptive pictures on pet food packaging, Wysong alleged false advertising under the Lanham Act, requiring proof that the Defendants made false or misleading statements of fact about their products,…
Date: May 3, 2018
Docket Number: 17-2256
Justia Opinion Summary: NPC’s adversary proceeding against the Chapter 7 Trustee and his surety alleged that the trustee breached his fiduciary duties with respect to one of the Debtor’s assets, a former Benton Harbor manufacturing facility. …
Date: May 3, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3625
Justia Opinion Summary: Raymond, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, was born in 1947 and was a long-term resident of Middlesboro, Kentucky. He worked in the coal-mining industry for over 20 years and developed severe respiratory issues. Raymond,…
Date: May 1, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1781
Justia Opinion Summary: Sexton entered a bank and presented a note, stating that he was robbing the bank. The teller retrieved $1,610 from a drawer and gave it to Sexton, who took the money and the note and left the bank. Sexton was arrested…
Date: May 1, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3992
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2010, Dr. Menendez treated 15-year-old Garber for a fever, constipation, and back pain. Garber became a paraplegic. The state court dismissed Garber’s initial lawsuit because he failed to file an affidavit from an…
Date: April 27, 2018
Docket Numbers: 17-3721, 17-3679
Justia Opinion Summary: Grimsby invited Nancy to take a boat trip on Lake Erie. The boat hit a wave, jarring the passengers and injuring Nancy. In her suit, invoking the court’s diversity and admiralty jurisdiction, Nancy pleaded that “this…
Date: April 25, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5718
Justia Opinion Summary: Kimberly and defendant argued on the phone. Defendant went to the home of Kimberly’s aunt (Taylor), where Kimberly was staying and told her that if she did not come out, he was going to “set it off.” After hanging up the…
Date: April 23, 2018
Docket Number: 16-2174
Justia Opinion Summary: As voir dire was about to commence at Bickham’s state court trial, officers cleared the public from the courtroom. Bickham’s counsel objected, citing Presley v. Georgia (2010), which established that a defendant’s Sixth…
Date: April 23, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5451
Justia Opinion Summary: Reid pleaded guilty to conspiring to manufacture methamphetamine. The court calculated Reid’s guidelines range as 151-188 months and sentenced him to 170 months’ imprisonment. Reid’s sentence was later reduced to 145…
Date: April 18, 2018
Docket Number: 16-4027
Justia Opinion Summary: Enacted in 2016, Ohio Revised Code 3701.034 requires the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) to ensure that all funds it receives through six non-abortion-related federal health programs are not used to contract with any…
Date: April 17, 2018
Docket Number: 16-6628
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2003, Potter pleaded guilty to various drug and gun crimes, including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The Armed Career Criminal Act imposes a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence on repeat offenders—those…
Date: April 16, 2018
Docket Number: 16-8045
Justia Opinion Summary: Debtor, a professional hockey player with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition. His Player Contract ends with the 2017–18 NHL season. He had $21,343,723.64 in pre-petition…
Date: April 16, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1672
Justia Opinion Summary: Gardner shared a cell phone with his 17-year-old girlfriend, B.H., to facilitate her “sex dates” with other men. Gardner had advertised B.H. on Backpage.com, arranged her transportation and gave her drugs for the…
Date: April 16, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3427
Justia Opinion Summary: Cathedral Buffet is an Ohio for-profit corporation but does not generate a profit. The restaurant’s sole shareholder is Grace Cathedral, a 501(c)(3) non-profit religious organization, which subsidizes the restaurant. The…
Date: April 16, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3749
Justia Opinion Summary: Gutierrez, a citizen of Bolivia, has been a U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident since her 1980 admission. In 2012, she pleaded guilty to credit card theft, Virginia Code 18.2-192(1). She had prior convictions for petty…
Date: April 12, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3175
Justia Opinion Summary: Richardson was arrested after failing to appear at a child-support enforcement hearing. The judge imposed a sentence of up to 30 days for civil contempt, which could be purged and Richardson released upon payment of…
Date: April 11, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3395
Justia Opinion Summary: An Ohio jury found Hautzenroeder, a high school teacher, guilty of one count of sexual battery involving a student. Although her state court appeals were unsuccessful, the trial court suspended most of her two-year…
Date: April 6, 2018
Docket Number: 17-8004
Justia Opinion Summary: Debtors filed their Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in Ohio. They had homes in Ohio and Maryland and listed the Ohio Home as their residence, claiming a $265,800 homestead exemption (Ohio Revised Code 2329.66(A)(1)). They…
Date: April 5, 2018
Docket Numbers: 17-5675, 17--5608
Justia Opinion Summary: Toll was in solitary confinement at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution when he allegedly threw liquid at a correctional officer. The commander decided to extract Toll from his cell. After the cell extraction team…
Date: April 4, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1161
Justia Opinion Summary: The previous case involving the same parties involved automobile dealerships from Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Florida, California, and Wisconsin, whose franchise agreements were rejected during Chrysler’s bankruptcy, but who…
Date: April 4, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5908
Justia Opinion Summary: A dog’s sniff alerted law enforcement to a suspicious-smelling package, which contained methamphetamine. The intended recipient was “B. PERKINS,” at his Belvidere, Tennessee address. A trusted confidential informant had…
Date: April 4, 2018
Docket Number: 18-5249
Justia Opinion Summary: Mischler filed a civil rights action against multiple government officials. She asked the district court judge to recuse himself from the case under 28 U.S.C. 144. On March 2, 2018, the district court denied Mischler’s…
Date: April 3, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1289
Justia Opinion Summary: Maben, a Michigan prisoner, was in line for lunch. The server provided Maben with half a serving, dumping out the rest, stating that he “was doing as told.” Before Maben could speak to a supervisor, Thelen, a prison…
Date: March 29, 2018
Docket Number: 16-6760
Justia Opinion Summary: The Guard Recruiting Assistance Program (G-RAP), designed to increase recruiting to the Air National Guard during the “War on Terror” was run by Docupak, a private corporation. Docupak selected and trained Recruiting…
Date: March 28, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1445
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury found that the Michigan Department of State Police had retaliated against Mys, a former desk sergeant with the Department, by transferring her from her longtime post in Newaygo, Michigan, to a post in Detroit.…
Date: March 27, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1713
Justia Opinion Summary: In May, Amerson was wounded in a gunbattle between cars. Officers recovered spent casings and seized a handgun that tested positive for Amerson’s DNA. In August, officers responded to another car gunfight and found one…
Date: March 27, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1777
Justia Opinion Summary: The FBI obtained access to the physical computer running Playpen’s “dark” website, which contained significant child pornography, and kept the website running to catch its patrons. The site required a browser “mask” to…
Date: March 27, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5064
Justia Opinion Summary: Porter, the mayor of Paintsville, Kentucky, steered business and contracts to companies owned by his co-defendant, Crace, and ensured payment of a fraudulent invoice to Crace’s company, in return for payments disguised…
Date: March 26, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3419
Justia Opinion Summary: In January 2015, Perez pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1). The Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. 924(e)(2)(B)(i), imposes a mandatory minimum sentence for…
Date: March 22, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5893
Justia Opinion Summary: On December 15, Louisville Detective Evans submitted an affidavit for a warrant to search the house at 668 Eastlawn, stating: In July 2015, officers learned from a “reliable confidential informant” (CS1) that Hines was…
Date: March 20, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3888
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs submitted a ballot initiative petition proposing to amend the Ohio Constitution by imposing term limits on the justices of the Ohio Supreme Court and requiring that all laws “that apply to the people of the…
Date: March 19, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1447
Justia Opinion Summary: Rayyan watched online content that glorified ISIS, calling a video entitled “Kill them wherever you find them” “the best.” He featured a photo depicting a jihad-inspired execution on his Twitter account. The FBI…
Date: March 16, 2018
Docket Number: 16-4240
Justia Opinion Summary: Bergrin’s cousin, Paul, was an infamous defense lawyer, advising clients: “No witness, no case.” Paul was convicted of murdering witnesses, overseeing mortgage fraud and drug trafficking, and violating federal…
Date: March 16, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5389
Justia Opinion Summary: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) funds a retirement plan, administered by “the Board, and provides defined benefits to participants that includes a cost-of-living adjustment. In 2009, the Plan found that its…
Date: March 15, 2018
Docket Number: 16-1349
Justia Opinion Summary: Morris pled guilty to the distribution of cocaine base. The plea agreement specified a Guidelines range of 30-37 months in prison. Because an amendment lowering the applicable drug sentencing guidelines was about to…
Date: March 15, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5988
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1998, Byerley was found beside the road with her throat slashed. Jordan was convicted for the murder. Prosecutors never told him that a knife found near Byerley's body might have implicated someone else. The Tennessee…
Date: March 15, 2018
Docket Number: 17-8013
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellees filed a state court action, alleging that Peace caused property damage when he interfered with the water flow to the Appellees' Cleves, Ohio property. That lawsuit was stayed when Peace filed a chapter 7…
Date: March 13, 2018
Docket Numbers: 15-8053, 15-8055
Justia Opinion Summary: Fulson was the indirect equity owner of the Chapter 7 Debtor, based on his ownership of Nicole Gas, the Debtor’s sole owner. While Debtor’s bankruptcy was pending Fulson filed a state court complaint against the Columbia…
Date: March 13, 2018
Docket Numbers: 17-8001, 17-8008
Justia Opinion Summary: Perkins has actively operated a 200-acre Kentucky farm since 1970. Her operation expanded to cultivate approximately 9,500 acres in various partnerships. Perkins encountered financial trouble in 2014. The partnerships…
Date: March 12, 2018
Docket Numbers: 16-3285, 17-3394
Justia Opinion Summary: The Union sued Genesis Mechanical, Genesis Services, and Genesis Corporation, claiming that all three had violated the union’s collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) by failing to forward certain funds. The Union alleged…
Date: March 12, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1848
Justia Opinion Summary: School superintendent Groening had surgery that required six weeks of Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), 29 U.S.C. 2612(a), leave. She returned to work part-time. Her mother then fell ill. Groening took intermittent…
Date: March 12, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3394
Date: March 8, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1042
Justia Opinion Summary: The plaintiffs, former employees at Honeywell’s Boyne City, Michigan auto parts plant, were represented by the UAW while working. The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between that union and Honeywell that became…
Date: March 8, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1166
Justia Opinion Summary: Counts 1-4 and 6 alleged Bacon sold firearms to prohibited persons, 18 U.S.C. 922(d)(1). Counts 5 and 7 charged Bacon with possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, 18 U.S.C. 922(k). Bacon entered…
Date: March 8, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5925
Date: March 7, 2018
Docket Number: 16-2424
Justia Opinion Summary: Stephens, born biologically male, worked as a funeral director for a corporation that operates Michigan funeral homes. Stephens was terminated shortly after informing the owner, Rost, that she intended to transition and…
Date: March 7, 2018
Docket Number: 16-3989
Justia Opinion Summary: Airports, including Lake Cumberland Regional Airport, must make “standard grant assurances” (49 U.S.C. 47101) to receive federal funds. Assurance 22 requires an airport to “make the airport available . . . without unjust…
Date: March 2, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1281
Justia Opinion Summary: On October 29, 2014, at 4:00 a.m., 13 police officers wearing SWAT gear and face masks blew open the door of the Greers’ West Bloomfield Township home with a shotgun. The officers did not knock or announce their…
Date: February 26, 2018
Docket Numbers: 15-6014, 15-6402, 16-5356
Justia Opinion Summary: Westine completed a 235-month sentence for securities fraud, and, within months, began offering investments in oil wells. Prospective investors were promised their “[f]irst monthly check within 90 days.” Investors never…
Date: February 23, 2018
Docket Number: 15-4182
Date: February 23, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1064
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2008, the National Park Service proposed a trailway through the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Leelanau County, Michigan. One alternative route ran along Traverse Lake Road. Residents opposed sending…
Date: February 22, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1864
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs worked for Oleson’s in Michigan. The collective bargaining agreement between Oleson’s and the Union allowed Oleson’s to deduct union dues from employees’ paychecks if the employee signed an authorization form.…
Date: February 21, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5483
Justia Opinion Summary: Mosby-Meachem, an in-house attorney for Memphis Light, Gas & Water, was denied a request to work from home for 10 weeks while she was on bedrest due to complications from pregnancy. MLG&W unsuccessfully argued that…
Date: February 21, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5552
Justia Opinion Summary: The Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission issues separate classes of licenses to manufacturers and distillers, wholesalers, and liquor retailers, Tenn. Code 57-3-201. To obtain a license, an individual must have “been…
Date: February 20, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5626
Justia Opinion Summary: Michael, a licensed pharmacist at Chapmanville's Aracoma Pharmacy, separately co-owns another West Virginia pharmacy and one in Pennsylvania. The government suspected that Michael used the pharmacies to distribute…
Date: February 16, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3696
Justia Opinion Summary: The Hagys took a loan to purchase a mobile home and property on which to park it. In 2010, they defaulted. Green Tree initiated foreclosure. Hagy called Green Tree’s law firm, Demers & Adams, wanting to settling the…
Date: February 14, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3631
Justia Opinion Summary: Medical personnel treated three infants, between 19-days old and six-months-old, in the emergency room of Nationwide Children’s Hospital for serious injuries, including skull fractures and a broken leg. Nationwide’s…
Date: February 13, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5027
Justia Opinion Summary: Higdon pled guilty as a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 15 years in prison as an armed career criminal based in part on a 1984 North Carolina conviction for discharging a firearm into an occupied…
Date: February 9, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3396
Justia Opinion Summary: John attended a party, drank six beers, then proceeded to a bar and drank more beer and alcohol. He left the bar in the early morning, sufficiently intoxicated that he cannot remember what happened for the remainder of…
Date: February 7, 2018
Docket Number: 16-6720
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2013, Smith pleaded guilty to three federal counts stemming from his armed robbery of a Sevierville, Tennessee pharmacy. He was sentenced to 262 months in prison, the bottom of the Guidelines range, as a career…
Date: February 7, 2018
Docket Number: 17-1590
Justia Opinion Summary: Following a spate of home-invasion robberies around Dallas, police interrupted a robbery attempt that fit the pattern. The robbers fled on foot. Later that day, police arrested Olaya after finding him in a stolen vehicle…
Date: February 6, 2018
Docket Number: 17-5448
Justia Opinion Summary: Hernandez pled guilty to conspiring to distribute two kilograms of cocaine. Hernandez was to receive the two kilograms from a larger, 28-kilogram shipment of cocaine as payment for an outstanding debt. At sentencing, the…
Date: February 6, 2018
Docket Number: 17-8005
Justia Opinion Summary: Debtors filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. They included their interest in Franklin, Ohio real property with three mortgages. PNC held the first two. The home was “underwater.” The Trustee filed an adversary…
Date: February 5, 2018
Docket Number: 17-3087
Justia Opinion Summary: Harris, a registered stockbroker, and his co-conspirators, including government witness Durand, agreed to recommend shares of Zirk de Maison’s companies to clients in exchange for commissions. The Financial Industry…
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