2012 Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals Case Law

Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose out of Native Ecosystems Council's appeal of the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the Forest Service in an action regarding the Ettien Ridge Fuels Reduction Project in the Lewis and…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed a putative class action against Facebook and others complaining that Facebook's program, Beacon, was causing publication of otherwise private information about their outside web activities to their…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction and sentence for multiple counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, and telemarketing fraud against the elderly. The primary issue on appeal was whether the district court committed plain error…

Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal related to the Forest Service's design of the Angora Project in response to damage caused by the Angora Fire. The court held that the Lake Tahoe Forest Plan did not require the Forest Service to demonstrate…

Justia Opinion Summary: Joseph Tracy appealed the Benefits Review Board's determination that injuries he incurred in part during his employment by Global International Offshore Ltd. from 1998-2002 were not covered under the Longshore and Harbor…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed a complaint alleging that defendant's failure to provide pain medication to him violated his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. Plaintiff subsequently appealed from the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitioned for review of an order of removal. Petitioner's attorney failed to appear at a scheduled merits hearing before an IJ because his license to practice law had…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner was convicted by an Arizona jury and sentenced to death for a 1992 killing spree. Petitioner appealed the district court's denial of habeas relief on three principal claims. On his first claim, the court…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction for aggravated sexual abuse. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting a witness's interview under Federal Rule of Evidence 803(4); in admitting an…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a realtor, filed suit under the California False Claims Act (CFCA), Cal. Gov't Code 12650-12655, against defendants on behalf of numerous California counties, alleging that defendants made false…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction for failure to register as a sex offender. The court affirmed the conviction and clarified that the outcome of the case was controlled by United States v. Valverde. Therefore,…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitioned for review of a decision of the BIA dismissing his appeal of an order of removal. Petitioner argued that a finding that he engaged in illegal activity could not…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of three counts of bringing in illegal aliens without presentation and defendant subsequently appealed. At issue was whether the government could deport an illegal alien who could provide…

Justia Opinion Summary: These consolidated appeals concern the aftermath of the shooting of Kristin Marie Maxwell-Bruce by her husband, Lowell Bruce. The Maxwells brought suit against several parties. These interlocutory appeals concern two…

Justia Opinion Summary: The government appealed the district court's dismissal of an indictment charging defendant with escape from custody in violation of 18 U.S.C. 751(a). The district court concluded that defendant was not in "custody"…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, injured in a bicycling accident, disputed Unum Life Insurance Company's calculation of his pre-disability earnings upon which his disability benefits were based. The court agreed with the district court that…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed the sentence imposed following his guilty plea to coercion and enticement of a minor in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2422(b). Defendant contended that the district court erred when it calculated the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed a complaint against her former employer, alleging causes of action for employment discrimination and wrongful discharge. The district court subsequently dismissed plaintiff's amended complaint with…

Justia Opinion Summary: This dispute arose in the context of a multi-million dollar tax refund case pending in the district court. The government filed a petition for a writ of mandamus, requesting that the court vacate four district court…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs brought suit against the manufacturer of an electronic control device - commonly known as a "taser" - and sued police officers for excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment pursuant to 42 U.S.C.…

Justia Opinion Summary: Each of the two plaintiffs in this case had resided for several years in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a territory of the United States, when federal immigration law replaced CNMI immigration…

Justia Opinion Summary: The City of Glendale and various other parties sought to set aside the Department of the Interior's decision to accept in trust, for the benefit of the Tohono O'odham Nation, a 54-acre parcel of land known as Parcel 2.…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed a class action lawsuit against defendant, a prosecuting attorney, charging, among other things, that Idaho Code 18-606 violated various provisions of the U.S. Constitution. The prosecuting attorney had…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, an Arizona state prisoner, appealed the district court's denial of his habeas corpus petition challenging his state convictions for murder and aggravated assault and the imposition of the death penalty. The…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff is a recognized figure in aviation history and defendants are retired commercial airline captains who became friends with plaintiff in the 1980s. Defendants sell aviation-related memorabilia, including items…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that she broke an unwritten rule and suffered the consequences when she challenged a sitting superior court judge for his seat in a local election while she was serving…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner claimed that he was deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel because his counsel induced him to enter a guilty plea at a time when counsel should have known that petitioner was…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs are a collection of primarily non-trawl fishermen's associations and groups whose longtime participation in the fishery may shrink under Amendments 20 and 21 to the PacificCoast Groundfish Fishery Management…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal involving parental rights, the court previously published an opinion on a related issue in Mueller v. Auker and that opinion has the facts giving rise to this case. Here, the court held that Detective…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his jury conviction and sentence for three counts of wire fraud, two counts of possession of an unregistered firearm, and one count each of extortion, making a false statement, destruction of a letter…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a citizen and native of India, challenged the IJ's finding that he knowingly filed a frivolous application. Petitioner admitted he filed a fabricated asylum application that was supported by fraudulent…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff brought a securities fraud action individually and on behalf of all other persons who purchased or otherwise acquired the common stock of Rigel between certain dates, pursuant to sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the…

Justia Opinion Summary: These two matters have been consolidated for a single opinion because they both arose out of the same labor dispute. HTH and the Union filed cross-petitions from the 2011 ruling of the NLRB that between August 2005 and…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff was removed from the Costa Mesa City Council meeting for an alleged violation of Costa Mesa Municipal Code 2-61, which made it a misdemeanor for members of the public who speak at City Council meetings to…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, nine homeless individuals living in the "Skid Row" district of Los Angeles, charged that the City violated their Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by seizing and immediately destroying their unabandoned…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a Mexican citizen, petitioned for review of the BIA's decision that he was not eligible for waiver of inadmissibility because he was convicted of an aggravated felony. The court concluded that the crime of…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) provider, wished to provide wireless service in and around Pahrump, Nevada. Plaintiff sought digital interconnection with the facilities and equipment of defendant, the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a state prisoner, allegedly engaged in a romantic, but not sexual, relationship with a female prison guard. Plaintiff alleged that both during and after the relationship, the guard perpetrated sexual acts on…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a Philippine citizen, petitioned for review of a BIA decision declaring him ineligible for relief under former section 212(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 212(c), on the ground that…

Justia Opinion Summary: USAP brought suit against Parts Geek and various individuals alleging, among other things, copyright infringement in certain e-commerce software. The district court granted summary judgment against USAP on its claim of…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this putative class action, plaintiff alleged that HSBC and Best Buy (collectively, defendants) defrauded California customers by offering credit cards without adequately disclosing that cardholders would be subject…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant and his co-defendant were charged with the murder of a United States correctional officer. The Government filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty. This was an interlocutory appeal of the district…

Justia Opinion Summary: Debtors proposed a three-year Chapter 13 plan of reorganization. The Trustee objected and argued that a five-year plan was required. At issue was whether, under 11 U.S.C. 1325(b), a debtor with no "projected disposable…

Justia Opinion Summary: Marilyn Monroe LLC and its licensee sued Milton Green in the federal district court, claiming ownership of Marilyn Monroe's right of publicity and alleging that Milton Greene was violating Marilyn Monroe LLC's rights by…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed from the 24-month prison sentence imposed following his conviction for illegal reentry. The court adhered to its precedent that required it to decline to review whether the district court procedurally…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner appealed the denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. During the selection of the jury that convicted and sentenced petitioner, the prosecution used its preemptory challenges to strike all of the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed an action for copyright infringement, as well as unjust enrichment and accounting, against defendants. According to plaintiff, defendants infringed her purported interest in a book and two screenplays…

Justia Opinion Summary: William Jefferson & Co., Inc. (William Jefferson) lost a state administrative appeal in which William Jefferson challenged the Orange County Tax Assessor's valuation of a parcel of real property. William Jefferson then…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner challenged the district court's conclusion that his 28 U.S.C. 2254 habeas petition was time-barred by the one-year statute of limitations in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA),…

Justia Opinion Summary: These proceedings involved a complex, rarely litigated federal statute, the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA), 7 U.S.C. 499a et seq., designed in part to assure that farmers were paid for their produce. In…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner appealed the district court's denial of his petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. 2254. The court held that petitioner exhausted his claim, that his trial counsel was ineffective, before the…

Justia Opinion Summary: This case stemmed from plaintiff's suit to recover overpayments from the IRS and his subsequent appeal of the district court's judgment which did not award him an overpayment related to his 1999 tax year. The court held…

Justia Opinion Summary: The FTC sued defendants alleging that their online marketing of prepaid debit cards and short-term loans to consumers in the subprime market violated section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 45. After the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners, a group of municipal and federal government entities, which sold electricity in the affected markets at issue but who were outside of FERC's refund jurisdiction, appealed FERC's order of refunds for…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a Mexican national, sought review of 8 C.F.R. 208.31, arguing that the regulation was unlawful because it precluded him from applying for asylum. The Government sought to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner appealed the denial of his habeas petition, brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2254. Petitioner challenged only his capital sentence and did not challenge his underlying felony murder conviction, arising from his…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed the district court's imposition of ten concurrent life sentences for his convictions for ten counts of transportation of illegal aliens resulting in their deaths. Defendant was fleeing from Border…

Justia Opinion Summary: CTTA filed this action seeking to invalidate two ordinances where the City and County of San Francisco required tow truck drivers to obtain permits to operate in San Francisco and towing firms to obtain permits to…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction of two counts of securities fraud, arguing that he was prejudiced by the trial court's improper admission of a prior civil complaint filed by the SEC against him. The court agreed and…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sought review of the SSA's denial of his application for social security disability benefits. The federal magistrate judge who presided over plaintiff's action determined that the agency's decision improperly…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a native and citizen of the Philippines, petitioned for review from an order by the BIA affirming an order of removal by the IJ. The IJ found petitioner removeable for having been convicted of possession of…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Commonwealth appealed the district court's judgment in favor of plaintiff. Plaintiff alleged that she was terminated without cause from her position as Special Assistant to the Governor for Women's Affairs in…

Justia Opinion Summary: H.B. appealed his adjudication as a juvenile delinquent for aiding and abetting his cousin in committing aggravated sexual abuse against their female friend on an Indian reservation. The court held that a rational trier…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the court evaluated on federal habeas review the Washington Supreme Court's decision to apply harmless error review over structural error analysis where the trial court prohibited defense counsel from…

Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved the Service's regulations under Section 101(a)(5)(A) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), 16 U.S.C. 1371(a), that authorized incidental take of polar bears and Pacific walruses resulting from…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his sentence of ten years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to charges related to a conspiracy to distribute controlled substances at the age of 73. Defendant was a practicing psychiatrist at the…

Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose when defendant, a Hollywood movie director, hired a former private investigator to illegally wiretap the telephone conversations of two individuals. Defendant was subsequently convicted of two counts of…

Justia Opinion Summary: CIRI filed suit against defendants, shareholders of CIRI, alleging that they had violated the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), 43 U.S.C. 1601-1629(h), and Alaska law. On appeal, defendants challenged the…

Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was in this case was whether Petitioner, a California prisoner, was entitled to habeas corpus relief where Petitioner alleged violations that required the California state courts to suppress the incriminating…

Justia Opinion Summary: These consolidated appeals arose from a two-day execution of a search warrant by the Guam Police Department's (GPD) SWAT team in coordination with federal DEA and ATF agents. The search resulted in one of the largest…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner was convicted of six murders in Arizona state court and was sentenced to death in 1998. Petitioner was also convicted of first-degree attempted murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, and first-degree…

Justia Opinion Summary: The IRS issued a Notice of Deficiency (NOD) to Alex and Liset Meruelo a few days before the three-year statute of limitations expired. Alex was a partner in a partnership. The Meruelos petitioned the tax court…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner appealed from a decision of the United States tax court concluding that he owed $128,292 in income tax for the 2004 taxable year. Petitioner entered into an agreement with Optech Limited pursuant to which he…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a native and citizen of Honduras and a lawful permanent resident alien of the United States, petitioned for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' (BIA) order dismissing his appeal from an immigration…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, a fifty-seven-year-old native and citizen of Mexico who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, appealed from his conviction, following a bench trial, of two counts of assault on a federal officer. The…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this case the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals noted, "This appeal reads like a telenovela, a Spanish soap opera. It pits music celebrities, who make money by promoting themselves, against a gossip magazine, that makes…

Justia Opinion Summary: Grand Canyon Trust appealed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the United States Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rejecting the Trust's…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner petitioned for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' (BIA) order upholding an immigration judge's denial of cancellation of removal under 8 U.S.C. 1229b(a). In the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals'…

Justia Opinion Summary: These thirteen consolidated appeals brought by class counsel and six groups of objectors (collectively, Objectors) challenged the district court's decisions regarding attorney fee awards after the settlement of an…

Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant applied for Social Security benefits, alleging that he became unable to walk because of a disability in 2005. Appellant's claim was denied in 2008. The ALJ held a hearing at Appellant's request and determined…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Scotts Company, an Ohio LLC, brought a diversity action against Seeds, Inc., a Washington corporation, in federal district court. Thereafter, Millhorn Farmers, Maple Leaf Farms, Mica Creek, and Tim Freeburg (Growers)…

Justia Opinion Summary: Ariz. Rev. Stat. 33-1126(A)(6) and (7) allow a debtor in bankruptcy proceedings to exempt the cash surrender value of life insurance policies and proceeds of annuity contracts from the bankruptcy estate if the debtor…

Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant appealed a district court judgment affirming the Social Security Administration's (SSA) decision finding him disabled from September 26, 1997 through December 3, 1998, and concluding that the disability ended…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction for illegal possession of a homemade machine gun under 18 U.S.C. 922(o). Defendant contended (1) he had a Second Amendment right to possess a homemade machine gun in his home, and (2)…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, an alien, was convicted of robbery under Cal. Penal Code 211 in 1994 and again in 1996. Defendant later pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful reentry after he illegally reentered the United States. The…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners, the Native Village of Kilalina IRA Council and other Alaskan groups, appealed the EPA Environmental Appeals Board's (EAB) order denying review of their challenges to a permit authorizing Intervenor Teck…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute various quantities of methamphetamine, including one quantity of more than 900 grams. The district court sentenced Defendant to 135 months…

Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this appeal were two issues: (1) whether the judicially created "filed rate doctrine," which typically has been utilized in common carrier and public utility litigation, was applicable in a class action…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed for disability insurance benefits and supplemental security income under Title II and Title XVI of the Social Security Act. The Social Security Administration denied Hill's application. An ALJ also denied…

Justia Opinion Summary: Four days after Plaintiff, a detective in the City of Burbank Police Department, disclosed the alleged use of abusive interrogation tactics by his colleagues to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, he was placed on…

Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal raised the question of whether a civil detention under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which sets up a process for civil commitment of sexually dangerous persons, constitutes a term of…

Justia Opinion Summary: As the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said, "This case lends credence to the old adage that bad things comes in threes." Plaintiff was a cancer survivor who required experimental leukemia treatment. During his treatment,…

Justia Opinion Summary: This case, which came before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for a second time, was one of many related to the United States government's Terrorist Surveillance Program. After the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation was…

Justia Opinion Summary: The United States petitioned the district court for an order enforcing a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) subpoena served on Golden Valley Electric Association (Golden Valley) for power consumption records…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his convictions for illegal reentry, making a false statement in a passport application, and making a false statement in an application for supplemental security income benefits. These convictions…

Justia Opinion Summary: At issue here was whether a court should apply the exclusionary rule where law enforcement agents attached mobile tracking devices to the underside of a defendant's car and used those devices to track the car's…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with six counts related to the sexual assault of his girlfriend (Girlfriend). Defendant denied than an assault occurred and claimed that he and Girlfriend had consensual sex. At trial, the court…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff played professional football for nineteen years. When he retired in 2002, he was employed by the Tennessee Titans. In 2008, he filed a workers' compensation claim in California, alleging that he suffered pain…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, an Arizona state prisoner, appealed the district court's denial of his habeas corpus petition. Petitioner was sentenced to death on each of two counts of felony murder. In this petition, Petitioner challenged…