2013 Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals Case Law

Justia Opinion Summary: The Clinics filed suit challenging California Welfare and Institutions Code 14131.10, which eliminated certain Medi-Cal benefits that the state deemed optional, including adult dental, podiatry, optometry, and…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Superintendent at the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, was convicted of charges stemming from her involvement in a scheme to obtain money from a tribal credit program. The court…

Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose when EGT filed charges against the Union with the Board after the Union engaged in protest activities at the site of a grain terminal operated by EGT. On appeal, the Union challenged the district court's…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit against Wells Fargo under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. 1692-1692p, and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), 15 U.S.C. 1691-1691f. The court affirmed the district…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of certain sections of California Senate Bill 6 (SB 6). SB 6, implementing California's Proposition 14 (Prop. 14), fundamentally changes the California election system by…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his sentence stemming from his conviction of importing wire hangers without paying the proper duties. The court concluded that the district court incorrectly applied U.S.S.G. 2C1.1 where defendant did…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sued defendant and the Church in Japan, alleging that they had tortiously induced her to transfer nearly all of her assets to the Church. After the Japanese courts awarded plaintiff a tort judgment, the Church…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed her conviction of one count of conspiracy to transport aliens who unlawfully came to or entered the United States and three counts of transporting such aliens, in each case for financial gain. The…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed a class action suit against Vital for its distribution of ZERO IMPACT protein bars that were erroneously marketed and labeled as having little to no impact on blood sugar. On appeal, Vital challenged the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sued police officers for their alleged use of excessive force in violation of plaintiff's Fourth Amendment rights. Plaintiff was awarded compensatory damages after a jury found that the officers' use of force…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Canal Authority appealed the district court's decision to grant summary judgment in favor of Interior, Bureau, San Luis, and Wetlands, in a suit to establish priority water rights under Central Valley Project (CVP)…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs sought to hold the city liable for injuries caused by the negligence of a tribal police officer based on the theory that the city had a "non-delegable" duty to provide law enforcement services to the…

Justia Opinion Summary: This case stemmed from disputes over the estate of the late Texas oil magnate and billionaire J. Howard Marshall. J. Howard died in 1995, leaving nearly all his assets to his son, Pierce, but excluding his wife, Anna…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs appealed the district court's dismissal of their first amended complaint and the district court's denial of leave to further amend their complaint. Plaintiffs claimed that defendants improperly initiated…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pled guilty to a drug conspiracy charge and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment followed by supervised release. One condition of his supervised release required him to provide a blood sample for analysis of…

Justia Opinion Summary: ACT brought this suit against PCI and First National, alleging claims of breach of contract, quantum meruit, and recovery on a payment bond under the Miller Act, 40 U.S.C. 3131(b). Because United States ex rel. Celanese…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant moved to dismiss his federal grand jury indictment, charging him with one count of possessing child pornography, on double jeopardy grounds because he had been subject to nonjudicial proceedings (NJP) with the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitioned for review of the BIA's order affirming an IJ's decision finding her removable, denying her temporary protective status (TPS) relief, and granting her voluntary…

Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose when plaintiff filed a state-law wage-and-hour class action naming CHA as a defendant. On appeal, defendants challenged the district court's remand to state court under the Class Action Fairness Act…

Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal was consolidated from lawsuits brought by the City against two insurance companies. Both insurers rejected the City's claims for coverage for the underlying litigation between the City and condominium buyers.…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his sentence stemming from his conviction for sex trafficking of children by force, fraud, or coercion. The court concluded that the district court did not err in applying a two-point enhancement for…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, convicted of murder, appealed the district court's denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. 2254. Petitioner claimed that the trial court's ruling regarding the testing of a blood…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a native and citizen of Mexico admitted to the United States in 1976 as a lawful permanent resident, petitioned for review of the BIA's decision affirming an IJ's decision that he was ineligible for relief…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Bank filed a motion for relief from an automatic stay and submitted a copy of the promissory note, which was a second-generation copy, as well as a declaration certifying that the original note was in the Bank's…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Committee filed suit seeking a declaration that certain portions of a Montana statute making it a criminal offense for any political party to "endorse, contribute to, or make an expenditure to support or oppose a…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction of illegal reentry. The court concluded, inter alia, that the district court violated the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. 3162(a)(2); the district court abused its discretion in granting the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner is serving a sentence of 25 years to life under California's three-strikes law. In 2000, petitioner had pleaded no contest to making criminal threats with the understanding that the conviction did not count as…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, convicted of first degree murder, kidnapping, robbery, and theft, appealed the denial of his habeas petition. The court, inter alia, concluded on the merits, without reaching the procedural default issue,…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner appealed the district court's denial of his 28 U.S.C. 2254 petition for a writ of habeas corpus, contending that subjecting defendant to retrial for felony murder violated the Double Jeopardy Clause because a…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner appealed the district court's denial of her habeas petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2241. At issue was whether aliens who were removable, but not yet subject to a removal order, were "in custody" for purposes of…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, a Mexican citizen, appealed his conviction for being an alien who, after having been removed on five occasions, was "found in" the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. 1326. Defendant had already been…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pled guilty to one count of income tax evasion and three counts of wire fraud. Petitioner, the victim of defendant's crimes, petitioned for a writ of mandamus pursuant to The Crime Victims Rights Act (CVRA), 18…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed a class action challenging the constitutionality of Arizona's Proposition 100. Proposition 100 commands that Arizona state courts could not set bail for serious felony offenses as prescribed by the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction and sentence for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, arguing that the district court should have ordered the government to comply with a plea agreement for safety valve…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed the district court's denial of his 28 U.S.C. 2255 federal habeas corpus petition based upon the Supreme Court's decision in Skilling v. United States, which narrowed the scope of the honest services…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, charged with two counts of Transmission of Threatening Interstate Communications and Transmission of Threatening Communication by U.S. Mail, appealed the district court's order finding him incompetent to stand…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners appealed separate decisions denying their 28 U.S.C. 2254 habeas petitions, alleging that their convictions were secured in violation of Batson v. Kentucky. At issue was whether a state court violated a…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pled guilty to possession of child pornography. On appeal, defendant challenged the district court's denial of his motion to suppress. The court concluded, under the good faith exception to the exclusionary…

Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants brought quiet title actions challenging tax liens filed by the IRS against certain commercial and residential properties. Appellants held legal title to these properties. The liens arose from assessments…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, individually and on behalf of his son, filed suit against the Hawaii Department of Education, alleging violations of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. 1400(d). The district court found…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sued defendants alleging that they had failed to adequately evaluate the effects of the Mudflow Vegetation Management Project on the Northern Spotted Owl's critical habitat, in violation of section 7(a)(2) of…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his sentence stemming from his plea of guilty to one count of being a previously deported alien found in the United States. Defendant claimed that the government implicitly breached the plea agreement…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitioned for review of the BIA's decision finding her ineligible for voluntary departure for failure to establish the physical presence requirement of 8 U.S.C.…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against defendants, alleging violations of his constitutional rights after prison officials discovered a letter plaintiff wrote to his fellow inmates calling on them to work…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction for being a deported alien found in the United States, challenging the district court's failure to order production of certain U.S. Border Patrol dispatch tapes. Without listening to the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit against defendants claiming that the BLM's management of grazing within the Breaks Monument violated the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), 43 U.S.C. 1701-1787; Proclamation No.…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitioned for review of the decision of the BIA denying his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). The…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed from his conviction for making a false statement and obstruction of justice under 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 1512(c). In this appeal, the court considered defendant's claim that the district court gave an…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, current and former employees of Amgen and AML, participated in two employer-sponsored pension plans, the Amgen Plan and the AML Plan. The Plans were employee stock-ownership plans that qualified as "eligible…

Justia Opinion Summary: In his habeas case, petitioner, who was convicted of multiple murders, argued that his lawyer was ineffective in 1982 for failing to request a full-blown competency hearing. The court held that even assuming for the sake…

Justia Opinion Summary: Higher Taste sued the Park district under 42 U.S.C. 1983, requesting a declaration that Resolution 40-05 violated its rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments and an injunction barring the resolution's…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction for four counts of making false statements relating to health care matters. The court concluded that there was sufficient evidence to convict defendant of making a false statement…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed her conviction for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Because the reading of an I-214 Form was "normally attendant to arrest…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction and sentence for failing to register under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), 18 U.S.C. 2250. The court held that Congress had authority under the Commerce…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs Gantt and Smith were tried and convicted of murder. After the key witness recanted his testimony, all charges were dismissed. The instant appeal concerned the unsuccessful lawsuits under 42 U.S.C. 1983 filed…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs appealed the Secretary's denial of their claims for Medicare coverage for dental services. Plaintiffs contended that this denial was premised on the Secretary's unreasonable interpretation of the Medicare Act,…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed complaints against defendants alleging that defendants infringed its "diamond kilim" design by selling rugs and other home goods bearing the design. The district court subsequently entered judgment…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff and his wife filed a pro se action under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against defendants, the warden of the prison where defendant had served his sentence and the director of the Montana Department of Corrections, seeking…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitioned for review of the BIA's decision finding that his conviction for possession of marijuana for sale in violation of California Health & Safety Code 11359 was…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pled guilty to two counts of possession of contraband and one count of providing contraband to an inmate, all in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1791. On appeal, defendant argued that the district court plainly erred in…

Justia Opinion Summary: After petitioner was convicted of murder and sentenced to twenty-five years to life in prison with the possibility of parole, California amended its constitution to give the Governor authority to review parole-board…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant challenged his conviction and sentence under 8 U.S.C. 1326(a) and (b) for being an alien found in the United States after removal. The court held that the district court correctly rejected defendant's…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, seeking to represent approximately 538 employees of Medline, appealed the district court's denial of class certification. The complaint asserted claims against Medline for violating California labor laws. The…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a United States citizen, filed a visa petition on behalf of her husband, a citizen of Afghanistan, but the visa was denied under 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B). Section 1182(a)(3)(B) is a broad provision that excludes…