2014 Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals Case Law

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his sentence after pleading guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and other offenses. The court held that a notary seal can be an "authentication feature" under 18 U.S.C. 1028, and that the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction for misdemeanor manufacturing, selling, or possessing any badge, identification card, or other insignia, of the design prescribed by the head of any department or agency of the United…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, a citizen of Mexico, was convicted of a California firearms offense, removed from the United States on the basis of that conviction, and, when he returned to the country, tried and convicted of illegal reentry…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, convicted of second-degree murder, appealed the district court's denial of his habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. 2254. The court held that a prosecutor may not suggest that jurors should vote to convict a…

Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from a political battle concerning labor unions. Chula Vista Citizens and the Associations sought to place an initiative on the Chula Vista municipal ballot. The City of Chula Vista requires that…

Justia Opinion Summary: Drivers, California residents who worked for Affinity, filed suit alleging that Affinity wrongfully classified them as independent contractors, failed to pay them sick leave, vacation, holiday, and severance wages; and…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Commissioner disallowed petitioner's claimed deduction on his 1999 tax return for a capital loss purportedly generated by several Cayman Islands entities. Petitioner invested in an Offshore Portfolio Investment…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a native and citizen of China, sought review of the BIA's decision, which substantially adopted the IJ's order denying asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT).…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs appealed the district court's dismissal of their claims related to the formation and operation of the MERS System, an electronic mortgage registration system. The court dismissed for lack of jurisdiction…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Goldtooth and Tsosie appealed their convictions on two counts of aiding and abetting robbery on the Navajo Nation. As to count 1, the court concluded that no rational juror could have found that defendants had…

Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal involves parallel judicial proceedings initiated by ReadyLink in state court and in federal court. ReadyLink contended that a decision by the Commissioner was preempted by IRS regulations. The federal…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction and sentence for illegal reentry after deportation. The court concluded that the district court's sentencing methodology was proper because the district court adequately considered the…

Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from general liability insurance policies, including advertising injury coverage, that Great American issued to Street Surfing. At issue was whether those policies obligated Great American to defend…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff appealed the district court's dismissal of his claims against the Fund and others under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq. For over three years, the Fund paid…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs appealed the dismissal of a putative class action alleging violations of California's Song-Beverly Credit Card Act of 1971, Cal. Civ. Code 1747.08. The Act prohibits retailers from collecting personal…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff appealed the dismissal of her action claiming that she was the rightful owner to two works of art my Lucas Cranach, "Adam" and "Eve." Plaintiff claimed that she is the rightful owner of the works, which the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against the City and the ECCC, alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq., and various California statutes. Plaintiff tripped and fell as he…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pled guilty to five counts of distributing controlled substances outside the usual course of professional medical practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose. On appeal, defendant argued that his guilty…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants appealed an order certifying a class and a subclass of inmates in Arizona's prison system who claim that they are subject to systematic Eighth Amendment violations. Defendants argued that the district court…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant challenged his conviction for stalking in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2261A. The court agreed with the Eighth Circuit's rationale that, because section 2261A proscribes harassing and intimidating conduct, the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit alleging that defendants violated the automatic-stay provision of 11 U.S.C. 362(a). The court held that an attorney preparing an order for a judge is not entitled to quasi-judicial immunity. The…

Justia Opinion Summary: After plaintiff served four and a half years in prison and then ordered freed when his petition for a writ of habeas corpus was granted, he filed an action for damages under 42 U.S.C. 1983. Plaintiff alleged that…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, an Idaho state prisoner, filed suit against individual prison officials under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. 2000cc et seq., claiming that they had imposed an…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed a class action suit against Coverall, a janitorial franchising company, alleging that Coverall misclassified its California franchises as independent contractors and that Coverall breached its franchise…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit seeking to enjoin enforcement of Ariz. Rev. Stat. 36-449.03(E)(6), and its implementing regulation, which restricts the manner in which certain medications may be used to perform abortions. On…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 and supplemental state law against the County and other County officials, alleging that they wrongfully investigated, prosecuted, and harassed plaintiffs in retaliation for…

Justia Opinion Summary: The FTC filed suit against BurnLounge, a multi-level marketing business, alleging violation of section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA), 15 U.S.C. 45(a)(1). The court agreed with the district court that…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, individually and on behalf of his wife's estate, filed suit against Desert View and Dr. Tannoury, alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.; Section 505 of the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against two officers, a medical doctor, and nurse alleging that they violated his rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments when the doctor, forcibly and without consent,…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his convictions and sentences for producing and possessing a sexually explicit video depicting a fourteen-year-old girl (Counts 1 and 2 respectively). The court concluded that venue was proper in…

Justia Opinion Summary: California prisons have been operating under a receivership since 2006 to comply with consent decrees. This appeal involved provisions of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 18 U.S.C. 3626, relating to the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction and sentence for importation of marijuana. The court rejected defendant's contention that the prosecutor improperly vouched and violated the advocate-witness rule where defendant failed…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pled guilty to a one-count information alleging that he reentered the country without authorization after being removed, in violation of 8 U.S.C. 1326. On appeal, defendant challenged his 42-month sentence as…

Justia Opinion Summary: The government appealed the district court's dismissal of an indictment against defendant for financial aid fraud. Defendant, a counselor and professor at a community college, assisted students in obtaining federal…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his sentence for illegal reentry after deportation. The court concluded that the district court correctly applied a sixteen-level enhancement under U.S.S.G. 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii) based on his prior…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a native and citizen of India, petitioned for review of the BIA's order concluding that he is ineligible for withholding of removal. The court concluded that substantial evidence supported the BIA's…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit challenging California's Political Reform Act of 1974, Cal. Gov. Code 81000-91014 (PRA), which requires political committees to report certain information about their contributors to the State.…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction and sentence for receipt or distribution and possession of child pornography. At issue was whether the district court plainly erred by failing to sua sponte convene a hearing on…

Justia Opinion Summary: Mohammad Usman Chaudhry's family and three organizational plaintiffs filed suit after Usman was shot and killed by an LAPD officer. The Coroner took custody of his body but did not notify his family until twenty-one days…

Justia Opinion Summary: Pyramid Tech filed suit against its insurer, alleging express breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith. Without holding a Daubert hearing, the district court excluded Pyramid Tech's expert…

Justia Opinion Summary: Imperial County and Air District filed suit against the Secretary, claiming that the environmental impact statement (EIS) regarding the Salton Sea did not comply with either the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA),…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a Chinese citizen, sought review of the denial of his application for asylum and withholding of removal. The court held that substantial evidence does not support the agency's finding that the discrepancy in…