2024 Tenth Circuit US Court of Appeals Case Law
Date: May 7, 2024
Docket Number: 21-1414
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves a group of employees and students at the University of Colorado Anschutz Campus who challenged the university's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The plaintiffs, identified as Jane Does 1-11 and John Does 1,…
Date: May 7, 2024
Docket Number: 22-1453
Justia Opinion Summary: A prisoner, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, alleged that officials from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) beat him while others watched. He brought claims under the Eighth Amendment for excessive force and failure to…
Date: May 7, 2024
Docket Number: 22-2142
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves Douglas Smith, a non-Indian, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for an act he committed on his property located within the exterior boundaries of the Pueblo of Santa Clara. Smith shot and…
Date: May 7, 2024
Docket Number: 22-7021
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the defendant, Patrick Murphy, was convicted of murder, murder in perpetration of kidnapping, and kidnapping resulting in death. The crimes occurred in 1999, but Murphy was not indicted until 2020,…
Date: May 7, 2024
Docket Number: 23-2056
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves Dr. Adam Lowther and his wife, Jessica Lowther, who sued various state officials on behalf of themselves and their children, alleging constitutional claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state law claims…
Date: May 7, 2024
Docket Number: 23-3048
Justia Opinion Summary: The case revolves around Sterling Owens, an African American electric lineman, who worked for the Wyandotte County, Kansas Board of Public Utilities (BPU). BPU had a policy requiring all employees to maintain their…
Date: May 1, 2024
Docket Number: 22-6069
Justia Opinion Summary: The case originated as a class action dispute about the underpayment of oil and gas royalties due on wells in Oklahoma. The plaintiff, Chieftain Royalty Company, sued SM Energy Company, the operator of the wells, under…
Date: April 30, 2024
Docket Number: 22-1023
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves Duke Bradford, Arkansas Valley Adventure (AVA), and the Colorado River Outfitters Association (CROA) who appealed against the District of Colorado’s order denying their motion to preliminarily enjoin a…
Date: April 30, 2024
Docket Number: 22-1369
Justia Opinion Summary: A student, John Doe, through his mother, Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit against Rocky Mountain Classical Academy (RMCA), Nicole Blanc, and Cullen McDowell, alleging that the school's dress code, which prohibited boys from…
Date: April 30, 2024
Docket Number: 23-1000
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves Brandon Pryor, an advocate for quality educational opportunities in Far Northeast Denver, who was stripped of his volunteer position and restricted from accessing Denver School District No. 1 facilities…
Date: April 30, 2024
Docket Number: 23-1238
Justia Opinion Summary: The case revolves around an incident where Colorado Springs Police Officers Robert McCafferty and Christopher Pryor responded to a 911-call placed by Sasha Cronick reporting a drug overdose. During the incident, Officer…
Date: April 30, 2024
Docket Number: 23-2064
Date: April 30, 2024
Docket Number: 23-8024
Date: April 26, 2024
Docket Number: 22-8015
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1989, Andrew Johnson was convicted of aggravated burglary and sexual assault. In 2013, a Wyoming state court declared Johnson innocent based on DNA evidence and vacated his convictions. Johnson then filed a lawsuit…
Date: April 26, 2024
Docket Number: 23-1282
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2021, the Colorado state legislature passed The Ballot Measure Fiscal Transparency Act, which required certain language to be included in state-imposed titles of citizen-initiated ballot measures. If the proposal…
Date: April 23, 2024
Docket Number: 22-7033
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves Kendall Len Burgess, who was convicted for aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact involving a seven-year-old victim, P.G. The primary issue was whether the district court erred in admitting…
Date: April 23, 2024
Docket Number: 23-1109
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves Dr. Eric Coomer, the former director of product strategy and security at Dominion Voting Systems, who filed a lawsuit against Make Your Life Epic LLC (doing business as ThriveTime Show) and its podcast…
Date: April 23, 2024
Docket Number: 23-2113
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves an insurance dispute between Travelers Casualty Insurance Company of America and A-Quality Auto Sales, Inc., along with its owners, Felicia and Shawn Richesin. The Richesins purchased a Subaru for…
Date: April 23, 2024
Docket Number: 23-9511
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves Cristina Rangel-Fuentes, a Mexican citizen who entered the United States without inspection in 1995 or 1996 and has remained since. She was charged with inadmissibility in 2012 after being arrested for…
Date: April 19, 2024
Docket Number: 22-1438
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves a dispute over a parcel of land within the Rio Grande National Forest in Colorado, owned by Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture (LMJV). The land, obtained through a land exchange with the U.S. Forest Service…
Date: April 19, 2024
Docket Number: 22-5088
Justia Opinion Summary: In January 2021, John William Thomas Flechs, using the pseudonym “John Breezy,” began conversations on the Kik online messaging platform with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old boy. In fact, Flechs was messaging…
Date: April 17, 2024
Docket Number: 22-2046
Justia Opinion Summary: Albert Bustillos, an independent journalist, was filming content for his YouTube channel outside the Navajo oil refinery in Artesia, New Mexico. He was approached by refinery security and later by officers from the…
Date: April 16, 2024
Docket Number: 23-3119
Date: April 16, 2024
Docket Number: 23-9593
Justia Opinion Summary: Cirilo Olmedo-Martinez, an alien, was charged with removability by the Department of Homeland Security. He applied for cancellation of removal, arguing that his removal would result in exceptional and extremely unusual…
Date: April 15, 2024
Docket Number: 22-7061
Justia Opinion Summary: The case revolves around Lori Vogt, a deputy court clerk, who was fired by Lisa Rodebush, the McIntosh County Court Clerk, for not publicly supporting Rodebush's reelection campaign. Vogt had worked with Rodebush for…
Date: April 15, 2024
Docket Number: 23-1147
Date: April 15, 2024
Docket Number: 23-2073
Justia Opinion Summary: A California-based psychologist, Dr. Rick Q. Wilson, was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for potential violations of the Controlled Substances Act. The DEA issued an administrative subpoena to…
Date: April 12, 2024
Docket Number: 23-5046
Justia Opinion Summary: The case revolves around a dispute between two competitors in the construction equipment market, I Dig Texas, LLC, and Kerry Creager, along with Creager Services, LLC. I Dig Texas used copyrighted photographs of…
Date: April 12, 2024
Docket Number: 23-6102
Date: April 9, 2024
Docket Number: 23-3063
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves God's Storehouse Topeka Church (GSH), which appealed a district court order denying its petition to quash a third-party summons issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to Kaw Valley Bank. The IRS…
Date: April 8, 2024
Docket Number: 23-1223
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2015, Jason Vincent Bradley was convicted on multiple counts related to firearm possession and drug trafficking. He was sentenced to concurrent 120-month sentences on three counts and a consecutive 60-month sentence…
Date: April 8, 2024
Docket Number: 23-6061
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves Bryar Johnson, who was seriously injured in a traffic accident while riding his motorcycle. After the other drivers' insurance policies paid out their liability limits, Johnson sought additional…
Date: April 5, 2024
Docket Number: 22-4096
Justia Opinion Summary: In December 2021, Kevin Alonso Zamora was discovered by law enforcement officers in Taylorsville, Utah, near a car that had been reported stolen. As officers approached, all suspects except Zamora entered the vehicle and…
Date: March 27, 2024
Docket Number: 22-6086
Justia Opinion Summary: This case revolves around a copyright dispute between Whyte Monkee Productions, LLC and Timothy Sepi (Plaintiffs) and Netflix, Inc. and Royal Goode Productions, LLC (Defendants). Plaintiffs sued Defendants for copyright…
Date: March 26, 2024
Docket Number: 22-3155
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved the interpretation of an offer of judgment in a lawsuit where a prisoner, Samuel Lee Dartez, II, sued state officers for excessive force under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The state officers offered a judgment of…
Date: March 19, 2024
Docket Number: 22-3173
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves an appeal by Jamaryus Moore against his sentence imposed following a probation violation. Moore had initially pleaded guilty to a Hobbs Act robbery and, despite facing a sentencing guideline range of 51…
Date: March 19, 2024
Docket Number: 22-3276
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed a lower court's ruling regarding a veteran, Bruce Hay, who was convicted of ten counts of stealing government property and six counts of wire fraud. The…
Date: March 14, 2024
Docket Number: 23-2081
Date: March 13, 2024
Docket Number: 23-8001
Date: March 12, 2024
Docket Number: 22-1034
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit dealt with the appeal of Youlian Zhong, who contested her mandatory minimum sentences for crimes related to her participation in a conspiracy to…
Date: March 11, 2024
Docket Number: 21-3021
Justia Opinion Summary: In a complex and long-running series of legal disputes over attorney fees, two law firms, Shields Law Group and Paul Byrd Law Firm, and another firm, Hossley-Embry LLP, (collectively referred to as the "Objecting Firms")…
Date: March 11, 2024
Docket Number: 23-1063
Justia Opinion Summary: The plaintiff, Joshua Young, an employee of the Colorado Department of Corrections, claimed that mandatory Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) training he was subjected to created a hostile work environment. Young…
Date: March 11, 2024
Docket Number: 23-1093
Justia Opinion Summary: The case revolves around a dispute over the management plan for the Rio Grande National Forest (RGNF) in Colorado, particularly its impact on the Canada lynx, a species listed as threatened. The United States Forest…
Date: March 7, 2024
Docket Number: 22-1236
Justia Opinion Summary: In the case between Alex W., a student with disabilities, and Poudre School District R-1, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit had to decide whether the school district provided Alex with a free…
Date: March 7, 2024
Docket Number: 22-1247
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit examined a case involving a defendant who was found sleeping in a detached garage during the execution of a search warrant. The defendant had been found with…
Date: March 5, 2024
Docket Number: 22-1325
Justia Opinion Summary: The plaintiff, Michael Bacote Jr., an inmate with a history of mental illness, filed a claim for injunctive and declaratory relief against the Federal Bureau of Prisons, seeking to improve the conditions of his…
Date: March 5, 2024
Docket Number: 22-4119
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed convictions against Whitney McBride and her company, Odyssey International Inc., for fraudulent conduct in obtaining a government contract. McBride was…
Date: March 4, 2024
Docket Number: 22-4087
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves a dispute over rights-of-way on federal land in Utah. Kane County and the State of Utah (collectively, "Kane County") have filed multiple lawsuits seeking to establish title to hundreds of these roads…
Date: March 4, 2024
Docket Number: 22-7028
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, the defendant, Paul Curtis Pemberton, contested his federal conviction for a murder committed in McIntosh County, Oklahoma in 2004. The case was…
Date: March 4, 2024
Docket Number: 22-9580
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves Wendy Miguel-Peña and her minor daughter, natives and citizens of El Salvador, who entered the United States without authorization. The Department of Homeland Security initiated removal proceedings, and…
Date: March 1, 2024
Docket Number: 22-7041
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involved Garrett Joseph Hurst, who was charged with knowingly engaging in a sexual act with a minor, in violation of various sections of the United States Code. At sentencing, the district court imposed the…
Date: February 28, 2024
Docket Number: 22-6203
Justia Opinion Summary: This case concerned an appeal by Matthew Ware, a former correctional officer, against the substantive reasonableness of his sentence. Ware was convicted by a jury of two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law…
Date: February 28, 2024
Docket Number: 23-9502
Justia Opinion Summary: A company named Coreslab Structures was found to have violated several provisions of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The court affirmed the National…
Date: February 27, 2024
Docket Number: 21-9577
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit denied the petitions for judicial review by Electric Clouds, Inc. and Cloud 9 Vapor Products, L.L.C. against the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).…
Date: February 27, 2024
Docket Number: 23-1062
Date: February 27, 2024
Docket Number: 23-9509
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has decided to transfer petitions for review to the D.C. Circuit. The petitions challenge a final rule by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the…
Date: February 23, 2024
Docket Number: 23-3004
Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves plaintiff-appellant Cassandra Kincaid, an assistant principal at Central Middle School in Kansas, who claimed that she was harassed by the Unified School District No. 500 in retaliation for her…
Date: February 21, 2024
Docket Number: 22-6194
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed the convictions of Juanita Viridiana Garcia Rodriguez, the defendant-appellant, on charges of conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with the…
Date: February 20, 2024
Docket Number: 22-2085
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the defendant, Donald Alvin Tolbert, appealed against the denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained as a result of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) opening his emails…
Date: February 20, 2024
Docket Number: 22-4081
Justia Opinion Summary: In November 2018, Joseph Hoskins was stopped by a Utah state trooper, Jared Withers, because his Illinois license plate was partially obscured. The situation escalated when Trooper Withers conducted a dog sniff of the…
Date: February 16, 2024
Docket Number: 22-2034
Justia Opinion Summary: In the case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, the defendant, Jody Rufino Martinez, a member of the Syndicato de Nuevo México (“SNM”), a violent New Mexico-based prison gang, was convicted…
Date: February 16, 2024
Docket Number: 23-6067
Date: February 13, 2024
Docket Number: 23-7001
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, Plaintiff-Appellant Lazy S Ranch Properties, LLC (Lazy S) filed a lawsuit against Defendants-Appellees Valero Terminaling and Distribution Company and related entities (collectively, Valero), alleging that…
Date: February 9, 2024
Docket Number: 22-3192
Date: February 9, 2024
Docket Number: 22-4074
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit overturned the United States District Court for the District of Utah's decision to dismiss the charge against Jonathan Alexander Morales-Lopez, who…
Date: February 9, 2024
Docket Number: 22-5107
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reviewed the dismissal of a case involving Charles Cline, who was terminated by Clinical Perfusion Systems, Inc. after a medical emergency led to an extended…
Date: February 9, 2024
Docket Number: 23-6054
Justia Opinion Summary: In a case brought before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, the plaintiff organization, Speech First, Inc., challenged three policies implemented by Oklahoma State University (OSU) that allegedly…
Date: February 6, 2024
Docket Number: 22-1203
Justia Opinion Summary: In a criminal appeal, the defendant, Kenneth Devereaux, challenged his sixty-month sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm. He argued that the district court erred in treating his prior conviction for…
Date: February 6, 2024
Docket Number: 22-1430
Justia Opinion Summary: In a dispute between ORP Surgical, LLC (ORP), and Howmedica Osteonics Corp., also known as Stryker, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part the district court's…
Date: February 5, 2024
Docket Number: 23-7008
Justia Opinion Summary: In the case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, the plaintiff, Donald Ray Logsdon, Jr., alleged that Deputy United States Marshals used excessive force when executing a state-court warrant…
Date: January 26, 2024
Docket Number: 22-6132
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacated the conviction of John Miguel Swan, who had pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition. Swan appealed the district court's denial of his…
Date: January 24, 2024
Docket Number: 22-7048
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed the conviction of Montelito Simpkins for sexually abusing a minor and engaging in abusive sexual contact in Indian country. The government charged…
Date: January 23, 2024
Docket Number: 22-6132
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, the defendant, John Miguel Swan, appealed the district court’s denial of his presentence motion to withdraw his guilty plea. The case…
Date: January 23, 2024
Docket Number: 23-3029
Justia Opinion Summary: In the case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, the defendant, Jonathan Kearn, was initially indicted on three child pornography offenses involving his own children. He faced up to 30 years’…
Date: January 23, 2024
Docket Number: 23-4009
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit was considering an appeal by Elite IT Partners Inc. and its officer, James Michael Martinos, against a decision by the United States District Court…
Date: January 22, 2024
Docket Number: 22-8064
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit analyzed whether a police officer violated the Fourth Amendment by prolonging a traffic stop to determine whether the driver of a rental vehicle was…
Date: January 17, 2024
Docket Number: 22-6170
Justia Opinion Summary: The case revolves around a dispute between Harvest Group, LLC ("Harvest") and Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, Inc. and Musket Corp. (collectively, "Love’s") over a breach-of-contract claim. Harvest, a company that…
Date: January 16, 2024
Docket Number: 22-3208
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the petitioner, Samuel Drinkert, appealed the denial of his application for a writ of habeas corpus by the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. Drinkert contested his convictions for…
Date: January 3, 2024
Docket Number: 22-1340
Justia Opinion Summary: In a case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, private citizens and a non-profit organization sued High Mountain Mining Company for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act. The plaintiffs…
Date: January 3, 2024
Docket Number: 23-2095
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
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