2014 Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals Case Law

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of distributing a controlled substance. Defendant argued that the Sentencing Commission exceeded its authority under 28 U.S.C. 994(h) by including state…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, a commercial snowmobile operator, appealed his conviction on two counts of conducting a "work activity or service" on United States Forest Service land without a special use authorization and one count of…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed the district court's motion to suppress after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. The court concluded that defendant's detention did not amount to an arrest where defendant was…

Justia Opinion Summary: After the Diocese settled four lawsuits for alleged sexual abuse by its priests, the Diocese filed a declaratory judgment action seeking entitlement to indemnification under IFC's excess liability indemnity policies. The…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, a group of investors, filed suit alleging that Electronic Game Card's former CEO and CFO violated section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C. 78j, 17 C.F.R. 240.10b-5, and that others violated…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed her post-revocation sentence imposed consecutively to her criminal sentence for illegal reentry. The court held that a district court can continue post-revocation sentencing for a reasonable time to…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit against Chase and WaMu, alleging claims arising out of allegedly fraudulent acts by WaMu concerning the refinancing of their mortgage. WaMu was later placed into receivership of the FDIC and the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his sentence after pleading guilty to intentionally and knowingly importing 11.64 kilograms of cocaine into the United States from Mexico. The court held that the district court applied the correct…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction for charges that he unlawfully exported defense services and technical data related to the design of the B-2 stealth bomber and other classified government projects to the People's…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction under 38 C.F.R. 1.218(a)(5), which prohibits causing "disturbances" at VA facilities. The court concluded that the conduct for which defendant was convicted did not constitute protected…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, a native and citizen of Mexico, appealed his conviction for attempting to enter the United States without consent after having been previously removed. In regards to defendant's collateral attack of the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners, convicted of first degree murder, appealed their separate district court judgments denying their 28 U.S.C. 2254 habeas petitions. At issue was petitioners' Batson v. Kentucky argument that the prosecutor…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, convicted of murder and robbery charges, appealed the district court's denial of his 28 U.S.C. 2254 habeas corpus petition. Petitioner argued that the Arizona courts unreasonably rejected his claim under…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, who is disabled and uses a wheelchair for mobility, filed suit against the District, contending that he could not fully enjoy football games because of the unavailability of wheelchair accessible seating. The…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his sentence after pleading guilty to one count of receiving child pornography. Defendant challenged the constitutionality of U.S.S.G. 2G2.2 and the five-year mandatory minimum sentence. The court…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner pled guilty to attempted possession of a dangerous drug, in violation of Arizona Revised Statute 13-3407(A)(1), and was found removable as an alien convicted of a violation of state law relating to a…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his sentence after revocation of supervised release. The court concluded that the district court committed plain error when it violated Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.1(b)(2)(E) when it did not…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against Planned Parenthood under the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. 3729-3733, alleging that Planned Parenthood knowingly and falsely overbilled state and federal governments for contraceptives supplied…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner appealed the district court's denial of his motion for relief from judgment under Rule 60(b), motion for a stay of execution, and motion to amend or alter judgment under Rule 59(e). The court concluded that…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his convictions stemming from his involvement in a scheme to kidnap for ransom Franklin Aguilar-Avila. The court held that the district court's admission of a government agent's testimony recounting…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sought information from the Department regarding the method of his execution, which the Department has not provided. The district court subsequently denied plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs commenced this action against their attorney and his law firm in state court for legal malpractice, alleging that the attorney was negligent in the performance of his duties as counsel to the unsecured…

Justia Opinion Summary: WildEarth petitioned for review of the EPA's approval of Nevada's State Implementation Plan (SIP) for regional haze under the Clean Air Act (CAA), 42 U.S.C. 1983. The court concluded that WildEarth lacked Article III…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit against Countrywide and others involved in their residential mortgage, alleging violations of numerous federal statutes. The district court dismissed the claims with prejudice and plaintiffs…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff appealed the district court's holding that he was prohibited by federal law from possessing or receiving a firearm by virtue of his restriction on obtaining a Montana concealed weapon permit and that plaintiff,…

Justia Opinion Summary: PRS filed a class action against Intuitive on behalf of purchasers of Intuitive common stock, alleging violations of sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and Securities and Exchange…

Justia Opinion Summary: E.M., who has an auditory processing disorder or a central auditory processing disorder, through his parents, filed suit against the district alleging that E.M. had been denied a free and appropriate public education…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff appealed the denial of Social Security benefits. The court concluded that the ALJ erred in rejecting medical opinions, that she misunderstood a state examiner's opinion of plaintiff's impairments, and that she…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against the County and the Sheriff, alleging that she was sexually assaulted by a deputy sheriff when she went to the County vehicle inspection site to clear a traffic ticket.…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm, contending that the district court erred by denying his motion to suppress a shotgun seized during the execution of a search warrant at his…

Justia Opinion Summary: This criminal antitrust case stems from an international conspiracy between Taiwanese and Korean electronics manufacturers to fix prices for TFT-LCDs. Defendants, AUO, a Taiwanese company, and AUOA, AUO's retailer and…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a police officer, filed suit against the City and the LAPD alleging that he was fired in retaliation for testifying, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. 215(a)(3). Plaintiff claimed…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed a class action against defendants, motor carriers, alleging that defendants routinely violate California's meal and rest break laws, Cal. Lab. Code 226.7, 512; Cal. Code Regs. tit.8, 11090. The district…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a native and citizen of Iran, challenged the BIA's determination that he provided material support in the 1970s to a "Tier III" terrorist organization (MEK), making him statutorily ineligible for immigration…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, five individual "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" (DACA) recipients living in Arizona, sought a preliminary injunction prohibiting defendants from enforcing their policy that prevents DACA recipients…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Diaz Defendants challenged the bankruptcy court's and district court's orders invalidating the transfer to them of a Mexican coastal villa owned by debtors and requiring them to convey the property to Kismet for the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction for criminal reentry, collaterally attacking his underlying removal order. The court concluded that defendant's attorney in the immigration proceedings provided ineffective assistance of…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his sentence after pleading guilty to importation of heroin, alleging that the district court improperly engaged in judicial fact-finding in denying him safety valve relief from the mandatory minimum…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs appealed the district court's grant of summary judgment to the County on their challenge to the SFSD's policy prohibiting male deputies from supervising female inmates in the housing units of SFSD's jails. The…

Justia Opinion Summary: Police, on the lookout for two white males, mistook a teenaged boy and his friends, all Hispanic, for intruders in the boy's own home. The police pointed guns at the boys, entered the home without a warrant, handcuffed…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a victim of a mailbox theft crime, challenged the district court's orders denying in part motions to quash two subpoenas duces tecum whose issuance defendant had requested under Rule 17(c)(3). The court…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this interlocutory appeal John R. Grele and his former client, Markette Tillman, appealed an order removing him to the California State bar for disciplinary proceedings. The court concluded, under Flanagan v. United…

Justia Opinion Summary: Arc challenged state officials' implementation of three new policies relating to state funding of home- and community-based services to developmentally disabled persons. California has reduced its funding for this…

Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal arose from contempt sanctions issued by the bankruptcy court against the Diazes for failing to transfer a Mexican coastal villa to Kismet. The court concluded that: (1) the bankruptcy court had jurisdiction…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed a class action under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq., alleging that defendants made false representations to him in connection with their efforts to collect a…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction after pleading guilty to one count of importation of over fifty kilograms of marijuana. Defendant challenged the district court's denial of his motion to suppress incriminating…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his sentence after pleading guilty to one count of production of child pornography and one count of penalties for registered sex offenders. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed a class action suit alleging that Nordstrom violated various state and federal employment laws by precluding employees from bringing most class action lawsuits in light of AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion.…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed a class action suit to recover unpaid overtime wages from her former employer, Bloomingdale's. The district court granted Bloomingdale's motion to compel arbitration, determining that shortly after being…

Justia Opinion Summary: Musical artist George Clinton appealed the district court's order appointing a receiver and authorizing the sale of copyrights in an action against his former law firm. The firm obtained judgments against Clinton for…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that several correctional officers violated his rights under the Eighth Amendment. On appeal, defendant challenged the magistrate judge's grant of the officers' motion…

Justia Opinion Summary: Candelaria, CCIC, and Otay (collectively, defendants) appealed the district court's judgment in favor of Ramona, the supplier of rental equipment, in Ramona's action under the Miller Act, 40 U.S.C. 3131-3134. The court…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Rodriquez, Murillo, and Mujica appealed their convictions for conspiracy to commit murder and first degree murder stemming from the stabbing of a prison inmate, Peter Scopazzi. Because defendants failed to…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction and sentence for violating the registration requirements of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), 42 U.S.C. 16911 et seq. The court held that SORNA's delegation of…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, challenging the constitutionality of Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 85.02, which prohibits use of a vehicle "as living quarters either overnight, day-by-day, or otherwise."…