2015 D.C. Circuit US Court of Appeals Case Law
Date: December 29, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5224
Justia Opinion Summary: Petty Officer Walter Jackson filed suit claiming that the Board's denial of his request to correct his navy record violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. 500 et seq.; the Due Process Clause; and…
Date: December 29, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5330
Justia Opinion Summary: The Hospital challenged the method used by the Secretary to calculate its reimbursement for services it provided during 2003 and 2004 - the two years after statutory caps on reimbursements for psychiatric hospitals…
Date: December 29, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7118
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit under the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq., and the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. 791 et seq., alleging that the District: (1) unlawfully refused to accommodate her…
Date: December 29, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7189
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, Title IX, and various D.C. tort laws, seeking damages from the District. Plaintiff alleged that, while attending a District school for emotionally disturbed students, she and a…
Date: December 22, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1103
Justia Opinion Summary: On September 16, 2013, the Commission issued an Order Conditionally Accepting Tariff Revisions filed by ISO New England. In the same order, the Commission rejected the tariff proposal to allocate costs to transmission…
Date: December 22, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5169
Justia Opinion Summary: After DHS did not grant asylum to appellant, he appealed, and his case is now before the immigration court. While his case was pending in the immigration court, appellant filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5…
Date: December 22, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5172
Justia Opinion Summary: Friends petitioned the Service to list certain species of sturgeon as endangered or threatened. The Service went more than 12 months without making any determinations – initial or final – on Friends’ petition. The…
Date: December 22, 2015
Docket Number: 15-5037
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, claiming that new regulations promulgated by the USDA may result in an increase in foodborne illness from contaminated poultry. The district court…
Date: December 18, 2015
Docket Numbers: 13-1283, 13-1287
Justia Opinion Summary: Dalton Trucking and ARTBA challenged the EPA's final decision authorizing California regulations intended to reduce emissions of particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen from in-use nonroad diesel engines. Dalton Truck…
Date: December 18, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1168
Justia Opinion Summary: Flytenow developed a web-based service through which private pilots can offer their planned itineraries to passengers willing to share the pilots’ expenses. The FAA issued a Letter of Interpretation, concluding that…
Date: December 18, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7035
Justia Opinion Summary: In this 42 U.S.C. Medicaid class action, the District appealed two separate awards of attorneys’ fees and expenses for work performed from 2010 to 2012. The court concluded that the district court acted within its…
Date: December 15, 2015
Docket Number: 11-1466
Justia Opinion Summary: Salem petitioned for review of the Board's certification of a bargaining unit and its subsequent determination that Salem unlawfully refused to bargain. The court concluded that the hearing officer's (HO's) premature…
Date: December 15, 2015
Docket Number: 13-3062
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pled guilty to one count of distribution of pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2252A(a)(2) and subsequently appealed his 144 months of imprisonment followed by 240 months of supervised release. Because the…
Date: December 15, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1044
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, owner and principal of MacBride Nigeria, seeks review of two of the Commissioner's decisions relating to the loss of concrete masonry equipment shipped from the United States to Nigeria in two separate…
Date: December 15, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5203
Justia Opinion Summary: The Coast Guard, after receiving whistleblower complaints, initiated an investigation against two foreign-flagged vessels. The Coast Guard subsequently ordered Customs to withhold departure clearance and the vessels were…
Date: December 15, 2015
Docket Number: 15-7057
Justia Opinion Summary: The District and the Police Department appealed from the district court's grant of preliminary injunction restraining enforcement of a “good reason” standard in the D.C. Code provision governing the issuance of licenses…
Date: December 11, 2015
Docket Number: 11-1297
Justia Opinion Summary: Nova petitioned for review of the Board's finding that it violated section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(1). Nova hired UNICCO to provide maintenance, landscaping, and janitorial…
Date: December 11, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1021
Justia Opinion Summary: Mike-sell's petitioned for review of the Board's determination that it violated Section 8(a)(5) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(5), when it unilaterally instituted terms and conditions of…
Date: December 1, 2015
Docket Number: 12-3084
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his sentence after pleading guilty to distributing child pornography. The court concluded that the district court properly applied a cross-reference to the guideline governing production of child…
Date: December 1, 2015
Docket Number: 12-3108
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants were convicted of conspiring to traffic in narcotics and numerous related crimes and subsequently challenged their resentencing on remand. The court rejected Defendant Farrell's contentions that the district…
Date: December 1, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5370
Justia Opinion Summary: The Secretary issued regulations setting out reasonable cost limits (RCLs) for specified medical services and establishing certain exceptions to those limits. Canonsburg claimed that the Secretary has violated the…
Date: November 24, 2015
Docket Number: 11-3034
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Cordova, Gutierrez, and Sorto appealed their convictions for conspiracy, violent crimes in aid of racketeering, murder, assault, and federal and District of Columbia weapons offenses. The court rejected…
Date: November 24, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5210
Justia Opinion Summary: After the United States prevailed in a civil action brought pursuant to the False Claims Act (FCA), 31 U.S.C. 3729, based on certifications by MWI to the Bank to secure loans financing MWI's sale of water pumps to…
Date: November 20, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1153
Justia Opinion Summary: Western Minnesota and intervenors petitioned for review of FERC's award of a permit for a hydroelectric project in Polk County, Iowa. The Commission concluded that the municipal preference under Section 7(a) of the…
Date: November 17, 2015
Docket Number: 15-3009
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant filed a petition for a writ of coram nobis, seeking to vacate his conviction for federal wire fraud on the ground that his attorney failed to properly advise him about the immigration consequences of pleading…
Date: November 13, 2015
Docket Number: 12-1034
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner seeks review of the Board's conclusion that petitioner's refusal to reinstate the striking workers was itself an unfair labor practice and order of reinstatement. The court denied the petition and granted the…
Date: November 13, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5286
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant seeks information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, and the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, relating principally to his detention in Yemen from four federal agencies. After filing suit to…
Date: November 6, 2015
Docket Number: 11-1351
Justia Opinion Summary: Hyundai challenged the Board's order invalidating five rules in the employee handbook maintained by Hyundai because the rules violated section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. 157, 158(a)(1).…
Date: November 6, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1109
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant received his 2006 income tax refund twice and the IRS sought to recover the erroneous refund by levy. At the tax court stage, the IRS conceded that the levy was an improper collection method, zeroed out…
Date: November 3, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1263
Justia Opinion Summary: EPA exercised its authority under the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q, to issue a Final Rule designating 29 areas as not meeting its new sulfur dioxide standards. Treasure State Resource Industry Association…
Date: October 30, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5309
Justia Opinion Summary: The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, a professional association of certified public accountants and their firms, challenged an IRS program that allows previously uncredentialed tax return preparers who…
Date: October 27, 2015
Docket Number: 14-3022
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded guilty to injuring a dwelling and placing lives in jeopardy, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. Defendant was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment. On appeal, defendant challenged…
Date: October 23, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5194
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed a Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Fed. Bureau of Narcotics action against the FBI, alleging that the FBI violated his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights when they detained, interrogated, and tortured…
Date: October 23, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7104
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a law firm, provided legal services to three companies owned and managed by defendants. After defendants failed to pay legal bills, the law firm filed suit and prevailed. The court concluded that the…
Date: October 20, 2015
Docket Number: 14-3035
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction for possession of ammunition by a felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1). The court concluded that there was sufficient evidence to convict defendant. In this case, based on his…
Date: September 29, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5196
Justia Opinion Summary: The SEC brought an administrative proceeding against George Jarkesy, Jr., for securities fraud. Meanwhile, Jarkesy filed this suit seeking the administrative proceeding's termination, arguing that the proceeding’s…
Date: September 29, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5205
Justia Opinion Summary: Sierra Club filed suit against the government seeking to set aside several federal agencies' regulatory approvals relating to the Flanagan South pipeline and to enjoin the pipeline's construction and operation in…
Date: September 18, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1045
Justia Opinion Summary: Mystic, operator of a nursing home, petitioned for review of the Board's order granting summary judgment against Mystic and rejecting, among other things, Mystic's arguments that the Hearing Officer had made substantive…
Date: September 18, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1047
Justia Opinion Summary: Anderson Lumber petitioned for review of the Board's determination that Anderson Lumber unlawfully withdrew recognition from a union. The court concluded that the district court did not unreasonably find that four of the…
Date: September 18, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1049
Justia Opinion Summary: In NLRB v. Noel Canning, the Supreme Court determined that the Board lacked authority to act during the time that three of its five members held office via appointments that violated the Recess Appointments Clause. At…
Date: September 18, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5002
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a freelance journalist, filed suit against the Secretary of Defense and subordinating officers in both the present appeal, reversal of the memorandum terminating his embed status and reinstatement of his…
Date: September 18, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5119
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal arose out of the Department of the Interior’s misadministration of Native American trust accounts and an ensuing complex, nationwide litigation and settlement. The class action representatives appealed the…
Date: September 18, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7051
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against his employer, Amtrak, alleging that it discriminated against him because of his race in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq., and District of Columbia law.…
Date: September 18, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7071
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court determined as a matter of law that the District’s efforts “to combat gun violence and promote public safety” by means of its registration laws were “constitutionally permissible.” Plaintiffs challenged…
Date: September 4, 2015
Docket Number: 13-3097
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, convicted of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, appealed the district court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence. At issue was whether the exclusionary rule is applicable when law…
Date: September 1, 2015
Docket Numbers: 11-3054, 11-5124
Justia Opinion Summary: Nationals of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago abducted wealthy individuals, held them captive in the island's mountainous forests, and extorted ransoms from terrified family and friends. The conspirators were…
Date: September 1, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5138
Justia Opinion Summary: The County seeks attorneys' fees from the Government under the Voting Rights Act of 1965's (VRA), 52 U.S.C. 10310(e), fee-shifting provision after the County prevailed in a challenge to the constitutionality of the VRA.…
Date: August 28, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5250
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit claiming that 40 U.S.C. 6135's Assemblages and Display Clauses, by restricting his intended activities, violate his rights under the First Amendment. Plaintiff seeks to picket, leaflet, and make…
Date: August 28, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5004
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit contending that the government's "bulk data program" collection constitutes an unlawful search under the Fourth Amendment. The program operates pursuant to the USA PATRIOT Act, Pub. L. No. 107-56,…
Date: August 25, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5335
Justia Opinion Summary: Action, a nonprofit organization, filed a series of three Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, requests with the Federal Trade Commission seeking records related to the Commission's guides for the use of…
Date: August 25, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7150
Justia Opinion Summary: D.C. Code. Mun. Regs. Title 24, 121.1 is a municipal regulation that forbids any person from “set[ting] up, maintain[ing], or establish[ing] any camp or any temporary place of abode in any tent” on public property…
Date: August 25, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1194
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit against the SEC to invalidate a four-year-old rule, promulgated under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, 15 U.S.C. 80b, regulating campaign contributions by investment advisers. The district court…
Date: August 21, 2015
Docket Number: 08-3116
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, convicted of travel fraud and wire fraud for a scheme in which he obtained funds from investors and home buyers based on false representations about how the funds would be used, appealed his convictions and…
Date: August 21, 2015
Docket Number: 12-1002
Justia Opinion Summary: The union petitioned for review of the Board's conclusion that the union committed unfair labor practices by operating a hiring hall that helped only its own members gain employment. The union operated a referral service…
Date: August 21, 2015
Docket Number: 15-5018
Justia Opinion Summary: Three associations of home care agencies filed suit challenging the Department's extension of the Fair Labor Standards Act's (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. 201 et seq., minimum-wage and overtime provisions to employees of third-party…
Date: August 18, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7082
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, as the personal representative of Curtis Suggs, filed suit against the District, Symbral, and others, under 42 U.S.C. 1983, federal law regulating community residential facilities, and the common law. Suggs…
Date: August 18, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1101
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal stemmed from a labor dispute at six nursing homes operated by HealthBridge. The Board concluded that the company's conduct - taking down flyers about HealthBridge being "busted" for "violating labor law," and…
Date: August 18, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5035
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against her employer, the Department of Homeland Security, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that her supervisor took adverse actions against her on account of her…
Date: August 18, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5053
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against DHS, the Department in which the Coast Guard is housed, under the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. 701 et seq., alleging that it had unlawfully denied her accommodations and terminated her in…
Date: August 18, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5151
Justia Opinion Summary: Texas appealed the district court’s award of attorneys’ fees to three intervenors in Texas’s lawsuit under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, 52 U.S.C. 10304. Rejecting Texas’s cursory “Advisory” argument, the district…
Date: August 18, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7030
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a real estate developer, alleged that WMATA signed a contractually binding Term Sheet preliminarily selecting plaintiff to develop property above a Metrorail station and giving plaintiff the exclusive right to…
Date: August 14, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1276
Justia Opinion Summary: Cable operators’ retransmission of religious and devotional programming produced a pool of royalties that Congress charged the Copyright Royalty Judges with distributing to the copyright owners. In this appeal,…
Date: August 14, 2015
Docket Number: 13-3024
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants, a criminal defense attorney and two legal investigators, were convicted in 2012 of breaching duties owed to the court by fabricating evidence and suborning perjury during a 2008 trial in which they…
Date: August 14, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5293
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, a pork producer and two animal welfare organizations who count pork producers among their members, filed suit claiming that the National Pork Board has misappropriated millions of dollars from a fund for pork…
Date: August 14, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1042
Justia Opinion Summary: The IRS Appeals Office denied appellant a Collection Due Process hearing based on its unexplained determination that all the reasons he gave for requesting a hearing were frivolous. Further, the Appeals office contends…
Date: August 14, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5036
Justia Opinion Summary: This case concerns an IRS regulation that imposes a “penalty” on U.S. banks that fail to report interest paid to certain foreign account-holders. Two Bankers Associations challenged the legality of the regulation. At…
Date: August 14, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5125
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from the Secretary’s decision in 2005 to change the boundaries of the geographic areas used to compute regional wage indices. A group of hospitals challenged the Secretary's decision to include wage data…
Date: August 14, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5183
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit challenging the religious exemption in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Pub. L. No. 111-148, 124 Stat. 119, as an unconstitutional establishment of religion. Plaintiff also argued…
Date: August 14, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5325
Justia Opinion Summary: The Secretary of DHS directed relevant agencies temporarily to defer low-priority removals of non-dangerous individuals so that the agencies can focus their resources on removing dangerous criminals and strengthening…
Date: August 11, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7140
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit seeking damages from the District, the Family Services Agency, and District employees after plaintiffs' children were removed from their home after they were sexually abused by plaintiffs' other…
Date: August 11, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1068
Justia Opinion Summary: IBS, a nonprofit association representing college and high school radio stations, appealed the determination by the Copyright Royalty Board setting royalty rates for webcasting. The court rejected IBS's contention that…
Date: August 11, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1142
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a mutual fund, challenged the Commission's denial of an exemption from rules governing the calculation and reporting of petitioner's deferred tax liability. The court concluded that petitioner’s attacks on…
Date: August 11, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5157
Justia Opinion Summary: PETA filed suit against the USDA, arguing that the USDA's failure to craft avian-specific animal welfare regulations pursuant to the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), 7 U.S.C. 2131 et seq., violated the Administrative Procedure…
Date: August 11, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5319
Justia Opinion Summary: KBR seeks a second writ of mandamus challenging the district court's conclusion that: (1) the Code of Business Conduct (COBC) documents at issue must be produced under Federal Rule of Evidence 612 on the theory that KBR…
Date: August 7, 2015
Docket Number: 12-5411
Justia Opinion Summary: Grossmont and four other California hospitals sought reimbursement under the Medicare program for so-called “bad claims.” Payment was denied because the claims were submitted to Medicare without first being submitted to…
Date: August 7, 2015
Docket Number: 13-3051
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, a member of the Gulf Cartel and a former Mexican state police officer, was convicted of conspiring to manufacture and distribute cocaine and marijuana for importation into the United States. On appeal,…
Date: August 7, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5153
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a white Foreign Service Officer, filed suit alleging that the State Department's hiring plan aimed to increase racial diversity among the officers corps in the Foreign Service violated Title VII of the Civil…
Date: August 7, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5362
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant, an inmate in Maryland, filed a mandamus petition seeking to compel the USCIS to grant him a hearing to review the denial of his application for naturalization. The court rejected appellant's claim that he…
Date: August 7, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1107
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal involves a labor dispute between an ambulance company and its employees. The court concluded that the unfair labor practice (ULP) complaint issued against the ambulance company was unauthorized because Lafe…
Date: August 4, 2015
Docket Number: 12-1032
Justia Opinion Summary: The company appealed the Board's finding that the company had committed various unfair labor practices during the relocation of union employees from a dealership that was closing down to a larger dealership with…
Date: August 4, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7103
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal arose from a dispute between Ecuador and Chevron involving a series of lawsuits related to an investment and development agreement. On appeal, Ecuador challenged the district court's confirmation of an…
Date: August 4, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7189
Justia Opinion Summary: After the Chief of Police sanctioned plaintiff, pursuant to MPD General Order 204.01, Part VI-C-1, for releasing to the media a recording of Emergency Response Team (ERT) radio communications that occurred during an…
Date: August 4, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7004
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, users and operators of independent (non-bank) ATMs, filed related actions against Visa, MasterCard, and certain affiliated banks, alleging anticompetitive schemes for pricing ATM access fees. Plaintiffs…
Date: July 31, 2015
Docket Number: 10-3069
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant received a 144-month sentence for possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of crack cocaine. At issue on appeal was whether a district court must consider the crack/powder disparity before deciding…
Date: July 31, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5353
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1985, Carl Oglesby filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, with federal agencies seeking information on Reinhard Gehlen. Gehlen was a former Nazi general through whom the United…
Date: July 31, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7088
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, two Kazakh businessmen, filed suit alleging that defendants violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. 1962(c) - (d), by engaging in criminal activity through the Krull…
Date: July 31, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1206
Justia Opinion Summary: American Coal appealed the MSHA's citation and fine for a "fire" on one of its coal stockpiles when safety inspectors observed patches of smoldering, smoking coal without visible flames. American Coal argued that the…
Date: July 28, 2015
Docket Numbers: 08-3037, 11-3032
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Bell and Wilson, two members of the Congress Park Crew gang, appealed their conviction and sentences for their involvement in various crimes including crack distribution. The court rejected Wilson's argument…
Date: July 28, 2015
Docket Number: 13-3107
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant, a Colombian citizen, was indicted under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA), 46 U.S.C. 70503(a), and extradited to the United States for prosecution. Appellant pleaded guilty to a charge of…
Date: July 28, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5358
Justia Opinion Summary: The Commission imposed an $8,690 fine on the Combat Veterans and its treasurer, David Wiggs, in his official capacity, for failing to meet three required reporting deadlines under the Federal Election Campaign Act, 2…
Date: July 28, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7079
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellees, medical records coders employed by appellants, filed suit against appellants for unlawfully failing to pay overtime pay. Appellees prevailed in a jury verdict and the district court denied appellants' motions…
Date: July 24, 2015
Docket Number: 12-1054
Justia Opinion Summary: Bruce Packing petitioned for review of the Board's decision that Bruce Packing committed unfair labor practices in an effort to beat back a union-organizing drive at one of its plants. The court agreed with the Board…
Date: July 24, 2015
Docket Number: 12-3092
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, convicted of twenty-five counts of aiding or assisting in the filing of a false tax return, appealed his convictions. Defendant alleged that the court improperly instructed the jury and that he received…
Date: July 24, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5170
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against the Department, alleging that her new supervisor retaliated against her for earlier discrimination complaints. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Department. The…
Date: July 24, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5247
Justia Opinion Summary: The Bank and a group of States challenged the constitutionality of various provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Pub. L. No. 111-203, 124 Stat. 1376. The district court concluded…
Date: July 24, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7181
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed a civil suit alleging that his employer fired him because he was male. At issue was whether 42 U.S.C. 2000e-5(f)(1) barred plaintiff's suit because he brought it too late. On EEOC Form 5, plaintiff swore…
Date: July 24, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1144
Justia Opinion Summary: Inova challenged the Board's ruling that it had unlawfully discharged, disciplined, or failed to promote certain nurses because they had engaged in concerted activities protected by the National Labor Relations Act, 29…
Date: July 21, 2015
Docket Number: 12-1459
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenge the EPA's 2012 regulation revising Clean Air Act (CAA), 42 U.S.C. 7412(d), standards for emissions of hexavalent chromium. The new rule imposes more stringent emissions limitations than its…
Date: July 21, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7038
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff is the mother of Karl Grimes, a juvenile who was allegedly beaten to death at a detention facility. Plaintiff claimed that the District showed deliberate indifference to, and reckless disregard for, her son’s…
Date: July 21, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1062
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged the Commission's issuance of a certificate of public convenience and necessity to Columbia Gas conditionally authorizing the company to extend a natural gas pipeline in Maryland. The court…
Date: July 21, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7002
Justia Opinion Summary: BSDL petitioned the district court to confirm an arbitration award rendered against the government of Belize. The district court entered judgment in favor of BSDL. The arbitration award arises out of the alleged breach…
Date: July 17, 2015
Docket Number: 12-3067
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant pled guilty to five counts of filing a false tax return and appealed his sentence of 110 months in prison, arguing that the sentence was impermissibly influenced by his refusal to reveal the source of his…
Date: July 17, 2015
Docket Number: 12-7114
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant filed suit against the Department, alleging a claim under the District of Columbia Whistleblower Protection Act, D.C. Code 1–615.51 et seq., after she was discharged as a result of the Department's disciplinary…
Date: July 17, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1001
Justia Opinion Summary: After a federal court of appeals entered judgment enforcing petitioner’s right to reinstatement and backpay with interest for his unlawful termination, the Board entered into a settlement agreement with petitioner's…
Date: July 17, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1131
Justia Opinion Summary: ADX petitioned the FCC to deny the assignment to a competitor of several radio licenses in the Pensacola, Florida, and Mobile, Alabama, markets. The FCC denied the petition and ADX appealed, contending that, in applying…
Date: July 17, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5030
Justia Opinion Summary: The NSA requested investigative materials, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 500 et seq., that the SEC had gathered involving payments made to paramilitary groups in Colombia by a subsidiary of…
Date: July 17, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5089
Justia Opinion Summary: After the court held, in 2005, that a Postal Service regulation was unconstitutional based on the regulation's ban on signature collection on perimeter sidewalks, the Postal Service amended its regulation to correct the…
Date: July 17, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7042
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 alleging that a police officer violated her Fourth Amendment right when, during her husband’s traffic stop and arrest, the officer ordered her to get out of the car and put her…
Date: July 17, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7054
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, Medicaid recipients who unsuccessfully sought coverage for prescription drugs, filed suit contending that the District and its officials unlawfully failed to afford them notice of their entitlement to a…
Date: July 14, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1198
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners appealed to the Secretary of HUD after an ALJ found them liable for violations of governing programs administered by HUD. The Secretary upheld the ALJ's liability determinations but imposed higher penalty…
Date: July 14, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5177
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant challenged the Parole Commission's denial of his 2010 and 2012 applications for parole, alleging that the Commission violated the Constitution’s prohibition on ex post facto laws by incorrectly applying the…
Date: July 14, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1123
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners, several biofuel producers and others, want EPA to approve E30, which is a fuel that contains about 30% ethanol, for use as a test fuel. EPA has adopted regulations that require vehicle manufacturers to test…
Date: July 14, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1134
Justia Opinion Summary: The SEC found that petitioner and his company repeatedly marked the close - buying or selling stock as the trading day ends to artificially inflate the stock's value - and sanctioned them accordingly. The court concluded…
Date: July 14, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7055
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis (MS), filed suit against her former employer, TEFCU, for wrongful termination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.; the…
Date: July 14, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7106
Justia Opinion Summary: In these consolidated cases, plaintiffs sought attorneys' fees, including fees for work performed by a special education expert employed by their attorney, after prevailing in actions brought under the Individuals with…
Date: July 10, 2015
Docket Numbers: 11-1099, 11-1143
Justia Opinion Summary: The NLRB ruled that AT&T committed an unfair labor practice by barring its employees from wearing union shirts that say "Inmate" and "Prisoner" while interacting with customers or working in public. The court concluded…
Date: July 10, 2015
Docket Numbers: 12-1021, 12-1076
Justia Opinion Summary: The NLRB determined that the Venetian committed an unfair labor practice under the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 157, when it requested that police officers at the scene of a union demonstration issue criminal…
Date: July 10, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7196
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against the District, alleging a violation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C.1400 et seq. After plaintiff prevailed, the district court awarded her $62,225 in…
Date: July 10, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1126
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners seek review of the SEC's final order finding that petitioners violated Sections 204, 206, and 207 of the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, 15 U.S.C. 80b-4, 80b-6(1)–(2), 80b-7, and Advisors Act Rule…
Date: July 10, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5059
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a Peruvian national who founded and led a low-cost airline operating throughout Latin America, challenged the determination of the Department of the Treasury that the President had lawfully designated him a…
Date: July 10, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7021
Justia Opinion Summary: The parent of K.E., a student who was diagnosed with several learning issues, seeks reimbursement under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq., after she chose a private boarding…
Date: July 10, 2015
Docket Numbers: 14-7060, 14-7061
Justia Opinion Summary: Upon remand of relator's qui tam suit, the district court ruled that the District violated the False Claims Act (FCA), 31 U.S.C. 3729(a), when it submitted a Medicaid reimbursement claim for FY 1998 and imposed the…
Date: July 7, 2015
Docket Number: 12-3024
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction for five counts of bank fraud and five counts of possessing and uttering a counterfeit security with intent to deceive. Defendant had deposited a number of checks that falsely listed him…
Date: July 7, 2015
Docket Number: 12-5334
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a lawyer for the PBGC, filed suit claiming that, in retaliation for her Title VII activities, the PBGC made her work environment a hostile one. Both of plaintiff's complaints have been consolidated on appeal.…
Date: July 7, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5162
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, individual government contractors, challenged 52 U.S.C. 30119(a)(1) as violating their First Amendment and equal protection rights. 52 U.S.C. 30119(a)(1) barred individuals and firms from making federal…
Date: July 7, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5263
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against three officials of the AO, in their official capacities, claiming that their refusal to consider her job application violated her right to travel protected by the Constitution of the United…
Date: July 7, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7012
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, investigators with the Department, filed suit against the District under the D.C. Whistleblower Protection Act, D.C. Code 1-615.51 et seq., alleging that they were unlawfully reassigned to a less desirable…
Date: July 7, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1032
Justia Opinion Summary: The Board issued a complaint against the Hospital charging it with violating the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or Act), 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq. At issue was whether an employer has a duty to arbitrate grievances with…
Date: June 30, 2015
Docket Number: 12-5361
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a federal prison inmate, filed suit alleging that the BOP failed to adequately respond to his requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 500 et seq., and that several policies…
Date: June 30, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1274
Justia Opinion Summary: IPG, representative of several copyright owners in the 2000-03 royalty fee distribution proceeding, alleged that the Board erred in determining IPG's royalty fees in the sports programming and program suppliers…
Date: June 30, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1023
Justia Opinion Summary: Jody Ducote co-piloted a passenger-carrying flight round-trip between the United States and the Bahamas but he was not qualified to pilot or co-pilot the flight. Ducote admitted both that he improperly piloted the…
Date: June 26, 2015
Docket Numbers: 04-3074, 05-3010, 05-3011, 05-3012, 05-3013
Justia Opinion Summary: Five defendants, convicted of charges related to their involvement in a massive drug distribution organization and sentenced to life imprisonment, appealed their convictions and sentences. On appeal, defendants raise…
Date: June 26, 2015
Docket Number: 12-1148
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal involves a Son of BOSS tax shelter, which abuses the partnership form of doing business by “employ[ing] a series of transactions to create artificial financial losses that are used to offset real financial…
Date: June 26, 2015
Docket Number: 12-1364
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose out of the Tax Court’s determination that Petaluma was a sham entity and so would be disregarded for tax purposes, resulting in the potential imposition of penalties against individual partners for…
Date: June 26, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1315
Justia Opinion Summary: Prairie State challenges the Commission’s decision to sustain the Secretary’s citations against it for operating without approved, mine-specific plans for roof support and ventilation at Prairie State’s underground coal…
Date: June 26, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5171
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, convicted of numerous violent crimes including first-degree murder, appealed the denial of his petition for writ of habeas corpus based on the ineffective assistance of counsel. The court rejected defendant's…
Date: June 26, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7133
Justia Opinion Summary: After prevailing in their administrative proceedings, appellants sought from DCPS payment for attorney fees under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. 1415(i)(3)(B), fee-shifting provision…
Date: June 26, 2015
Docket Number: 14-8001
Justia Opinion Summary: The underlying suit alleges that the District does not provide adequate opportunity for community-based care to the District’s Medicaid beneficiaries who are currently receiving long-term care in nursing homes.…
Date: June 23, 2015
Docket Number: 12-5305
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit alleging that 18 U.S.C. 922(a)(9) and (b)(3) and implementing regulations are unconstitutional because the provisions, in effect, prohibit citizens not residing in any state from purchasing firearms.…
Date: June 23, 2015
Docket Number: 13-3041
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, convicted of fraud and embezzlement, argued that the district court erred in excluding two defense exhibits at trial. The fraud and embezzlement was in connection with defendant's management of a union of…
Date: June 23, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7043
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, employed by WASA for sixteen years, filed suit against WASA on numerous grounds, including violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq., by retaliating against him for opposing…
Date: June 23, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1203
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a Guantanamo Bay detainee, raised two challenges to the constitutionality of the United States Court of Military Commission Review (CMCR). The court held that petitioner is not entitled to mandamus relief…
Date: June 23, 2015
Docket Number: 14-3041
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pled guilty to embezzling from an organization that received federal funds. On appeal, defendant challenged his sentence of 24-months in prison. Even if the district court’s loss calculation were erroneous, the…
Date: June 23, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7017
Justia Opinion Summary: Harman and three of its officers are alleged to have knowingly and recklessly propped up the Company’s stock price by making materially false and misleading statements about the Company’s financial condition and by…
Date: June 23, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7094
Justia Opinion Summary: Relator filed a qui tam suit against AT&T and nineteen of its subsidiaries. At issue is whether an earlier and still pending qui tam lawsuit filed against a single AT&T subsidiary bars this suit under the False Claims…
Date: June 19, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1004
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, both parties agree that the tax court lacked jurisdiction to consider the petition filed by taxpayers challenging the seizure of their funds by the IRS. At issue was why, and the reason the tax court…
Date: June 19, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1034
Justia Opinion Summary: The NTSB completed an investigation and issued reports identifying Georgina Joshi, the pilot, as the most likely cause of a plane crash. Georgina's father filed a petition seeking reconsideration of its conclusion in…
Date: June 19, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7069
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against two police officers, alleging that they violated the Fourth Amendment and D.C. law because each officer assaulted her son and one killed him. The court concluded that there are genuine issues…
Date: June 19, 2015
Docket Number: 15-5010
Justia Opinion Summary: Z Street filed suit against the Commissioner, alleging that the “Israel Special Policy” violates the First Amendment. Z Street alleges that the agency has an “Israel Special Policy” under which applications from…
Date: June 16, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1138
Justia Opinion Summary: Kern River and the Shippers seek review of seven orders issued by FERC during rate proceedings. The Shippers ship natural gas using Kern River's pipeline. The court concluded that the Commission complied with the Natural…
Date: June 16, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5044
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a federal prisoner, submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, to the EOUSA, seeking grand jury information for two criminal cases. The EOUSA invoked exemption 3 to justify…
Date: June 16, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7048
Justia Opinion Summary: This dispute stemmed from a house that Debra Stevenson and her son Eugene Smith both own. After Stevenson refinanced her mortgage twice and then filed for bankruptcy, HSBC filed suit in Bankruptcy Court seeking equitable…
Date: June 12, 2015
Docket Number: Henderson
Justia Opinion Summary: The Secretary issued regulations that effectively prohibit physicians who lease medical equipment to hospitals from referring their Medicare patients to these same hospitals for outpatient care involving that equipment.…
Date: June 12, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5268
Justia Opinion Summary: The Secretaries appealed the grant of summary judgment and issuance of a mandatory injunction to sell a certain amount of timber annually from federal land managed under the Oregon and California Railroad and Coos Bay…
Date: June 12, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7156
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against Whole Foods, alleging mistreatment that amounted to discrimination based on his disability and his race. Plaintiff suffers from a cognitive disability due to traumatic brain injury. He…
Date: June 12, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1099
Justia Opinion Summary: Fortuna petitioned for review of a NLRB order finding that Fortuna violated section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(1), by suspending seventy-seven employees for participating in an on-site…
Date: June 12, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1154
Justia Opinion Summary: Title VI of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, Pub. L. No. 112-96, 126 Stat. 156, known as the Spectrum Act, authorizes the FCC to shift a portion of the licensed airwaves from over-the-air…
Date: June 9, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7198
Justia Opinion Summary: Developer filed suit against the University after the University terminated the lease agreement between the parties because Developer failed to make a rental payment. The district court granted summary judgment in favor…
Date: June 9, 2015
Docket Numbers: 14-1112, 14-1146
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged EPA’s anticipated rule restricting carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants. Petitioners argue that section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7411(d), does not grant EPA authority…
Date: June 9, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5182
Justia Opinion Summary: The Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (Act), 15 U.S.C. 18a, added section 7A to the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, 15 U.S.C. 12 et seq., to establish notification and waiting requirements for large…
Date: June 5, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5269
Justia Opinion Summary: PLN filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552 et seq., request to the Bureau seeking all documents showing money the Bureau paid in connection with lawsuits and claims brought against it between January 1,…
Date: June 5, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5272
Justia Opinion Summary: Section 308(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, 8 U.S.C. § 1408(1), designates persons born in American Samoa as non-citizen nationals. Plaintiffs, individuals born in the United States territory of…
Date: June 5, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1009
Justia Opinion Summary: The Postal Service and others sought review of the Commission's order (Order 1926) where the Commission agreed that the recession that started in 2008 was an “extraordinary or exceptional circumstance” that warranted…
Date: June 5, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5199
Justia Opinion Summary: Crossroads GPS, the beneficiary of a favorable decision by the Commission, moved to intervene as a defendant in a suit challenging the Commission’s ruling. The district court denied intervention, finding Crossroads’…
Date: June 2, 2015
Docket Number: 12-1309
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged the EPA’s determination that certain geographic areas are, or are not, in “attainment” with the EPA’s ground-level ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The court concluded that the…
Date: June 2, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7165
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed a class action suit stemming from the workers' compensation benefits owed to class members under the Defense Base Act, 42 U.S.C. 1651 et seq., for injuries suffered while working for United States…
Date: June 2, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1016
Justia Opinion Summary: WRC, operator of an oil refinery, seeks review of EPA's denial of its petition for an extension of its exemption from EPA's renewable fuels program. The court rejected WRC’s various challenges other than those…
Date: June 2, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1046
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners seek review of EPA's final rule, which determined that supercritical carbon dioxide injected into Class VI underground wells for purposes of geologic sequestration is “solid waste” within the meaning of the…
Date: May 29, 2015
Docket Number: 12-1260
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners, PVC manufacturers, challenged EPA's 2012 rule setting first-time-ever limits on the emission of most hazardous air pollutants from PVC productions. Petitioners raised many of their objections for the first…
Date: May 29, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5299
Justia Opinion Summary: After Abu Wa’el (Jihad) Dhiab, a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, went on a hunger strike, he was forcibly extracted from his cell and force-fed. The district court examined 32 classified videotapes of Dhiab's forcible cell…
Date: May 26, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5081
Justia Opinion Summary: Validus, a foreign corporation, filed suit seeking a refund of excise taxes imposed under 26 U.S.C. 4371, which taxes certain types of "reinsurance." The government contends that “the best reading of the statute”…
Date: May 26, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5121
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants, four associations involved in building and developing land, challenged consent decrees that require the Service to determine, in accordance with a settlement-defined schedule for action, whether 251 species…
Date: May 26, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7086
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq., seeking an order requiring DCPS to provide her son with compensatory education. The district court dismissed the…
Date: May 22, 2015
Docket Number: 13-3098
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pled guilty to federal charges stemming from a series of armed robberies. Defendant was sentenced to fifteen years in prison and ordered to pay restitution, as well as a special assessment. Both amounts were…
Date: May 22, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5028
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants challenged a district court order requiring that they add two statements to their cigarette packages and advertisements: an announcement that a federal court has ruled that they “deliberately deceived the…
Date: May 22, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1079
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner sought review of the SEC's order to cease and desist from violating the Securities Act of 1933, 15 U.S.C. 77e(a), (c), and the agency's subsequent order denying his motion for reconsideration. Petitioner sold…
Date: May 19, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7123
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal arose from an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. 12102 et seq., discrimination suit in which a jury returned a verdict finding that plaintiff, a diabetic, was not disabled within the meaning of…
Date: May 19, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5061
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, hospitals that participate in Medicare, filed suit against the Secretary, claiming that she violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. 551 et seq., by engaging in arbitrary and capricious…
Date: May 15, 2015
Docket Number: 12-3022
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pled guilty to one count of interstate travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and was sentenced to 84 months' imprisonment. On appeal, defendant contended that the district court…
Date: May 15, 2015
Docket Number: 12-5322
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against DHS, alleging twenty-one causes of action stemming from the Government's collection, maintenance, and use of information about him. The court affirmed the district court's grant of…
Date: May 15, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1250
Justia Opinion Summary: The Districts and the Trust petitioned for review of FERC's order determining that the La Grange Hydroelectric Project fell within the mandatory licensing provisions of the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 817(1). Because…
Date: May 15, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5290
Justia Opinion Summary: Home Builders challenged a preliminary, internal determination, made by the EPA and the Corps in 2008, that two stretches of the Santa Cruz River in southern Arizona are traditional navigable waters. In Home Builders I,…
Date: May 15, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5308
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against law enforcement officers, alleging violations of his First and Fourth Amendment rights, after he was tased when resisting arrest at an Occupy D.C. encampment. The district court concluded…
Date: May 12, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1308
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2013, the Postal Service amended its mail preparation requirements so that mail pieces prepared according to the “basic-service Intelligent Mail” standard would no longer be eligible for a discounted “automation” rate…
Date: May 8, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1316
Justia Opinion Summary: AFA petitioned for review of the FAA's Notice N8900.240, which is an internal guidance document issued to FAA aviation safety inspectors concerning the use and stowage of portable electronic devices aboard commercial and…
Date: May 8, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5039
Justia Opinion Summary: Teton, a nonprofit that maintains historic military aircraft, filed suit challenging the DOD's decisions that make it effectively impossible to buy surplus aircraft parts from the Department. The district court concluded…
Date: May 8, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1056
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Fallbrook Hospital petitioned for review of the Board's decision ordering it to pay negotiation expenses to the Union after the Board held that petitioner had violated Sections 8(a)(1) and (5) of the National…
Date: May 8, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1242
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners, large entertainment companies, sought review of the Commission's order requiring the major cable companies who were applying for merger to submit certain proprietary documents for review and proposal to make…
Date: May 8, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5012
Justia Opinion Summary: Representative Charles Rangel filed suit challenging his 2010 censure by the United States House of Representatives as a violation of the House Rules and the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause. Rangel sued the former…
Date: May 8, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7081
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff appealed the dismissal of her complaint for failure to effect service of process as required under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), 28 U.S.C. 1608(a)(3). In view of the resulting prejudice to…
Date: May 5, 2015
Docket Number: 13-3071
Justia Opinion Summary: Sunrise claimed that the federal government seized property from criminal defendant Charles Emor belonging to Sunrise. After SunRise was excluded from the criminal proceedings, SunRise filed a third-party forfeiture…
Date: May 5, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1052
Justia Opinion Summary: The Back Pay Act, 5 U.S.C. 5596(b)(1), authorizes back pay awards to employees "affected by an unjustified or unwarranted personnel action." At issue was whether Customs and Border Protection must provide a border guard,…
Date: May 1, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1093
Justia Opinion Summary: Delaware and others petitioned for review of EPA's final rule governing use of certain kinds of power generators known as Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines ("backup generators" or "emergency engines"). The court…
Date: May 1, 2015
Docket Number: 13-3059
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of two drug possession offenses and one drug conspiracy offense. The court applied the especially deferential "manifest miscarriage of justice" standard and concluded that there was sufficient…
Date: May 1, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5342
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit challenging the constitutionality of Title X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, 12 U.S.C. 5481 et seq., as a violation of the separation of powers. The district court…
Date: May 1, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7169
Justia Opinion Summary: After Venezuela forcibly seized oil rigs belonging to the Venezuelan subsidiary of an American corporation, both the parent and subsidiary filed suit in the United States asserting jurisdiction under the Foreign…
Date: April 28, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1110
Justia Opinion Summary: The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) prohibited Ege, a pilot for Emirates Airlines, from flying to, from, or over the United States. Ege had experienced travel problems and had submitted an online inquiry to…
Date: April 24, 2015
Docket Numbers: 11-1428, 11-1441, 12-1427, 13-1076
Justia Opinion Summary: After the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, that Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7521(a))requires regulation of greenhouse gases emitted from vehicles, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the…
Date: April 24, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1219
Justia Opinion Summary: Citizens of Myersville, in Frederick County, Maryland, oppose the construction of a natural gas facility called a compressor station in their town as part of a larger expansion of natural gas facilities in the…
Date: April 24, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7171
Justia Opinion Summary: Yasser Abbas is the son of current Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. In 2012, the Foreign Policy Group published an article on its website about Yasser and his brother Tarek, asking: “Are the sons of the Palestinian…
Date: April 24, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5174
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2012, the New York Times published the Sanger article, describing a classified government initiative to “undermine the Iranian nuclear program” through “increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems.” …
Date: April 21, 2015
Docket Number: 13-3102
Justia Opinion Summary: Gun Recovery Unit officers were in an unmarked car, wearing vests that said “police.” Gross was walking the sidewalk. Officer Bagshaw slowed the car and shined a flashlight, saying “[H]ey, it is the police, how are you…
Date: April 21, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7104
Justia Opinion Summary: Standley went to a D.C. public library to complete her homework and study for upcoming college exams. She sat in an area of the library reserved for children. Officer Edmonds-Leach asked Standley to move. Finding no…
Date: April 21, 2015
Docket Number: 14-3031
Justia Opinion Summary: In April 2011, Mathis-Gardner pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and making false claims against the United States. The charges were related to the falsification of information regarding the…
Date: April 21, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7063
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2004 the law firm was engaged to bring a medical malpractice action on behalf of a 14-year-old girl who had become paralyzed after surgery. The firm filed two complaints in Virginia state court. Each was dismissed:…
Date: April 17, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1241
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2007 Rogers, a U.S. citizen, lived in Hong Kong and worked as a flight attendant for United Airlines. She flew and worked in and over foreign countries and also in and over the United States and over international…
Date: April 17, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5057
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs worked in the State Department as Diplomatic Security Special Agents and volunteered to serve one-year in Iraq. They arrived in Iraq in February 2004. Initially, their permanent duty station was in Washington,…
Date: April 17, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1024
Justia Opinion Summary: The National Labor Relations Board dismissed a charge that the Union violated the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 158(b)(1)(A), by failing to remove derisive and allegedly threatening comments posted on a…
Date: April 17, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7014
Justia Opinion Summary: Retired officers of D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department were subsequently re-hired by the D.C. Protective Services Division, which protects government buildings and D.C.-owned property. They received pension benefits…
Date: April 14, 2015
Docket Number: 12-1382
Justia Opinion Summary: PJM is a regional transmission organization that combines multiple utility power grids into a single transmission system to “reduce technical inefficiencies caused when different utilities operate different portions of…
Date: April 10, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5122
Justia Opinion Summary: The Medicare program provides federally funded healthcare to the elderly and the disabled. See Title XVIII of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 1395. Under a “complex statutory and regulatory regime” called Medicare…
Date: April 7, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1261
Justia Opinion Summary: The Union represents employees at the Anniston Army Depot. Clark is a bargaining-unit employee, but not a dues-paying union member. The Union learned that the Depot was assigning employees duties beyond their pay grade…
Date: April 7, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1278
Justia Opinion Summary: The TMP is a 5.6-mile stretch of pipeline, connecting Missouri with Illinois beneath the Mississippi River. Under the Natural Gas Act, 15 U.S.C. 717f, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued MoGas a certificate…
Date: April 3, 2015
Docket Number: 12-3007
Justia Opinion Summary: Shabban, an Egyptian national, met Hernandez, a Mexican national, in Washington, D.C. They had a son in 2001. They entered into a consensual order giving Hernandez primary physical custody of the boy. Shabban had…
Date: April 3, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7109
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, three Iranian émigré siblings and the estate of their deceased brother, sought recovery for imprisonment, torture, and an extrajudicial killing that they allegedly suffered at the hands of the Islamic…
Date: April 3, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1039
Justia Opinion Summary: The Federal Communications Commission denied applications to renew 689 wireless spectrum licenses in the 24 gigahertz (GHz) and 39 GHz bands for failure to meet the “substantial service” performance standard during the…
Date: March 20, 2015
Docket Number: 13-3020
Justia Opinion Summary: A grand jury indicted Adams based on a scheme to defraud the United States Agency for International Development. Adams agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud; in return the…
Date: March 20, 2015
Docket Number: 13-3032
Justia Opinion Summary: Miranda and Carvajal, citizens of Colombia, participated in an operation that used high-speed boats to smuggle drugs from Colombia to Central American countries. Neither planned to, or did, leave Colombia in furtherance…
Date: March 13, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5374
Justia Opinion Summary: Rattigan is a black male of Jamaican descent who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as the FBI’s primary liaison to the Saudi intelligence service. In 2001, he accused supervisors in the FBI’s Office of…
Date: March 10, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7151
Justia Opinion Summary: The 2008 contract for the design and construction of nuclear electrical generating units at a Georgia power plant specifies that it is to be governed by Georgia law. The contractor sought payment after Nuclear Regulatory…
Date: March 10, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1143
Justia Opinion Summary: The TSA screens passengers and property moving by passenger aircraft, 49 U.S.C. 44901(a) and is authorized to impose a “uniform fee . . . on passengers . . . in air transportation and intrastate air transportation…
Date: March 10, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5082
Justia Opinion Summary: The Immigration and Nationality Act limits the number of annual visas, 8 U.S.C. 1101, creates categories for which visas may be granted, and imposes country-based limits. The category at issue, “Skilled workers,…
Date: March 6, 2015
Docket Number: 12-1431
Justia Opinion Summary: The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) extends roughly 200 miles into the ocean to the limit of U.S. international-law jurisdiction. Billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas lie beneath the OCS.…
Date: February 27, 2015
Docket Number: 11-3067
Justia Opinion Summary: Investigating narcotics activity at Potomac Gardens, a D.C. housing project, agents obtained a wiretap on a telephone owned by Joseph, a former resident, and learned that Joseph coordinated a distribution network for…
Date: February 20, 2015
Docket Number: 12-5393
Justia Opinion Summary: The FTC initiated an enforcement proceeding against Boehringer after the pharmaceutical company failed to comply with an administrative subpoena seeking various documents related to a settlement agreement between the…
Date: February 20, 2015
Docket Numbers: 13-1248, 13-1249
Justia Opinion Summary: In these consolidated petitions, Carriers challenged FERC's authority to approve a cost pooling agreement among the Carriers that allocates most fixed costs on the basis of each Carrier's share of combined interstate and…
Date: February 20, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5072
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against her employer, Capitol Police, alleging violations of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), 29 U.S.C. 2615, when Capitol Police interfered with her exercise of FMLA rights and retaliated…
Date: February 20, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5254
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against PBGC, alleging claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq., and seeking to correct PBGC's benefit determinations. The court concluded that PBGC…
Date: February 13, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5130
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against three deputy federal marshals, alleging that the officers used excessive force against him in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The district court denied the officers' motion for summary…
Date: February 10, 2015
Docket Number: 11-1320
Justia Opinion Summary: After Ozark contested the union's certification as the bargaining representative of company employees, the Board ordered the company to bargain with the union. Mainly at issue on appeal was whether, during a hearing on…
Date: February 10, 2015
Docket Number: 12-7111
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was awarded monetary sanctions for attorney's fees and expenses he accrued in defending a defamation action brought by plaintiffs. Plaintiffs filed a complaint alleging that defendant, publisher of a website…
Date: February 10, 2015
Docket Number: 14-5013
Justia Opinion Summary: EPIC made a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, request for Standard Operating Procedure 303 (SOP 303), which DHS describes as a protocol for shutting down wireless networks during critical emergencies. On…
Date: February 6, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5303
Justia Opinion Summary: Maurice McGinnis sought a loan through federal farm credit programs and alleges that he was denied access to such programs by the Department because of his race. This appeal concerns McGinnis' participation in a claims…
Date: January 30, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1060
Justia Opinion Summary: After the FTC voted to hold POM and the associated parties liable for violating the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), 15 U.S.C. 45(a)(1) and 52(a), and ordered them to cease and desist from making misleading and…
Date: January 30, 2015
Docket Number: 14-7001
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a law firm, appealed the district court's dismissal of its implied-in-fact contract and quasi-contract claims against Kraft. The dispute stemmed from the Firm's advice to Kraft regarding an antitrust claim.…
Date: January 23, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5207
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, filed suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. 2671 et seq., alleging various claims against the VA after he was escorted from a VA…
Date: January 23, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1022
Justia Opinion Summary: After the FAA suspended petitioner's license as an airplane mechanic, the NTSB vacated the suspension and found that the FAA's position had been unreasonable and not substantially justified. Petitioner filed suit seeking…
Date: January 20, 2015
Docket Number: 11-3074
Justia Opinion Summary: McLaughlin’s friend (Buck) encouraged McLaughin to end a relationship with Taplet. Taplet told Thomas, a stranger he met at a truck stop, that he wished he could “have something seriously done to her.” Thomas responded…
Date: January 20, 2015
Docket Number: 13-1304
Justia Opinion Summary: MVH and Holy Family Communications each applied to the Federal Communications Commission for a license to operate a noncommercial educational radio station in the vicinity of Buffalo, New York. To do so, the agency used…
Date: January 20, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5136
Justia Opinion Summary: After issuing an environmental impact statement (EIS), the National Park Service adopted a plan for the management of deer in Rock Creek National Park in Washington, D.C. The plan involved the killing of white-tailed…
Date: January 20, 2015
Docket Number: 13-5163
Justia Opinion Summary: John and Melissa married in 1984. John enrolled in his employer’s retirement plan and designated Melissa as the beneficiary of a qualified joint and survivor annuity. John retired in 1994. The survivor annuity…
Date: January 16, 2015
Docket Number: 12-7074
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against the District, alleging claims of retaliation under the D.C. Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA), D.C. Code 1-615.51. The jury returned a verdict finding that plaintiff's testimony before the…
Date: January 16, 2015
Docket Number: 13-7119
Justia Opinion Summary: New York City filed suit seeking a declaratory judgment that Amtrak was liable for rehabilitation of a bridge carrying a public highway over a parcel of land in the Bronx. In this appeal, the City asserts that a 1996…
Date: January 16, 2015
Docket Number: 14-1028
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, operator of a commercial printing facility, challenged the Board's determination that petitioner's policy prohibiting employees from wearing baseball caps except for caps bearing the company logo violates the…
Date: January 13, 2015
Docket Numbers: 13-7072, 13-7161
Justia Opinion Summary: WMATC filed suit against Paul Rodberg and his company, seeking an injunction to shut down Rodberg's illegal limousine operation. After the district court entered a default judgment, Rodberg ignored the default judgment…
Date: January 6, 2015
Docket Number: 12-5370
Justia Opinion Summary: Janet Howard and Joyce Megginson appealed the dismissal of their complaint on the grounds that the district court erred in failing to adhere to the time limits in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C.…
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