2016 D.C. Circuit US Court of Appeals Case Law

USAF v. FLRA  
Date: December 30, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1208

Justia Opinion Summary: After the FLRA ordered the Air Force to bargain collectively with its civilian employees over access to an on-base shopette, the Air Force challenged the decision arguing that the issue is not a proper subject of…

Coburn v. Evercore Trust Company, N.A.  
Date: December 30, 2016
Docket Number: 16-7029

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, on behalf of herself and others similarly situated, filed suit against Evercore under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1109(a), 1132(a)(2)-(3). Plaintiff is a former J.C.…

United States v. O'Neal  
Date: December 27, 2016
Docket Number: 13-3085

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of conspiracy and bank fraud stemming from a scheme to obtain mortgage loans using straw purchasers, false loan applications, and forged appraisals. The district court sentenced her to 48 months…

Enron Nigeria Power Holding, Ltd. v. Federal Republic of Nigeria  
Date: December 27, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7121

Justia Opinion Summary: After ENPH filed under a power purchase agreement (PPA) for arbitration by the ICC, the ICC issued an award in ENPH's favor. Nigeria now appeals from the order granting enforcement of the Award. The court rejected…

Judicial Watch v. Kerry  
Date: December 27, 2016
Docket Number: 16-5015

Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal arises from efforts to recover Secretary of State Clinton's private emails during her time at the State Department. Although the current Secretary (with the help of the National Archivist) has made efforts to…

En Banc Order - United States Sugar Corp v. EPA
Date: December 23, 2016
Docket Number: 11-1108
Crooks v. Mabus, Jr.  
Date: December 23, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5212

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a retired Major in the Marine Corps and a certified NJROTC instructor, filed suit after he was decertified to contest his removal from the NJROTC program. The district court granted summary judgment to the…

Public Service Company v. NLRB  
Date: December 20, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1074

Justia Opinion Summary: The company seeks review of the Board's decision and order that the company violated Sections 8(a)(1) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(1), (5). The court rejected the company's challenges to…

National Biodiesel Board v. EPA  
Date: December 20, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1072

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner is a trade association representing the domestic biofuel industry. In this appeal, petitioner challenges EPA's decision to allow a group of Argentine biofuel producers and other companies to use certain…

United States v. Hunt  
Date: December 20, 2016
Docket Number: 15-3084

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin from the Potomac Gardens, a housing project, and was sentenced to 62 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Without saying why, the…

Sears Roebuck Co. v. USPS  
Date: December 20, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5330

Justia Opinion Summary: After the Postal Service determined that appellants were ineligible for a discounted rate for folded self-mailers, the Postal Service assessed revenue deficiencies for over $1.25 million. The Postal Service determined…

Hardaway v. District of Columbia Housing Authority  
Date: December 16, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7144

Justia Opinion Summary: Under the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Housing Choice Voucher Program, 42 U.S.C. 1437f, housing agencies use HUD funds to issue housing subsidy vouchers based on family size. The Montgomery…

Silver State Land, LLC v. Schneider  
Date: December 16, 2016
Docket Number: 16-5018

Justia Opinion Summary: Henderson, Nevada executed an agreement with Developer to construct sports venues on 480 acres of federally-owned public land. The city requested the Bureau of Land Management in the Department of Interior to convey the…

Autor v. Pritzker  
Date: December 16, 2016
Docket Number: 16-5037

Justia Opinion Summary: Federally-registered lobbyists sued the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative, alleging that federal policy barring registered lobbyists from serving on the Industry Trade Advisory Committees “attaches an…

Gilmore v. Palestinian Interim Self-Government Authority  
Date: December 13, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7129

Justia Opinion Summary: Gilmore, a U.S. national working as a private security guard, was killed in a shooting attack in Jerusalem on October 30, 2000. His estate sued the Palestinian Interim Self-Government Authority and the Palestine…

Wang v. New Mighty U.S. Trust,  
Date: December 9, 2016
Docket Number: 12-7038

Justia Opinion Summary: In 1935, Yueh-Lan married Y.C., who founded the Formosa Plastics Group in 1954. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Y.C. as the 178th wealthiest person in the world. Y.C. remained married to Yueh-Lan, but had children with…

Borgess Medical Center v. Burwell  
Date: December 9, 2016
Docket Number: 13-5330

Justia Opinion Summary: In 1973, two Kalamazoo, Michigan hospitals formed a consortium to manage their health education programs and to train interns and residents. In the 1980s, they joined Michigan State University to form the Michigan State…

Winston & Strawn, LLP v. James P. McLean, Jr.  
Date: December 9, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7197

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2013, Winston & Strawn filed a lawsuit against McLean, and, weeks later, moved for summary judgment. The district court informed McLean that he was required to respond by August 18, 2014, and advised him that if he…

Smith v. United States  
Date: December 9, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5238

Justia Opinion Summary: Smith sued the United States and Capitol Officers Rogers and Anyaso, alleging that while working for a federal agency on November 5, 2009, he drove officials to Capitol Hill, and, at an attended barricade, Rogers, in…

Reed v. District of Columbia  
Date: December 9, 2016
Docket Numbers: 15-7119, 16-7009

Justia Opinion Summary: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), intended “to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education,” 20 U.S.C. 1400(d)(1)(A), permits parents and…

Kennedy v. Bowser  
Date: December 9, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7143

Justia Opinion Summary: Kennedy, a D.C. fireman, had a beard. Department policy required him to shave it. Because of a medical condition, he could not do so without discomfort and infection. The Department refused to accommodate his…

USPS v. PRC  
Date: December 6, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1338

Justia Opinion Summary: The Postal Service contends that the Commission’s action denying its parcel reclassification request was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. 706(2)(A), for failing to…

United States v. Gooch, Jr.  
Date: December 6, 2016
Docket Number: 15-3030

Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant challenged the district court's denial of his 28 U.S.C. 2255 motion, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. The court concluded that it has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. 2253(a) to consider the…

Safari Club International v. Jewell  
Date: December 6, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5170

Justia Opinion Summary: The Service has long allowed American hunters who shoot Tanzanian elephants to repatriate their trophies because, according to the Service, doing so “would not be detrimental to the survival of the species.” However, in…

American Postal Workers Union v. PRC  
Date: November 29, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1156

Justia Opinion Summary: The Union petitions the court for review of the PRC's denial of its complaint, alleging that the Postal Service failed to comply with First-Class Mail service standards. The court concluded that the PRC reasonably…

Foster v. Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc.  
Date: November 29, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7150

Justia Opinion Summary: Kelly Foster filed suit against Appellees under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1132(a), to enforce her rights under short-term and long-term disability benefit plans that had been adopted…

AT&T Corp. v. FCC  
Date: November 18, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1059

Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the court addresses the fees that local exchange carriers (LECs) can charge inter-exchange carriers (IXCs) for certain services they provide, in coordination with providers of Voice over Internet Protocol…

NTCH, Inc. v. FCC  
Date: November 15, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1145

Justia Opinion Summary: NTCH challenges the FCC's Memorandum Order and Reconsideration Order approving the transfer of radio spectrum licenses to Verizon, granting Verizon forbearance from a statutory provision, and refusing to initiate…

USPS v. PRC  
Date: November 15, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1297

Justia Opinion Summary: In Order No. 1926, the Commission—recognizing that the Great Recession of 2008 was an exigent circumstance—allowed for a rate increase but also sought to calculate the extent to which decreased mail volume was “due to”…

United States v. Mack  
Date: November 15, 2016
Docket Number: 15-3051

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant plead guilty to one count of distribution of a mixture or substance containing phencyclidine (PCP) and was sentenced to a 77-month term of imprisonment and 36 months of supervised release. The court held that,…

DeJesus v. WP Company LLC  
Date: November 15, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7126

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a 59-year-old African-American, filed suit alleging that he was improperly terminated by his employer in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.; the Civil Rights Act of…

Friedman v. FAA  
Date: November 15, 2016
Docket Number: 16-1007

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, diagnosed with Insulin Treated Diabetes Mellitus (ITDM), seeks the first class medical certificate necessary to serve as a commercial airline pilot. Plaintiff holds a third class medical certificate…

United States v. Redrick  
Date: November 8, 2016
Docket Number: 14-3053

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded guilty to being a felon in unlawful possession of a firearm and was sentenced under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. 924(e)(1). On appeal, defendant challenges the enhancement in light of…

LeFande v. District of Columbia  
Date: November 8, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7055

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff was terminated from his position as a police reserve officer for making harsh and accusatory statements to his superiors in emails with his co-workers cc’d. Plaintiff filed suit alleging that he was terminated…

Corrigan v. District of Columbia  
Date: November 8, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7098

Justia Opinion Summary: After two warrantless searches of his home by MPD members, plaintiff filed suit against the District and individual MPD officers under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. The district court…

Ramsey v. USPC  
Date: November 4, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5121

Justia Opinion Summary: After Charles Ramsey pleaded guilty to violating the conditions of his parole by committing a new drug offense in the 1990s, he filed a habeas corpus petition in which he argued that the plea agreement, as construed by…

NCR Corp. v. NLRB  
Date: November 1, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1230

Justia Opinion Summary: NCR seeks review of the Board's decision and order that NCR violated section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(5) & (1), when it refused to bargain with the Union after a mail ballot…

United States v. Philip Morris USA Inc.  
Date: November 1, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5210

Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal stems from the government's long-running Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. 1961–68, case against the nation’s major cigarette manufacturers. The government alleged a…

Public Citizen, Inc. v. FERC  
Date: October 25, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1244

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners seek review of two Notices issued by FERC as part of ISO New England’s eighth forward-capacity market. The court dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction, concluding that FERC did not engage in…

Ali Hamza Ahmad al Bahlul v. USA
Date: October 20, 2016
Docket Number: 11-1324
CalPortland Co., Inc. v. MSHR  
Date: October 20, 2016
Docket Number: 16-1094

Justia Opinion Summary: CalPortland seeks review of the Commission's decision ordering CalPortland to temporarily reinstate Jeffrey Pappas, pursuant to section 105(c)(2) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, 30 U.S.C. 815(c)(2),…

PHH Corp. v. CFPB  
Date: October 11, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1177

Justia Opinion Summary: In the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, 12 U.S.C. 5491, Congress established a new independent agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an independent agency headed not by a multi-member commission but rather by a…

Heartland Plymouth Court v. NLRB  
Date: September 30, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1034

Justia Opinion Summary: Heartland successfully petitioned this court to review the Board's order finding Heartland violated its collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) by failing to bargain over the effects of reducing employee hours. Heartland…

League of Women Voters, et al v. Brian Newby, et al
Date: September 26, 2016
Docket Number: 16-5196
Agricultural Retailers Assoc. v. Dept. of Labor  
Date: September 23, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1326

Justia Opinion Summary: In 1992, OSHA issued the Process Safety Management Standard to protect the safety of those who work with or near highly hazardous chemicals. After a catastrophic chemical explosion at a Texas fertilizer company that…

DirecTV, Inc. v. NLRB  
Date: September 16, 2016
Docket Number: 11-1273

Justia Opinion Summary: After a group of DirecTV employees aired their grievances publicly in an interview with a reporter for a local television news station, DirecTV responded by terminating the employees. The Board found that DirecTV…

Consolidated Commc'ns v. NLRB  
Date: September 13, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1135

Justia Opinion Summary: After Consolidated disciplined several employees for alleged misconduct during a Union strike and eliminated a workplace position held by a union worker, the Board found that both Consolidated's disciplinary actions and…

Rothe Development v. DOD  
Date: September 9, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5176

Justia Opinion Summary: Rothe filed suit alleging that the statutory basis of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 8(a) business development program, Amendments to the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 637, violates its right to equal…

League of Women Voters, et al. v. Brian Newby, et al.
Date: September 9, 2016
Docket Number: 16-5196
Scenic America, Inc. v. US DOT  
Date: September 6, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5195

Justia Opinion Summary: Scenic filed suit challenging a guidance memorandum issued by the FHWA in 2007, which interpreted the prohibition on “flashing, intermittent or moving” lights to permit state approval of those digital billboards that met…

United States v. Williams  
Date: September 2, 2016
Docket Number: 12-3029

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of second-degree murder and witness tampering for his role in the hazing and in covering up information about Army Sergeant Juwan Johnson’s death. Defendant was the leader of a group called…

SecurityPoint Holdings, Inc. v. TSA
Date: September 2, 2016
Docket Number: 13-1068
Petro Star Inc. v. FERC  
Date: August 30, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1009

Justia Opinion Summary: This case concerns the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. Oil companies depositing crude oil extracted from their fields on the North Slope into the pipeline receive the same proportion of oil they initially contributed at…

In Re: Abd Al-Rahim Hussein Al-Nashir  
Date: August 30, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1023

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner is the alleged mastermind of the bombings of the U.S.S. Cole and the French supertanker the M/V Limburg, as well as the attempted bombing of the U.S.S. The Sullivans. Petitioner seeks a writ of mandamus to…

Mako Commc'n v. FCC  
Date: August 30, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1264

Justia Opinion Summary: The Spectrum Act, Pub. L. No. 112-96, 126 Stat. 156, responds to the rapidly growing demand for mobile broadband services by granting the FEC authority to reallocate a portion of the licensed airwaves from television…

Jones v. Kirchner  
Date: August 26, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5257

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against individual FBI agents and a Metropolitan Police Department detective, under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics and 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging claims arising out…

Theodore Berry v. Coastal International Securit
Date: August 22, 2016
Docket Number: 16-7043
Ozburn-Hessey Logistics, LLC v. NLRB  
Date: August 19, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1253

Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal stems from an ongoing labor dispute between OHL and the Union. After OHL refused to bargain with the Union, the Board determined that OHL violated the National Labor Relations Act, 158(a)(3), (a)(1). OHL…

Lockheed Martin Corp. v. United States  
Date: August 19, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5302

Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, the United States challenges its liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. 9601-75, for a portion of the cost of cleaning up hazardous…

Aref v. Lynch  
Date: August 19, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5154

Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants, three federal prisoners who spent several years housed in specially designated Communication Management Units (CMUs), filed suit contending that their designation to CMUs violated their due process rights.…

Rush Univ. Med. Ctr. v. NLRB  
Date: August 16, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1050

Justia Opinion Summary: The Board promulgated the Health Care Rule in 1989, which established eight standardized bargaining units for acute-care hospitals. This case concerns the application of the Health Care Rule on a retrospective basis - in…

United States v. Sheffield  
Date: August 12, 2016
Docket Number: 12-3013

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction and sentence for unlawful possession of 100 grams or more of PCP with intent to distribute. The court affirmed the conviction, but reversed as to the district court's imposition of the…

Tilden Mining Co. v. Secretary of Labor  
Date: August 12, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1170

Justia Opinion Summary: The Secretary of Labor exercised his authority under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, Pub. L. No. 95-164, 91 Stat. 1290, to promulgate regulations that require mine operators to test the continuity and…

Seed Co. Ltd. v. Westerman  
Date: August 12, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7126

Justia Opinion Summary: Seed Company Limited, a Japanese company, is led by Shigeru Tamai. Tamai invented a dispenser of correctional tape enabling users to correct printed documents by rolling white tape over errors. Seed and Tamai applied for…

Thompson v. District of Columbia  
Date: August 12, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7210

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 after the District of Columbia Lottery and Charitable Games Control Board terminated his employment, alleging in part that his termination violated his Fifth Amendment right to…

Care One at Madison Avenue v. NLRB  
Date: August 12, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1010

Justia Opinion Summary: Care One petitioned for review of the Board's determination that Care One committed a series of unfair labor practices in an effort to prevent the certification of a union at its nursing home and rehabilitation facility…

Jawad v. Gates  
Date: August 12, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5250

Justia Opinion Summary: After the United States detained Mohammed Jawad at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base for more than six years until he was released and returned to his native Afghanistan, Jawad filed suit alleging that they subjected him to…

United States v. Melgar-Hernandez  
Date: August 9, 2016
Docket Number: 13-3110

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction and sentence after pleading guilty to a conspiracy charge under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. 1962(d). The district court sentenced defendant…

Southwest Airlines Co. v. DOT  
Date: August 9, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1036

Justia Opinion Summary: Southwest petitioned for review of the DOT's guidance letter addressing “accommodation” policies at Love Field. Accommodation is a process by which an airline can gain access to operate flights from an airport at which…

Raymond J. Lucia Co. v. SEC  
Date: August 9, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1345

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners seek review of the Commission's decision imposing sanctions for violations of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, 15 U.S.C. 80b-21, and the rule against misleading advertising. Here, the Commission…

Eshel v. Commissioner  
Date: August 5, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1215

Justia Opinion Summary: In 42 U.S.C. 433, Congress authorized the President to enter into social security coordination agreements - known as totalization agreements - with other countries. This case involves a totalization agreement between the…

Labow v. DOJ  
Date: August 5, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5220

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, identified as an anarchist extremist by an FBI agent, filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552 et seq., with the FBI, seeking information about himself. The FBI released some…

True the Vote, Inc. v. IRS  
Date: August 5, 2016
Docket Numbers: 14-5316, 15-5013

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit against the IRS and several of its individual employees, seeking money damages by way of relief under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, and equitable relief by way of…

Enterprise Leasing Co. v. NLRB  
Date: August 5, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1200

Justia Opinion Summary: The Board determined that Enterprise violated the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq., by telling employees it was terminating short-term disability benefits on account of their union membership,…

True the Vote, Inc. v. IRS
Date: August 5, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5319
Union Neighbors United, Inc. v. Jewell  
Date: August 5, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5147

Justia Opinion Summary: After the Service issued Buckeye an incidental take permit to build a wind farm in Ohio, Union Neighbors filed suit challenging the issuance of the permit. Union Neighbors claimed that the Service failed to comply with…

US ex rel. Yelverton v. Federal Ins. Co.  
Date: August 5, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7045

Justia Opinion Summary: In these consolidated appeals, debtor filed numerous, frivolous challenges to the settlement and the district court entered a pre-filing injunction barring him from filing any new civil actions in the district court…

Weinstein v. Islamic Republic of Iran  
Date: August 2, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7193

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs are victims of terrorist attacks and their family members who hold substantial unsatisfied money judgments against defendants Iran, North Korea, and Syria. The money judgments arise out of claims brought under…

Ortiz-Diaz v. HUD  
Date: August 2, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5008

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against HUD, alleging discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq. The district court granted summary judgment to HUD. Under Circuit precedent the action complained…

Pursuing America's Greatness v. FEC  
Date: August 2, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5264

Justia Opinion Summary: PAG sought a preliminary injunction against FEC's rule prohibiting unauthorized political committees, like PAG, from using candidates’ names in the titles of their websites and social media pages. The district court…

U.S. Sugar Corp. v. EPA  
Date: July 29, 2016
Docket Numbers: 11-1108, 11-1125, 11-1141

Justia Opinion Summary: In consolidated petitions for review, petitioners challenged three regulations - the Major Boilers Rule, the Area Boilers Rule, and the Commercial/Industrial Solid Waste Incinerators (CISWI) Rule - promulgated by the EPA…

American Forest and Paper Assn v. EPA
Date: July 29, 2016
Docket Number: 11-1125
American Chemistry Council v. EPA
Date: July 29, 2016
Docket Number: 11-1141
WildEarth Guardians v. EPA  
Date: July 29, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1145

Justia Opinion Summary: During the time EPA had been applying the incorrect (and more relaxed) statutory framework to fine particulate matter, some of the stricter compliance deadlines that would have applied under the correct statutory…

Quicken Loans, Inc. v. NLRB  
Date: July 29, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1231

Justia Opinion Summary: Quicken forbids its mortgage bankers to use or disclose a broad range of personnel information without Quicken’s prior written consent or to criticize publicly the company and its management. The Board determined that…

Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde v. Jewell  
Date: July 29, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5326

Justia Opinion Summary: The Cowlitz gained legal status as a tribe in the eyes of the government in 2002 and then successfully petitioned the Department of the Interior to take into trust and declare as their “initial reservation” a parcel of…

Blue Water Navy Vietnam v. McDonald  
Date: July 29, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5109

Justia Opinion Summary: Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association and Military-Veterans Advocacy filed suit challenging the VA's policy requiring "blue-water" veterans to prove on a case-by-base basis that they were exposed to Agent Orange…

American Immigration Lawyers v. Exec. Office for Immigration  
Date: July 29, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5201

Justia Opinion Summary: AILA submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552 et seq., requests for disclosure of records related to complaints about the conduct of immigration judges. The government disclosed thousands of pages of…

Hancock v. Urban Outfitters, Inc.  
Date: July 26, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7047

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed a putative class action alleging that Urban Outfitters’ and Anthropologie’s zip code requests at the cashier stand violated two District of Columbia consumer protection laws. The district court dismissed…

Florida Health Sciences v. Secretary of DHHS  
Date: July 26, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5163

Justia Opinion Summary: In order to determine how much federal funding goes to each hospital for providing care, the Secretary of HHS makes certain “estimates” as required by the Affordable Care Act, 42 U.S.C. 1395ww(r). Tampa General filed…

Jones v. Dufek  
Date: July 26, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7013

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against defendant, alleging violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq.; the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act, D.C. CODE 28-3901 et…

Perry v. Merit Systems Protection Board  
Date: July 22, 2016
Citation: 829 F.3d 760
Docket Number: 14-1155

Justia Opinion Summary: In Kloeckner v. Solis, the Supreme Court held that when the Board dismisses a mixed-case appeal without reaching the merits on a procedural ground - there, untimeliness - judicial review resides in district court (as…

United States v. Marsh  
Date: July 19, 2016
Docket Number: 12-3086

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pled guilty to a drug possession charge and completed his term of imprisonment in 2008. Before the expiration of his four year term of supervised release, defendant pled guilty to new charges in 2012 and was…

Mingo Logan Coal v. EPA  
Date: July 19, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5305

Justia Opinion Summary: The Corps issued Mingo Logan a permit to excavate the tops of several West Virginia mountains, then the EPA withdrew approval from two of the disposal sites, and Mingo Logan challenged the EPA's statutory authority to…

National Ass'n of Criminal Defense Lawyers v. US DOJ  
Date: July 19, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5051

Justia Opinion Summary: The Association filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, seeking to compel the DOJ to release the Federal Criminal Discovery Blue Book. The Blue Book is a manual created by the Department to…

Mackinac Tribe v. Jewell  
Date: July 19, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5118

Justia Opinion Summary: The Mackinac Tribe filed suit to compel the Secretary of the Interior to convene an election allowing the Tribe to organize under the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), 25 U.S.C. 476(a). Although the Mackinac Tribe does…

EarthReports, Inc. v. FERC  
Date: July 15, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1127

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners seek review of the Commissions' conditional authorization of the conversion of the Cove Point liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) facility from an import maritime terminal to a mixed-use, import and export…

BP Energy Co. v. FERC  
Date: July 15, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1205

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2014, Dominion obtained authorization from the Commission to convert the Cove Point liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) facility from an import maritime terminal to a mixed-use, import and export terminal. BP Energy…

Patchak v. Jewell  
Date: July 15, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5200

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 702, 705, challenging the authority of the Department of the Interior to take title to a particular tract of land under the Indian…

Friends of Animals v. Jewell  
Date: July 15, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5223

Justia Opinion Summary: Friends of Animals, a non-profit organization, filed suit alleging that the Secretary violated section 4 of the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq., by not timely issuing 12-month findings in response to its…

International Union v. Faye  
Date: July 15, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7084

Justia Opinion Summary: The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), 29 U.S.C. 501(b), sets out fiduciary duties that officers and other agents of unions owe the union that employs them. At issue is whether section 501 provides a…

Marshall v. Honeywell Tech. Sys.  
Date: July 12, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7190

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff appealed the district court’s grant of summary judgment dismissing her discrimination complaint on the ground of judicial estoppel. The district court found that plaintiff failed to disclose this suit and…

Loumiet v. United States  
Date: July 12, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5208

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit claiming that the OCC’s enforcement action against him was trumped-up and retaliatory. On appeal, plaintiff challenged the district court's dismissal of the case on the pleadings. At issue is whether…

United States v. Williams  
Date: July 8, 2016
Docket Number: 13-3019

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Williams, Edwards, and Bowman appealed their convictions for participating in a cocaine distribution scheme. Defendants challenged their convictions on multiple grounds. The court held that the district court…

United States v. Burnett  
Date: July 8, 2016
Docket Number: 13-3075

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Thaxton Young, Jesse Young, and Gerry Burnett challenged their convictions for conspiring to distribute heroin in Washington, D.C. Defendants raised numerous issues on appeal. The court concluded that the…

Coburn v. Murphy  
Date: July 8, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5009

Justia Opinion Summary: Trent M. Coburn pled not guilty to marijuana use in non-judicial proceedings related to a positive drug test, but was found guilty and received a negative non-commissioned officer evaluation report based on the offense.…

United States v. TDC Mgmt. Corp.  
Date: July 8, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5030

Justia Opinion Summary: The Government sought to recover a $1.3 million judgment debt pursuant to the Federal Debt Collect Procedures Act (FDCPA), 28 U.S.C. 3001 et seq., by garnishing funds owed to WDG, a company T. Conrad Monts and his wife…

Rosebud Mining Co. v. MSHA  
Date: July 5, 2016
Docket Numbers: 14-1285, 14-1286

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners seek review of the Assistant Secretary's orders modifying the application of mandatory mine safety standards to their respective mines. Petitioners contend that the orders contain three conditions unnecessary…

Canyon Fuel Company v. MSHA
Date: July 5, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1286
Public Employees v. Hopper  
Date: July 5, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5301

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit alleging that the government violated various federal statutes by allowing Cape Wind's offshore energy project to move through the regulatory approval process. The Bureau allegedly violated the…

The Tennis Channel, Inc. v. FCC  
Date: July 5, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1067

Justia Opinion Summary: The Tennis Channel filed a complaint alleging that Comcast violated Section 616 of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. 536, by giving preferential treatment to its affiliated networks in programming tier placement. Tennis…

USA v. Rodney Class
Date: July 5, 2016
Docket Number: 15-3015
Competitive Enter. Inst. v. Office of Science and Technology Policy  
Date: July 5, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5128

Justia Opinion Summary: CEI appealed the district court's dismissal of its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, action against OSTP. CEI argued that the district court improperly ruled that documents which might otherwise be…

United Airlines, Inc. v. FERC  
Date: July 1, 2016
Docket Number: 11-1479

Justia Opinion Summary: SFPP and several shippers challenged aspects of three of FERC's orders related to filings by SFPP for cost-of-service tariffs on its pipelines. SFPP disputes FERC’s choice of data for calculating SFPP’s return on equity…

Akiachak Native Community v. DOI  
Date: July 1, 2016
Docket Number: 13-5360

Justia Opinion Summary: Alaska Native tribes filed suit against the Department, challenging the regulation implementing the prohibition barring the Department from taking land into trust for Indian tribes in Alaska. After the district court…

Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. v. FERC  
Date: July 1, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1281

Justia Opinion Summary: Until recently, incumbent public utilities were free to include in their tariffs and agreements “the option to construct any new transmission facilities in their particular service areas, even if the proposal for new…

Al-Saffy v. Vilsack  
Date: July 1, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5025

Justia Opinion Summary: Mohamed Tawid Al-Saffy, an Egyptian-American Muslim employed by the Foreign Agricultural Service, filed suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq., alleging that the Agriculture and State…

State of West Virginia v. HHS  
Date: July 1, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5309

Justia Opinion Summary: West Virginia filed suit challenging the President’s determination not to enforce certain controversial provisions of the Affordable Care Act, 42 U.S.C. 300gg-22(a)(1), for a transitional period. That decision,…

Central United Life Ins. v. Burwell  
Date: July 1, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5310

Justia Opinion Summary: The Public Health Service Act (PHSA), 42 U.S.C. 201, establishes coverage requirements for all health insurance plans except those it deems “excepted benefits.” The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), 26…

Sierra Club v. FERC  
Date: June 28, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1249

Justia Opinion Summary: Sierra Club filed suit under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq., seeking review of the Commission's authorization of an increase in production capacity at a liquefied natural gas…

Sierra Club, et al v. FERC  
Date: June 28, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1275

Justia Opinion Summary: The Associations filed suit under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq., challenging the Commission’s decision authorizing Freeport to redesign its liquefied natural gas terminal in…

Bayala v. DHS  
Date: June 28, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5279

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a citizen of Burkina Faso, filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, after DHS failed to disclose many of the immigration documents he had requested and gave no particularized…

National Fed. of the Blind v. DOT  
Date: June 28, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1026

Justia Opinion Summary: NFB filed suit challenging the DOT's rule requiring that air carriers begin to purchase ticketing kiosks accessible to blind persons within three years of the rule taking effect so that 25 per cent of kiosks eventually…

United States v. Vega  
Date: June 24, 2016
Docket Number: 10-3083

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Martinez Vega and Cuevas, affiliated with a left-wing guerilla group called FARC, were indicted with more than 50 other individuals for conspiring to commit crimes associated with the importation, manufacture,…

Stovic v. RRRB  
Date: June 24, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1251

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner seeks review of the Board's denial of his request to reopen the Board's 1999 benefits determination. The court concluded that the Railroad Retirement Act, 45 U.S.C. 231g, grants the court jurisdiction to…

Swaters v. DOT  
Date: June 24, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1277

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a former pilot with Spirit Airlines, challenges the DoT's refusal to consent to the release of the urine sample it says petitioner produced for a mandatory drug test. Because the sample tested positive for…

Alexander v. WMATA  
Date: June 24, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7039

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against the Authority, alleging disability discrimination under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 701 et seq. The district court granted summary judgment to the Authority. The…

NLRB v. Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters  
Date: June 21, 2016
Docket Number: 11-1212

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners seek review of the Board's finding that G/M and the Carpenters Union committed unfair labor practices. The court held this case in abeyance pending the Supreme Court’s consideration of the validity of the…

Verizon New England Inc. v. NLRB  
Date: June 21, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1062

Justia Opinion Summary: The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the union and Verizon provided for arbitration of disputes arising out of that agreement. After an arbitration panel interpreted the CBA in Verizon's favor, the union…

Lopez v. Council on American-Islamic Relations Action Network  
Date: June 21, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7016

Justia Opinion Summary: Morris Days (a/k/a Jamil Days) held himself out to the public as a civil rights attorney working for a regional chapter of CAIR, when he was not in fact a lawyer. Plaintiffs, individual CAIR clients who were negatively…

United States v. Philip Morris USA Inc.  
Date: June 21, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7049

Justia Opinion Summary: Relator filed a qui tam action against Phillip Morris, alleging that the company violated the False Claims Act (FCA), 31 U.S.C. 3729-3733, by charging NEXCOM and AAFES prices for cigarettes that violate the terms of…

Sands v. NLRB  
Date: June 17, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1185

Justia Opinion Summary: The General Counsel issued a complaint against the union, alleging that the union violated federal labor laws by failing to tell Laura Sands when she began work at Kroger how much less in dues she would have to pay if…

Fort Dearborn Company v. NLRB
Date: June 17, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1263
United States v. Castle  
Date: June 14, 2016
Docket Number: 14-3073

Justia Opinion Summary: After defendant was found guilty of the lesser-included offense of possession with intent to distribute a detectable amount of PCP, he appealed the denial of his motion to suppress. The court concluded that defendant was…

Morris v. McCarthy  
Date: June 14, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5074

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against her employer, alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq., after she was suspended without pay for seven days in 2008 and was terminated in 2010. The…

United States Telecom Assoc. v. FCC  
Date: June 14, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1063

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenge the Commission's 2015 Open Internet Order, which reclassified broadband service as a telecommunications service, subject to common carrier regulation under Title II of the Communications Act, 47…

Lindeen v. SEC  
Date: June 14, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1149

Justia Opinion Summary: The SEC created a new class of securities offerings freed from federal-registration requirements so long as the issuers of these securities comply with certain investor safeguards (Regulation A-Plus). Petitioners, the…

Camelot Terrace, Inc. v. NLRB  
Date: June 10, 2016
Docket Number: 12-1071

Justia Opinion Summary: The Companies, operators of nursing homes, petitioned for review of the Board's determination that the Companies violated the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq., by engaging in bad-faith bargaining with…

Wallaesa v. FAA  
Date: June 10, 2016
Docket Number: 13-1222

Justia Opinion Summary: After petitioner was charged with violating FAA regulations while on board a flight, including interfering with crewmember duties, the ALJ rejected petitioner's claim that a medical emergency caused his erratic behavior.…

United States v. McKeever  
Date: June 10, 2016
Docket Number: 13-3096

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants plead guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbing a liquor store in violation of the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. 1951. Defendants argued that undercover police officers instigated the use of firearms…

Aggregate Indus. v. NLRB  
Date: June 10, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1252

Justia Opinion Summary: Aggregate Industries transferred work from one bargaining unit to another over the objections of the union representing both units. The ALJ found that because the company had bargained over the issue to impasse, it was…

United States v. Knight  
Date: June 10, 2016
Docket Number: 14-3010

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Knight and Thorpe were convicted of charges related to the kidnapping and burglary of a couple. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia prosecutes both federal offenses and most D.C. Code…

Plaintiff v. Defendant  
Date: June 10, 2016
Docket Number: 14-3060

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of conspiring with her boyfriend to extort money from a prominent doctor with whom defendant had previously had an affair. The district court denied defendant's ineffective-assistance-of-counsel…

State of New York v. NRC  
Date: June 3, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1210

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenge the NRC's rule and generic environmental impact statement (GEIS) concerning the continued, and possibly indefinite, storage of spent fuel from nuclear power plants in the United States. Petitioners…

Rhea Lana, Inc. v. DOL  
Date: June 3, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5014

Justia Opinion Summary: Rhea Lana sought pre-enforcement declaratory and injunctive relief against the Department’s determination that it was out of compliance with the Act. The Department sent Rhea Lana a letter informing it that its failure…

Friends of Animals v. Jewell  
Date: June 3, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5070

Justia Opinion Summary: The Service listed three antelope species – the scimitar-horned oryx, addax, and dama gazelle – as endangered. On the same day that the Service designated the antelope species as endangered, it issued a blanket exemption…

Spectrum Pharm., Inc. v. Burwell  
Date: June 3, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5166

Justia Opinion Summary: Levoleucovorin is better known by the brand-name Fusilev, which Spectrum has sold since 2008 for the purpose of counteracting liver damage during a type of chemotherapy known as methotrexate therapy. Under the Orphan…

Duberry v. District of Columbia  
Date: June 3, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7062

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, four retired correctional officers, filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that the District deprived them of their federal right under the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA), 18 U.S.C. 926C, to…

United States v. Kpodi  
Date: May 31, 2016
Docket Number: 14-3037

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of possessing with intent to distribute twenty-eight grams or more of cocaine base and possession of a firearm by a felon. On appeal, defendant challenged his sentence. The court concluded that…

Chambers v. Burwell  
Date: May 31, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5047

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a legally-blind, African-American woman, filed suit alleging that she was denied a promotion at the Department because of her race and disability. The court concluded that, as a matter of law, at least where a…

Diag Human S.E. v. Czech Republic - Ministry of Health  
Date: May 31, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7142

Justia Opinion Summary: Diag Human appealed the district court's dismissal, sua sponte, of its claim for enforcement of a foreign arbitral award for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The court found for Diag Human on both of the contested…

Great Lakes Comnet, Inc. v. FCC  
Date: May 24, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1064

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners seek review of the FCC's order finding that the rates it charged long-distance telephone carrier AT&T for use of its network exceeded the amount allowed by Commission regulations. The court concluded that the…

ManorCare of Kingston PA, LLC v. NLRB  
Date: May 20, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1166

Justia Opinion Summary: Employees of ManorCare selected the Union as their collective-bargaining representative. ManorCare objected to the election results, claiming several employees eligible to vote in the election threatened to physically…

HTH Corp. v. NLRB  
Date: May 20, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1222

Justia Opinion Summary: HTH petitioned for review of five extraordinary remedies imposed by the Board after the Board determined that HTH committed a host of severe and pervasive unfair labor practices. Three of the remedies were adopted by the…

In re: Omar Khadr  
Date: May 20, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1227

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner moved for one of the three judges of the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review, Judge William B. Pollard III, to disqualify himself. Judge Pollard is a civilian who serves as a part-time judge on the court.…

Sack v. DOD  
Date: May 20, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5039

Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant, while pursuing her Ph.D. in Politics, submitted requests to the DOD under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552. By statute, educational institutions are eligible for reduced fees when they make…

IronTiger Logistics, Inc. v. NLRB  
Date: May 20, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1081

Justia Opinion Summary: IronTiger petitioned for review of the Board's determination that it failed to timely respond to a union request for information the Board deemed presumptively relevant, even though ultimately found irrelevant. The…

Johnson v. Perez  
Date: May 20, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5034

Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant, an African-American temporary employee of the U.S. Department of Labor, filed suit against the Department, alleging that it dismissed him from his position as a Veterans Employment Specialist because of his…

Durham School Services, LP v. NLRB  
Date: May 17, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1284

Justia Opinion Summary: The Regional Director issued a complaint alleging that petitioner had violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(5), (1), by refusing to recognize and bargain with the Union…

GSS Group Ltd. v. Republic of Liberia  
Date: May 17, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7041

Justia Opinion Summary: GSS appealed the district court’s dismissal of its second attempt to confirm a $44 million arbitral award entered against the Port Authority for breach of a construction contract. GSS first tried to confirm the award,…

Noel Canning v. NLRB  
Date: May 17, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1029

Justia Opinion Summary: Noel Canning seeks review of the Board's decision and order determining that Noel Canning violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. 151-169, and ordering relief against it. Noel Canning argued that the…

American Freedom Law Center v. Obama  
Date: May 13, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5164

Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants filed suit alleging that their health insurance premiums increased by 57% at the end of 2014 because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), 26 U.S.C. 5000A(a)-(c). Appellants contend that in late 2013, HHS…

ACLU v. CIA  
Date: May 13, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5183

Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 551 et seq., seeking to obtain a copy of a report authored by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Before the Committee conducted a…

Milan Jankovic v. International Crisis Group  
Date: May 10, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7171

Justia Opinion Summary: Milan Jankovic, also known as Philip Zepter, filed suit against ICG for defamation based on a statement in one of its reports that linked him to the Slobodan Milosevic regime. In this appeal, the court held that the…

Electronic Privacy Information Center v. FAA  
Date: May 10, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1075

Justia Opinion Summary: EPIC seeks review of the FAA's decision not to promulgate the FAA’s dismissal of its petition for rulemaking and the FAA’s omission of privacy provisions in the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). EPIC's petition…

Radtke v. Caschetta  
Date: May 3, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7003

Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants received less than $6,000 in damages from their employers for unpaid overtime wages after eight years of litigation. In this appeal, appellants challenge the district court's fee award as too low, while the…

Assoc. of American Railroads v. Department of Transportation
Date: April 29, 2016
Docket Number: 12-5204
Hospital of Barstow, Inc. v. NLRB  
Date: April 29, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1167

Justia Opinion Summary: The Board ordinarily consists of five members, but when the terms of three Board members expired, the seats remained unfilled from August 2010 and January 2012 until August 2013. In the intervening period where the Board…

United States v. Stubblefield  
Date: April 29, 2016
Docket Number: 14-3051

Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant, convicted of six counts of bank robbery and one count of attempted bank robbery, appealed the denial of his 28 U.S.C. 2255(a) motion based on the ineffective assistance of counsel (IAC). Appellant contends…

Via Christi Hosp. Wichita v. Burwell  
Date: April 29, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5089

Justia Opinion Summary: Via Christi seeks an upward adjustment of the capital-asset depreciation reimbursement paid to its predecessor hospitals under a since curtailed Medicare regulation. Via Christi argues that it received St. Francis’s and…

NRDC v. NRC  
Date: April 26, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1225

Justia Opinion Summary: NRDC challenged the NRC's denial of NRDC’s request for a hearing and subsequent application for a waiver, asserting this process was inconsistent with the procedural rigor mandated by the National Environmental Policy…

Holmes v. FEC  
Date: April 26, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5120

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff and her husband, eligible voters residing in Florida, filed suit against the FEC, alleging that a provision of the Federal Election Campaign Act, 52 U.S.C. 30110, violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the…

Williams v. Lew  
Date: April 22, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5065

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, as a holder of U.S. public debt, filed suit challenging the constitutionality of the Debt Limit Statute, 31 U.S.C. 3101. Plaintiff alleged violations of the Fourteenth Amendment Public Debt Clause and the…

Cohen v. Board of Trustees  
Date: April 22, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7005

Justia Opinion Summary: After plaintiff was terminated from his position as a tenured professor at the University, he filed suit in state court against defendants, alleging a violation of his procedural due process rights. The case was removed…

Lancaster Symphony Orchestra v. NLRB  
Date: April 19, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1247

Justia Opinion Summary: The Orchestra petitioned for review of the Board's ruling that musicians in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, regional orchestra are employees and thus entitled to join a union. The court noted that, on the one hand, the…

Cactus Canyon Quarries, Inc. v. MSHR  
Date: April 19, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1260

Justia Opinion Summary: MSHA issued seven citations to Cactus Canyon for violations of the safety and health standards under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, 30 U.S.C. 801 et seq. Cactus Canyon then sought to contest the…

CostCommand, LLC v. WH Administrators, Inc.  
Date: April 19, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7030

Justia Opinion Summary: CostCommand filed suit against Turner, WHA, and California defendants in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that they engaged in a series of wrongful acts that essentially destroyed…

Olivares v. TSA  
Date: April 15, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1001

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a foreign alien from Venezuela, seeks review of the TSA's determination that petitioner was a risk to aviation and national security, and denial of his application for FAA-certified flight school training.…

Fort Dearborn Co. v. NLRB  
Date: April 12, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1263

Justia Opinion Summary: The Company challenged the Board's finding that the Company violated section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(1), for threatening an employee, as well as sections 8(a)(3) and 8(a)(1)…

United States v. Scurry  
Date: April 8, 2016
Docket Number: 12-3104

Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants contend that the district court erred in denying their motions to suppress, relying on the court's subsequent decision in United States v. Glover. In Glover, the court reiterated the distinction drawn by the…

District of Columbia v. DOL  
Date: April 5, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5132

Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal concerns CityCenterDC, a large private development in the heart of Washington, D.C. At issue is whether the Davis-Bacon Act, 40 U.S.C. 3142(a), applies to the construction of CityCenterDC. In this case, the…

Nurriddin v. Bolden  
Date: April 5, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5156

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against NASA, his former employer, claiming unlawful discrimination. In plaintiff's first appeal, the court granted summary judgment to NASA on plaintiff's various claims of discrimination and…

United States v. Fokker Servs. B.V.  
Date: April 5, 2016
Docket Number: 15-3016

Justia Opinion Summary: Under a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), the government formally initiates prosecution but agrees to dismiss all charges if the defendant abides by negotiated conditions over a prescribed period of time. This case…

Gordon v. Lynch  
Date: April 5, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5113

Justia Opinion Summary: The PACT Act, 15 U.S.C. 376a(a)(3)-(4), (d), prohibits the remote sale of cigarettes unless sales taxes have been paid in advance. Plaintiff, an enrolled member of the Seneca Indian tribe of New York State, operated a…

Robinson v. Pezzat  
Date: April 1, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7040

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 and various D.C. statutes, seeking damages after officers shot and killed her dog while executing a search warrant. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the…

United States v. Head  
Date: March 25, 2016
Docket Number: 14-3055

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was sentenced to a four-year prison term for violating a condition of his supervised release. The district judge then revoked defendant's term of supervised release and imposed a 30-month term of imprisonment…

Dover Energy, Inc. v. NLRB  
Date: March 22, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1197

Justia Opinion Summary: The Board held that Dover Blackmer committed an unfair labor practice when it warned an employee, Tom Kaanta, to stop submitting "frivolous" information requests that his union had not authorized. The court concluded…

USPS v. PRC  
Date: March 22, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1018

Justia Opinion Summary: The Postal Service challenged the Commission's denial of its request to have one of the Service's products, the "round-trip mailer," used in the DVD-by-mail industry, classified as competitive rather than…

Maher Terminals, LLC v. FMC  
Date: March 22, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1035

Justia Opinion Summary: Maher, a marine terminal operator, challenges a decision of the Commission authorizing preferential lease terms to a competitor, APM-Maersk. The court concluded that, assuming arguendo that the Commission adequately…

Lauterbach v. Huerta  
Date: March 22, 2016
Docket Number: 15-1163

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a pilot, seeks review of the final order of the NTSB that permanently revoked his certificates based on his criminal conviction, contending that the FAA’s earlier administrative action bars the FAA’s…

B.D. v. District of Columbia  
Date: March 22, 2016
Docket Number: 15-7002

Justia Opinion Summary: Parents of B.D. filed suit against the District, challenging the adequacy of a compensatory education award and seeking to enforce other portions of the Hearing Officer's Decision, as well as to require the District to…

The Loan Syndications Assoc. v. SEC  
Date: March 18, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1240

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner challenges a joint regulation implementing a section of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act), 15 U.S.C. 78o-11. Congress added that particular section to the Exchange Act in the Dodd-Frank Wall…

United States v. Record Press, Inc.  
Date: March 15, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7077

Justia Opinion Summary: Relator filed a qui tam action under the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. 3729-3733, contending that Record Press had submitted a fraudulent bill for printing services to the government. The district court granted judgment…

Boulware v. Commissioner  
Date: March 11, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1147

Justia Opinion Summary: Michael Boulware, the president and sole owner of two companies, was convicted of tax evasion and tax fraud. The companies paid for his legal and professional fees in the criminal trial and other litigation. The IRS…

Xcel Energy Servs. Inc. v. FERC  
Date: March 8, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1282

Justia Opinion Summary: Section 205 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), 16 U.S.C. 824d(a), mandates that all rates and charges demanded, or received by any public utility for the transmission or sale of electric energy subject to the jurisdiction…

United States v. Mitchell  
Date: March 8, 2016
Docket Number: 14-3039

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction for multiple counts of drug crimes resulting from his role in a phencyclidine (PCP) distribution ring. Defendant raised multiple challenges to his conviction, almost all of which are…

Ark Initiative v. Tidwell  
Date: March 8, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5259

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs challenged the Service's application of the 2012 Colorado Rule to allow development of a proposed egress ski trail on once-roadless land within the Special Use Permit boundary for the Snowmass Ski Resort in…

Kingman Park Civic Ass'n v. Bowser  
Date: March 8, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7168

Justia Opinion Summary: The Association has successfully applied to the District’s Historic Preservation Review Board to have the former Spingarn Senior High School designated a historic landmark. Next to Spingarn is Langston Terrace, a 13-acre…

Sierra Club de Puerto Rico v. EPA  
Date: March 4, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1138

Justia Opinion Summary: Energy Answers seeks to build a waste incinerator in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Sierra Club seeks to vacate a 1980 rule promulgated by EPA that implements the Clean Air Act's (CAA), 42 U.S.C. 7470 et seq., and 7501 et seq.,…

Keepseagle v. Vilsack  
Date: March 4, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5223

Justia Opinion Summary: Timothy LaBatte, a class member in a class action against the USDA, seeks to intervene in that class action – despite the fact that the action was settled and closed – after his claim for compensation under the terms of…

FEC v. Craig for U.S. Senate  
Date: March 4, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5297

Justia Opinion Summary: The FEC filed suit alleging that former Senator Larry E. Craig, his campaign committee, and the committee’s Treasurer converted campaign funds to the Senator’s personal use in violation of the Federal Election Campaign…

United States v. Hallford  
Date: March 4, 2016
Docket Number: 15-3003

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was indicted for firearms offenses. In this appeal, the United States challenges the district court's order suppressing defendant's statements to agents of the Secret Service, and barring the government from…

United States v. McGill  
Date: March 1, 2016
Docket Number: 06-3190

Justia Opinion Summary: Sixteen defendants were indicted for charges related to their involvement in a conspiracy to run a large-scale and violent narcotics-distribution business centered in Washington D.C. Many of the indicted defendants…

Independence Institute v. FEC  
Date: March 1, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5249

Justia Opinion Summary: The Institute, a Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, filed suit against the FEC, challenging the constitutionality of the disclosure requirements of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, 52 U.S.C. 20104(f).…

Defenders of Wildlife v. Jewell  
Date: March 1, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5284

Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants filed suit challenging the Service's withdrawal of its 2010 proposal to list the dunes sagebrush lizard, whose habitat is in New Mexico and Texas, as endangered. Between the time the Service proposed listing…

American Council of Life Ins. v. District of Columbia Health  
Date: March 1, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7206

Justia Opinion Summary: The Authority faced a funding shortfall for at least the period immediately after its opening in 2014. To cover the shortfall, the Authority, with emergency authorization from the District’s Council, levied a charge on…

Dick Heller v. DC (ORDER)
Date: February 26, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7071
District No. 1, Pacific Coast v. Liberty Maritime Corp.  
Date: February 26, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7162

Justia Opinion Summary: Liberty appealed the district court's order compelling it to arbitrate its ongoing labor dispute with the Union. The district court determined that under the parties' collective bargaining agreement (CBA), the question…

United States v. Hughes  
Date: February 23, 2016
Docket Number: 13-3073

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded guilty to making false statements to government authorities, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1001(a)(2). Plaintiff was told by her managers at Blackhawk to certify that Blackhawk guards had received training…

NBCUniversal Media, LLC v. NLRB  
Date: February 23, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1055

Justia Opinion Summary: NBC petitioned for review of the Board's 2014 Decision and Order finding that NBC had violated sections 8(a)(1) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(1) and (5), by failing and refusing to…

Judicial Watch, Inc. v. DOJ  
Date: February 12, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5215

Justia Opinion Summary: Judicial Watch filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, to compel disclosure of documents that had been placed under seal. The district court granted summary judgment for the Department. The…

Forras v. Rauf  
Date: February 12, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7070

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant and others in New York City sought to build an Islamic community center and mosque in lower Manhattan, a few blocks from the site of the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001. Plaintiff, a former New…

Wheeler v. Georgetown Univ. Hosp.  
Date: February 12, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7108

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit alleging that she was terminated by her former employer, the Hospital, based on racial discrimination, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e. The district court…

American Hospital Ass'n v. Burwell  
Date: February 9, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5015

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs seek a writ of mandamus compelling the Secretary to act within Congress's prescribed specific time frames, 42 U.S.C. 1395ff, for the Secretary to reach decisions on various stages of administrative appeals of…

Theodore Wesby, et al. v. DC, et al.
Date: February 8, 2016
Docket Number: 12-7127
Alden Leeds, Inc. v. NLRB  
Date: February 5, 2016
Docket Number: 11-1267

Justia Opinion Summary: Alden Leeds seeks review of the Board's finding that it had violated Sections 8(a)(1) and (3) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. 58(a)(1), (3), by locking out its employees on November 3, 2009, without…

Raymond Interior Sys. v. NLRB  
Date: February 5, 2016
Docket Number: 12-1011

Justia Opinion Summary: The Carpenters Union and the Painters Union seek review of the Board's orders issued on September 30, 2010, contending that the Board’s findings with respect to the October 2, 2006 unfair labor practices are not…

United States v. Abney  
Date: February 5, 2016
Docket Number: 14-3074

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed the denial of his Rule 59(e) motion for reconsideration, contending that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel. Defendant was sentenced for possession of 68…

Cincinnati Ins. Co. v. All Plumbing, Inc.  
Date: February 5, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7140

Justia Opinion Summary: Cincinnati filed suit seeking a declaratory judgment that it does not owe a duty to defendant or indemnify claims brought against its insured, All Plumbing, for sending unsolicited faxed advertisements alleged to be in…

In re: Idaho Conservation League, et al. (ORDER)
Date: January 29, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1149
Simon v. Republic of Hungary  
Date: January 29, 2016
Docket Number: 14-7082

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, fourteen Jewish survivors of the Hungarian Holocaust, filed suit against the Republic of Hungary and the Hungarian state-owned railway arising from defendants’ participation in - and perpetration of - the…

DHL Express, Inc. v. NLRB  
Date: January 21, 2016
Docket Number: 12-1072

Justia Opinion Summary: The Company, DHL, petitioned for review of the Board's finding that the Company violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. 158, by prohibiting nonworking employees from distributing…

United States v. Burroughs  
Date: January 21, 2016
Docket Number: 13-3031

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, convicted of three counts of possession of illegal drugs with intent to distribute, appealed the denial of his motion to suppress drug-related evidence police discovered in his home. The court concluded that…

Morley v. CIA  
Date: January 21, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5230

Justia Opinion Summary: Jefferson Morely, a journalist and news editor appealed for a second time from the district court’s denial of his request for attorney’s fees and costs under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C.…

Van Hollen, Jr. v. FEC  
Date: January 21, 2016
Docket Number: 15-5016

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit challenging the FEC’s rule requiring corporations and labor organizations to disclose only those donations “made for the purpose of furthering electioneering communications.” At issue in this appeal…

Huron v. Cobert  
Date: January 19, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5042

Justia Opinion Summary: Douglas B. Huron and the Society filed suit against OPM and its Director challenging the agency’s approval of health benefits plans for federal employees that exclude or limit insurance coverage of speech-generating…

Silverado Stages, Inc. v. FMCSA  
Date: January 15, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1298

Justia Opinion Summary: Silverado Stages, a California charter bus service, petitioned for review of the FMCSA's determination denying Silverado's petition for administrative review after the FMCSA publicly reported that Silverado violated a…

National Security Counselors v. CIA  
Date: January 15, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5171

Justia Opinion Summary: The district court held that NSC, a small nonprofit corporation registered in Virginia, is ineligible for attorney's fees under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 5524(a)(4)(E)(i). In keeping with Kay v.…

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. FDA  
Date: January 15, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5226

Justia Opinion Summary: After Congress directed the FDA to establish a twelve-member Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee to, among other things, report on the safety of menthol cigarettes, plaintiffs filed suit claiming that the FDA…

Mach Mining, LLC v. Secretary of Labor  
Date: January 12, 2016
Docket Number: 14-1266

Justia Opinion Summary: Mach Mining petitioned for review of the Commission's final order concluding that two of Mach's regulatory violations under the Mine Safety and Health Act (MSHA), 30 U.S.C. 801, were the result of “high negligence” and…

United States v. Hunter  
Date: January 12, 2016
Docket Number: 14-3046

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants, convicted of mail fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States, appealed the district court's imposition of the same sentences on remand. Although not required for a district court to provide an…

In re: Sealed Case  
Date: January 8, 2016
Docket Number: 14-3058

Justia Opinion Summary: After appellant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to participate in racketeer influenced corrupt organization, he challenged his sentence on both procedural and substantive grounds. The court rejected the Government's…

Anglers Conservation Network v. Pritzker  
Date: January 5, 2016
Docket Number: 14-5304

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, two membership organizations, filed suit alleging that federal agencies unlawfully neglected to manage stocks of river herring and shad in the Atlantic Ocean from New York to North Carolina. The district…

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