2017 D.C. Circuit US Court of Appeals Case Law
Date: December 29, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7129
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs settled a legal malpractice suit (2009 Litigation) in 2010 against defendant, but alleged that defendant failed to explain that the settlement meant all of their claims were fully and finally dismissed. In…
Date: December 26, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5307
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Clarian in an action challenging the legality of HHS's decision to set forth certain policies regarding the means of calculating…
Date: December 26, 2017
Docket Number: 17-5013
Justia Opinion Summary: This case stemmed from the district court's issuance of an injunction ordering the Secretary of the United States Department of the Treasury to provide meaningful access to paper currency to visually impaired individuals…
Date: December 26, 2017
Docket Number: 17-5171
Justia Opinion Summary: President Trump, by executive order issued in May 2017, established the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. EPIC filed suit against the Commission and others, alleging violations of the Administrative…
Date: December 22, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1015
Justia Opinion Summary: Before the DC Circuit's decision in Albany Engineering Corp. v. FERC, 548 F.3d 1071 (D.C. Cir. 2008), parallel federal and New York state regulatory regimes required downstream hydroelectric facilities to reimburse their…
Date: December 22, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1105
Justia Opinion Summary: Industry and the Unions petitioned for review of the Department of Labor's final rule regulating exposure to silica. Industry raised five issues, all of which the DC Circuit rejected. The court also rejected the Unions'…
Date: December 22, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5358
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the Service's 2014 and 2015 findings that information concerning the size of the Zimbabwean elephant population and status of conservation efforts in Zimbabwe did not support a conclusion that…
Date: December 22, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5379
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court granted Dana-Farber partial summary judgment, agreeing that Dana-Farber was entitled to full reimbursement of Medicare's share of a tax paid and vacating the Board's decision. At issue was the Board's…
Date: December 22, 2017
Docket Number: 17-7003
Justia Opinion Summary: Relator filed a quit tam action under the False Claims Act against Chase, alleging that Chase falsely claimed compliance with a Settlement. Relator also alleged that Chase falsely claimed compliance with the Home…
Date: December 19, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5242
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's action against the United States under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, 26 U.S.C. 7433(a). Plaintiff invoked section 7433 to recover damages he claims to…
Date: December 19, 2017
Docket Number: 17-5132
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs challenged Maryland's proposed "Purple Line" light rail project under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 49 U.S.C. 5309. The DC Circuit reversed the district court's order directing the preparation…
Date: December 15, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1277
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit dismissed NTCH's petition for review of an Enforcement Bureau order based on lack of jurisdiction. The court held that it had no jurisdiction to entertain NTCH's challenge to the order issued by the Bureau…
Date: December 15, 2017
Docket Number: 17-5042
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the FBI in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552 et seq., case regarding information related to the use of undercover tactics…
Date: December 1, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5366
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to National Archives in an action filed by Judicial Watch under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552 et seq., seeking disclosure of…
Date: December 1, 2017
Docket Number: 17-7023
Justia Opinion Summary: U.S.-flagged ships on the high seas do not fall within the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act's (FSIA), 26 U.S.C. 1605, non-commercial torts exception. Plaintiffs filed suit alleging that Israeli Defense Forces attacked…
Date: November 28, 2017
Docket Number: 13-3010
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit vacated defendant's sentence after he pleaded guilty to distribution of more than 28 grams of cocaine. In this case, the government breached its plea agreement with defendant to not use any incriminating…
Date: November 28, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1447
Justia Opinion Summary: SPP, a regional transmission organization (RTO), filed with FERC revisions to its tariff that reflected an agreement with Integrated System entities to integrate their facilities. Pursuant to the requirements of section…
Date: November 28, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5049
Justia Opinion Summary: A case in which a district court declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over a prisoner's state-law claims does not count as a strike under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 28 U.S.C. 1915(g). The PLRA…
Date: November 28, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1059
Justia Opinion Summary: AOPL petitioned for review of FERC's issuance of an order adopting the index formula to govern oil pipeline rates for the 2016 to 2021 period. The DC Circuit denied the petition for review, holding that there was no…
Date: November 28, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5194
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit challenging the constitutionality of the Federal Election Campaign Act's (FECA), 52 U.S.C. 30116(a)(1)(A), base limits on individual contributions to candidates. The DC Circuit rejected plaintiffs'…
Date: November 21, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1290
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the FCC's order denying Press's application for review of the FCC Media Bureau's decision. The court held that FCC regulations, decisions, and practice support the Commission's contention that…
Date: November 21, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5234
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment interpreting the preclusion-of-review provision in Section 1877 of the Social Security Act (the Stark Law), 42 U.S.C. 1395nn(a)(1)–(2), to deprive it of subject…
Date: November 21, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5270
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal involved the Company's effort to have declared invalid a Crossing Agreement entered into in 2012 by Michigan State officials and the Government of Canada to build another bridge spanning the Detroit River,…
Date: November 17, 2017
Docket Number: 13-7060
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against the District, alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-200e-17. The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment regarding plaintiff's retaliation claims…
Date: November 17, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1301
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether the provisions in the Master Agreement between the Agency and the Union covered a matter with respect to which the parties had a dispute after the Master Agreement was signed. The Agency…
Date: November 17, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5314
Justia Opinion Summary: After the Sixth Circuit ruled that CMS's method for counting hospital beds conflicted with the plain language of the applicable regulation, CMS amended the regulation to permit its preferred counting method but applied…
Date: November 17, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7096
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit alleging that author James Risen, together with publishers, made false and damaging statements about plaintiff in a book. A chapter of the book focuses on software that plaintiff pitched to the…
Date: November 14, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5250
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the dismissal of an action alleging that the revocation of plaintiff's security clearance violated the equal protection and due process clauses of the Constitution, as well as the Foreign…
Date: November 7, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5282
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit challenging the Park Service's decision authorizing recreational hunting of elk in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park. In regards to plaintiffs' claim under the National Environmental Policy Act…
Date: October 31, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5263
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment for the government in an action seeking information regarding an Assistant United States Attorney. The government withheld a termination letter that…
Date: October 24, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1097
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit dismissed the petition for review of the EPA's modification, without notice and comment, of prior understandings of how to measure a proposed transportation project’s impact on ambient levels of PM2.5 and…
Date: October 24, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5296
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit reversed the district court's order, pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request, directing the government to release health insurance plans to be offered "each year" on the federal exchanges under…
Date: October 24, 2017
Docket Number: 17-5236
Date: October 17, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1222
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied the petition for review of the FCC's decision regarding the nationwide emergency alert system. Under the FCC's decision, when broadcasters receive emergency alerts from government entities, the…
Date: October 13, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1430
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner challenged the Commission's decision to sustain FINRA's decision to permanently bar him from membership and from working with any of its affiliated members. The DC Circuit held that the Commission reasonably…
Date: October 13, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7103
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against defendants, alleging breach of contract, defamation, and tortious interference with a prospective economic advantage. The district court granted summary judgment for defendants. In this case,…
Date: October 10, 2017
Docket Number: 16-3011
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of Appellant Glover and Price's petition to vacate their convictions under 28 U.S.C. 2255. Appellants were convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute…
Date: October 6, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5329
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of Bread for the City's complaint for failure to state a cause of action. Bread for the City alleged that the Department spent hundreds of millions of dollars less…
Date: September 29, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1202
Justia Opinion Summary: After the SEC determined that petitioner's conduct violated various securities-fraud provisions, the DC Circuit upheld the Commission's findings that the statements in petitioner's emails were false or misleading and…
Date: September 29, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5073
Justia Opinion Summary: The Animal Welfare Act's (AWA), 7 U.S.C. 2133, compliance demonstration requirement does not unambiguously preclude USDA's license renewal scheme and the scheme is not facially unreasonable. In this case, plaintiffs…
Date: August 29, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1158
Justia Opinion Summary: The City petitioned for review of the FAA's letter, characterizing it as a final order, that addressed the noise complaints stemming from its change of flight routes in and out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International…
Date: August 29, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1330
Justia Opinion Summary: After the FCC denied SNR and Northstar's application to use bidding credits to purchase wireless spectrum licenses, SNR and Northstar bought some of the licenses at full price and relinquished the rest to the FCC. The…
Date: August 29, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5229
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal involved two antipsychotic drugs primarily used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: Abilify Maitena, manufactured by Otsuka; and Aristada, manufactured by Alkermes. Otsuka sought judicial review,…
Date: August 29, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7107
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, the Libertarian Party's presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 2012 elections, filed suit claiming that they were excluded pursuant to an agreement between the Obama for America and Romney for…
Date: August 22, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1329
Justia Opinion Summary: Sierra Club challenged the Commission's decision approving the construction and operation of three new interstate natural-gas pipelines in the southeastern United States. Determining that it has jurisdiction to entertain…
Date: August 18, 2017
Docket Number: 13-3061
Justia Opinion Summary: The fact that most people now carry a cell phone was not enough to justify an intrusive search of a place lying at the center of the Fourth Amendment's protections—a home—for any phone defendant might own. Defendant…
Date: August 18, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1312
Justia Opinion Summary: Menorah petitioned for review of the Board's finding that Menorah had violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The DC Circuit set aside the Board's determination that Menorah improperly denied the nurses'…
Date: August 18, 2017
Docket Number: 15-3045
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's pre-trial motion to dismiss the indictment for prosecutorial vindictiveness, and in permitting the government to make improper statements at trial.…
Date: August 18, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5129
Justia Opinion Summary: The Hospitals challenged HHS's implementation of a Medicare outlier-payment program in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Hospitals contend that HHS violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. 551 et seq.,…
Date: August 15, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1449
Justia Opinion Summary: SecurityPoint, which contracts with airports to participate in an advertising program established by the TSA, petitioned for review of the TSA's decision to revise its memorandum of understanding (MOU) used with…
Date: August 15, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1489
Justia Opinion Summary: Sierra Club challenged the Department's grant of an application to export liquified natural gas (LNG) using terminals and liquefaction facilities (Freeport Terminal) on Quintana Island. On the merits, the DC Circuit held…
Date: August 15, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5258
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, an African-American, filed suit against DHS, alleging that the Department's decision to give a promotion for which he was qualified to a Caucasian female employee just four weeks after he had complained of…
Date: August 11, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1354
Justia Opinion Summary: After the Commission held that petitioners engaged in a scheme designed to collect millions of dollars in unwarranted long-distance access charges from AT&T, petitioners challenged the Commission's award of damages to…
Date: August 11, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5008
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against the Department, alleging unlawful race and national origin discrimination under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq. The DC Circuit subsequently decided sua sponte to reconsider the case and…
Date: August 11, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1089
Justia Opinion Summary: Rhino challenged the Board's certification of a proposed unit of employees called "riggers." Rhino argued that the company's other employees were so similar to its riggers that a bargaining unit could not consist solely…
Date: August 11, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5063
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against his employer, DHS, alleging race discrimination, retaliation, and a hostile work environment. The district court dismissed the case for failure to exhaust his administrative remedies. The DC…
Date: August 11, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5067
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), seeking information pertaining to a former informant. The district court granted summary judgment to the FBI and denied plaintiff's motions for interim…
Date: August 11, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5350
Justia Opinion Summary: Gulf Coast filed suit seeking injunctive and declaratory relief after the Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) sent a letter to Gulf Coast indicating that the company's unreported ownership change could subject Gulf Coast…
Date: August 11, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7056
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit alleging claims that employees of Cities Restaurant and Lounge, and the Metropolitan Police Department officers they summoned, reacted overly harshly when she raised a question about her bill and…
Date: August 11, 2017
Docket Number: 17-5018
Justia Opinion Summary: Healthcare Providers sought a mandamus order to force the HHS Secretary to clear the administrative appeals backlog and adhere to the Medicare statute's timeframe to complete the process. The district court subsequently…
Date: August 9, 2017
Docket Number: 17-1156
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, sought a writ of mandamus directing that the Hon. Scott L. Silliman of the United States Court of Military Commission Review (CMCR) recuse himself from serving as a judge in…
Date: August 8, 2017
Docket Number: 14-1063
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involves the allocation of production costs among the Entergy Operation Companies. LPSC petitioned for review of FERC's implementation of its decision to delay the effective date of the Bandwidth Remedy. The DC…
Date: August 8, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1328
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged whether EPA had statutory authority to issue a 2015 Rule regulating the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). As statutory authority for the 2015 Rule, EPA relied on Section 612 of the Clean Air Act,…
Date: August 8, 2017
Docket Number: 15-3032
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit reversed defendant's conviction for attempted coercion and enticement of a minor and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. The court held that trial counsel's failure to obtain expert…
Date: August 8, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1061
Justia Opinion Summary: OCC, a clearing agency that facilitates trades in options and other financial instruments, developed a Capital Plan in an attempt to boost its capital reserves and to alter how fees and refunds were calculated. The DC…
Date: August 8, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5150
Justia Opinion Summary: Texas Neighborhood Services received Head Start grant money to provide childcare services to low-income families in Texas. The Department subsequently required Neighborhood Services to repay $1.3 million in federal funds…
Date: August 4, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1112
Justia Opinion Summary: The Board applied for enforcement of its finding that CNN's replacement of its unionized contractor with a nonunion, in-house workforce violated the National Labor Relations Act. The D.C. Circuit held that the Board's…
Date: August 4, 2017
Docket Number: 15-3078
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Slatten, Slough, Liberty, and Heard were contractors with Blackwater, which in 2007 was providing security services to the United States State Department in Iraq. Defendants were convicted of voluntary…
Date: August 4, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5314
Justia Opinion Summary: The government may not deny a criminal defendant's request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for records related to his case on the ground that he waived his right to seek that information as part of a plea…
Date: August 4, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5332
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit alleging that the Service's revamping of the territorial lines of the Devil's Garden Wild Horse Territory section of the Modoc National Forest violated numerous federal laws. The D.C. Circuit held…
Date: August 4, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1209
Justia Opinion Summary: USI petitioned for review of the FSIS's determination that the packaging used by USI was misbranded under the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1907 (FMIA), 21 U.S.C. 601 et seq., because its label included the FSIS…
Date: August 4, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1265
Justia Opinion Summary: Oberthur sought review of the Board's orders and a certification decision where the Board found that Oberthur violated the National Labor Relations Act before the representation election by restricting employee speech…
Date: August 4, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5029
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed several requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) after he was convicted of narcotics offenses. The DEA denied two of the requests, saying that software plaintiff identified was not an agency…
Date: August 1, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1135
Justia Opinion Summary: The D.C. Circuit granted Fred Meyer's petition for review of the Board's holding that Fred Meyer committed various unfair labor practices in its interaction with the Union. The court noted that counsel for Fred Meyer…
Date: August 1, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5041
Justia Opinion Summary: The Human Society challenged a rule that removes from federal protection a sub-population of gray wolves inhabiting all or portions of nine states in the Western Great Lakes region of the United States. The Human Society…
Date: August 1, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1100
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged two related but more recent orders from the FCC adopting procedures for an auction designed to make more room on the electromagnetic spectrum for mobile broadband (wireless network) providers. The…
Date: August 1, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5010
Justia Opinion Summary: After USCIS discovered that an employee had illegally issued nearly 200 certificates of naturalization to individuals who had not satisfied the requirements to become U.S. citizens, the government canceled certificates…
Date: August 1, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5188
Justia Opinion Summary: The right of public access is a fundamental element of the rule of law, important to maintaining the integrity and legitimacy of an independent Judicial Branch. The Dodd-Frank Act does not abrogate the common-law right…
Date: August 1, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7108
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, a group of CareFirst customers, filed a putative class action after CareFirst suffered a cyber attack in which its customers' personal information was allegedly stolen. The D.C. Circuit reversed the district…
Date: July 28, 2017
Docket Number: 14-5105
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit against Sudan for personal injuries suffered by victims of the al Qaeda embassy bombings and their families in Nairobi, Kenya and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The DC Circuit held that the purpose and…
Date: July 28, 2017
Docket Number: 15-7153
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against the District, alleging both procedural and substantive due process claims after he was sentenced to three consecutive weekends in the D.C. jail for a marijuana possession…
Date: July 28, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1005
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners filed suit challenging EPA's promulgation of a Final Rule setting several renewable fuel requirements for the years 2014 through 2017. The D.C. Circuit rejected all challenges except for one: the court agreed…
Date: July 28, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1101
Justia Opinion Summary: Paul Hudson and the Flyers Rights group petitioned the FAA to promulgate rules governing size limitations for aircraft seats to ensure, among other things, that passengers can safely and quickly evacuate a plane in an…
Date: July 25, 2017
Docket Number: 15-3020
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Lovo, Sorto, and Eshetu were convicted of conspiracy, and Lovo and Sorto were also convicted of using, carrying or possessing a firearm during a crime of violence. The D.C. Circuit held that the district court…
Date: July 25, 2017
Docket Number: 15-7135
Justia Opinion Summary: Relator filed two suits alleging that Verizon violated the False Claims Act by overbilling the government in its telecommunications contracts. The D.C. Circuit affirmed the district court's holding that relator's second…
Date: July 25, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5255
Justia Opinion Summary: Hospitals filed suit challenging the formula used by the HHS for calculating certain Medicare reimbursement adjustments for fiscal year 2012. The D.C. Circuit held that HHS violated the Medicare Act when it changed its…
Date: July 25, 2017
Docket Numbers: 16-7025, 16-7067
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit challenging D.C. Code provisions directing the District's police chief to promulgate regulations limiting licenses for the concealed carry of handguns (the only sort of carrying the Code allows) to…
Date: July 21, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1500
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Nueva's application to the FCC for a license to construct and operate a Lower Power FM Radio (LPFM) station in Philadelphia. Because Nueva's interpretation of a Blog Post authored…
Date: July 21, 2017
Docket Number: 15-3044
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant and her son appealed from their convictions for conspiracy to commit tax fraud and related offenses. The DC Circuit held that the prosecutor's blatant misstatements of key evidence during closing arguments, in…
Date: July 21, 2017
Docket Numbers: 15-8009, 16-5285
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court denied certification for a class consisting of African-American deputy U.S. Marshals alleging racial discrimination by the United States Marshals Service (USMS). The lead plaintiff, Herman Brewer,…
Date: July 21, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1128
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit upheld the Department's final rule defining e-cigarette use as "smoking" for purposes of airplane travel under 49 U.S.C. 41706. The Department rested its authority for the regulation on two sections…
Date: July 21, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1250
Justia Opinion Summary: The Commission declined to review an ALJ's decision regarding plaintiff's complaint of unlawful interference with his rights as a miners' representative under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977, 30…
Date: July 21, 2017
Docket Number: 16-3102
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant challenged the district court's denial of his ineffective assistance of counsel claim. The DC Circuit affirmed in part and held that defendant's trial counsel was constitutionally deficient because counsel…
Date: July 18, 2017
Docket Number: 12-3032
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed defendant's 172 month sentence after he pleaded guilty to distribution of child pornography. The court held that the government's recidivism comment was only that—a comment—and appeared to have…
Date: July 18, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1246
Justia Opinion Summary: Sierra Club petitioned for review of EPA's determination that EPA satisfied its responsibilities under 42 U.S.C. 7412(c)(6) to establish "maximum achievable control technology" (MACT) standards for emissions of certain…
Date: July 18, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1191
Justia Opinion Summary: Casinos petitioned for review of the Board's order concluding that the casinos violated section 8(a)(1) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(1), (5), when they refused to bargain with the Union,…
Date: July 14, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1274
Justia Opinion Summary: Orangeburg challenged the Commission's approval of an agreement between two utilities, alleging that the approval constituted an authorization of the North Carolina Utilities Commission's (NCUC) unlawful regime. The DC…
Date: July 14, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5265
Justia Opinion Summary: Taxpayers who failed to report and pay tax on foreign income filed suit after the IRS denied their applications for the expanded Streamlined Procedures program. The Streamlined Procedures' reduced benefits were…
Date: July 7, 2017
Docket Number: 09-1038
Justia Opinion Summary: Environmental and Industry Petitioners challenged the EPA's promulgation of a final rule, pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), 42 U.S.C. 6901-6992k, governing when certain hazardous materials…
Date: July 7, 2017
Docket Number: 14-3069
Justia Opinion Summary: Precedent requires the district court to consider each and every non-frivolous argument for mitigation, but does not require the judge to address expressly each argument on the record when pronouncing the sentence. The…
Date: July 7, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1295
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners sought review of the FCC's order reversing a decades-old, rebuttable presumption that determined whether state and local franchising authorities may regulate cable rates. Under its new Order, the Commission…
Date: July 7, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1452
Justia Opinion Summary: Section 205 of the Federal Power Act does not allow FERC to make modifications to a proposal that transform the proposal into an entirely new rate of FERC's own making. Electricity generators petitioned for review of…
Date: July 7, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5186
Justia Opinion Summary: The D.C. Circuit held that the district court properly entered summary judgment for judicial foreclosure to the property at issue, because D.C. law allows the holder of a note to enforce the deed of trust by judicial…
Date: July 7, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5080
Justia Opinion Summary: After Big Bus Tours won a contract with the Park Service that would allow it to provide guided tours of the National Mall, National Mall Tours filed suit against the Park Service under the Administrative Procedure Act, 5…
Date: July 7, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7087
Justia Opinion Summary: In this contract dispute between Getma and the Republic of Guinea, the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (CCJA), a court of supranational…
Date: July 3, 2017
Docket Number: 17-1145
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged the EPA's decision to stay implementation of portions of a final rule concerning methane and other greenhouse gas emissions. The DC Circuit held that, although absent a stay, it would have no…
Date: June 30, 2017
Docket Number: 14-1036
Justia Opinion Summary: Conservation Groups filed a complaint in the district court under the citizen suit provision of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq., and a petition for review in the DC Circuit pursuant to the…
Date: June 30, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1113
Justia Opinion Summary: Arc Bridge petitioned for review of the Board's holding that it violated sections 8(a)(3) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act by failing to give a wage increase to represented employees, with whom it was then…
Date: June 30, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1335
Justia Opinion Summary: Masters filed suit challenging the DEA's 2014 decision to revoke the company's certificate of registration, without which it cannot sell controlled substances. The DC Circuit denied the petition for review, holding that…
Date: June 30, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1450
Justia Opinion Summary: The Commission determined that Florida Power overcharged Seminole for electricity and ordered a refund. Seminole petitioned for review, claiming that it was entitled to a larger refund. The DC Circuit denied the petition…
Date: June 30, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5064
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against DHS and DOD under the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, after a DHS agent sent an Inspector General's report regarding plaintiff to DOD. The DC Circuit held that DHS's disclosure of the report to…
Date: June 30, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5093
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs sought a declaratory judgment stating that their family members were killed in the course of a U.S. drone attack in violation of international law governing the use of force, the Torture Victim Protection Act…
Date: June 30, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7125
Justia Opinion Summary: Reliance challenged the district court's award of disability benefits to plaintiff under a plan pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq., and the amount of benefits owed.…
Date: June 30, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7128
Justia Opinion Summary: Hensel Phelps filed suit alleging breach of contract and indemnification claims against Marriott for, among other things, failing to meet the applicable standard of care and by failing to design the Project in accordance…
Date: June 27, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5056
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant appealed the district court's dismissal of his habeas petition as time-barred, seeking a certificate of appealability (COA) from the DC Circuit. Because the petition was plainly time-barred and no jurist of…
Date: June 27, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5070
Justia Opinion Summary: After her move to Treasury was blocked and her contract work with Fannie Mae was terminated, plaintiff filed suit alleging claims under District of Columbia law and, in the alternative, under Bivens. The DC Circuit…
Date: June 23, 2017
Docket Number: 14-3064
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of unlawful possession with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of PCP (Count 1), unlawful possession of a firearm or ammunition by a person convicted of a felony (Count 2), and using,…
Date: June 23, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5144
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a federal prisoner, filed a pro se petition seeking relief by way of writ from what he alleged to be an illegally imposed sentence. The DC Circuit rejected plaintiff's claims under the international doctrine…
Date: June 23, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1014
Justia Opinion Summary: LPSC petitioned for review of FERC's rejection of LPSC's request to reform certain depreciation rates. The DC Circuit denied the petition for review and rejected LPSC's claim that FERC failed to confront its asserted…
Date: June 23, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1415
Justia Opinion Summary: Millennium petitioned to compel the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to act on Millennium's application for a water-quality certificate. The DC Circuit dismissed the petition for review, holding…
Date: June 23, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7051
Justia Opinion Summary: A group of Indian nationals filed suit against the IFC, alleging that a power plant financed by the IFC caused damage to surrounding communities in Gujarat, India. The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal…
Date: June 23, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7076
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, the parents of six children, filed suit against the District, alleging that it was violating the "Child Find" requirement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by failing to provide…
Date: June 20, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1234
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged the Commissions' approval of revisions to the rules governing the buying and selling of "capacity" for markets operated by PJM. The DC Circuit held that the Commission balanced the benefits of the…
Date: June 20, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5284
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the government based on claimants' lack of Article III standing in a civil forfeiture case. The court held that claimants met their…
Date: June 20, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7042
Justia Opinion Summary: This case stems from the Herzog family's effort to recover a valuable art collection seized during the Holocaust. On remand, the district court concluded that the family's claims against the Republic of Hungary, its…
Date: June 16, 2017
Docket Number: 15-7107
Justia Opinion Summary: After plaintiff's employer failed to respond to his suit for wage underpayment, plaintiff obtained a default judgment for himself and two other employees. The district court subsequently vacated its default judgment as…
Date: June 16, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5276
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit contending that USAID and NOAA violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq., by terminating his employment because of his national origin. He also contended that NOAA…
Date: June 13, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1461
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged the Commission's order that set permanent rate caps and ancillary fee caps for interstate inmate calling services (ICS) calls. After the presidential inauguration in January 2017, counsel for the…
Date: June 13, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1200
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner sought refunds from TSA for overpayments it made to TSA that related to fees charged to airline passengers that fund aviation security expenses and were to be remitted to TSA. TSA conducted an informal…
Date: June 13, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5053
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff and her husband filed suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. 1346(b)(1), 2671-2680, against the government after she suffered severe injuries in her diplomatic housing when stationed overseas…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 14-5285
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit held that the district court properly dismissed plaintiff's claims against DHS for failure to exhaust his administrative remedies. Although plaintiff initiated this administrative exhaustion process for…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5145
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against defendant, the former chair of the United States Parole Commission, alleging that plaintiff's denials of parole were infected by unconstitutional decisionmaking. The district court dismissed…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1121
Justia Opinion Summary: Delaware petitioned for review of the Board's order determining that Senate Bill 135 was categorically preempted under 49 U.S.C. 10501(b) of the Interstate Commerce Act, as broadened in the Interstate Commerce…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1316
Justia Opinion Summary: The company petitioned for review of the Board's order to reinstate an employee with make-whole relief, and to reimburse the employee for search-for-work and interim employment expenses regardless of whether those…
Date: June 6, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1445
Justia Opinion Summary: Piedmont Garden petitioned for review of the Board's determination that Piedmont Gardens violated the National Labor Relations Act by withholding certain of the requested information, and order requiring Piedmont Gardens…
Date: May 30, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5109
Justia Opinion Summary: Environmental groups requested records from the EPA that the agency had previously obtained from power plants under Section 308 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1318(a), (b). The records requested are exempt from…
Date: May 30, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7027
Justia Opinion Summary: The 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement established Bosnia and Herzegovina as an independent, democratic and multiethnic state with two separate political subdivisions—the Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and…
Date: May 30, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7070
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against defendant after it attempted to collect debt from plaintiff, alleging that the company violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the District of Columbia Consumer Protections…
Date: May 26, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1039
Justia Opinion Summary: Hawaiian Dredging petitioned for review of the Board's ruling that the company violated Sections 8(a)(3) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(3) and (1), by terminating welders because of…
Date: May 26, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1080
Justia Opinion Summary: Neustar petitioned for review of the FCC's orders naming another company, Telcordia, to replace it as the Local Number Portability Administrator (LNPA). The DC Circuit held that it had jurisdiction to hear Neustar's…
Date: May 26, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1096
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit alleging that the Army unlawfully relieved him of command in retaliation for whistleblowing, in violation of the Military Whistleblower Protection Act of 1988, 10 U.S.C. 1034. On appeal, plaintiff…
Date: May 26, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5118
Justia Opinion Summary: OFAC is authorized to impose civil penalties against any person who exports goods to a third party who it has reason to know intends to send them to Iran. At issue was whether OFAC must also show that the goods actually…
Date: May 26, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5235
Justia Opinion Summary: Washtech, a labor union that represents American workers, appealed from a fee award it received under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. 2412, for proceedings in which it partially succeeded in challenging…
Date: May 23, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1092
Justia Opinion Summary: Riverkeeper petitioned for review of FERC's Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity conditionally approving the Leidy Project. The DC Circuit denied the petition and held that it had jurisdiction to consider…
Date: May 23, 2017
Docket Number: 16-3076
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his 144 month sentence after pleading guilty to one count of distributing child pornography. The DC Circuit affirmed, holding that the district court met its procedural duty to offer specific reasons…
Date: May 23, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5185
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants, the majority shareholder of Banca Privada d'Andorra S.A., filed suit claiming that FinCEN violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by issuing a Notice of Finding and a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking…
Date: May 19, 2017
Docket Number: 13-1008
Justia Opinion Summary: Section 309 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), 16 U.S.C. 825h, vests the Commission with broad remedial authority, including the authority to grant recoupment when it is justified; Section 201(f) does not limit the…
Date: May 19, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1318
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner sought review of the Board's decision and order finding that the Hospital violated section 8(a)(1) and (a)(5) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(1), (5), by unilaterally ceasing the payment…
Date: May 19, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1495
Justia Opinion Summary: The FAA's Registration Rule requires the owners of small unmanned aircraft operated for recreational purposes (model aircraft) to register with the FAA. Advisory Circular 91-57A announced that model aircraft would be…
Date: May 19, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5279
Justia Opinion Summary: A district court has broad discretion to decide whether and when to grant an agency's request for a voluntary remand. But a voluntary remand is typically appropriate only when the agency intends to revisit the challenged…
Date: May 16, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1031
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners filed suit contending that the Board erred in holding that the union did not violate its duty of fair representation when it declined to provide petitioners with the anniversary of the dates when they signed…
Date: May 16, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5189
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2011, the district court approved a Settlement Agreement that created a $680 million compensation fund for the benefit of class members consisting of Native American farmers and ranchers who participated in a…
Date: May 16, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5232
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant challenged two district court orders directing him to produce various documents in response to a subpoena issued by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. While the appeal was pending, appellant…
Date: May 9, 2017
Docket Number: 14-3089
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction related to involvement in an attempted robbery. The DC Circuit held that the district court remedied what little prejudice an emergency room nurse's testimony might have…
Date: May 9, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5325
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the Bureau's withholding of water well location and depth information under Exemption 9 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(9), holding that Exemption 9 permits the…
Date: May 9, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7033
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit reversed the denial of summary judgment to BNA and remanded with directions that the district court grant summary judgment to BNA on plaintiff's defamation claims. Plaintiff was convicted of murdering two…
Date: May 2, 2017
Docket Number: 14-1226
Justia Opinion Summary: When Oak Harbor stopped making contributions to four health benefit and pension trusts, the Union filed unfair labor practice charges. The Board properly concluded that the Union waived its statutory rights to receive…
Date: May 1, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1063
Date: April 28, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1276
Justia Opinion Summary: The court denied Minteq's petition for review and affirmed the Board's finding that the company violated section 8(a)(1) and (5) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(1), (5), by failing to afford the…
Date: April 28, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7004
Justia Opinion Summary: The court affirmed vacatur of an arbitrator's ruling that Amtrak must reinstate an employee Amtrak fired for misconduct, holding that contractual provisions could not "add to nor subtract from" an Inspector General's…
Date: April 28, 2017
Docket Number: 17-5024
Justia Opinion Summary: The court affirmed the issuance of a permanent injunction enjoining the merger of Anthem and Cigna under Section 7 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. 18. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in…
Date: April 25, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1237
Justia Opinion Summary: Section 210 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), 16 U.S.C. 824a-3, seeks to reduce reliance on fossil fuels by increasing the number of energy-efficient cogeneration and small power-production…
Date: April 25, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1327
Justia Opinion Summary: Bellagio challenged the Board's decision and order determining that Bellagio violated section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(1), when it interfered with employee Gabor Garner's right…
Date: April 25, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5101
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal stemmed from the parties' dispute over the precise language used in "corrective statements" cigarette manufacturers were ordered to disseminate. The district court's remedy requiring the manufacturers to…
Date: April 25, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7041
Justia Opinion Summary: SoundExchange, a nonprofit entity, charged with the responsibility of collecting royalties for performing artists and copyright owners of music, filed suit under the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 101 et seq., against Muzak, a…
Date: April 25, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7066
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, a group of individuals who resolved their misdemeanor charges using the District of Columbia's post-and-forfeit procedure, filed suit challenging the procedure and the statute authorizing it as…
Date: April 21, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5138
Justia Opinion Summary: CREW filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, after the FBI declined to provide requested information related to former House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay. On appeal, CREW…
Date: April 21, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5174
Justia Opinion Summary: CFPB filed a petition to enforce a civil investigative demand, seeking information relating to unlawful acts and practices in connection with accrediting for-profit colleges. The district court denied the petition. The…
Date: April 18, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1139
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged the Commissions' determinations following compliance filings by the regional transmission organization for New England's electric grid. The court concluded that the Transmission Owners have…
Date: April 18, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1321
Justia Opinion Summary: Allied, a commercial airline fuel service provider, challenged the Board's decision that Allied violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq., by failing to recognize and bargain with the Union.…
Date: April 14, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1118
Justia Opinion Summary: Transmissions Owners provide transmission services for customers in New England. Consumers, Massachusetts and various consumer-side stakeholders, filed suit under section 206 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), 16 U.S.C.…
Date: April 14, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1401
Justia Opinion Summary: Wilfred I. Aka appealed the Tax Court's decision to disbar him and, alternatively, its failure to include in its disbarment order instructions for his reinstatement. The court held that it has jurisdiction to review Tax…
Date: April 14, 2017
Docket Number: 15-3006
Justia Opinion Summary: The court affirmed defendant's convictions on direct appeal for convictions of conspiracy and related offenses involving the large-scale distribution and sale of unlawful drugs in Washington, D.C. Defendant then filed a…
Date: April 11, 2017
Docket Number: 09-1017
Justia Opinion Summary: The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. 9603, and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA), 42 U.S.C. 11004, require parties to…
Date: April 11, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5304
Justia Opinion Summary: The Services issued a Final Rule in 2012 designating 9.5 million acres of federal forest lands in California, Oregon, and Washington as critical habitat for the northern spotted owl. The Council filed suit challenging…
Date: April 7, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5199
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, individuals who breed and sell animals, filed the underlying action in district court, challenging a 2012 rule in which the Fish and Wildlife Service designated as injurious four species of snakes. At issue…
Date: April 4, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5003
Justia Opinion Summary: Prisology filed suit alleging that the BOP failed to comply with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(2). The district court dismissed the suit based on lack of jurisdiction. The court concluded that…
Date: April 4, 2017
Docket Number: 16-1003
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a major producer of solar power, challenged the Commission's order denying its effort to obtain financial instruments known as Congestion Revenue Rights. The court concluded that FERC erroneously determined…
Date: April 4, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5117
Justia Opinion Summary: The Navajo Nation filed suit to enforce a proposed funding agreement. By law, the BIA had 90 days after receipt to act on the proposal or it would be deemed approved. The BIA did not consider the proposal "received"…
Date: March 31, 2017
Docket Number: 14-1234
Justia Opinion Summary: The Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005, 47 U.S.C. 227(b) bans most unsolicited fax advertisements, but allows unsolicited fax advertisements in certain commercial circumstances. The FCC issued a rule in 2006 that requires…
Date: March 31, 2017
Docket Number: 15-3062
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his 108 month sentence after pleading guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. The court rejected defendant's contentions and concluded that the the district court gave adequate…
Date: March 31, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5011
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal and cross-appeal relate to the district court's orders releasing video recordings made at Guantanamo Bay, depicting military personnel removing a detainee, Abu Wa'el (Jihad) Dhiab, from his cell, transporting…
Date: March 31, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7083
Justia Opinion Summary: After an arbitral tribunal in London found the Government of Belize in breach of a settlement agreement with The Bank of Belize Limited, the tribunal ordered that Belize pay the Bank a substantial monetary award. Belize…
Date: March 24, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1245
Justia Opinion Summary: The Board concluded that Banner unlawfully barred its workers from sharing information about salaries and employee discipline. The Board also determined that Banner unlawfully maintained a categorical policy of asking…
Date: March 24, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1497
Justia Opinion Summary: NARUC challenged the FCC's order authorizing interconnected Voice-over-Internet-Protocol service providers (I-VoIPs) to obtain North American Numbering Plan telephone numbers directly from the Numbering Administrators…
Date: March 24, 2017
Docket Number: 15-7024
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit seeking to hold the Palestinian Authority vicariously liable for an attack of a holy site in the West Bank by an armed gunman. The court rejected plaintiffs' claim that the Fifth Amendment's Due…
Date: March 21, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1102
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners, a group of employees, during the period between the expiration of the operative collective bargaining agreement and the commencement of a new one, resigned from their union and sought to revoke their…
Date: March 14, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5020
Justia Opinion Summary: NAAMJP and two of its members filed suit alleging that bar admission conditions for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, established in the identical text of Local Civil Rule 83.8 and Local…
Date: March 14, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5034
Justia Opinion Summary: DOS regulates international arms brokering under the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 U.S.C. 2778(a)(1). Pursuant to section 2778(b)(1)(A)(i), those who manufacture,…
Date: March 14, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7081
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against Ethiopia, alleging violation of the Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. 2510 et seq., and the Maryland common law tort of intrusion upon seclusion. Plaintiff alleged that he was tricked into downloading a…
Date: March 10, 2017
Docket Number: 15-7070
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1963, the Republic of Guinea entered into an agreement with Halco establishing the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG) for the purpose of developing Guinea's rich bauxite mines. Nanko filed suit against Alcoa,…
Date: March 7, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1299
Justia Opinion Summary: ABM petitioned for review of the Board's determination that the Union's effort to represent the workers who handle airline baggage was governed by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq., and not…
Date: March 7, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1412
Justia Opinion Summary: 29 of the bargaining unit's 54 employees had signed a decertification petition asking Scomas to withdraw recognition from the Union immediately if the petitioners make up 50% or more of the bargaining unit. Unaware that…
Date: March 3, 2017
Docket Number: 14-1196
Justia Opinion Summary: FedEx petitioned for review of the Board's conclusion that single-route FedEx drivers based at the Hartford, Connecticut terminal were "employees" under the National Labor Relation Act, 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq. In FedEx…
Date: March 3, 2017
Docket Number: 14-5300
Justia Opinion Summary: The Secretary and the State of Wyoming appealed the district court's judgment vacating a rule delisting the gray wolf in Wyoming as a protected species. The Secretary and the State principally argued that the district…
Date: March 3, 2017
Docket Number: 14-7164
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against defendant after he was terminated from his position as a cook, alleging that defendant retaliated against him for his previous complaints under Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and…
Date: March 3, 2017
Docket Number: 16-3003
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants were arrested after interrupting an oral argument session of the United States Supreme Court. On appeal, defendants challenged their conviction under 40 U.S.C. 6134, the statue that prohibits making a…
Date: March 3, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5203
Justia Opinion Summary: North Dakota filed a motion to modify an injunction governing the Northwest Area Water Supply Project, but the district court stated that North Dakota did not present either changes in law or facts sufficient to warrant…
Date: February 28, 2017
Docket Number: 14-1150
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2011, EPA issued policy letters that explained and arguably changed two EPA policies with respect to publicly owned water treatment facilities. A group representing interests of municipalities prevailed in the Eighth…
Date: February 24, 2017
Docket Number: 11-3115
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant plead guilty to failing to register with local authorities under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), 42 U.S.C. 16901 et seq. Defendant first argued that insofar as the Attorney General…
Date: February 21, 2017
Docket Number: 13-3074
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Borda and Alvaran-Velez appealed their convictions under 21 U.S.C. 959, 960, 963 of conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine knowing and intending that the cocaine would be unlawfully…
Date: February 21, 2017
Docket Number: 14-5243
Justia Opinion Summary: Under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-289, 122 Stat. 2654, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) became the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In 2012, FHFA and Treasury adopted…
Date: February 21, 2017
Docket Number: 15-7118
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit seeking damages under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, alleging that IRS employees barred him from representing taxpayers before the Service without due process…
Date: February 17, 2017
Docket Number: 15-7144
Justia Opinion Summary: Relator filed suit against KBR, alleging violations of the False Claims Act (FCA), 31 U.S.C. 3729(a), based on KBR's alleged inflation of "headcount" data from July 2004 to March 2005. The headcount data purported to…
Date: February 14, 2017
Docket Number: 15-3053
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded guilty to willful failure to pay over federal employment taxes in violation of 26 U.S.C. 7202 and received an above-Guidelines sentence of imprisonment. On appeal, defendant challenged his sentence.…
Date: February 14, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5117
Justia Opinion Summary: Two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 500 et seq., requesters challenged the fees assessed against them by the DOJ for processing their requests for records. The district court awarded summary judgment to the…
Date: February 10, 2017
Docket Number: 16-7055
Justia Opinion Summary: Chenari, a third-year George Washington University medical student, took a test published by the National Board of Medical Examiners. Before the exam, the proctor read aloud the instructions from NBME’s official manual,…
Date: February 7, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5054
Justia Opinion Summary: Judicial Watch filed suit against the DOD, alleging that the Department violated the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, when it failed to release copies of documents related to a 2014 determination by the…
Date: February 3, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1217
Justia Opinion Summary: After Tito refused to bargain with the Union, the Union filed an unfair labor practice complaint. The Board eventually granted summary judgment, ordering Tito to bargain with the Union. Tito petitioned for review and the…
Date: January 31, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5333
Justia Opinion Summary: Continental extracts gas from leased federal land and pays royalties to the Interior Department. An agency within the Interior Department began an administrative proceeding against Continental by issuing an order…
Date: January 31, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5110
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. 704, seeking to compel the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) to meet its disclosure obligations under the "reading room" provision of the…
Date: January 27, 2017
Docket Number: 14-3091
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant plead guilty to violating 18 U.S.C. 1546(a), which penalizes the knowing possession of an altered document prescribed by statute or regulation for entry into the United States. The court concluded that…
Date: January 24, 2017
Docket Number: 12-7139
Justia Opinion Summary: Two nonprofit organizations, ANSWER and MASF, challenge the District's sign-posting rule that requires removal of signs relating to an event within 30 days of the event, whether the 180-day period for signs on public…
Date: January 24, 2017
Docket Number: 14-3092
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was sentenced to 30 months in prison after revocation of his supervised release based on drug charges in Maryland. Defendant appealed. The court held that defendant failed to show clear or obvious error that…
Date: January 24, 2017
Docket Number: 15-1204
Justia Opinion Summary: Woodcrest seeks to set aside the Board's order requiring it to bargain with the Union and to remand for a new election. The court rejected Woodcrest's claims that the denial of its request to subpoena six individuals…
Date: January 24, 2017
Docket Number: 15-3063
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Butler and Jones, serving lengthy prison sentences for drug offenses, challenge the district court's denial of sentence reductions under 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(2). The district court agreed that it could reduce…
Date: January 18, 2017
Docket Number: 15-5107
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2013, the Department of Justice issued a guidance memorandum, the Cole Memorandum, that addresses enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), 21 U.S.C. 801 et seq., in cases involving marijuana. Plaintiff…
Date: January 17, 2017
Docket Number: 14-1070
Justia Opinion Summary: After petitioner was convicted of conspiracy, selling unregistered securities, and mail fraud, the SEC barred petitioner from associating with six classes of securities market participants. The court agreed with…
Date: January 17, 2017
Docket Number: 15-3075
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal stems from the United States' attempt to extradite Nizar Trabelsi from Belgium based on a grand jury indictment for various conspiracy and terrorism offenses. The district court denied Trabelsi's motion to…
Date: January 17, 2017
Docket Number: 16-5047
Justia Opinion Summary: The ANSWER Coalition challenges a 2008 Park Service regulation authorizing a priority permit setting aside a fraction of those spaces for identified Presidential Inaugural Committee uses on Inauguration Day. The…
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