545 results for 'court:"5th Circuit"'.
J. Wilson finds the district court properly dismissed this insurance dispute for lack of jurisdiction. The Texas subsidiary of the covered parent company is the only involved entity with connections to Texas. The parent company is based in Connecticut, and its insurance policy with the Illinois-based insurance company was negotiated in New York. The Texas company exercised its forum shopping privilege beyond its scope. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Wilson , Filed On: January 18, 2024, Case #: 23-50004, Categories: Insurance, Jurisdiction
J. Willett finds the district court properly granted the book vendor's request for a preliminary injunction against the commissioner of the Texas Education Agency. The vendors sued for injunctive relief that Texas' READER Act, which requires schoolbook vendors to issue ratings for all library materials they have ever sold (or will sell), flagging materials deemed sexually explicit, violates the constitution. Because the vendors are likely to succeed on the merits of their first amendment claim, the state and the public will not be injured by the injunction. Affirmed in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Willett , Filed On: January 17, 2024, Case #: 23-50668, Categories: Constitution, Education, Agency
J. Graves finds the Board of Immigration Appeals improperly denied the Honduran citizen's motion to reopen his removal proceedings, and both parties agree the circuit should vacate and remand. The board erroneously denied the motion without resolving the issue of statutory provisions relating to an unaccompanied minor's sexual orientation and his experiences with threats of violence in Honduras. The board failed to determine whether the immigrant's sexual orientation was new and previously unavailable evidence in support of asylum eligibility. Vacated.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Graves , Filed On: January 17, 2024, Case #: 21-60681, Categories: Immigration, Due Process, Lgbtq
J. Duncan finds the district court properly denied defendant's habeas petition in which he sought relief from a state murder conviction wherein he received the death penalty. Defendant's claims of ineffective assistance as to trial counsel's actions involving jury selection and pretrial discovery were not properly briefed before the state appeals court. He has not shown the court would have ruled in his favor even with proper briefing. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan , Filed On: January 16, 2024, Case #: 19-70008, Categories: Habeas, Ineffective Assistance, Murder
J. Graves finds the district court improperly found for an insurer on an airline's contract action arising from the insurer's denial of its claim for reimbursement for a massive computer system failure. The airline submitted evidence showing the insurer argued the system failure was not the “but for” cause of four of the five categories of loss in dispute, and the district court’s order is unclear as to its view of this evidence. Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Graves, Filed On: January 16, 2024, Case #: 22-10942, Categories: Insurance, Transportation, Contract
Want access to unlimited case records and advanced research tools? Create your free CasePortal account now. No credit card required to register.
Try CasePortal for Free
J. Smith finds the district court properly granted the police officers' motion to dismiss a mother's excessive force claims arising from the death of her son, who was killed after leading officers on a high-speed chase, then exiting his vehicle with a gun in his hands. Though the officers fired 19 times, hitting the deceased party 16 times, the use of force was justified. Body cam shows the deceased party exiting his vehicle with a gun and pointing it at one of the officers. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Smith, Filed On: January 16, 2024, Case #: 22-11210, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Police Misconduct
Per curiam, the circuit finds the district court improperly granted the workers' compensation provider's motion for summary judgment in a case where a worker was killed during the building of a hydrocarbon processing facility. The liability provider funded the settlement on behalf of the builder, while the workers' comp provider partially funded it on behalf of the subcontractor. The liability provider has sufficiently alleged the worker was an employee of the subcontractor while simultaneously working for the builder, which satisfies the insurance program's voluntary compensation and employers’ liability endorsement. Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: January 12, 2024, Case #: 23-20026, Categories: Construction, Insurance, Wrongful Death
Per curiam, the circuit finds the district court properly denied defendant's petition for habeas corpus. Defendant, an American citizen, was convicted in Mexico for aggravated homicide, where he served some of his sentence before being transferred to the U.S. Though he says he was incorrectly disallowed certain time credits, the Mexican charge is dissimilar to the U.S. charge of first-degree murder and he had not finished serving the Mexican sentence when he was transferred. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: January 12, 2024, Case #: 23-50406, Categories: Habeas, Murder, International Law
Per curiam, the circuit finds the district court properly convicted and sentenced defendant by guilty plea for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Defendant, the mayor of her city, inflated costs for construction projects and paid herself kickbacks from loan funds. There is no conflict in an apparent discrepancy between the oral pronouncement of sentencing and restitution, and the written order. It does not place a greater burden on defendant, for joint-and-several liability as to the $280,000 restitution amount presumes her codefendants could, in theory, pay portions of the amount and lessen her total liability. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: January 12, 2024, Case #: 22-40301, Categories: Fraud, Sentencing, Due Process
J. Graves finds the district court properly granted Allstate's motion to dismiss. Allstate denied the driver's uninsured motorist claim after the at-fault driver's insurance covered $25,000 in damages. The driver failed to plausibly allege the at-fault driver's vehicle qualified as an uninsured motor vehicle. Furthermore, his claim Allstate's diminished value exclusion violates public policy fails because nothing has been shown diminished value is required to be a part of all automobile insurance policies. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Graves , Filed On: January 12, 2024, Case #: 23-60141, Categories: Administrative Law, Insurance, Vehicle
J. Duncan finds the district court properly imposed an above-guidelines sentence for defendant's conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Defendant's story about how he came to have the gun changed multiple times, culminating in his unsuccessful attempt to persuade an acquaintance to sign an affidavit saying it is hers. With 14 adult convictions at the age of 33, all but three of the convictions had no recorded disposition or had been dismissed. All testimony was properly admitted, and all sentencing enhancements were properly applied. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan , Filed On: January 12, 2024, Case #: 23-30053, Categories: Evidence, Firearms, Sentencing
[Consolidated] J. Southwick denies Texas and an energy company's petition for review of the EPA's designation of certain Texas counties as having below-national air quality standards. Although the EPA reclassified the counties as "unclassified" due to inconclusive data following its original classification, and then, later, reclassified them again as below standards, it did not originally have the authority to wait for future data before making the designation. The EPA may change designations based only on available data. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Southwick , Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 17-60088, Categories: Environment, Due Process, Agency
J. Southwick finds the district court improperly held the contract to inspect and repair lifeboats on oil platforms is not a maritime contract. After two workers were killed in a lifeboat accident, the district court decided that since the vessel itself was not engaged in maritime commerce the contract is not a maritime contract, which effects whether indemnity might be owed. Though the platform itself may or may not be considered a vessel, depending on if its legs are attached to the sea floor, the lifeboats themselves are not required to be engaged in maritime commerce. Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Southwick , Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 22-30582, Categories: Insurance, Maritime, Negligence
J. Willett, withdrawing the previous opinion and substituting another, finds the district court improperly found in favor of journalists on the pre-enforcement claims filed by various photographers and press organizations who lost income due to the possibility of being sued for flying drones in sensitive airspace. Nothing in the First Amendment or binding precedent permits an unqualified right to conduct aerial surveillance on non-consenting private individuals on private property. Reversed in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Willett , Filed On: January 10, 2024, Case #: 22-50337, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution
J. Ho finds the district court properly denied the Harris County officer's motion for summary judgment and dismisses the appeal for want of jurisdiction. After the driver received a parking ticket, he and the ticketing officer stopped at a gas station where an exchange occurred, and the driver began videotaping. The driver followed the officer after leaving the gas station, though it is disputed whether this was intentional or incidental. The driver was stopped again, ordered to exit his car and tased in the process. All events were captured on the driver's cell phone or the officer's body cam, showing no resistance made by the driver. The video evidence supports the conclusion the driver was complying with the officer's commands, which is sufficient to overcome qualified immunity.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Ho, Filed On: January 10, 2024, Case #: 22-20644, Categories: Evidence, Police Misconduct
Per curiam, the circuit finds the district court improperly found for certain county employees and medical contractors in a wrongful death action filed by the family of the pretrial detainee who died in the county jail from Addison’s disease complications. The decedent was arrested for chasing her daughter with scissors, and pleadings involving supervisory liability related to a denied personal recognizance bond necessary for hospitalization are sufficient to survive dismissal. Vacated in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 22-40559, Categories: Health Care, Wrongful Death, Prisoners' Rights
J. Wilson finds the district court properly dismissed a deckhand's injury action. A towing company was improperly joined as a party and, therefore, the district court properly disregarded disregarded and dismissed it, which left no defendants. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Wilson , Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 23-30112, Categories: Admiralty, Tort, Negligence
J. Higginson finds the district court properly found for a university on a black administrative coordinator's sexual harassment and retaliation suit. The record demonstrates the university took prompt remedial action after an investigation supported her claim that a veterinarian had slapped her on the buttocks. Furthermore, she fails to show the university's reasons for relocating her were pretextual. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Higginson , Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 22-30699, Categories: Education, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Jones vacates a jury verdict and $6.5 million penalty against a holdings company and broker following the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's trial against them concerning the broker's discretionary trading for an account over which he had power of attorney in the same markets where he acted as a broker for other clients. The company lacked fair notice of the commission's new interpretation of a rule barring a broker's "taking the other side of orders." The rule applies only to brokers who have a financial interest and not who merely “make the decision to trade opposite the order and execute [that] trade.” Vacated in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: EOX Holdings Jones, Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 22-20622 , Categories: Administrative Law, Securities, Agency
J. Oldham grants a petition for review of a decision by the Department of Energy to tighten regulations for dishwashers and washing machines. It is unclear the department has authority to regulate water use in those appliances. Furthermore, its new rule also fails to adequately consider appliance performance and substitution effects, as well as evidence that conservation standards are actually resulting in more energy and water use. The department must consider remedies short of repeal of existing rules.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Oldham , Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 22-60146 , Categories: Administrative Law, Energy, Environment
Per curiam, the circuit finds the district court properly denied the Louisiana Department of Corrections secretary's motion to dismiss this suit for overdetention. The inmate, convicted on drug charges, was transferred to a processing facility before his admission to another facility for inpatient treatment pending release. A department employee sent his release letter to the treatment facility, and the inmate was found at the transfer facility to be unfit for treatment due to a mental impairment. He was not transferred for treatment, and his release letter was never sent to the transfer facility. The secretary, due to several other instances of overdetention, has been warned of his failure to address the issue and is not eligible for qualified immunity. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: January 5, 2024, Case #: 22-30180, Categories: Civil Rights, Immunity, Prisoners' Rights
[Consolidated] J. Engelhardt finds the district court improperly sentenced defendant, a Barrio Azteca member, for the murder of a U.S. consulate employee in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico, among others. Although the district court believed a consecutive life sentence for each of the murders was mandatory, while this case was pending, the Supreme Court held the bar on concurrent sentences does not extend to a sentence imposed under the applied code. Reversed in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Engelhardt , Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 22-50951, Categories: Murder, Sentencing, International Law
J. Elrod denies the El Salvadoran native's petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ denial of her application for asylum. She failed to show her government would be unable to control her persecutor. Evidence showed the Salvadoran government arrested and detained a man who had raped the petitioner, removed his first two attorneys after they were reported for offering her money to drop the case, and pursued the case even after she stopped cooperating.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Elrod , Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 22-60554, Categories: Evidence, Immigration
J. Douglas finds the district court properly denied qualified immunity to employees of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which had found exigent circumstances justified the emergency removal of the 4-year-old child from his mother without parental consent or court order. The removal of a child without parental consent, court order or exigent circumstances violates clearly established rights of the child and mother, which precludes qualified immunity. Affirmed in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Douglas , Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 23-20107, Categories: Constitution, Family Law, Agency
[Consolidated] J. Oldham grants the e-cigarette manufacturers' petitions for review of the Food and Drug Administration's denial of their applications for premarket tobacco approval. The FDA sent the manufacturers on a "wild goose chase" of regulatory requirements before pretending "it never gave ... instructions ... [and] imposed new testing requirements without notice." The FDA’s standards for adjudicating premarket tobacco applications are discretionary, the applications being highly fact-specific. Such decisions must turn on the agency's changing understanding of public health requirements and the harmless-error rule does not apply.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Oldham, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 21-60766, Categories: Administrative Law, Commerce
J. Engelhardt finds the district court properly enjoined the Department of Health and Human Services' guidance on the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, allegedly requiring providers to perform elective abortions. Texas alleges the guidance mandates elective abortions in excess of the department's authority and contrary to state law. The injunction is not overbroad, and the Act does not mandate abortion care. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Engelhardt , Filed On: January 2, 2024, Case #: 23-10246, Categories: Health Care, Agency, Injunction
Per curiam, the circuit finds the district court improperly sentenced defendant for his conviction on charges for possession with intent to distribute marijuana and meth following a search of his vehicle that revealed 450 pounds of marijuana, loaded AR-15 magazines and 154 grams of meth. A 2-level sentencing enhancement was applied for his being an organizer of the activity, as well as a 3-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility, which resulted in a guideline level of 29. However, the 108-month sentence he received reflects the low end of level of 30, requiring review. Reversed in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: 22-50787, Categories: Drug Offender, Immigration, Sentencing
J. Willett finds the district court improperly denied one defendant's motion for a new trial on robbery and conspiracy charges related to the deadly robbery of a Loomis truck. New evidence emerged regarding the credibility of government witnesses, which is material as applied to one defendant; therefore, the prosecutor's disclosure of it must be reviewed. The armored truck company does not tally money by serial number, and money found in this defendant’s house would have to have been connected to the robbery by denomination. Evidence suggests the money may have been from defendant's employer, who paid him in cash. Reversed in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Willett , Filed On: December 22, 2023, Case #: 22-30238, Categories: Evidence, Robbery, Conspiracy
J. Clement finds the district court improperly certified the class action against State Farm. Vehicle owners seeking actual cash value, according to their insurance contracts, for totaled vehicles, disagree with the source used by State Farm to determine that amount. The source used by State Farm is one of many acceptable industry sources and the class cannot show a class-wide injury. Vacated.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Clement , Filed On: December 22, 2023, Case #: 22-30126, Categories: Insurance, Vehicle, Class Action
J. Elrod finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for various drug trafficking and firearm charges based on sufficient evidence. Quantities of cocaine and firearms were discovered in defendant's possession, and evidence was properly admitted through the independent source doctrine, which allows for information arrived through an independent source. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Elrod , Filed On: December 21, 2023, Case #: 22-30690, Categories: Drug Offender, Evidence, Firearms