385 results for 'court:"9th Circuit"'.
J. Miller grants in part and denies in part a petition for review brought by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and several environmental organizations challenging orders adopted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that alter which facilities qualify for benefits under the Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA) and how those facilities are compensated. FERC violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to prepare an environmental assessment before issuing the order. Although FERC's failure to prepare an assessment was a serious violation of the order, that order "does not suffer from fundamental flaws making it unlikely that FERC could adopt the same rule on remand."
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Miller, Filed On: September 5, 2023, Case #: 20-72788, Categories: Environment
J. Bybee finds that the district court properly dismissed a matter brought by an environmental group alleging that the United States Forest Service was liable as a contributor under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) by failing to regulate the use of lead ammunition by hunters in the Kaibab National Forest in Arizona. The group claimed that even though Forest Service activity was not the direct source of any lead ammunition in the Khabib, the Forest Service was liable as a contributor under RCRA. The Forest Service’s choice not to regulate "does not manifest the type of actual, active control contemplated by RCRA." Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Bybee, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: 21-15907, Categories: Environment
J. McKeown finds that the district court properly dismissed a complaint with prejudice after a practicing attorney sued a municipal court judge, a prosecutor, and the City of St. Helens, Oregon, in state court as a pro se litigant. The attorney contends that he disqualified the judge from hearing his client’s case through oral motion and alleges that the judge ignored this disqualification. The attorney filed an informal pro se brief and argued that he should have been granted leave to amend his complaint. There are good reasons for awarding leeway to pro se parties who presumably are unskilled in the law, but that logic does not apply to practicing attorneys. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: 22-35471, Categories: Judiciary
J. Sanchez grants a petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' dismissal of an appeal of an immigration judge’s order denying defendant's application for cancellation of removal. A conviction under a certain section of the Oregon Revised Statute does not constitute a crime involving moral turpitude stemming from a previous incident for threatening his wife with a bread knife.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Sanchez, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 20-73447, Categories: Immigration
J. Collins finds that the district court properly entered judgment in a matter in which an immigrant entered a conditional guilty plea to unlawful reentry by a previously removed alien. The immigrant claimed that his indictment should have been dismissed on the ground that the removal order underlying his unlawful reentry charge was invalid due to an error by the immigration judge. The immigrant was still subject to a general rule in which he may not challenge the validity of his predicate removal order. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Collins, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 21-10260, Categories: Immigration
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J. Sanchez finds that the district court properly entered a sentence after defendant immigrant pleaded guilty to attempted reentry following removal. The district court’s factual finding that the immigrant had assured the court at the prior sentencing hearing that he would not return to the United States is supported by the record. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Sanchez, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 22-50112, Categories: Immigration
J. Bybee finds that the district court improperly dismissed a commercial property landlord's complaint alleging that the County of Los Angeles’ 2020 eviction moratorium, enacted for the outbreak of Covid-19, violated his rights under the Contracts Clause of the United States Constitution. The moratorium provided tenants with an affirmative defense against eviction if they gave monthly notice to the landlord that they were unable to pay rent. Those allegations were sufficient to plead an injury in fact. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Bybee, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 22-55480, Categories: Landlord Tenant, Covid-19, Contract
J. Bress finds that the district court improperly denied qualified immunity to a police officer in an action alleging that the officer used unreasonable deadly force when he shot and killed an individual in a police incident at a 24-Hour Fitness gym to investigate an apparent trespasser who was causing a disturbance. The officer's use of deadly force did not violate clearly established law given the specific circumstances he encountered. It was undisputed that the officer and another officer repeatedly warned the individual to stand down, tried to use non-lethal force and engaged in a violent struggle in a confined space with the individual, who had gained control of a taser. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Bress, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 20-56254, Categories: Immunity, Police Misconduct
J. Gan upholds the bankruptcy court's denial of a bakery's motion to assume and assign a settlement agreement that provides for the release of the bakery's $46 million liability to a pension fund. The agreement is not considered an executory contract because the fund's obligation to release the bakery's liability is not due until the bakery pays the agreed-upon $3 million settlement. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Gan, Filed On: August 29, 2023, Case #: EC-23-1001-GLB, Categories: Bankruptcy, Settlements
J. Callahan finds that the district court improperly entered summary judgment in favor of the City and County of San Francisco in an action challenging the City’s Healthy Airport Ordinance. The ordinance requires airlines that contract with the City to use San Francisco International Airport to provide employees with certain health insurance benefits. A representative of the airlines claimed that by enacting the ordinance and amending San Francisco International Airport's contract with the airlines, the City acted as a government regulator and not as a market participant. Civil penalty provisions carried the force of law and therefore made the City and County of San Francisco a regulator. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Callahan, Filed On: August 29, 2023, Case #: 22-15677, Categories: Employment, Health Care, Municipal Law
J. Smith finds that the district court properly denied a habeas corpus petition challenging defendant's California conviction for making criminal threats and assault with a deadly weapon. The victim was not authorized to reside in the United States at the time of the crimes and later received a U-Visa, which provides immigration benefits for victims of certain crimes who cooperate with law enforcement. At trial, the court barred defendant from cross-examining the victim about his U-Visa status, which defendant claimed was relevant to the victim's credibility. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Smith, Filed On: August 25, 2023, Case #: 20-55816, Categories: Habeas, Immigration, Assault
J. Fletcher finds that the district court properly dismissed a class claim against two individuals and vacated the dismissal as to claims involving another individual in a matter in which the class alleges that a graphics card manufacturer knowingly made misleading and false statements regarding the impact of cryptocurrency sales on its financial performance "to conceal the extent to which NVIDIA’s revenue growth depended on the notoriously volatile demand for cryptocurrency." Class members alleged that the three individual defendants had actual knowledge that increases in demand for the manufacturer's gaming-segment products were largely driven by crypto-related sales. Affirmed in part.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Fletcher, Filed On: August 25, 2023, Case #: 21-15604, Categories: Securities, Technology
J. Hamilton finds that the district court properly entered summary judgment for a psychiatrist at Patton State Hospital in California in an action where a patient alleged that he was attacked by a fellow patient while he was a pretrial detainee and a patient at the hospital. The patient offered no evidence that the psychiatrist failed to act reasonably concerning the attack and found in favor of the psychiatrist on the merits rather than based on the defense of qualified immunity. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Hamilton, Filed On: August 25, 2023, Case #: 22-55588, Categories: Civil Rights, Prisoners' Rights
J. Christen finds that the district court properly ordered special conditions of supervised release. The district court did not unconstitutionally delegate its judicial authority when it ordered a specific time range for defendant's inpatient substance treatment. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Christen, Filed On: August 25, 2023, Case #: 22-10203, Categories: Constitution, Sentencing
J. Nelson finds that the district court improperly granted inmates a twelve-month extension of a settlement agreement in which the State of California agreed to stop housing inmates in solitary confinement for long-term or indefinite periods based on affiliation with gangs. There was no basis for extending the agreement based on the inmates’ claim that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and state officials regularly mischaracterizes the confidential information used in disciplinary hearings. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Nelson, Filed On: August 24, 2023, Case #: 21-15839, Categories: Civil Rights, Settlements
J. Bade finds that the district court properly entered an order in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in a case involving product liability from a medical company which makes and markets medical devices, including blood clot filters. For several years, the company defended against product liability lawsuits alleging that its retrievable blood clot filters caused injuries and deaths. The district court’s order requiring common benefit fund assessments in the non-MDL cases was within the scope of the district court’s authority. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Bade, Filed On: August 24, 2023, Case #: 22-15872, Categories: Product Liability
J. Bumatay finds that the district court properly made a finding of contempt on certain counts in a software copyright infringement litigation. The permanent injunction generally prohibited a company from preparing derivative works from or distributing certain types of the copyright holder's software. However, the lower court improperly held the company in contempt for creating copies of the copyright holder's Database file on its systems. Affirmed in part.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Bumatay, Filed On: August 24, 2023, Case #: 22-15188, Categories: Copyright
J. Lee denies a petition for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The panel rejected an immigrant's suggestion that Immigration Judges and BIA members are principal officers who must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. They are inferior officers and their appointments may be vested in the head of a department.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: August 24, 2023, Case #: 18-71987, Categories: Immigration
J. Tashima finds that the district court properly entered judgment on a third revocation of defendant's supervised release. An appeal challenging a supervised release revocation is "not the proper avenue through which to attack the validity of the underlying sentence." Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Tashima, Filed On: August 24, 2023, Case #: 23-50012, Categories: Sentencing
J. Anello vacates a previous opinion and replaces with a new opinion granting a petition for panel rehearing and denying as moot a petition for rehearing in a matter concerning ERISA liability for breach of fiduciary duties and wrongful denial of benefits. The beneficiaries have standing to bring their claims. The beneficiaries sufficiently allege a concrete injury as to their fiduciary duty claim.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Anello, Filed On: August 22, 2023, Case #: 20-17363, Categories: Employment, Erisa
J. Miller finds that the district court properly denied a company’s motion to dismiss a complaint filed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that sought an order affirming the assessment of a civil penalty against the company and one of its traders for making "unlawful manipulative trades in the California energy market." The company contended that FERC’s federal district court action was untimely, but the claim was within the five-year statute of limitations. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Miller, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 22-15584, Categories: Energy, Trade
J. Nelson finds that the district court properly entered summary judgment in favor of Nevada prison officials in a matter in which an inmate claims that the officials denied him meaningful access to the courts under the First Amendment. The inmate alleged that the practice of requiring lockdown inmates to use a paging system to request law library materials, instead of physically visiting the law library, deprived him of access to the courts. The inmate could not show actual injury and therefore lacked standing. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Nelson, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 21-15044, Categories: First Amendment, Prisoners' Rights
J. Gould finds that the district court properly entered judgment in favor of the City and County of San Francisco after officers arrested an individual. The police had probable cause to conduct the arrest of the individual. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Gould, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 21-16547, Categories: Civil Rights
J. Wardlaw finds that the district court properly issued an order preliminarily enjoining Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act , which is a ban on the participation of transgender individuals in women’s student athletics. The district court did not abuse its discretion when it found that the athletes were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the Act violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Wardlaw, Filed On: August 17, 2023, Case #: 20-35813, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Education
J. McKeown finds that the district court properly entered judgment imposing over $8 million in penalties against a taxpayer for promoting a tax-avoidance scheme that involved charitable deductions claimed in connection with the donation of unwanted timeshares. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: August 17, 2023, Case #: 22-35208, Categories: Tax
Per curiam, the Ninth Circuit finds that the district court improperly denied the County of Riverside's motion for judgment after an individual alleged due process and civil rights violations by suppressing another person’s confession to a murder for which the individual was arrested and held for almost four years before the charges were dismissed. The individual failed to show prejudice from the nondisclosure of the confession. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 22-55614, Categories: Civil Rights
Per curiam, the Ninth Circuit denies a petition for panel rehearing in a case in which the panel remanded a matter for the Board of Immigration Appeals to reassess the evidence under the correct legal framework.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 19-70961, Categories: Immigration
J. Collins finds that the district court properly entered a sentence following a guilty plea to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Defendant argued that the district court should not consider his prior 2004 federal convictions in determining his sentencing range. Neither the Constitution nor any federal statute granted defendant a right to challenge the validity of his 2004 convictions in connection with their use in enhancing his sentence. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Collins, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 21-30277, Categories: Firearms, Sentencing
J. Gould vacates a Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) denial of a petition for discretionary review of a plan to construct 72 wind turbines to generate renewable energy in Southern California. The FAA’s rejection of the organization's petition for discretionary review for the sole reason that the organization did not comment on the aeronautical study of the project was arbitrary.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Gould, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 21-71426, Categories: Environment, Public Record