15 results for 'judge:"Gregory "'.
[Consolidated.] J. Gregory finds the lower court properly granted summary judgment to the transgender health plan members in a challenge to the North Carolina State Health Plan and West Virginia Medicaid plans' exclusion of coverage for gender-affirming surgery. The exclusion of coverage for treatment of gender dysphoria exclusively targets transgender citizens in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory , Filed On: April 29, 2024, Case #: 22-1721, Categories: Constitution, Health Care, Lgbtq
J. Gregory finds the lower court improperly denied the defendant's appeal for compassionate release without fully considering each of his arguments. The defendant, serving a 210-month prison sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin, petitioned the court for compassionate release on the grounds that there has been a change in the law regarding his career offender status. Virginia robbery no longer constitutes a violent felony under the Armed Career Criminal Act, invalidating his career offender guidelines designation. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory , Filed On: April 18, 2024, Case #: 21-7325, Categories: Drug Offender, Robbery, Sentencing
J. Gregory finds that the lower court properly quashed a subpoena initiated to obtain an oral deposition of the Australian company's employees. In this trademark dispute, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is prohibited from seeking a discovery deposition. The Melbourne-based company has only the bare minimum corporate presence in Virginia to apply for a trademark, and can only be compelled to produce written discovery.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory, Filed On: March 13, 2024, Case #: 22-1871, Categories: Civil Procedure, Trademark, Discovery
J. Gregory finds the lower court improperly convicted the doctor on 861 counts of the unauthorized prescription of opioids. The government misstated the law in the jury instructions by failing to state that the doctor could only be convicted if he knew that his conduct in prescribing opioids to substance abusers was unauthorized. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory, Filed On: February 2, 2024, Case #: 19-4761, Categories: Drug Offender, Jury Instructions
J. Gregory finds the lower court properly sentenced the defendant. The defendant pleaded guilty to a single count of possession of a stolen firearm stemming from a robbery of a sports equipment store, and his sentence was enhanced due to him being an unlawful user of controlled substances and being under indictment for a felony at the time of the offense. The defendant told the police in an interview that he was addicted to cannabis and had smoked up until 2021, which is well past the commission of his state and federal crimes meaning he admitted to being an unlawful drug user contemporaneous with his arrest. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory, Filed On: January 4, 2024, Case #: 22-4426, Categories: Drug Offender, Firearms, Sentencing
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J. Gregory finds the lower court improperly applied a four-level sentence enhancement for possession of a firearm in connection with another felony offense. The defendant was convicted for possession of a gun as both a felon and someone subject to a domestic violence protective order. You can not be punished more severely for violating multiple provisions with the same act of possession. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory, Filed On: December 13, 2023, Case #: 21-4235, Categories: Firearms, Sentencing
J. Gregory finds the lower court improperly affirmed the Social Security Administration���s denial of the retail worker's application for disability benefits. The retail worker's chronic back pain has caused headaches, neck pain, weakness and numbness in her bilateral upper extremities. The administration cannot discount her doctor's opinions about the intensity of her pain because she declined steroid injections. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory, Filed On: December 11, 2023, Case #: 21-2193, Categories: Employment, Social Security
J. Gregory finds the lower court improperly dismissed the husband's complaint for failure to state a claim. The husband, whose wife killed herself in jail, presented enough evidence that the correctional officer in charge ignored that she had a heightened suicide risk and put her in an isolation cell where she went for long stretches unchecked. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory, Filed On: December 8, 2023, Case #: 21-1396, Categories: Civil Rights, Negligence, Prisoners' Rights
J. Gregory finds the lower court improperly abused its discretion in denying the defendant's motion for a sentence reduction. The defendant would be subject to two five-year mandatory minimums, rather than a five-year and a twenty-five-year mandatory minimum if sentenced for his two firearm possession in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime offenses today due to the First Step Act. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory , Filed On: August 16, 2023, Case #: 21-7752, Categories: Firearms, Sentencing, Prisoners' Rights
J. Gregory finds the lower court improperly dismissed the murderer's motion to review his 2013 federal habeas petition, which was denied for being untimely, on the grounds that his multiple mental health disabilities had prevented him from effectively petitioning the court. Following his arrest for the murders of his ex-wife and her boyfriend, he was twice found incompetent to stand trial and was twice admitted to a hospital for treatment to restore his competency. His motion was filed within a reasonable time, given the extensive evidence documenting his severe mental disabilities. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory , Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 20-6351, Categories: Competence, Habeas, Murder
J. Gregory finds the lower court properly denied the defendant's motion to dismiss his life sentence for hiring a friend to kill his mistress's husband. The defendant argues that recent Supreme Court decisions mean his predicate offenses, aiding and abetting carjacking resulting in death and murder with a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, no longer qualify as crimes of violence. Aiding and abetting a carjacking resulting in death remains a crime of violence under either the law's force or elements clause. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory, Filed On: August 10, 2023, Case #: 21-7171, Categories: Murder, Sentencing, Conspiracy
J. Gregory finds that the lower court properly found in favor of the suing real estate company in a years-long dispute between the two real estate companies for the trademark "Dewberry." The two companies agreed to a contract outlining how each can and cannot use the name, but the other real estate company clearly violated the agreement when it changed its logo during rebranding. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory , Filed On: August 9, 2023, Case #: 22-1622, Categories: Real Estate, Trademark
J. Gregory finds the lower court improperly denied the defendant's motion to suppress evidence. After catching someone leaving the defendant's home with a small amount of cocaine, the office confronted the defendant and offered not to report him if he handed over his drugs. The officer breached his promise of not reporting the defendant when weeks later, he obtained warrants to search the defendant's home where large amounts of cocaine were found. Non-arrest agreements, like non-prosecution and plea agreements, are enforceable against the government. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory , Filed On: July 17, 2023, Case #: 22-4134, Categories: Drug Offender, Evidence
J. Gregory finds the lower court properly denied the state officials' sovereign immunity. The company claims that the issued citations for the deaths of two employees were unlawful because they stemmed from North Carolina���s occupational health and safety plan, which in their view, violates the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act. The officials do not get immunity because they are alleged to be acting in violation of the Constitution. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 22-1465 , Categories: Employment, Immunity, Agency
J. Gregory finds the lower court improperly dismissed the defendant's claim as untimely. Defendant's crime of murdering people in a drug robbery no longer qualifies as a crime of violence after the Supreme Court found the term unconstitutionally vague. The defendant filed his claims within a year of the court's decision. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory, Filed On: May 16, 2023, Case #: 16-7168, Categories: Firearms, Murder, Sentencing