14 results for 'judge:"Thacker"'.
J. Thacker finds the lower court improperly granted judgment to the pipeline. The pipeline project acquired easements on properties along the pipeline’s route through condemnation actions pursuant to the Natural Gas Act. The property in question was encumbered by temporary and permanent easements on 8.37 acres. After the lower court granted the project immediate possession of the easements, the case proceeded to a jury trial to determine the amount of just compensation owed. After hearing from various appraisers, the jury rendered a $523,327 verdict. The lower court agreed with the project that the verdict resulted from the jury improperly mixing expert testimony. The jury’s $523,327 verdict can be supported by credited testimony without mixing different land use valuations, as the lower court assumed. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: May 14, 2024, Case #: 23-1532, Categories: Energy, Jury, Property
J. Thacker finds the lower court properly convicted the defendant of two counts of murder with a firearm during the commission of a drug trafficking crime and one count of killing a witness to prevent communication with law enforcement. The defendant robbed a fellow drug dealer before killing her and her 7-year-old son, whom he feared would testify. The defendant contends his rights were violated when investigators used a cell site simulator to obtain his location. The combination of his number being the last the deceased dialed and him being the last to see her, according to her family, is enough probable cause to believe that the location information sought is evidence of, or will lead to evidence of, the misdemeanor or felony being investigated. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 23-4013, Categories: Drug Offender, Evidence, Murder
J. Thacker finds the lower court improperly granted immunity to the healthcare provider. A patient's personal medical information was stolen during a cyberattack on the provider's computer system. Healthcare providers are immune from federal suits arising out of medical, surgical, dental, or related functions. The provider argued that the patient's medical information rises out of a medical function, but safeguarding data is not a medical function. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 22-2268, Categories: Health Care, Immunity, Negligence
J. Thacker finds that the lower court improperly denied the private school's motion to dismiss a student's civil rights suit. A student who suffered from sexual harassment and bullying sought to sue her private Christian school for violating Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. A tax exemption is not the same as receiving federal financial assistance, making the school not subject to Title IX. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 23-1453, Categories: Civil Rights, Education, First Amendment
J. Thacker finds the lower court properly denied the defendant's post-trial motion to vacate his conviction or order a new trial. The defendant, convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, believed he deserved a new trial after he learned that the government’s key witness had changed his story two weeks before trial. The government failed to disclose that information. The witness is irrelevant to the jury's decision because the evidence demonstrated that he had been sitting on the magazine, the gun was beside him, and he had a history of illegally possessing firearms. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 22-4617, Categories: Fair Trial, Firearms, Witnesses
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J. Thacker upheld the lower court’s decision to remand Annapolis and Anne Arundel County’s state-law tort and consumer protection lawsuits against many energy companies, which allegedly misrepresented or concealed information about their fossil fuel products. In at least 10 similar cases, energy firms have tried to remove the dispute to federal court: “The eleventh time is not the charm.”
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 22-1999, Categories: Energy, Environment, Consumer Law
J. Thacker finds the lower court properly read instructions to the jury. The sex offender argued that he did not need to register himself as a sex offender in West Virginia after traveling from Virginia because he was living at campsites rather than a permanent residence. A sex offender habitually lives in the relevant sense in any place in which the sex offender lives for at least 30 days. The sex offender stayed at the campsite he was arrested at for touching a minor for a little over two months. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 22-4595, Categories: Sex Offender, Child Victims, Child Pornography
J. Thacker finds the lower court improperly awarded attorney's fees to the Egyptian immigrant's neighbors. The immigrant suffered a year-long harassment campaign from her neighbors including vulgar text messages and threatening comments. The case was not without cause as the Home Owners' Association president told the immigrant that the neighbors were giving her problems due to her wearing a hijab giving her enough reason to believe she was being discriminated against based on her religion and place of origin. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: January 5, 2024, Case #: 21-1284, Categories: Attorney Fees
J. Thacker finds the lower court improperly denied the defendant's petition to vacate his sentence without providing discovery or an evidentiary hearing. The defendant pled guilty at the advice of his counsel for one count of illegal possession of a firearm as a felon despite contending since his arrest that the detective planted the gun and stole money from the defendant's home. Several years into the defendant's sentence, the detective and six other officers were charged with numerous crimes, including racketeering, Hobbs Act robbery and extortion, spanning the period between 2014 and 2016, when defendant was arrested. The lower court did not allow the defendant to participate in discovery to gather the evidence needed for his petition before denying it. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: 19-7861, Categories: Habeas, Police Misconduct, Prisoners' Rights
J. Thacker finds the lower court did not abuse its discretion when denying the male's motion to proceed using a pseudonym. The male claims the female lied about being sexually assaulted out of jealousy for him sleeping with another woman. He has to use his real name because if he were successful in proving defamation, his use of a pseudonym would prevent him from having an order that publicly clears him. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: October 26, 2023, Case #: 23-1058, Categories: Tort, Defamation, Assault
J. Thacker finds the lower court properly determined that the former intelligence official's non-selection for a permanent position resulted from the hiring official’s poor impression of her as a prospective employee and her attendance problems, stemming from a depressive episode, prior to the Family Medical Leave Act interference. The employee failed to meet her burden of proof to demonstrate that she was not selected for the permanent position because of the delay of her leave request. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 22-1498, Categories: Employment, Government
J. Thacker finds the lower court properly dismissed the professor's claim alleging he suffered adverse employment action in retaliation for unpopular protected speech. The professor allegedly insulted a colleague for suggesting adding a question on diversity into a student survey, insulted another colleague for taking shortcuts in hiring a Black employee, and criticize a scholarly convention many of his colleagues and students attended for becoming too "woke." However, he failed to allege a causal connection between the incidents and the alleged adverse employment action. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: July 6, 2023, Case #: 22-1712, Categories: Education, Employment Retaliation, First Amendment
J. Thacker finds the lower court properly entered a default judgment against the telemarketers. The telemarketers, accused of running an illegal telemarketing and consumer exploitation scheme, failed to respond accurately and fulsomely to numerous discovery requests and to comply with court orders pertaining to those requests. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: June 23, 2023, Case #: 22-1820, Categories: Consumer Law, Discovery
J. Thacker finds the lower court improperly dismissed the deliberate indifference charges against the prison nursing staff for failure to support a cause of action against them for a constitutional violation. The nursing staff violated the Fourteenth Amendment when they refused to take the incredibly unhealthy inmate suffering from heart complications due to drug withdrawals to the hospital when his blood pressure spiked. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: May 30, 2023, Case #: 20-7102, Categories: Constitution, Prisoners' Rights