261 results for 'court:"11th Circuit"'.
J. Tjoflat finds that the district court properly upheld the bankruptcy court's order denying a motion by the debtor's creditors to disqualify the special litigation counsel and finding that the special litigation counsel's omissions with regard to pre-petition connections with the debtors or creditors did not warrant sanctions. Counsel was not disqualified from representing the trustee due to its pre-petition representation of the real estate investment trust or other entities. Counsel's representation of the investment trust did not create a dispute between the bankruptcy estate and the investment trust or create a circumstance that could be considered a bias against the bankruptcy estate.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Tjoflat, Filed On: September 18, 2023, Case #: 21-10587, Categories: Bankruptcy, Sanctions
J. Luck finds that the district court improperly denied defendant's second motion to vacate his life sentence for armed bank robbery and other offenses. The district court lacked jurisdiction to decide the merits of defendant's motion. The U.S. Supreme Court did not announce a new rule of constitutional law that applies to the residual clause in the three-strikes law when it handed down its 2015 ruling related to the Armed Career Criminal Act in Johnson v. United States. Defendant was not sentenced under the Act's residual clause and he does not fall within the scope of the new rule established by Johnson. Vacated.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Luck, Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 20-13365, Categories: Sentencing, Jurisdiction
J. Mizelle finds that the district court properly dismissed the detention officers' class action against the sheriff and county under the Fair Labor Standards Act alleging improper calculation of overtime wages. In his individual capacity, the sheriff is not an employer under the Act. In his official capacity, the sheriff is entitled to immunity when making compensation decisions for employees because he is an arm of the state. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Mizelle, Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 21-10162, Categories: Immunity, Class Action, Labor
J. Wilson finds that the 11th Circuit lacks jurisdiction to consider whether the district court properly denied the holding company's motion to voluntarily dismiss the pipeline company from a third-party action arising after the city sued the holding company and two other entities to recover costs and damages related to soil contamination near a gas plant. The third-party action alleged that the pipeline company and others were liable for the release of pollutants. Parties who voluntarily dismissed their claims through joint stipulations did not all obtain signatures from all parties who appeared in the case, therefore the dismissals were ineffective and the claims remain before the district court. The judgment is not final on all of the claims.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Wilson, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 22-12419, Categories: Civil Procedure, Environment
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J. Pryor finds that the district court properly dismissed a civil rights action brought by the Medicaid provider of services to developmentally disabled children alleging that agency officials retaliated against the provider in violation of its Fourteenth and First Amendment rights by suspending payments and investigating it for fraud. The provider claimed the actions were in retaliation for challenging a fine and criticizing the agency in a motion for sanctions. The provider's civil rights damages claims are barred by qualified immunity. The provider did not have a right to be free from retaliation for exercising its due process right to challenge the fine. The provider also lacks standing to pursue injunctive relief. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Pryor, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 22-10319, Categories: Civil Rights, Medicaid, Due Process
J. Grant finds in an opinion which was originally non-published in August, that the district court properly convicted defendant of drug offenses. The Covid-19 accommodations which required grand jurors to meet in three separate courthouses and use videoconferencing to connect with each other did not introduce any fundamental error into defendant's prosecution or affect defendant's indictment. The district court correctly denied defendant's motion to suppress evidence obtained via wiretaps of his phone. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Grant, Filed On: September 8, 2023, Case #: 22-11809, Categories: Drug Offender
J. Grant finds that the district court properly ruled in favor of the employer in a race discrimination action brought by the meteorologist alleging that his termination for violating sexual harassment policies was pretextual and that he was actually fired because he is white. A termination request form filled out by the managers which included the employee's race and data on the race of weather employees at the news station does not prove that the employee was terminated because of his race. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Grant, Filed On: September 8, 2023, Case #: 22-11462, Categories: Employment Discrimination
J. Brasher finds that the district court improperly revoked defendant's probation and ordered his imprisonment based on a violation committed after his supervised release had lapsed but while he was a fugitive from justice. The district court incorrectly tolled defendant's period of supervised release based on his fugitive status for Florida law battery, which happened months after the scheduled expiration of defendant's supervised release term. However, the district court had jurisdiction to revoke defendant's supervision based on his earlier violations for not contacting his probation officer. The case is remanded for the district court to decide whether to revoke defendant's probation based on that violation alone. Vacated.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Brasher, Filed On: September 7, 2023, Case #: 22-13921, Categories: Probation
J. Jordan finds that the district court properly denied defendant's petition for habeas relief from his death sentence for murder. Defendant refused to follow through with his end of a plea agreement by testifying against his co-defendant. Defendant failed to show that he would have honored the plea agreement if his attorneys had done more to convince him to testify. Defendant has therefore not shown that he was prejudiced by his counsels' allegedly deficient performance. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Jordan, Filed On: September 6, 2023, Case #: 22-11459, Categories: Death Penalty, Habeas, Ineffective Assistance
J. Wilson finds that the district court properly denied defendant's habeas petition for relief from his death sentence for murder. Defendant failed to show that he was prejudiced by his sentencing counsel's failure to present additional evidence about his mental state at the time of the crime or his bipolar disorder. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Wilson, Filed On: September 5, 2023, Case #: 22-10329, Categories: Death Penalty, Habeas, Murder
J. Branch denies the employer's petition for review of the National Labor Relations Board's finding that the employer unlawfully suspended and fired an employee for activity protected under the National Labor Relations Act. The employer, which provides security for NASA, failed to show that the employee's activities in relaying employee concerns about shift changes or in calling human resources about payment issues were for the purposes of collective bargaining or undermined the union's position as the bargainer. The board's application for enforcement of its order requiring the employer to offer to reinstate the employee and stop engaging in its unfair labor practices is granted.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Branch, Filed On: September 5, 2023, Case #: 22-11339, Categories: Labor / Unions
J. Pryor finds that the district court properly ruled in favor of the school system and school officials in a civil rights and wrongful death action brought by the family members arising from the nine-year-old daughter's death by suicide due to racist bullying. The family failed to show that the officials or school system were deliberately indifferent to the bullying and race-based harassment the daughter faced. The daughter's teacher disciplined the bully for calling the daughter the n-word and the assistant principal put a safety plan in place. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Pryor, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: 22-11317, Categories: Civil Rights, Wrongful Death
J. Branch finds that the district court properly granted the college's motion to dismiss a race discrimination and retaliation action brought by the former fishing coach and compelled the case to arbitration. The district court correctly found that the arbitration agreement is not substantively or procedurally unconscionable. The coach failed to show that he is likely to incur any costs due to the cost-shifting provision in the agreement. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Branch, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 22-11556, Categories: Arbitration
J. Tjoflat finds that the district court properly convicted defendant of tampering with a witness. Defendant threatened to kill his girlfriend if she cooperated with police to perform a controlled drug buy from a dealer who once sold her fentanyl-laced heroin which killed her previous boyfriend. The district court correctly denied defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal. The government presented sufficient evidence showing defendant's intent to influence official proceedings related to the police investigation by threatening his girlfriend after she told him she was talking to a federal prosecutor about being a witness. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Tjoflat, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 21-11342, Categories: Threats, Witnesses
J. Pryor finds that the district court properly denied the pharmaceutical company's and executives' request for relief from $40 million in contempt sanctions for violating an injunction against making unsubstantiated claims regarding weight loss products to consumers. The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in AMG Capital Management v. Federal Trade Commission did not impact the district court's authority to enforce the injunction through equitable monetary relief. The district court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting the company's and executives' request for an accounting of funds collected by the FTC. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Pryor, Filed On: August 29, 2023, Case #: 21-14161, Categories: Contempt, Sanctions, Injunction
J. Pryor finds that the district court properly convicted defendant of Hobbs Act robbery, conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. The district court did not abuse its discretion by striking a juror for cause due to her answers to questions about her ability to be impartial. The juror, a Jehovah's Witness, could not confirm her ability to be fair and said she could not judge other people due to her religious beliefs and her lack of faith in the justice system. The district court correctly allowed police officers to offer lay opinion testimony identifying defendant in surveillance videos and photos. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Pryor, Filed On: August 29, 2023, Case #: 22-10179, Categories: Jury, Robbery
J. Carnes finds that the district court properly dismissed a father's federal and state false arrest claims in an action against the city. The action arose from the father's arrest and prosecution for murder after shooting his unarmed son. The father was later acquitted. The police officers had probable cause to believe that the father did not shoot the son in self-defense. The father failed to allege that the officers were offered but ignored exculpatory evidence that would have ruled out probable cause. The district court also correctly denied the father's motion for a new trial after a jury found in favor of the city on his civil rights claim arising from the search of his home. The district court did not commit any error by refusing to give a requested jury instruction on a custom or practice theory of municipal liability. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Carnes, Filed On: August 28, 2023, Case #: 20-11994, Categories: Civil Rights
J. Newsom finds that the district court properly convicted defendant of mailing a threatening communication and threatening a federal official. Defendant wrote in an objection to a federal magistrate judge's recommendation in a separate case that he was "threatening [the judge] with death and bodily harm." The objection also said defendant was "threatening [the judge] who is a woman of color with death" and included a link to a YouTube video of defendant holding a Black preacher's hand as a gospel hymn played. The district court correctly denied defendant's motion to dismiss the indictment. Although defendant was hospitalized for longer than the four months permitted by the statute, the violation does not warrant dismissal of the indictment. Any error committed by the district court in commenting on the religious language and imagery in the hymn when sentencing defendant to 60 months in prison was harmless. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Newsom, Filed On: August 28, 2023, Case #: 22-10509, Categories: Sentencing, Threats
J. Branch finds that the district court improperly ruled in favor of the competitor in an unfair competition and trademark infringement action brought by the company. The district court incorrectly found that the company could not sue because it was a nonexclusive licensee that lacked sufficient ownership rights to a nonparty manufacturer's marks. The licensing agreement between the company and the manufacturer did not bar the company from bringing a claim under the Lanham Act. The settlement agreement between the competitor and the manufacturer is not binding on licensees and therefore also does not prevent the company from suing. Vacated.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Branch, Filed On: August 22, 2023, Case #: 22-10985, Categories: Trademark, Unfair Competition
J. Rosenbaum finds that the district court properly ruled in favor of a police officer on an individual's false arrest claim in a civil rights action arising from the individual's arrest for operating a vehicle without a valid license and cocaine possession. The officer had probable cause to arrest the individual. A video of the moments before the arrest shows that the individual exited the driver's door of the vehicle immediately after the vehicle was parked and that the individual admitted to not having a driver's license with him. However, the district court incorrectly ruled in favor of the officer as to the individual's excessive force claim. There is no video evidence that the individual posed a threat to the officer such that it would be reasonable for the officer to slam the individual into the patrol car or overtighten the handcuffs. Affirmed in part.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Rosenbaum, Filed On: August 22, 2023, Case #: 21-10590, Categories: Civil Rights, Police Misconduct
J. Lagoa finds that the district court improperly entered a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of a provision of Alabama's Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act. The provision prohibited anyone from prescribing or administering puberty blockers to minors for the treatment of "discordance between the minor's biological sex and sense of gender identity." The healthcare providers, transgender minors and parents challenging the law failed to show that a constitutional right exists under the due process clause to treat children with transitioning medications subject to medically accepted standards. The provision targets specific medical interventions for minors and does not discriminate based on sex. Vacated.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Lagoa, Filed On: August 21, 2023, Case #: 22-11707, Categories: Civil Rights, Lgbtq
J. Marcus finds that the district court properly refused to vacate two arbitration awards entered against the consortium of companies for more than $265 million in an arbitration arising out of its construction work on the Panama Canal. The consortium failed to show that the arbitrators were biased just because some of them knew each other and had worked with each other or the other company's attorneys elsewhere. Although it would have been prudent for two arbitrators to give broader disclosures, there was no reason to believe they violated the rules of arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce. The district court correctly granted the cross-motion to confirm the awards. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Marcus, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 21-14408, Categories: Arbitration
J. Branch finds that the district court properly ruled in favor of the government in a negligence action brought by estate representatives alleging that the actions of air traffic controllers caused the deaths of student pilots and passengers on two airplanes which collided mid-air. The district court correctly found that the air traffic controllers did not owe or breach any duty of care to the pilots because the planes were outside the air traffic control tower's airspace. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Branch, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 22-12316, Categories: Negligence, Aviation
J. Wilson finds that the district court properly convicted defendant of structuring to evade reporting requirements. Defendant illegally structured two land-sale contract payments. There was sufficient evidence to support defendant's conviction, including evidence that he structured deposits to avoid reporting requirements by making 22 separate deposits under $10,000 over the course of seven days. The district court correctly instructed the jury. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Wilson, Filed On: August 17, 2023, Case #: 22-10947, Categories: Banking / Lending
J. Hinkle finds that the district court properly dismissed an action brought under the False Claims Act by the relators against the contractor, subcontractor, manufacturer and distributor arising from the delivery of defective pipe fittings for installation in nuclear attack submarines. The relators failed to allege with particularity that any false claim was submitted or paid. The relators also did not state with particularity what caused either the manufacturer or distributor to fail to discover the defects in the parts. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Hinkle, Filed On: August 17, 2023, Case #: 21-13673, Categories: False Claims, Military
J. Covington finds that the district court properly convicted one defendant of health care fraud, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and related offenses for her role in a scheme to defraud insurance companies. Sufficient evidence was presented to support defendant's convictions, including evidence that she used individuals' identities to refill prescriptions and knew prescriptions were bogus but made no effort to stop fraudulent conduct at the pharmacy. Another defendant was properly convicted of conspiracy, health care fraud and mail fraud but incorrectly convicted of aggravated identity theft. Defendant misrepresented whether a prescription was medically necessary but did not forge the name of a prescribing doctor or misrepresent who would be receiving the prescription. Affirmed in part.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Covington, Filed On: August 17, 2023, Case #: 21-11621, Categories: Fraud, Identity Theft
J. Pryor finds that the district court properly convicted defendants of various charges including racketeering conspiracy involving murder, carjacking, attempted robbery and firearm offenses. Defendants are members of the Gangster Disciples gang. The district court correctly refused to play a video for the jury venire about unconscious bias and did not abuse its discretion by refusing to ask questions during voir dire about unconscious bias. The district court correctly refused to admit expert opinion testimony about the nature and structure of the gang and correctly refused to suppress evidence obtained through an extended wiretap of one defendant's phone. Three defendants' rights were not violated when the district court ordered them to wear ankle restraints throughout the trial. However, one defendant's firearm conviction under the Armed Career Criminal Act must be vacated in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's finding in United States v. Taylor that attempted Hobbs Act robbery is not a crime of violence under the statute. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Pryor, Filed On: August 16, 2023, Case #: 19-15024, Categories: Sentencing, Racketeering, Gangs
Per curiam, the 11th Circuit grants the individual's motion to dismiss the instant appeal and vacates the panel opinion. The company dissolved weeks before the case was decided and the case was therefore moot at the time of the panel decision. Vacated.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 20-14846, Categories: Civil Procedure
J. Branch finds that the district court properly ruled in favor of Royal Caribbean in a maritime negligence action brought by a passenger arising from injuries she suffered during a muster drill on a cruise ship. The passenger claimed a cruise line employee rushed her down stairs and caused her to fall. The district court correctly found that the passenger failed to provide sufficient evidence to create a dispute of fact as to medical causation. The passenger's testimony related to her neck injury is not medical expert testimony and her doctor's letter was not specific enough to link the passenger's disc disease to her fall. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Branch, Filed On: August 14, 2023, Case #: 22-11569, Categories: Maritime, Negligence