385 results for 'court:"9th Circuit"'.
J. Nelson finds that the district court improperly affirmed a bankruptcy court’s enhanced fee award to the trustee in a funded Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The matter is remanded with instructions to dismiss a creditor’s appeal for lack of Article III standing. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Nelson, Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 21-55967, Categories: Bankruptcy
J. Rawlinson finds that the district court properly denied a claimant's application for disability insurance benefits under the Social Security Act. The Administrative Law Judge gave specific and convincing reasons for rejecting claimant’s testimony about the severity of his symptoms. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Rawlinson, Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 22-35581, Categories: Social Security
J. Callahan finds that the district court improperly denied a motion for a preliminary injunction in an action brought by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) against the San Jose Unified School District for violation of FCA’s First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion and free speech, and directed the district court to enter an order reinstating FCA’s recognition as an official Associated Student Body approved student club. FCA requires its student leaders to affirm a Statement of Faith, which includes the belief that sexual relations should be within the confines of a marriage between a man and a woman. The San Jose Unified School District revoked FCA’s status as an official student club because of "non-discrimination policies." The FCA had organizational standing and its claims were not moot because the District’s actions frustrated the FCA’s mission. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Callahan, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 22-15827, Categories: Education, First Amendment
J. Ikuta affirms in part and vacates in part a sentence imposed on defendant after she alleged that her due process rights were violated when the district court failed to pronounce certain discretionary conditions of supervised release in her presence. A district court must orally pronounce all discretionary conditions of supervised release, even if those conditions were considered "standard." Defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of knowingly and intentionally importing 500 grams or more of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States. The panel vacated only the conditions of defendant’s supervised release that were referred to as the “standard conditions” in the written sentence but were not orally pronounced. Affirmed in part.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Ikuta, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 21-50129, Categories: Drug Offender, Sentencing, Due Process
J. Lee finds that the district court improperly denied various gun rights groups’ motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to enjoin a California law that prohibits the advertising of any “firearm-related product in a manner that is designed, intended, or reasonably appears to be attractive to minors.” Because California permits minors under supervision to possess and use firearms for hunting and other lawful activities, the law facially regulates speech that concerns lawful activity and is not misleading. The law "does not directly and materially advance California’s substantial interests in reducing gun violence and the unlawful use of firearms by minors" and "there was no evidence in the record that a minor in California has ever unlawfully bought a gun, let alone because of an ad."
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 22-56090, Categories: Firearms, First Amendment
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J. Friedland finds that the district court properly denied an environmental group’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the Superintendent of Yosemite National Park, the National Park Service, and the Department of the Interior to stop certain parts of two projects to thin vegetation in Yosemite National Park in preparation for controlled burns. The group sued the Agency under the National Environmental Policy Act, claiming that it was unlawful for the Agency to approve the projects without a full review of their environmental impacts. The projects fall under the categorical exclusion known as the “minor-change exclusion.” Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Friedland, Filed On: September 12, 2023, Case #: 22-16483, Categories: Environment
J. Bress finds that the district court improperly dismissed a trademark declaratory judgment action brought by a plant-based meat substitute manufacturer against a competitor. Both companies use a similar all caps version of the word “IMPOSSIBLE” to market their products. The lower court had jurisdiction over a one-person company run by a self-described “digital nomad" because it previously operated out of California and built its brand and trademarks there. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Bress, Filed On: September 12, 2023, Case #: 21-16977, Categories: Trademark, Jurisdiction
J. Collins finds that the district court properly granted summary judgment to a number of Indian communities in a long-running case regarding Indian fishing rights in certain waters of Washington state. The dispute involved fishing places in which the Lummi Nation have fishing rights under a 1974 decree over the waters east of Whidbey Island in Puget Sound. The district court correctly held that the Indian communities, the Swinomish, Tulalip, and Upper Skagit carried their burden to warrant a ruling under the decree that the Lummi’s usual and accustomed fishing grounds and stations did not extend to the disputed waters at issue. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Collins, Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 21-35812, Categories: Native Americans, Water
J. Murguia denies an immigrant's petition for review of an immigration judge’s decision upholding an asylum officer’s negative reasonable fear determination following the reinstatement of a prior order of removal. The matter involves a Mexican immigrant who reentered the United States without inspection in 2003. The determination was reasonable and the immigrant's petition was denied on the merits.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Murguia, Filed On: September 8, 2023, Case #: 15-72821, Categories: Immigration
J. Nguyen finds that the district court properly dismissed five actions filed by a company against Aetna Health of California, seeking to recover the difference in cost between the company's posted cash price for Covid-19 testing and the amount of reimbursement it received under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). There is not an implied private right of action for providers to sue insurers under the CARES Act. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Nguyen, Filed On: September 7, 2023, Case #: 22-16034, Categories: Covid-19
J. Smith finds that the district court properly dismissed an Administrative Procedure Act action brought by an aeronautical company and an aerospace company against the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Air National Guard alleging the improper use of the company's intellectual property concerning data relating to the Mobile Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS). The matter was properly dismissed by the lower court for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Smith, Filed On: September 7, 2023, Case #: 21-56377, Categories: Property, Jurisdiction, Military
J. VanDyke finds that the district court improperly denied two individuals' motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to enjoin enforcement of California Penal Code sections that impose criminal penalties for the unlicensed open carry of a handgun. The district court did not apply the correct legal standard to deny the motion for a preliminary injunction. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: VanDyke, Filed On: September 7, 2023, Case #: 23-15016, Categories: Constitution, Firearms
Per curiam, the Ninth Circuit certifies a question to the Alaska Supreme Court asking if a total pollution exclusion in a homeowners’ insurance policy excludes coverage of claims arising from carbon monoxide exposure.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: September 6, 2023, Case #: 22-35484, Categories: Insurance
J. Lee finds that the district court improperly denied corrections officers' motion to dismiss an action alleging that the officers did not protect an inmate from other detainees at a jail. The officers moved to dismiss the complaint, contending that the individual did not state a viable claim. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: September 6, 2023, Case #: 21-55981, Categories: Civil Rights
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. Smith denies defendant's motion for habeas relief in a matter in which she was convicted of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Defendant claims that her habeas counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to raise various grounds for relief in her first motion. This claim could not have been adjudicated on the merits of her first motion, therefore it was not a second or successive motion. The matter is remanded to the district court to consider it in the first instance.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Smith, Filed On: September 5, 2023, Case #: 23-48, Categories: Habeas, Identity Theft
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
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