242 results for 'court:"4th Circuit"'.
J. Harris finds the lower court improperly granted summary judgment to the teacher. A longtime teacher of English and drama at a Catholic high school sued for sex discrimination under Title VII after the school fired him for his plans to marry his same-sex partner. The complaint falls squarely into the ministerial exception, a legal doctrine barring the application of anti-discrimination laws to religious institutions' employment relationships with its ministers. The teacher played a vital role as a messenger of the school's faith making him a minister for the point of the exception. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Harris , Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 22-1440, Categories: Education, Employment Discrimination
J. Heytens finds the lower court improperly granted the county judgment when it found no reasonable adjudicator could view the facts in a way that would make incarcerated workers employees for the purpose of the act. A group of imprisoned people working at a recycling plant sued the county, alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and two Maryland statutes. There is no definite rule that such workers cannot be covered by the act when they work outside their detention facility’s walls and for someone other than their immediate detainer. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Heytens , Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 23-1731, Categories: Employment, Labor, Prisoners' Rights
J. Diaz finds the lower court properly entered judgment voiding the contract between the star basketball player and his former agents. The basketball star signed an agreement with an agency after he played his final game for Duke but before he was drafted into the NBA. The agents argued that the player didn't count as a student-athlete for the purpose of the North Carolina Uniform Athlete Agents Act, which governs contracts between student-athletes and their agents. The player was still a student-athlete when he signed the contract because he had not yet left the university or signed a professional contract. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Diaz, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 22-1793, Categories: Education, Tort, Contract
J. Quattlebaum finds the lower court improperly denied the officer’s motion to dismiss based on qualified immunity. A repossession representative called the police after the vehicle's owner refused to get out so he could tow it. The owner argued that the deputy who arrived and ordered her out of the vehicle violated her Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable seizures of property by crossing the line from keeping the peace into actively participating. Because of the unique nature of the case and lack of case law, the deputy couldn't have known what he was doing was unconstitutional when he ordered her out of the car. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Quattlebaum , Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 23-1344, Categories: Constitution, Vehicle, Police Misconduct
J. Richardson finds the lower court improperly dismissed the workers’ complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. A fiber plant hired a crew of industrial custodians to clean up a room that uses large ovens to convert recycled plastics into polyester fibers. When a worker swept one large batch of plastic dust, the dust brushed against the oven and immediately ignited, engulfing the oven in a fireball. Moments later, the entire room was aflame. South Carolina law provides that certain workers’ compensation disputes are within the exclusive cognizance of the state Workers’ Compensation Commission, meaning that covered employees cannot bring common-law actions, like tort claims, to state courts. However, state law cannot circumscribe federal subject matter jurisdiction. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Richardson, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 23-1163, Categories: Employment, Jurisdiction, Workers' Compensation
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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. Harris finds the lower court properly dismissed the investors' complaint for lack of jurisdiction. The investors accuse a family from Ghana living in Virginia of a sprawling scheme to defraud Ghanaian investors of millions of dollars. They claim the family would solicit funds from investors in Ghana and promise to distribute them as microfinance loans to small family businesses and individuals in Africa. In theory, the loans would stimulate African economies while also earning interest for the investors. But the investors claim In practice, they simply took the money. The injuries suffered were not in America but rather in Ghana. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Harris, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 23-1309, Categories: Fraud, International Law, Banking / Lending
J. Agee finds the lower court improperly rejected the inmate's request for a new trial on perjury charges. The inmate argued he deserved a new trial because his counsel was ineffective for failing to appeal erroneous jury instructions. The state agrees that counsel was ineffective on this issue and the inmate is entitled to a new trial. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 22-6272, Categories: Habeas, Ineffective Assistance, Jury Instructions
J. Rushing finds the lower properly increased the mandatory minimum sentence for numerous federal drug and firearm offenses. The defendant argued that the judicial factfinding the judge participated in violated his Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial. The judge could find out the defendant had a prior conviction without a jury necessary. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Rushing, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 21-4299, Categories: Drug Offender, Fair Trial, Judiciary
J. Heytens finds the lower court denied to dismiss the indictment under the Speedy Trial Act. The defendant has a long history of mental illness and substance abuse. After an episode that started with him knocking on a stranger’s door to ask for a drink of water and ended with him pulling a gun, he was convicted of possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony. The defendant's trial was significantly delayed after he was declared incompetent, an allowed exception to the Act. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Heytens , Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 23-4089, Categories: Competence, Firearms, Speedy Trial
J. Rushing finds the lower court properly dismissed the consolidated appeals for lack of jurisdiction. A party to litigation may not immediately appeal a civil contempt order. Instead, the sanctioned party must wait until the final judgment to appeal. The same rule applies in bankruptcy, except the relevant final judgment may be a decree ending the entire case or a decree ending a discrete proceeding within the bankruptcy case. In the two orders underlying the appeals, the bankruptcy court held the asbestos claimants in contempt and sanctioned them for defying a discovery order. Because the contempt and sanctions orders do not terminate a procedural unit separate from the remaining bankruptcy case, they are not final appealable orders. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Rushing , Filed On: April 29, 2024, Case #: 22-1981, Categories: Bankruptcy, Jurisdiction, Asbestos
[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. Richardson finds the lower court denied summary judgment to the arresting officers. The officers arrested a registered sex offender who left the state for a month to attend a wedding and visit friends, claiming he broke the law by failing to return forms. The officers cannot prove he acted willfully, as required because the offender kept close contact with the sheriff's office throughout in hopes of not breaking any laws. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Richardson, Filed On: April 29, 2024, Case #: 21-1459, Categories: Immunity, Police Misconduct
J. Heytens finds the lower court properly denied the electoral board members' motion to dismiss First Amendment claims. The City of Lynchburg's registrar from 2018 to 2023 claims the board's two Republican members refused to reappoint her to the position, not for the failure of duty but because she was not a loyal Donald Trump supporter. The members are correct in assuming sovereign immunity bars the registrar from recovering monetary damages, but she is entitled to seek injunctive relief. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Heytens, Filed On: April 19, 2024, Case #: 23-1902, Categories: Government, Immunity, First Amendment
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. Agee finds the lower court improperly interpreted the plain text of the decree. Environmental protection groups sued a now-defunct coal corporation for violating the Clean Water Act. They negotiated a consent decree that significantly limited the corporations' surface mining operations in Central Appalachia and required the company to reclaim its mining sites—that is, to return the mined land to a usable state. The new owner attempted to allow third parties to surface mine at the original corporation's facility to raise funds after inheriting the bankrupt coal corporation. The lower court found this violated the decree, but the decree only applies to the original corporation and does not bar others from using the land as they please. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: 23-1696, Categories: Energy, Environment, Contract
J. Hanes finds the bankruptcy court properly denied an exemption to the debtor's home - owned jointly with his wife as tenants by the entirety - from the bankruptcy estate to the extent of his outstanding tax debt to the Internal Revenue Service. Property owned as a tenancy by the entirety may not be exempted from an individual debtor’s bankruptcy estate. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Hanes, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: 22-1964, Categories: Bankruptcy, Property
J. Heytens finds the lower court improperly granted summary judgment to the state on a Title IX claim. The state claimed its law establishing that athletic teams or sports designated for females, women or girls shall not be open to students of the male sex, defined as an individual whose biological sex determined at birth is male, didn't violate Title IX because it gave the eight-grade transgender girl the option to still participate in sports so long as it was with the boys team. Requiring the girl to countermand her social transition, her medical treatment and all the work she has done with her schools, teachers and coaches for nearly half her life by introducing herself to teammates, coaches and even opponents as a boy is unreasonable. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Heytens, Filed On: April 16, 2024, Case #: 23-1078, Categories: Civil Rights, Education, Injunction
J. Motz finds the lower court properly convicted a group of gang members accused of racketeering conspiracy, murder, attempted murder and related crimes. The gang members contend that neither violent crimes in aid of racketeering (VICAR) attempted murder based on Virginia attempted murder nor VICAR attempted assault with a dangerous weapon based on Virginia unlawful wounding constitute valid predicates for crimes of violence. Even an attempt is a crime of violence if the completed offense invariably requires the use of physical force. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Motz, Filed On: April 16, 2024, Case #: 21-4231, Categories: Murder, Racketeering, Gangs
J. Wynn finds the lower court properly denied summary judgment to the police officer. The police were called by the mother of a 15-year-old boy who claims her son was hitting her. When police arrived, they found the teen unarmed and began approaching him as he attempted to back away before lunging toward him and tackling him to the ground. Despite one officer already tasing the teen who was on the ground, the police officer punched the teen five times in the back of the head while he lay helpless. There is still a genuine dispute over whether the officer used excessive force, thus precluding summary judgment based on qualified immunity. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Wynn, Filed On: April 15, 2024, Case #: 22-2115, Categories: Civil Rights, Immunity, Police Misconduct
J. Quattlebaum finds the lower court properly granted summary judgment to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The creators of TImberland boots sought to register certain features from the design of its popular boot under the Lanham Act as trade dress. The law prohibits the registration of product designs that have not acquired a distinctive meaning identifying the product with its maker in the minds of the consuming public, including Timberland boots. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Quattlebaum, Filed On: April 15, 2024, Case #: 23-1150, Categories: Patent, Trademark, Agency
J. Wilkinson finds the lower court properly convicted the defendant of various crimes related to drug trafficking, including two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. While executing a search warrant of the defendant's apartment, police found a noteworthy collection of drugs and drug paraphernalia: copious quantities of heroin, cocaine and marijuana, in addition to packaging supplies, cutting materials, scales, sifters and blending equipment to go along with six firearms. The defendant disputes a section of jury instructions on the firearm charges, claiming the instruction that he is guilty of using the gun in furtherance if the distribution of drugs and the common sense recognition that drug dealing is a dangerous and violent enterprise may support an inference that the defendant’s possession of a firearm was to facilitate drug dealing. There is no false legal premise in these instructions as the jurors were told that the dangerous and violent nature of drug dealing was “a common sense recognition.” But the jurors were then advised that the province of common sense was fully their own. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Wilkinson, Filed On: April 10, 2024, Case #: 23-4222, Categories: Drug Offender, Firearms, Jury Instructions
J. Wilkinson finds the lower court properly granted summary judgment to the agency. Under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, a drug manufacturer that increases its prices faster than inflation rises must reimburse Medicaid for the difference. These reimbursements are paid via rebates. Primarily, each drug’s rebate amount is usually determined based on its own original price and inflation clock, but not always. Congress has instructed in the Medicaid statute that some “line extension” drugs can be on the hook not only for their own price increases but also for the price increases of the drugs they evolved from. The agency promulgated a regulation that set forth criteria for what constitutes a line-extension drug that the pharmaceutical company claims expanded the definition of a line extension beyond what the Medicaid statute permitted. Each departure of the regulatory text is patently superficial, with no discernable effect on the term’s reach. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Wilkinson, Filed On: April 10, 2024, Case #: 23-1457, Categories: Government, Medicaid, Agency
J. King finds the lower court properly denied the defendant's suppression motion. Police tracked a pair of men that vaguely matched the description witnesses of a murder gave. The two men carried small black bags. An officer approached the pair at an apartment complex, and they immediately tried to escape, but the defendant was unsuccessful. Before the officer could cuff the defendant, he flung his bag into the courtyard below. Inside the bag was a pistol matching the description of the murder weapon, along with cannabis. The defendant argued the officer had no right to search through his bag, but the defendant relinquished ownership of the bag when he threw it away. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: King, Filed On: April 9, 2024, Case #: 23-4179, Categories: Evidence, Firearms, Murder
J. Harris finds the lower court properly denied the group of immigrant's motion to dismiss. The six non-citizens indicted for illegally reentering the U.S. following their prior removal moved to dismiss their indictments on the ground that the relevant provision is unconstitutional because it was enacted with a racially discriminatory purpose. The applicable provision includes the national-origin quota system, which initially gave preference to individuals from certain European countries. The revised provision eliminates racial discrimination by adjusting its formulas and adding preferences for family reunification and non-citizens with specified skills. It also sought to ensure that the new immigration system would be free of racial discrimination, in part by eliminating bars to naturalization based on race. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Harris, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 22-4072, Categories: Immigration
J. Floyd finds the Fourth Circuit lacks jurisdiction over the immigration appeal. The Yemen native was a member of the Yemeni Socialist Party, actively fought in Yemen’s civil war in 1994 where he was imprisoned. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied his application for asylum status on terrorism grounds. Congress provides that court have no jurisdiction over decisions the authority for which is specified to be in the discretion of the Attorney General.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Floyd, Filed On: April 3, 2024, Case #: 21-2010, Categories: Immigration, Agency, Jurisdiction
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. Rushing finds the lower court properly denied the requested preliminary injunction. The pair of voters argued the state senate districts drawn in 2023 violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965, claiming it effectively disenfranchised Black voters. The voters sought an injunction erasing the current districts and allowing them to draw the lines before the 2024 election cycle. The proximity to the election and not showing the extraordinary circumstances necessary to justify disrupting the status quo before trial makes the injunction not feasible. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Rushing, Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: 23-1095, Categories: Elections, Government
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. Wynn finds the lower court improperly granted summary judgment to the contractor on fraud claims. A couple and a contractor agreed to the sale and renovation of a home. The contractor told the couple that all subcontractors would be licensed before they signed the agreement. Despite Virginia law not requiring that subcontractors working under a licensed contractor hold their licenses, the couple would not have agreed to the sale if they knew they would be unlicensed. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Wynn, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 22-2265, Categories: Construction, Fraud, Contract