23 results for 'judge:"Duncan"'.
J. Duncan finds the district court properly granted summary judgment in favor of the Coast Guard. A competitor of the dredging barge owner challenged a Coast Guard ruling the barge was made in the U.S., allowing for its use in U.S. waters. Though the vessel used foreign-made appliances, the Coast Guard correctly ruled the barge is considered to be U.S.-built. The court properly deferred to the Coast Guard’s reasonable interpretation of its own regulations, and the ruling is not arbitrary or capricious. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan , Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: 23-20118, Categories: Government, Maritime
J. Duncan finds the bankruptcy court improperly found the borrower's debt to be dischargeable. The court found certain limiting language in the applicable code means that listed non-dischargeability exceptions apply only to an individual debtor and not to an LLC. However, Fourth Circuit precedent shows the bankruptcy code subchapter at issue is a compromise that allows small business debtors certain specific benefits while still subjecting them to dischargeability exceptions also applicable to individual debtors. Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan , Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: 23-50237, Categories: Bankruptcy, Banking / Lending
J. Duncan finds the district court properly convicted defendant for possessing an unregistered destructive device. Defendant was arrested after his sister reported he assaulted her boyfriend, also telling police he had a pipe bomb in his closet. Though an explosives expert determined it was a bomb, improvised with material harvested from fireworks, defendant says the government did not prove it was designed as a weapon. The affirmative defense, according to certain case law and code exception, is not an element of the crime. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan, Filed On: April 12, 2024, Case #: 23-40098, Categories: Evidence, Weapons
J. Duncan finds the district court improperly found that federal reproductive law violates the father's right to be involved in his teenager's healthcare. The federal law regarding the availability of reproductive medicine for teens does not preempt the Texas law giving parents the right to consent to their teenagers’ obtaining contraceptives. Family planning service grantees can comply with both complimentary laws as to a parent's involvement in their teen's seeking contraception and the availability of that contraception for teens. The federal law does not nullify the father's right to consent to his children’s medical care. Though the court properly found certain violations, the setting aside of a portion of a relevant regulation found to be unlawful was improper. Reversed in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan , Filed On: March 12, 2024, Case #: 23-10159, Categories: Health Care, Preemption, Juvenile Law
J. Duncan finds the district court properly granted the officers' motion to dismiss. The security guard, following a heated exchange with a Houston police officer, was arrested for assault. Though a grand jury indicted the guard, the charges were later dropped, and the guard filed suit against the officers alleging false arrest, malicious prosecution and assault. The officers are entitled to qualified immunity. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan , Filed On: March 7, 2024, Case #: 23-20075, Categories: Immunity, Assault, Police Misconduct
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J. Duncan finds the district court improperly confirmed the London arbitration panel's award granting a shipping vessel owner $200 million after chemical tanks loaded at the Port of New Orleans exploded while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The district court lacks personal jurisdiction over the shipping company that chartered the vessel because the company did not waive its personal jurisdiction defense by entering into a letter of undertaking issued by its insurer to the owner. Also, contact with the forum did not arise from the company's deliberate activities, but from unilateral activities of others. Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan , Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 22-30808, Categories: Maritime, Negligence, Jurisdiction
J. Duncan finds the district court properly denied defendant's habeas petition in which he sought relief from a state murder conviction wherein he received the death penalty. Defendant's claims of ineffective assistance as to trial counsel's actions involving jury selection and pretrial discovery were not properly briefed before the state appeals court. He has not shown the court would have ruled in his favor even with proper briefing. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan , Filed On: January 16, 2024, Case #: 19-70008, Categories: Habeas, Ineffective Assistance, Murder
J. Duncan finds the district court properly imposed an above-guidelines sentence for defendant's conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Defendant's story about how he came to have the gun changed multiple times, culminating in his unsuccessful attempt to persuade an acquaintance to sign an affidavit saying it is hers. With 14 adult convictions at the age of 33, all but three of the convictions had no recorded disposition or had been dismissed. All testimony was properly admitted, and all sentencing enhancements were properly applied. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan , Filed On: January 12, 2024, Case #: 23-30053, Categories: Evidence, Firearms, Sentencing
J. Duncan finds the trial court, by guilty plea, properly convicted defendant for attempted interference with commerce by robbery. The plea agreement goes beyond defendant's mere, conclusory agreement he committed the offense. He also admitted he attempted to rob the store and to obstruct commerce by taking money. The circuit has previously found such factual admissions sufficient to satisfy the Hobbs Act’s commerce element. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan , Filed On: December 13, 2023, Case #: 22-10803, Categories: Evidence, Robbery, Plea
J. Duncan finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for prescribing pain medication without a legitimate purpose. Defendant was the only doctor working for the "pill mill." Several co-conspirators and the owner of the operation posing as a pain management clinic pleaded guilty, testifying against the physician. The jury was presented with overwhelming proof defendant knew the prescriptions he wrote were medically unauthorized, and he cannot show any proposed error in jury instruction effected his substantial rights. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan, Filed On: December 11, 2023, Case #: 22-20515, Categories: Drug Offender, Evidence, Jury Instructions
J. Duncan finds the district court properly dismissed RICO claims filed against the medical society that published guidelines for treating Lyme disease in a peer-reviewed medical journal that certain infected persons say harmed them by bringing into question whether the condition exists. The statements at issue are non-actionable opinions and cannot support a claim for fraudulent misrepresentation. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan , Filed On: November 16, 2023, Case #: 22-40728, Categories: Fraud, Health Care, Negligence
J. Duncan finds the Appeals Court erred by affirming a trial court decision to permit evidence resulting from a police interrogation that defendant asserted police conducted in compelling circumstances without first advising her of her Miranda rights. The interrogation occurred after police officers interrupted a mandatory meeting between defendant and her probation officer in the probation officer’s office in a secured building, which defendant could not leave without her probation officer’s permission and assistance, and police told defendant to stay in the office while accusing her of new crimes. “Altogether, those circumstances were compelling.” Reversed.
Court: Oregon Supreme Court, Judge: Duncan, Filed On: October 19, 2023, Case #: S069360, Categories: Evidence, Miranda
J. Duncan finds the district court improperly determined that the city lacked reliable evidence to justify an ordinance requiring licensed sexually oriented businesses like cabarets, escort agencies and adult video stores to close between 2 and 6 a.m., and entered preliminary injunction against the ordinance. The ordinance was backed by ample data from the city’s police task force, other comparable cities and academic research supporting a link between these businesses’ late-night operation and increased crime. The injunction is vacated and the matter is remanded.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan, Filed On: October 12, 2023, Case #: 22-10556, Categories: Evidence, Municipal Law, Injunction
J. Duncan finds the Appeals Court erred in affirming the post-conviction court’s determination that defendant's mental impairments were irrelevant to whether the escape clause applied. “Petitioner’s allegations, if true, are sufficient to support application of the escape clause.” Reversed.
Court: Oregon Supreme Court, Judge: Duncan, Filed On: October 12, 2023, Case #: S069222, Categories: Sentencing, Commitment
J. Duncan finds the district court properly dismissed this false arrest suit brought against the police officer after the arrestee’s charges for calling in false complaints about her neighbors’ loud music were dropped. The arrestee adduced no evidence of loud music and the officer heard none. There are no issues of material fact, and the officer also enjoys qualified immunity.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan, Filed On: September 29, 2023, Case #: 22-20436, Categories: Civil Rights, Evidence, Police Misconduct
J. Duncan finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant for numerous drug offenses related to his ownership and operation of a pharmacy that was actually an illegal pill mill. His argument that recordings vetted by a government filter team and turned over to prosecution intruded into privileged conversations with his deceased attorney, prejudicing his defense, is without merit. Neither defendant nor his attorney responded by objection to or by a motion for reconsideration of the court's order to release the tapes. The recordings were arguably vitiated due to the pharmacy's having forfeited its charters, with the state terminating its registrations. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan , Filed On: September 26, 2023, Case #: 22-20337, Categories: Drug Offender, Evidence, Judiciary
J. Duncan finds the district court properly dismissed the Louisiana inmate’s civil rights claims with prejudice. The inmate was assigned to restrictive custody, or segregation, and attempted escape due to “objectionable conditions.” The restrictive confinement does not impose atypical and significant hardship in relation to ordinary prison life, and there is no constitutional claim available for this. The inmate was allowed exercise, food, medical care and visitations. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan, Filed On: September 25, 2023, Case #: 22-30475, Categories: Civil Rights, Prisoners' Rights
J. Duncan finds the trial court properly convicted defendant by guilty plea for possessing child pornography, sentencing him to 168 years in prison and ordering $46,000 in restitution to victims. Upon a CyberTip, officers interviewed defendant, who admitted to regular viewing of child porn. He confessed his attraction to children and “babies,” and his cell phone contained over 2,000 images depicting child sexual abuse which included toddlers and babies. A recent Fifth Circuit opinion affirmed a restitution award relying on victim impact statements in ordering amounts requested by the victims. The amounts were a percentage of demonstrated losses. Defendant has shown no error in the court’s use of this guidance. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan, Filed On: August 10, 2023, Case #: 22-10227, Categories: Sex Offender, Child Victims, Child Pornography
J. Duncan remands this case for the district court to enter a preliminary injunction while it considers the investors' challenge to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's rescission of its “no-action letter,” which allowed the online political futures market to operate without registering under federal law. The CFTC’s rescission of the no-action letter was an abrupt change, and likely arbitrary and capricious. Reversed and remanded.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan , Filed On: July 21, 2023, Case #: 22-51124, Categories: Securities, Agency, Injunction
J. Duncan finds the district court properly found in favor of a Chinese company, which filled two orders made by a Texas company for computer tablets, the first of which failed on a Home Shopping Network sale. The Texas company then rejected the second batch and was sued for breach of contract. Because the Chinese firm did not breach the first order, the Texas company was not justified in its anticipatory breach of the second and was obligated to pay for the tablets and take delivery. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan, Filed On: July 18, 2023, Case #: 22-40440, Categories: Commerce, Contract
[Consolidated.] J. Duncan dismisses this appeal brought on religious grounds by Navy SEALs who seek to enjoin the Navy from requiring vaccination for Covid-19. During the pendency of the appeal, President Biden signed a statute into law directing the Secretary of Defense to rescind the vaccine mandate. The appeal is dismissed as moot and remanded for further proceedings.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan, Filed On: July 6, 2023, Case #: 22-10077, Categories: Government, Covid-19, Military
J. Duncan finds the trial court properly convicted a DEA agent and task force leader for multiple counts of falsifying government documents, obstruction of justice, perjury and property conversion, sentencing him to 160 months in prison. The record shows that the court would have imposed the same sentence for the same reasons, and any error in applying a perjury cross-reference and other enhancements were harmless. Testimony relied on to calculate losses caused by defendant’s conversion of arrestee’s money, cell phones and jewelry is the same that supports the convictions, and “bears sufficient indicia of reliability to support” the calculations. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan, Filed On: June 13, 2023, Case #: 21-30501, Categories: Obstruction, Perjury, Forgery
J. Duncan finds the district court properly dismissed the employee’s retaliation and age discrimination suit for failure to state a claim. The employee’s complaint fails to allege facts that could show a causal link between any protected activities and the alleged adverse actions. No facts were alleged suggesting that those responsible for hiring decisions knew about grievances previously filed by the employee. Any events of failure to promote were also temporally remote from protected activity. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan, Filed On: June 13, 2023, Case #: 22-20586, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation