18 results for 'judge:"Niemeyer"'.
J. Niemeyer finds the lower court properly denied the passenger's attempt to submit a fourth complaint. An airplane captain ordered the passenger to deboard the plane after finding out she had a dog allergy and two dogs would be on the aircraft, causing a situation the flight attendants felt uncomfortable with. The passenger's explanation that she needed to be in Los Angeles the next morning, that her allergy would not be an issue because of where she was seated, and that her allergy was “not life-threatening” was insufficient. The captain refused to reconsider his decision. The passenger refused to leave, and the captain ordered state officials to remove her from the plane physically. At the time of his decision, the captain believed the allergies to be life-threatening, a valid reason to remove her. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 21-1221, Categories: Malicious Prosecution, Negligence, Police Misconduct
J. Niemeyer finds the lower court properly convicted a sheriff and two deputies of federal program theft. Exercising his broad power as sheriff of a small county, the sheriff enriched himself by directing his deputies to work on the public payroll to improve his personal property, including converting and expanding a modest barn into a home entertainment center. He also enriched himself and others by devising a system to skim money from the extra compensation payable to his deputies for their work manning drunk-driver automobile checkpoints in the county. The officers argue they did not commit federal program theft because they were not agents of the county, as charged, and the county had not received more than $10,000 in federal benefits in the preceding year. The state may employ the sheriff, but he did have authorization to spend the county's money, making him an agent. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer, Filed On: March 18, 2024, Case #: 22-4405, Categories: Theft, Money Laundering
J. Niemeyer dismisses Travelers’ challenge to the lower court’s order remanding a court-appointed receiver’s complaint, alleging breach of insurance policies issued to a defunct company, back to state court. The federal court’s reasons to remand were “colorably supported,” barring appellate review. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 23-1339, Categories: Insurance, Jurisdiction, Venue
J. Niemeyer finds the lower court properly applied sentence enhancements to the defendant. The court enhanced the defendant's sentence for possession of a firearm by a felon after determining that two of his prior convictions, including one for North Carolina assault inflicting physical injury by strangulation, count as crimes of violence. The defendant argued that following a Supreme Court ruling that said the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force is required to count as a crime of violence discounts the court's determination. North Carolina's crime of assault inflicting physical injury by strangulation remains a crime of violence, regardless of the ruling. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer, Filed On: February 14, 2024, Case #: 22-4588, Categories: Firearms, Sentencing, Assault
J. Niemeyer finds the lower court improperly abstained from ruling on the federal constitutional claims. Two landowners sought to challenge a new West Virginia law that authorized the combining of separately owned mineral tracts to form a single operating unit overlapping all or part of a common source of oil or gas, claiming the statute constitutes a taking of their property and deprives them of property without due process of law, in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. The lower court abstained, claiming the case would be better litigated in state courts. According to the lower court, the West Virginia constitutional provision is not ‘broad and sweeping’ but is directly pertinent to the issues presented in this case. The lower court did not identify the West Virginia constitutional provision that it had in mind, nor did it identify any state law issue on which the commission’s motion to dismiss the federal constitutional claims would turn. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer, Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: 22-2271, Categories: Energy, Property, Real Estate
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J. Niemeyer finds the lower court properly granted judgment to the county. The gun store owners argued that pamphlets that the county requires to be given out with the purchase of each firearm violated the First Amendment. Still, the literature distributed pursuant to the ordinance was constitutionally permissible because it compelled commercial speech that was factual and uncontroversial and furthered a government interest. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer, Filed On: January 23, 2024, Case #: 23-1351, Categories: Constitution, Firearms, First Amendment
J. Niemeyer finds the lower court properly sentenced the defendant for violating the conditions of his supervised release. The defendant was arrested and convicted under state law on three counts of manufacturing or distributing illegal drugs and sentenced to 13 years imprisonment for those offenses during his supervised release for a previous drug trafficking conviction. Despite the judge referencing some prohibited factors during sentencing, the sentence itself is not unreasonable. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer , Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 22-4291, Categories: Drug Offender, Parole, Sentencing
J. Niemeyer finds the lower court improperly severed the inmates' claims. The four inmates allege that the IRS unlawfully denied them all or part of their COVID-19 stimulus payments. The complaint alleged that the IRS was categorically denying payments to inmates on account of their incarcerated status even though, as the complaint asserted, a court had held that incarcerated individuals were entitled to receive stimulus payments. The court operated under the false assumption that the inmates were proceeding in forma pauperis making them subject to the restrictions of the Prison Litigation Reform Act requiring them to bring separate claims. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer, Filed On: November 15, 2023, Case #: 22-6401, Categories: Self Representation, Civil Rights, Prisoners' Rights
[Consolidated.] J. Niemeyer finds the lower court properly entered judgment against the sheriff and granted injunctive relief to the Muslim woman whom the sheriff forced to pose for photos without her hijab while booking her for a traffic offense in violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. The sheriff was ordered to destroy all of the photos, which she did before filing an appeal of the judgment, so her appeal is now moot. However, the court improperly denied the Muslim woman's request for attorneys' fees without holding a hearing as to whether she qualifies as the prevailing party. Affirmed in part.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer, Filed On: November 15, 2023, Case #: 22-1826, Categories: Police Misconduct, Injunction
J. Niemeyer finds the lower court properly granted the government's motion to dismiss. The wife of a nuclear engineer who smuggled classified data related to nuclear submarines to sell to foreign nations sought to be resentenced, claiming she was not properly informed before agreeing to a plea agreement. She voluntarily and intelligently waived all rights to appeal and has failed to make a sufficient showing to avoid the terms of her plea agreement. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer, Filed On: October 25, 2023, Case #: 22-4689, Categories: Sentencing, Plea, Espionage
J. Niemeyer finds the lower court improperly compelled the foreman and the oil company to resolve their contract dispute via arbitration. The arbitration clause was not in any contract between the foreman and the oil company, but rather in a contract between the foreman and a third-party company that had helped the foreman find the position with the oil company. Reversed
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer, Filed On: August 7, 2023, Case #: 22-1480, Categories: Arbitration, Employment, Labor
J. Niemeyer finds the lower court properly granted summary judgment to the shipping company. The employee alleged the shipping company's refusal to provide him with the accommodations he requested for his injured buttocks and hips, specifically being allowed to drive his route with a smaller truck that would have a softer suspension or that he be assigned to an inside job, violated his rights under the ADA. The shipping company instead accommodated the employee by allowing him to take an unpaid leave of absence until his hip and buttocks healed and he could return to work. He failed to demonstrate that he could perform the essential functions of his job with the accommodations requested and that the leave of absence provided was a non-reasonable accommodation. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer , Filed On: July 10, 2023, Case #: 21-1647, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Employment
J. Niemeyer finds the board properly denied the El Salvadorian's application for asylum. The El Salvadorian, who feared gang violence despite having no members of his family that had run-ins with gangs, argued that he had proceeded pro se before the judge and that the judge had failed to develop the record, as required by Quintero v. Garland. The judge adequately developed the record by determining that the basis for the claims for relief was simply a generalized fear of criminal gang members and violent conditions in El Salvador. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer, Filed On: July 10, 2023, Case #: 22-1049, Categories: Immigration, Judiciary
J. Niemeyer finds the lower court properly dismissed the defendant's motion to suppress evidence finding the defendant carrying large amounts of meth from a vehicle search. The officers had reasonable suspicion to stop him after seeing him at a common drug trafficker hangout and knowing his previous history as a convicted drug dealer. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer , Filed On: June 22, 2023, Case #: 21-4634, Categories: Drug Offender, Evidence, Search
J. Niemeyer finds the lower court properly granted judgment to the railroad company. The employees failed to show that they were fired for discriminatory reasons and not for being dishonest after over 65 employees submitted format at the same time after being furloughed requesting to take medical leave based on claimed minor soft-tissue injuries sustained while off duty in hopes of enjoying health and welfare benefits for up to two years. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer, Filed On: June 16, 2023, Case #: 21-2051, Categories: Employment, Health Care, Employment Discrimination
J. Niemeyer finds the lower court properly applied a sentence enhancement to defendant's sentence for possession of child pornography due to his prior qualifying sex offense. The defendant signed a plea agreement that waived his right to appeal any issue relating to his conviction, as well as any issue relating to his sentence. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer , Filed On: June 14, 2023, Case #: 21-4322, Categories: Sentencing, Sex Offender, Child Pornography
J. Niemeyer finds the tax court improperly imposed penalties for 2016. The company used a consistent methodology to determine the amount of the CEO's bonuses for both 2015 and 2016 with the advice of independent accountants, and therefore, the reasons that the tax court gave for not imposing a substantial underpayment penalty for 2015 likewise provided an adequate defense against imposing a similar penalty for 2016. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Niemeyer, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: 22-1573, Categories: Tax, Business Practices