Justia U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Plaintiff, an employee of the Hays County Sheriff's Office for over twenty years, filed suit alleging constitutional violations against Hays County; the Sheriff's Office; and Sheriff Gary Cutler, in his official and individual capacities. Plaintiff claimed that the comments he made during the Sheriff's Election motivated his demotion. The court found that defendants failed to show that they would have terminated plaintiff in the absence of his protected speech and, in the alternative, plaintiff was speaking as a citizen and his letter to the editor was protected speech under the First Amendment. The court concluded that plaintiff had presented sufficient evidence to raise a genuine dispute as to a material fact relating to his claim of First Amendment retaliation and that defendants were not entitled to summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity. Accordingly, the court reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment and remanded for further proceedings. View "Haverda v. Hays County, et al." on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against GE Energy, alleging violations of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, 15 U.S.C. 78u-6(h) (the "whistleblower-protection provision", because GE Energy terminated him after he made an internal report of a possible securities law violation. The court concluded that the plain language of section 78u-6 limited protection under the whistleblower provision to those individuals who provided information relating to a violation of the securities laws to the SEC. In this instance, plaintiff did not provide any information to the SEC and, therefore, he did not qualify as a "whistleblower" under Dodd-Frank. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's dismissal of his claim. View "Asadi v. G.E. Energy (USA), L.L.C." on Justia Law

Oaks, a nursing facility, initiated contempt proceedings against the government because the government failed to abide by the district court's order enjoining the government from acting in accordance with a Notice of Termination relative to Oak's Medicare and Medicaid Provider Agreement. The court vacated the finding of contempt and reversed the judgment of the district court, concluding that the government complied with the injunction by delaying effectuation of the termination notice. View "Oaks of Mid City Resident Council v. Sebelius, et al." on Justia Law

Companion, a South Carolina insurer, appealed the district court's dismissal of its complaint alleging legal malpractice against defendants, Louisiana residents and attorneys at a Louisiana law firm. The court concluded that the district court properly dismissed Companion's complaint against defendants for lack of personal jurisdiction in a Texas Forum where defendants maintained no offices in Texas, had no personnel stationed there, paid no Texas taxes, and had no registered agent for service of process; defendants transacted only limited and discrete business in Texas over an appreciable period; and the venue issue was unnecessary for a decision in this case because the court affirmed the dismissal on personal-jurisdiction grounds. View "Companion Property and Casualty Co. v. Palermo, et al." on Justia Law

Defendants appealed their sentences and convictions for conspiracy to commit theft from a program receiving federal funds. The court concluded that it was reasonable for a jury to infer from the evidence that defendants knew the purpose of the check-cashing scheme and joined it willfully; the district court did not err in applying a three-level enhancement for defendants' managerial roles in the offense under U.S.S.G. 3B1.1(b) and in its loss calculation; and defendants' within-guidelines sentences were substantively reasonable where the district court took into consideration their personal circumstances when weighing 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) factors. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Brown, et al." on Justia Law

After Hermann Hospital merged with Memorial Hospital System, creating the Memorial Herman Hospital System (MHHS), the Administrator denied MHHS's request for a Medicare loss payment under 42 C.F.R. 413.134(l). The court joined all other circuits that have ruled on the issue by holding that statutory mergers must be bona fide sales in order to be eligible for a depreciation adjustment under 42 U.S.C. 413.134(l). The court found that substantial evidence supported the Administrator's conclusion that the merger at issue failed to constitute a bona fide sale and, therefore, affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "Memorial Hermann Hospital v. Sebelius" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against Corpus Christi Police Department officers under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging claims of unlawful arrest and excessive force, as well as state-law assault and battery claims. On appeal, the officers challenged the district court's denial of their motion for summary judgment. The court concluded that the officers were not entitled to qualified immunity and summary judgment on plaintiff's unlawful arrest claim where the officers' entry into plaintiff's apartment to effectuate his arrest violated the Fourth Amendment, in light of the lack of exigent circumstances and where, at the time of the officers' conduct, the Supreme Court and this court had made it abundantly clear that either a warrant or probable cause and exigent circumstances was required to arrest an individual in his home. The court concluded, however, that the officers were entitled to qualified immunity and summary judgment on plaintiff's excessive-force claim. The court rejected the officers' contention that section 105.006(e-1) of the Texas Family Code entitled them to immunity and the court lacked jurisdiction to consider the officers' interlocutory appeal of the district court's denial of their motion for summary judgment on these claims. Accordingly, the court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings. View "Hogan v. City of Corpus Christi, TX, et al." on Justia Law

Petitioner, convicted of murder, appealed the district court's dismissal of his application for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. 2254. The court concluded that, even had the state court unreasonably concluded that there was no Confrontation Clause violation, habeas relief could not be granted because defendant failed to make a showing of prejudice where the admission of the videotape at issue did not have a substantial or injurious effect on the outcome of the jury's verdict. Further, defendant's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel during his intermediate appeal because counsel failed to make a Confrontation Clause argument related to the admission of the videotape also failed. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "Dorsey v. Thaler" on Justia Law

A jury found defendant guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. Defendant timely appealed. The court reversed and remanded, concluding that the district court abused its discretion in admitting certain testimony that attempted to describe defendant's alleged gang membership and connect it with illegal firearms and the error was not harmless. View "United States v. Hamilton" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, mortgagors who defaulted on their note, appealed the district court's motion to dismiss their suit seeking to enjoin a bank from foreclosing. Plaintiffs argued that the assignments by which the bank obtained the note and corresponding deed of trust were "robo-signed" and therefore invalid. Concluding that plaintiffs had standing, the court reaffirmed that, under Texas law, facially valid assignments could not be challenged for want of authority except by the defrauded assignor. View "Reinagel, Jr., et al. v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co." on Justia Law