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

This diversity action brought by plaintiffs involves a dispute concerning a sinkhole that emerged near the decades-long salt-mining activities of one of the defendants. The district court approved the settlement and defendant appealed.The Fifth Circuit concluded that the settlement agreement leaves plaintiffs with claims against Texas Brine for post-sinkhole damages, and it affects Texas Brine's ability to seek indemnification and contribution from the pre-2012 Insurers for those claims. The court explained that such a settlement is certainly proper if Texas Brine did not have any right to indemnification or contribution from the pre-2012 Insurers for post-sinkhole damages. The court applied Louisiana law and concluded that Texas Brine has failed to meet its burden to show that the post-sinkhole claims were covered under the 2011 Zurich policy. Therefore, Texas Brine has failed to show plain legal prejudice from the settlement agreement, and that it has a right to contribution or indemnification from the pre-2012 Insurers for the post-sinkhole claims. The court concluded that the settlement thus did not affect any such right and Texas Brine lacks standing as a non-party to object to the settlement. Accordingly, the court dismissed the appeal. View "LeBlanc v. Texas Brine Co., LLC" on Justia Law

A Louisiana law, La. Stat. Ann. 30:16, allows citizen suits to enforce state conservation laws, but any injunction the citizen might obtain must be entered in favor of the Commissioner of Louisiana's Office of Conservation. Plaintiff filed suit contending that this potential state involvement at the end of the litigation precludes diversity jurisdiction in federal court because there is no such jurisdiction when a State is a party. The district court disagreed, held that it had subject matter jurisdiction, and remanded to state court anyway based on Burford abstention.The Fifth Circuit denied the motion to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction; reversed the remand order; and remanded for further proceedings. The court concluded that it has subject matter jurisdiction over Grace Ranch's suit. The court explained that, despite Grace Ranch's listing of Louisiana in the style of the case, the State is not a proper party because it has not authorized landowners to sue in its name. Furthermore, Grace Ranch's real-party-in-interest argument for state involvement fares no better because Louisiana has only a general interest in the outcome of this suit. The court also concluded that it has appellate jurisdiction to review the district court's abstention-based remand order. Making explicit what was previously implicit in its caselaw, the court reasoned that a discretionary remand such as one on abstention grounds does not involve a removal "defect" within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. 1447(c). Finally, the court weighed the factors for Burford abstention and concluded that abstention is not warranted. View "Grace Ranch, LLC v. BP America Production, Co." on Justia Law

After plaintiff prevailed on her procedural due process and breach of contract claims against TSC, the trial court vacated the jury's verdict on the breach of contract claims and reduced the damages award on her procedural due process claim to $1.The Fifth Circuit held that TSC is entitled to neither sovereign immunity under the United States Constitution nor governmental immunity under state law. In this case, the Texas Legislature abrogated TSC's governmental immunity such that plaintiff could bring state law breach of contract claims against TSC. Therefore, the argument that the Texas Legislature attempted to limit federal jurisdiction over these claims is unavailing. The court also held that it was not required to address TSC's alternative arguments and declined to do so. The court reversed the dismissal of plaintiff's breach of contract claims, reinstated the jury's verdict on those claims, and remanded for the district court to consider TSC's alternative arguments regarding whether sufficient evidence supports plaintiff's breach of contract claims. The court affirmed the district court's grant of judgment as a matter of law on the due process violation damages and reduction of the jury's award of $12,500,000 to the nominal amount of $1. The court reversed the district court's vacatur of the portion of the attorneys' fees award based on the breach of contract claims and remanded for the district court to address TSC's alternative arguments regarding those claims and to determine whether plaintiff is entitled to attorneys' fees and in what amount. View "Tercero v. Texas Southmost College District" on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's claims of discrimination and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The district court dismissed the suit under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) on the ground that plaintiff's counsel failed to retain local counsel as required by local rules. The court held that dismissal was unwarranted because Berry v. CIGNA/RSI-CIGNA, 975 F.2d 1188 (5th Cir. 1992), sets forth a strict framework that district courts must meet to justify dismissal with prejudice—and one that the district court plainly failed to meet here. In this case, the record shows neither a clear record of delay or contumacious conduct, nor the futility of lesser sanctions, nor any aggravating factor. Accordingly, the court remanded for further proceedings. View "Campbell v. Wilkinson" on Justia Law

Arbor Court filed suit challenging the City's refusal to grant permits to repair the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey to its apartment units. The district court dismissed, holding that the action was not ripe because Arbor Court had not yet obtained a decision from the final arbiter of Houston permit requests, the City Council. Since the filing of this appeal, the City Council has ruled and denied the permits.The Fifth Circuit held that the district court correctly concluded that this case was not ripe because the City Council had not yet denied the permits. The court explained that this conclusion warranted dismissal of the pending claims and the denial of Arbor Court's attempt to add yet another unripe claim. However, now that the Council has acted, the court held that the claims are ripe. Accordingly, the court vacated the district court's dismissal and remanded for further proceedings. The court also vacated the district court's denial of Arbor Court's motion for leave to file a third amended complaint. View "DM Arbor Court, Ltd. v. City of Houston" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs filed suit challenging USCIS's denial of their application to adjust their immigration status to lawful permanent residents under the diversity visa program. The district court dismissed the case with prejudice pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).The Fifth Circuit vacated the district court's judgment and dismissed the case, holding that the case was moot prior to the entry of the district court's final judgment. The court joined its sister circuits in concluding that a claim challenging the denial of a diversity visa status adjustment application becomes moot after the relevant fiscal year expires. In this case, plaintiffs' claim was moot at the time they filed their initial complaint. View "Ermuraki v. Renaud" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit alleging that Barrett Boeker, her cousin's husband, raped and sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions at his home on the grounds of the Louisiana state prison where he serves as an assistant warden. Plaintiff also alleges that Samuel D'Aquilla, the district attorney, conspired with Boeker and others to prevent her from seeking justice for these crimes.The Fifth Circuit held that, under established precedent, it has no jurisdiction to reach plaintiff's claims against D’Aquilla, because she has no Article III standing. The court explained that Linda R.S. v. Richard D., 410 U.S. 614, 619 (1973), makes clear that "a citizen lacks standing to contest the policies of the prosecuting authority when he himself is neither prosecuted nor threatened with prosecution." Accordingly, the court has no choice but to reverse and remand with instructions to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction as to D'Aquilla. View "Lefebure v. D'Aquilla" on Justia Law

In a case related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, four plaintiffs seek reversal of dismissals with prejudice for failure to comply with orders of the multidistrict litigation (MDL) judge to file particular information about their claims. Plaintiff Alvarado seeks reversal of his dismissal with prejudice for failure to timely opt out of the settlement class.The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissals with prejudice of Plaintiffs Iames and Alvarado's claims where the record shows a clear record of delay by Iames, and the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding that Alvarado's failure to opt out was inexcusable. The court reversed and remanded the dismissals of Plaintiffs Dorgan, Gortney, and Valdivieso where plaintiffs ultimately complied with pretrial orders (PTO) 66. In this case, plaintiffs' claims were dismissed without a clear record of delay or contumacious conduct, and there are no existing aggravating factors counseling in favor of dismissal with prejudice. View "Alvarado v. BP Exploration & Production, Inc." on Justia Law

In a case arising out of the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by R. Allen Stanford and others, Stanford investors filed suit against defendants who provided banking services to Stanford. Appellants, who moved to intervene, are also Stanford investors and investment funds that purchased assignments of claims from Stanford investors.The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of intervention as of right, concluding that the district court did not abuse its discretion by balancing the Stallworth factors in determining that the motion to intervene was untimely. In this case, the district court did not abuse its discretion in determining that a delay of 18 months weighed against timeliness; the existing parties would be prejudiced in the form of costly and inefficient discovery, as well as delay of final distribution; and the denial of intervention will not exclude appellants from recovery even if it were to prejudice them in some way. Finally, there are no unusual circumstances militating for or against timeliness.The court dismissed the appeal of the denial of permissive intervention for lack of jurisdiction where the district court did not abuse its discretion by determining that the request for permissive intervention was untimely. The court rejected the motion to strike the personal jurisdiction argument. View "Mendez v. Trustmark National Bank" on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's claims against the University as barred by sovereign immunity. Plaintiff's action involved employment discrimination and retaliation claims, and he sought compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorney's fees. The court held that Texas A&M is an agency of the State of Texas, so a suit against the former is a suit against the latter. Furthermore, neither of the two exceptions to sovereign immunity apply in these circumstances. In this case, Congress did not abrogate the State's sovereign immunity, and the State did not knowingly and plainly waive its sovereign immunity and consent to suit. View "Sullivan v. Texas A&M University System" on Justia Law