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

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

Appellants claimed that ATF lacked statutory authority to issue a demand letter to firearms licensees classified as a "dealer" or "pawnbroker" in certain states, and even if it possessed statutory authority, that its decision to issue the demand letter to the chosen licensees was arbitrary and capricious. The court concluded that 18 U.S.C. 923(g)(5)(A) "unambiguously authorized the demand letter," and the court's "inquiry ends at Chevron step one." The court rejected appellants' claim that section 923(g)(1)(A), 923(g)(1)(B), 923(g)(3)(A), and 923(g)(7) must be read to limit ATF's demand letter authority; the demand letter did not run afoul of section 926(a)'s prohibition; and the appropriation rider at issue did not prohibit ATF from issuing the demand letter because it fell short of consolidating or centralizing records. The court addressed the remaining claims, concluding that ATF's decision was not arbitrary and capricious. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "10 Ring Precision, Inc., et al. v. Jones" on Justia Law

Anadarko appealed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Williams Alaska, arguing that Williams Alaska ignored the parties' agreements to pass through shipping credits on purchased oil. The court, construing the effect of the agreements in light of the contract and the parties' course of performance, concluded that the judgment for Williams Alaska could not stand; the agreements required Williams Alaska to remit any Quality Bank credits it received for the crude oil purchased under the contract; the court rejected Williams Alaska's contention that the obligation to remit the credits expired upon the termination of the agreement; Anadarko filed suit within the four-year statute of limitations and its suit was not time-barred; and Anadarko was entitled to interest on the unpaid Quality Bank credits from the time of breach. Accordingly, the court reversed and rendered judgment in favor of Anadarko, remanding for further proceedings. View "Anadarko Petroleum Corp. v. Williams Alaska Petroleum, Inc." on Justia Law

Plaintiff brought a class action suit under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq., alleging various breaches of fiduciary duty to plan participants. The district court dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim. The court concluded that the district court correctly dismissed Counts I and IV of the amended complaint which alleged that Idearc Defendants breached their fiduciary duties by allowing plan participants to buy and hold Idearc stock when it was no longer prudent to do so where the amended complaint failed to allege sufficient facts to overcome the "presumption of prudence" the court adopted in Kirschbaum v. Reliant Energy Inc. The court also concluded that the district court correctly dismissed plaintiff's claim for inaccurate disclosures and nondisclosures (Count II) where plaintiff alleged no specific circumstance or specific injury mandating the Idearc Defendants disclose non-public information to plan participants and no general duty to disclose non-public information existed under ERISA or under the court's precedents. The court affirmed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's remaining claims. View "Kopp v. Klein, et al." on Justia Law