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

This case arose when First Investment entered into a series of shipbuilding contracts with FSIGC and Mawei (collectively, the "Fujian Entities"). First Investment alleged that the Fujian Entities breached the contracts by refusing to honor an option agreement. On appeal, First Investment appealed the district court's decision to deny confirmation of a foreign arbitral award against the Fujian Entities and the People's Republic of China. At issue was whether a court could dismiss a petition to confirm a foreign arbitration award for lack of personal jurisdiction under the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. The court concluded that the district court's dismissal of the petition on personal jurisdiction grounds was appropriate. The court also concluded that the district court properly dismissed the People's Republic of China for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "First Invst Corp. of the Marshall Islands v. Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding, Ltd, et al" on Justia Law

This appeal involved claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq. Santander, a consumer finance company, was found by a jury to have negligently failed to comply with the law by promptly investigating plaintiff's credit dispute with Santander and to correct the information Santander misreported to a credit agency. On appeal, Santander contended that plaintiff did not offer legally sufficient evidence of his various claimed items of damage; plaintiff failed to mitigate his damages; and the district court improperly admitted letters from third parties to plaintiff. The court found no reversible error and affirmed the judgment. View "Smith v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc." on Justia Law

Defendants pleaded guilty to defrauding health-care insurers by billing for pain injections that they never administered. Defendants appealed the district court's order that they pay over $43 million in restitution to 32 victims defrauded by the scheme. The court concluded that the record did not support the entire restitution amount recommended and therefore the district court abused its discretion in adopting the unsupported figure. The court held, however, that the district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to apply a restitution credit. Accordingly, the court vacated the order of restitution and remanded for recalculation. As defendants' plea agreements stipulated to a forfeiture money judgment in the same amount as the restitution award, the court also vacated the amount of the forfeiture award and remanded for recalculation. The court further held that the government did not breach the plea agreements with defendants. View "United States v. Sharma" on Justia Law

This case involved three consolidated lawsuits filed by plaintiffs who challenged the lawfulness of various ordinances enacted by the City of New Orleans regulating that city's taxicab industry. The court held that the district court abused its discretion in concluding that plaintiffs demonstrated a substantial likelihood of prevailing on their claim that sections 162-59 and 162-321 of the Municipal Code effected a regulatory taking. Therefore, the court vacated the district court's order insofar as it granted plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction prohibiting enforcement of these sections. The court affirmed the district court's denial of a preliminary injunction in connection with all aspects of plaintiffs' impairment of contract claim. The court also concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in holding that plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that they would be irreparably injured by the denial of an injunction. Therefore, the court affirmed the district court's order insofar as it denied plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction enjoining enforcement of the Upgrade Ordinances. View "Melancon, et al v. City of New Orleans, et al" on Justia Law

These consolidated appeals arose from the district court's appointment of a receiver of Jeffrey Baron's personal property and entities he owned or controlled. Barron and Munish Krishan formed a joint venture involving the ownership and sale of internet domain names. Disputes arose between the venturers, resulting in at least seven lawsuits. The district court subsequently sought to stop Baron's practice of regularly firing one lawyer and hiring a new one. Baron appealed the receivership order and almost every order entered by the district court thereafter. The court reversed and remanded, holding that the appointment of the receiver was an abuse of discretion. Numerous motions and a writ of mandamus to overturn the bankruptcy court's striking of notices of appeal to the district court were also before the court. Most were denied as moot and the court addressed the remaining motions that were relevant. View "Netsphere Inc., et al v. Baron" on Justia Law

Gallagher provided insurance-related services throughout the country. Its subsidiary, GBSI, handled Gallagher's employee-benefit insurance programs. In November 2003, GBSI purchased Babcock Consulting, a business owned by Clayton L. Babcock. In this diversity suit, Gallagher and GBSI (collectively, "plaintiffs") sought money damages for breach of restrictive employment agreements under Louisiana law. The court affirmed the district court's directed verdict on the breach of competition agreement, but set aside the damages. The court concluded that the district court abused its discretion in admitting certain evidence on the issue of damages. The court vacated the award of attorneys' fees, leaving the ultimate award to be decided on remand. View "Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., et al v. Babcock, et al" on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted of one count of attempting to evade or defeat a tax; four counts of willful failure to file a tax return; and one count of attempting to interfere with the administration of internal revenue laws. Defendant appealed. Although the court granted defendant's motion to reconsider the clerk's denial of his motion to extend the time for filing a reply and allowed the brief to be submitted to the court, the court nevertheless concluded that the district court did not err in any respect. Because the court held that there were no merits to any of defendant's substantive points, and because the court held that the statute of limitations accrued from the last evasive act under 26 U.S.C. 6531(2), the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Irby, Jr." on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and importation of cocaine. On appeal, defendant challenged his sentence. The court held that the district court did not clearly err in denying the minor participant adjustment but that it did err in its application of a five-year period of ineligibility. Nevertheless, the court declined to exercise its discretion to correct the error because there was no evidence that defendant was or might be eligible for federal benefits during the five-year period of ineligibility imposed by the district court. View "United States v. Silva-De Hoyos" on Justia Law

These appeals involved former policemen who were convicted in the same trial regarding their conduct during Hurricane Katrina, which resulted in the death of one citizen. Defendants appealed their convictions and sentences. The court held that, because Defendant Warren had demonstrated that he suffered specific compelling prejudice as a consequence of the district court's refusal to sever his trial from that of the other defendants, the district court abused its discretion in denying Warren's repeated motions to sever under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 14(a). The court also held that the evidence was insufficient to support Defendant McRae's conviction for denying the citizen's descendants and survivors the right to access the courts, and therefore reversed and vacated that conviction. The court affirmed McRae's other convictions, rejecting his double jeopardy challenge, and remanded for resentencing. The court further held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in granting Defendant McCabe a new trial, and therefore affirmed that order. View "United States v. McCabe" on Justia Law

Servicios, a Venezuela corporation, filed suit in district court against John Deere, a Louisiana corporation, for breach of contract providing for Servicios' exclusive distributorship of John Deere products in Venezuela. Servicios appealed the district court's judgment dismissing the complaint. The court concluded that there was no per se rule against standing for non-resident aliens in federal courts, as John Deere contended, and that the principles of prudential standing did not call for the dismissal of Servicios' suit. The court also concluded that the district court abused its discretion in dismissing Servicios' complaint to the extent that it did so as a penalty for its perceived failure to properly brief its opposition to John Deere's motion. Accordingly, the court vacated and remanded for further proceedings. View "Servicios Azucareros de Venezuela, C.A., et al v. John Deere Thibodeaux, Inc." on Justia Law