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

The Fifth Circuit previously ruled that One Tech waived its right to arbitrate plaintiffs' state law claims in a class action alleging that One Tech duped consumers into signing for "free" credit reports that were not really free. Here, the court considered whether One Tech also waived its right to arbitrate federal claims added after remand. The court followed its precedent holding that waivers of arbitral rights are evaluated on a claim-by-claim basis and held that One Tech did not waive its right to arbitrate the new federal claims. The court concluded that the district court erred in holding otherwise. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded. View "Forby v. One Technologies, LP" on Justia Law

This case arose from an alleged international conspiracy to secure lucrative oil and gas contracts in Nigeria in exchange for bribes involving real estate, furniture, artwork, and other gifts. LightRay, the sole shareholder of the corporate owner of the yacht, M/Y Galactica Star, appeals the district court's 2018 order striking its claims and dismissing it for lack of standing. Enron Nigeria, a judgment creditor of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, appeals the district court's 2020 order granting a consent motion that resulted in the forfeiture of the yacht.The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's ruling with respect to LightRay's appeal and dismissed Enron Nigeria's appeal for lack of jurisdiction. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in determining that LightRay deliberately withdrew its claim against the yacht and waived its argument that it did so under duress. Furthermore, the district court did not err in dismissing LightRay from the proceedings for lack of standing with respect to the Remaining Assets. The court also concluded that Nigeria's Verified Claim was at all times immune from attachment and execution under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. In this case, Nigeria did not waive its sovereign immunity by encouraging the United States Government to sell the Galactica Star. View "United States v. LightRay Capital, LLC" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs filed suit principally seeking an injunction against the Texas court system to prevent any Texas court from entertaining suits under Senate Bill 8, which authorizes private civil actions against persons who abort an unborn child with a detectable fetal heartbeat. The motions at issue arise out of defendants' appeal of the district court's denial of their motions to dismiss the case on jurisdictional grounds.The Fifth Circuit previously denied plaintiffs' emergency motion for injunction pending appeal, which was premised on plaintiffs' argument that the district court's Eleventh Amendment immunity ruling was correct, and now explained the grounds for its actions. The court concluded that SB 8 emphatically precludes enforcement by any state, local, or agency officials, and thus defendant officials lack any "enforcement connection" to SB 8 and are not amenable to suit under Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123 (1908).In regard to Mark Lee Dickson's appeal, the court concluded that jurisdictional issues presented in the proceedings against Dickson are related to the issues presented in the state officials' collateral-order appeal. Therefore, the notice of appeal divested the district court of jurisdiction over Dickson as well as the officials. Accordingly, the court denied plaintiffs' motion to dismiss Dickson's appeal; granted Dickson's motion to stay the district court proceedings pending appeal; and expedited the appeal to the next available oral argument panel. View "Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson" on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court's grant of the City's motion to dismiss for lack of standing an action brought by plaintiff, a professional musician and accordionist, challenging three City ordinances which restrict busking in Houston. Plaintiff alleges that the ordinances violate his First Amendment right to free expression.The court agreed with plaintiff that the district court adopted an erroneously restrictive pleading standard for his First Amendment claim. The court concluded that, in pre-enforcement cases alleging a violation of the First Amendment's Free Speech Clause, the Supreme Court has recognized that chilled speech or self-censorship is an injury sufficient to confer standing. The court explained that a plaintiff bringing such a challenge need not have experienced "an actual arrest, prosecution, or other enforcement action" to establish standing. In this case, the complaint alleged that plaintiff intends to engage in conduct arguably affected with a constitutional interest; plaintiff's desired conduct is arguably proscribed by the ordinances; and he previously received a busking permit from the City—indicating recent enforcement of the permitting provision—which bolsters his entitlement to the substantial-threat-of-enforcement presumption. Therefore, plaintiff has adequately pleaded a justiciable injury and has standing to maintain his lawsuit at this stage. The court remanded for further proceedings. The court dismissed plaintiff's appeal of the district court's order denying his motion for reconsideration or leave to amend as moot. View "Barilla v. City of Houston" on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of summary judgment in an excessive force case where the district court held that a jury could conclude that an officer shot a citizen four times without warning while the citizen was turning away and empty-handed. The court explained that, because genuine disputes exist on three material facts—whether the officer warned before shooting, whether the citizen had turned away from the officer, and whether the officer could see that the citizen was unarmed—the district court properly denied a summary judgment motion invoking qualified immunity. The court agreed with the district court that there was a violation of clearly established law if the jury resolves the factual disputes in favor of plaintiff. View "Poole v. City of Shreveport" on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's second denial of plaintiff's motion for compassionate release based on failure to exhaust administrative remedies. In this case, the district court's initial denial was correct where plaintiff had failed to exhaust because the requisite 30-day period has not yet lapsed; only after that initial denial did he satisfy the exhaustion requirement; and instead of filing a new motion upon exhaustion, he filed a motion for reconsideration. The court concluded that plaintiff could not cure his exhaustion defect after the district court's initial denial and then rely on that cured defect as a justification for reconsideration. The court explained that an intervening change in circumstance—such as exhausting previously unexhausted administrative remedies—is not a proper basis for a motion for reconsideration. View "United States v. Garrett" on Justia Law

Under 29 C.F.R. 541.601, a highly compensated employee must be paid on a "salary basis" in order to avoid overtime. Under section 541.604(b), an employee whose pay is "computed on a daily basis" must meet certain conditions in order to satisfy the salary-basis test. A daily-rate worker can be exempt from overtime—but only "if" two conditions are met: the minimum weekly guarantee condition and the reasonable relationship condition.In this case, Helix claims that plaintiff is exempt from overtime as a highly compensated executive employee under section 541.601. The parties agree that Hewitt meets both the duties requirements and income thresholds of both exemptions. However, Hewitt admits that plaintiff's pay is computed on a daily basis, rather than on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis.The court concluded that Helix does not comply with either prong of section 541.604(b) where it pays plaintiff a daily rate without offering a minimum weekly required amount paid and Helix does not comply with the reasonable-relationship test. The court also concluded that there is no principled basis for applying or ignoring section 541.604(b) based on how much the employee is paid; the salary-basis test does not conflict with precedent; and the court rejected Helix's contention that extending overtime to highly-paid employees like plaintiff defies the purpose of the Fair Labor Standards Act. View "Hewitt v. Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc." on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit granted the government's petition for panel rehearing, withdrew its prior opinion, and substituted the following opinion. The court denied defendants' petitions for panel rehearing and for rehearing en banc.Defendants McClaren, Keelen, Fortia, Scott, and Allen were convicted of numerous crimes related to their participation in a New Orleans street gang. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to sever McClaren and Scott's trials; the district court did not clearly err in its Batson determinations; the court rejected challenges to co-conspirator testimony; the evidence was sufficient to support Allen, Fortia, and Keelan's convictions for RICO conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. 1962(d); the evidence was sufficient to support Fortia, Keelen, and Allen's VICAR convictions under 18 U.S.C. 1959(a)(3) and 1959(a)(1); the evidence was sufficient to support Fortia, Keelen, McClaren, and Scott's conviction for engaging in a drug-trafficking conspiracy; the evidence was sufficient to support Fortia's ratification of the drug and RICO conspiracies; and the evidence was sufficient to support Keelen, McClaren, Scott, and Fortia's convictions for conspiracy to sell 280 grams or more of crack. However, the court vacated Fortia's sentence for drug-trafficking conspiracy and remanded for resentencing.The court concluded that it was plain error to permit the jury to convict defendants under 18 U.S.C. 924 and reversed Allen, Fortia, and Keelen's firearms convictions accordingly. Because a RICO violation is not a permissible predicate offense for a subsection (c) violation, the court also reversed Keelen's conviction under 18 U.S.C. 924(j); the evidence was sufficient to support McClaren and Scott's convictions for conspiracy to possess firearms; and defendants are not entitled to a new trial because of the admission and use of the plea agreement documents. The court affirmed the district court's denial of defendants' motion for a new trial, and affirmed Scott and McClaren's sentences. View "United States v. McClaren" on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants in an action brought by plaintiff, alleging malicious interference with employment and witness tampering under Mississippi law. In this case, Defendant Clark and plaintiff are both residents of Mississippi. The court concluded that the district court erred in concluding that Clark was improperly joined for diversity purposes. Therefore, diversity jurisdiction was lacking and thus the court remanded to state court. View "Hicks v. Martinrea Auto Structures (USA), Inc." on Justia Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to vacate his sentence under 28 U.S.C. 2255 because the motion was time-barred by the one-year limitations period in the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). The court concluded that defendant is not entitled to equitable tolling or recharacterization on his pro se filings. The court found United States v. Riggs, 314 F.3d 796, 799 (5th Cir. 2002), controlling where the record showed that defendant's counsel erroneously told defendant that he had not missed the deadline. Furthermore, even if defendant were entitled to have his pro se Johnson motion recharacterized as a section 2255 motion, his current arguments alleging prosecutorial conflict of interest do not relate back to his Johnson filing under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(c). View "United States v. Cardenas" on Justia Law