August 25, 2021 opinions

Posted on by tadbartlett

Designated for publication

  • Jennings v. Towers Watson, 19-11028, appeal from N.D. Tex.
    • Higginson, J. (King, Higginson, Wilson), Title VII, employment discrimination, Americans with Disabilities Act
    • Affirming summary judgment in favor of former-employer defendant on plaintiff’s claims for state-law civil conspiracy, hostile work environment under Title VII and the ADA, disability discrimination under the ADA, racial discrimination, and wrongful termination.
    • With regard to the district court’s holding that the plaintiff had failed to exhaust her administrative remedies for her disability-based discrimination and retaliation claims when it found that the plaintiff’s first charge to the EEOC constrained all of her discrimination and retaliation allegations to actions that happened prior to the date she began her training and employment and that her second charge to the EEOC failed to allege any race or disability-based discrimination, the Court held that “the district court construed the scope of the investigation that could reasonably be expected to grow out of Jennings’s EEOC charges too narrowly.”
    • The Court held, however, that the district court did not err in holding that the plaintiff failed to exhaust her race discrimination and hostile work environment claims.
    • The Court held that, though she had exhausted her administrative remedies on her disability-related claims, the district court’s summary judgment should be upheld on the basis that she had failed to raise a genuine dispute of the fact whether the defendant had failed to make reasonable accommodations for her leg injury. The defendant had offered to restart the plaintiff’s training at a date after when her doctor had written that her mobility restrictions would end; the Court held that “Time off, whether paid or unpaid, can be a reasonable accommodation.” The Court also held that, because her disabled status ended on June 1, with no evidence that it extended beyond that point, then her July 12 termination was not a disability-related adverse employment action.
  • Albert Sidney Johnston Chapter, Chapter No. 2060, United Daughters of the Confederacy v. City of San Antonio, 20-50155, appeal from W.D. Tex.
    • Clement, J. (Smith, Clement, Oldham), standing
    • Affirming district court’s ruling that UDC chapter challenging city’s removal of Confederate statue had no property right in the monument, the time capsule beneath it, or the land at the center of a city park, and therefore lacked standing to bring its challenge.
    • The Court held that an 1899 document that the plaintiffs purport transferred some sort of property interest or easement to the UDC from the City could not, as a matter of law, have done so. “[T]he land was generally inalienable and unassignable.” Further, the Court held that any right that was assigned would have terminated after the monument and time capsule were placed in the park. Moreover, because the document arguably created a right directed at a prior UDC chapter, and because the current UDC chapter did not produce any evidence that such a right had been transferred from the prior chapter, the Court held that whatever right the prior chapter may have had would have terminated with that chapter’s dissolution. “[T]he ASJ chapter’s failure to establish a particularized injury undermines both of its claims.”
  • Davis v. Hodgkiss, 20-50917, appeal from W.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (King, Dennis, Ho), qualified immunity, probable cause
    • Reversing district court’s denial of qualified immunity to police officer defendant on plaintiffs’ claims that the officer violated their Fourth Amendment rights by using false statements to secure a search warrant.
    • The Court started off by reiterating that its scope of review on interlocutory appeals from denials of qualified immunity is limited to whether the district court erred in assessing the legal significance of the conduct and did not include a re-weighing of the genuineness of any factual dispute.
    • The Court held that, even if the officer’s statements about information gained from a confidential informant were untrue, the remaining content on the affidavit to get the search warrant was sufficient to establish probable cause.

Unpublished

  • Wali v. Garland, 18-60747, petition for review of BIA order
    • per curiam (Stewart, Ho, Engelhardt), immigration
    • Granting Pakistani citizen’s petition for review of BIA order sustaining IJ’s determination that the lawful permanent resident was removable due to guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute a synthetic cannabinoid; reversing BIA decision; and remanding for further proceedings in light of Alejos-Perez v. Garland, 991 F.3d 642 (5th Cir. 2021).
  • U.S. v. Johnson, 19-10572, appeal from N.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Davis, Smith, Higginson), criminal
    • Dismissing appeal as moot.
  • Hampton v. Bohlke, 19-60845, appeal from N.D. Miss.
    • per curiam (King, Costa, Ho), prisoner suit
    • Dismissing as frivolous appeal from dismissal of Bivens claims.
  • Trojanowski v. Vasquez, 20-10431, appeal from N.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Barksdale, Willett, Duncan), prisoner suit
    • Dismissing appeal in part and affirming in part district court’s dismissal of prisoner’s claims arising from inmate-on-inmate assault.
  • U.S. v. Villasenor, 20-10602, appeal from N.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Higginbotham, Higginson, Duncan), criminal
    • Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.
  • Vaughn v. Nebraska Furniture Mart, L.L.C., 20-10775, appeal from N.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Owen, Smith, Graves), default judgment
    • Affirming default judgment in employment discrimination claim, on finding that defendant’s neglect amounted to willful neglect where it sent just one email in a nine-month span to outside counsel regarding the lawsuit.
  • U.S. v. Martinez, 20-11055, appeal from N.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Wiener, Dennis, Haynes), criminal
    • Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.
  • U.S. v. Sarabia, 20-50438, appeal from W.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (King, Dennis, Ho), criminal, sufficiency of evidence, sentencing
    • Dismissing appeal in part for lack of jurisdiction, and affirming conviction on two counts of receiving and two counts of possessing child pornography and sentence of 285 months’ imprisonment and 20 years’ supervised release.
  • Mateen v. FNU LNU, 20-50835, appeal from W.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Jolly, Willett, Engelhardt), § 1983
    • Dismissing as frivolous appeal from dismissal of § 1983 suit “alleging a vast conspiracy pursuant to which, inter alia, [plaintiff] was lobotomized and had an artificial-intelligence chip inserted into his brain that turned him into an android slave.”
  • Puac v. Garland, 20-61078, petition for review of BIA order
    • per curiam (Higginbotham, Higginson, Duncan), immigration
    • Denying Guatemalan citizen’s petition for review of BIA order affirming the decision of the Immigration Judge (IJ) denying his application for withholding of removal and relief under the Convention Against Torture.
  • Hollinger v. Kijakazi, 20-61103, appeal from N.D. Miss.
    • per curiam (Smith, Stewart, Willett), social security
    • Affirming denial of social security benefits.