Take the Fifth

Designated for publication

• Wilson v. City of Bastrop, 21-30204, appeal from W.D. La.
  • Duncan, J. (Jones, Higginson, Duncan), qualified immunity
  • Affirming summary judgment dismissal on qualified immunity grounds in suit against police officer arising from fatal shooting of an armed suspect, and dismissing for lack of appellate jurisdiction appeal from dismissal of claims against city and police department.
  • The Court reviewed the facts of the foot-chase between the officer and the armed suspect, finding that “[Officer] Green could have reasonably believed Johnson posed a serious physical threat to bystanders and to Green himself. … Johnson stepped out of the car holding a gun; ran toward onlookers, another officer, and an apartment complex; and ignored numerous orders to stop and drop the gun.” The Court held, “Even drawing all inferences in Plaintiffs’ favor, the district court correctly determined that Green’s use of deadly force was no constitutionally excessive.”
  • As to the dismissal of the claims against the city and the police department, the Court noted that the plaintiffs had only filed a notice of appeal from the judgment granting qualified immunity dismissal against the officers, and had not filed another notice of appeal after the subsequent order and final judgment dismissing the city and department. “While Plaintiffs’ initial notice of appeal ‘sufficiently preserve[d] all prior orders intertwined with the final judgment,’ the summary judgment dismissal of Plaintiffs’ municipal-liability claims was a subsequent, not a prior, order.” (Internal citation omitted).

Unpublished

• Self v. U.S., 20-10388, appeal from N.D. Tex.
  • per curiam (Barksdale, Costa, Engelhardt), Federal Tort Claims Act, prisoner suit
  • Affirming dismissal of prisoner’s FTCA claim alleging medical malpractice.

• U.S. v. Gonzalez, 21-10372, appeal from N.D. Tex.
  • per curiam (Davis, Jones, Elrod), criminal
  • Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.

• U.S. v. Dumrongsri, 21-10376, appeal from N.D. Tex.
  • per curiam (Davis, Jones, Elrod), criminal
  • Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.

• U.S. v. Loya, 21-10536, appeal from N.D. Tex.
  • per curiam (Jolly, Willett, Engelhardt), criminal, supervised release
  • Affirming as part of the special conditions in supervised release portion of sentence the special conditions to “participate in outpatient mental health treatment services as directed by the probation officer until successfully discharged” and to “participate in an outpatient program approved by the probation officer for treatment of narcotic, drug, or alcohol dependency that will include testing for the detection of substance use.”

• U.S. v. Campos, 21-10627, appeal from N.D. Tex.
  • per curiam (Jolly, Willett, Engelhardt), criminal, sentencing
  • Affirming 37-month sentence on conviction of illegal reentry.

• Prudhomme v. GEICO, 21-30157, appeal from W.D. La.
  • per curiam (King, Costa, Willett), class action
  • Affirming denial of class action to putative class challenging insurer’s use of a proprietary system of vehicle valuation for total-loss vehicle claims. “[T]he district court questioned whether Appellants’ theory of liability was, in fact, beneficial to the proposed class. It was not. Indeed, a portion of the proposed class members received payments above (that is, benefitted from) the allegedly unlawful valuation. This undermined Appellants’ class-wide theory of liability and thereby doomed adequacy.”

• U.S. v. Melancon, 21-30159, appeal from W.D. La.
  • per curiam (Smith, Stewart, Graves), criminal, supervised release
  • Affirming imposition of supervised release special conditions requiring participation in substance abuse treatment and prohibiting internet access without probation officer approval.

• U.S. v. Sabastian-Felipe, 21-50825, appeal from W.D. Tex.
  • per curiam (Smith, Stewart, Graves), criminal, sentencing
  • Granting summary affirmance of 30-month sentence on conviction of illegal reentry.