Designated for publication U.S. v. Crittenden, 18-50635, appeal from W.D. Tex. Elrod, J. (Dennis, Elrod, Costa), Costa, J., dissenting; criminal, new trial Finding no abuse of discretion in district court’s order of a new trial upon a finding that “though the evidence was sufficient to support a conviction, the court had cautiously reweighed the evidence … More February 8, 2022, opinions
Designated for publication U.S. v. Bates, 19-10813, appeal from N.D. Tex. per curiam (King, Graves, Willett), criminal, sentencing, Armed Career Criminals Act On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, vacating and remanding for resentencing. The Court held that, under Borden v. United States, 141 S. Ct. 1817 (2021), the Texas crime of assault of a … More February 4-7, 2022, opinions
Designated for publication Landmark American Insurance Co. v. SCD Memorial Place II, L.L.C., 20-20389, appeal from S.D. Tex. Elrod, J. (Elrod, Willett, Engelhardt), insurance Reversing summary judgment in favor of insured on action regarding coverage of flood-related damage sustained during Hurricane Harvey, and rendering judgment in favor of insurer. The policy at issue here is … More February 3, 2022, opinions
Designated for publication U.S. v. Swenson, 20-20509, appeal from S.D. Tex. King, J. (King, Costa, Willett), criminal, sentencing, restitution, sufficiency of evidence Affirming conviction of mail fraud, sentence, and restitution award. The Court held that there was sufficient evidence to support the conviction on count of mail fraud (the jury had found defendant not guilty … More February 2, 2022, opinions
Designated for publication U.S. v. Martinez, 21-30068, appeal from W.D. La. Davis, J. (Davis, Jones, Elrod), criminal, search and seizure Affirming denial of motion to suppress evidence seized from USPS packages; defendant had argued that reasonable suspicion did not exist to detain the packages, and that the 17-day delay between their detention and the search … More February 1, 2022, opinions
We report after each month on interesting statistics from the data we generate from the daily opinion summaries from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and at the end of each court year (Oct.-Sept.) we will aggregate that–all of which provides useful insights into the inner workings of the Court, the relative … More January 2022 opinion statistics
Designated for publication Dotson v. Atlantic Specialty Insurance Co., 21-30314, appeal from E.D. La. Ho, J. (King, Graves, Ho), insurance, res judicata Affirming summary judgment dismissing plaintiff’s bad faith claims against insurer arising from insurer’s representations about policy limits in prior litigation arising from an auto accident, on grounds of the res judicata effect of … More January 31, 2022, opinions
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