April 13, 2023, opinions

Posted on by tadbartlett

Designated for publication

  • Heckman v. Gonzalez-Caballero, 22-10415, appeal from N.D. Tex.
    • Higginbotham, J. (Higginbotham, Smith, Engelhardt), personal torts, Batson violation
    • Affirming denial of new trial or remittitur motion brought by plaintiff in trucker-collision case where jury found in favor of plaintiff but only awarded $37,500.
    • The Court held that the defense counsel’s closing argument comments that allegedly alluded to the plaintiff’s counsel’s marketing as the “Hammer” to “hammer the Defendant for $2,198,000,” and other references, while perhaps improper, did not warrant a new trial.
    • The Court held that the defense counsel’s peremptory strikes of the only two Black venirepersons did not amount to a Batson violation because the record showed plausible non-pretextual reasons for the strikes.
  • Martinelli v. Hearst Newspapers, L.L.C., 22-20333, appeal from S.D. Tex.
    • Higginson, J. (Barksdale, Southwick, Higginson), copyright infringement, timeliness
    • Affirming denial of defendants’ summary judgment motion that the plaintiff’s copyright infringement claims were untimely.
    • The Court upheld the application of the discovery rule as the trigger for running of the three-year statute of limitations, and rejecting defendants’ argument that the trigger should be the date of publication of the allegedly infringing material. The Court held that neither Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., 572 U.S. 663 (2014), nor Rotkiske v. Klemm, 140 S. Ct. 355 (2019), unequivocally overruled the discovery-rule trigger in Graper v. Mid-Continent Casualty Co., 756 F.3d 388, 393 (5th Cir. 2014).

Unpublished

  • Green v. Lumpkin, 20-70021, appeal from S.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Willett, Ho, Duncan), habeas corpus
    • Reversing district court’s grant of habeas relief on procedurally defaulted claims that had not been presented to the state court on petition for state post-conviction relief.
  • Wightman v. Ameritas Life Insurance Corp., 21-30148, appeal from E.D. La.
    • Graves, J. (Wiener, Graves, Ho), timeliness
    • Reversing summary judgment dismissal of claims for violation of Louisiana’s PPO Act as untimely under Louisiana’s one-year prescriptive statute for delictual claims; after certifying the question to the Louisiana Supreme Court, the Court held that the statutory-violation claims were contractual in nature, rather than delictual, and therefore subject to the ten-year prescriptive period for contract claims.
  • U.S. v. Valdez, 22-10986, appeal from N.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (King, Higginson, Willett), criminal
    • Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.
  • Wilkins v. Liberto, 22-30404, appeal from E.D. La.
    • per curiam (King, Jones, Duncan), qualified immunity
    • Dismissing interlocutory appeal of denial of qualified immunity summary judgment, on basis that genuine issues of material fact preclude appellate review.
  • Angelitos Health Care, Inc. v. Becerra, 22-40298, appeal from S.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (King, Jones, Duncan), Medicare
    • Affirming district court judgment upholding ALJ’s determination that healthcare provider had been overpaid more than $1 million in Medicare claims.
  • U.S. v. Thomas, 22-50518, appeal from W.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Smith, Southwick, Douglas), criminal, search and seizure
    • Affirming conviction of aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute 100 kilograms or more of marihuana and possession of a firearm in relation to a drug-trafficking offense, and upholding denial of motion to suppress.
  • Kamanzi v. Garland, 22-60310, petition for review of BIA order
    • per curiam (Higginbotham, Graves, Ho), immigration
    • Denying Rwandan citizen’s petition for review of BIA order dismissing appeal of IJ’s denial of asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the CAT.