May 23, 2023, opinions

Posted on by tadbartlett

Designated for publication

  • Scott v. City of Mandeville, 20-30507, appeal from E.D. La.
    • Richman, C.J. (Richman, Smith, Graves), excessive force, false arrest
    • Affirming dismissal of § 1983 claims arising from arrest of plaintiff for driving while intoxicated.
    • The Court held that there was probable cause for the plaintiff’s arrest, based on the admitted facts, such that the district court did not err in finding that the arresting officers had probable cause and in dismissing the false arrest claim.
    • The Court held that the officers’ use of force in the arrest was not clearly unreasonable, affirming the dismissal of plaintiff’s excessive force claim, because the Court was able to classify the alleged injuries as “minor, incidental” injuries related to the reasonable use of handcuffs during the arrest.
  • Tuttle v. Sepolio, 22-20279, c/w 23-20013, appeal from S.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Richman, Elrod, Oldham), Oldham, J., dissenting in part; qualified immunity
    • Affirming in part, reversing in part, and vacating in part district court’s order granting qualified immunity dismissal of some claims but not others in case arising from Houston Police Department’s attempted execution of a search warrant that was obtained when an officer provided false information, and which attempted execution resulted in the shooting death of the two inhabitants of the home and their dog. The Court affirmed the denial of qualified immunity on the plaintiffs’ excessive force claims; reversed the denial of dismissal of plaintiffs’ failure-to-intervene claims; vacated the district court’s order addressing one of the supervising officers’ motion to dismiss the failure-to-supervise claim against her, which was already the subject of an earlier motion that is under appeal; reversed the denial of dismissal of the failure-to-supervise claim against another officer who was not personally involved in obtaining the warrant or effectuating the search; affirmed other failure-to-supervise claims; and declined to address the district court’s failure to address dismissal of state-law wrongful death claims.
    • Judge Oldham dissented in part. He would have extended qualified immunity to the one officer as to the failure-to-supervise claims that were upheld.
    • (just a note to the Court: the drug is “heroin,” not “heroine.”)

Unpublished

  • U.S. v. Wright, 22-11136, appeal from N.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Stewart, Duncan, Wilson), criminal
    • Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.
  • Velazquez v. Martinez, 22-40654, appeal from S.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Elrod, Ho, Wilson), products liability
    • Affirming district court’s holding that third-party defendants were not “sellers” of a shipping container involved in the underlying personal injury action, for purposes of the Texas Products Liability Act.
  • Nixon v. General Motors Corp., 22-40696, appeal from E.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Elrod, Graves, Ho), patent infringement
    • Dismissing as frivolous the appeal from the dismissal of plaintiff’s pro se patent infringement action.