Designated for publication
- Neese v. Becerra, 23-10078, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Jones, Haynes, Douglas), Jones, J., concurring; Affordable Care Act, Title IX, standing
- Vacating summary judgment for plaintiffs in challenge to Notification of Interpretation and Enforcement of Section 157 of the ACA, which interpreted discrimination on the basis of sex to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and and on the basis of gender identity; vacating on ground that standing was lacking, and remanding to district court with instructions to dismiss for lack of standing.
- Judge Jones concurred.
- Lindsley v. Omni Hotels Management Corp., 23-11167, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- Clement, J. (Clement, Engelhardt, Wilson), employment discrimination, Title VII, Equal Pay Act
- Vacating judgment in favor of plaintiff on Title VII claim for $25 million, entered on jury’s second verdict form after district court had deemed first verdict internally inconsistent and had returned the case to the jury, and remanding for new trial.
- Newsome v. International Paper Co., 24-20126, appeal from S.D. Tex.
- Willett, J. (Wiener, Willett, Duncan), personal tort, expert witness
- Affirming summary judgment for defendant on plaintiff’s personal injury claim arising from chemical exposure, rejecting challenge to district court’s denial of plaintiff’s request for time to designate a new expert witness on causation issues.
- U.S. v. Avery, 23-20406, appeal from S.D. Tex.
- Smith, J. (Smith, Clement, Higginson), criminal, sentencing
- Affirming 72-month sentence on conviction of coercing or enticing an individual to travel to engage in prostitution.
- U.S. v. Lerma, 23-50811, appeal from W.D. Tex.
- Ho, J. (Jones, Barksdale, Ho), criminal, sentencing
- Affirming sentence on conviction of escaping from a secure facility, rejecting challenge to district court’s failure to apply sentence-level reductions for voluntary return where those reductions only applied to an escape from an unsecure facility.
- Cuenca-Arroyo v. Garland, 23-60100, petition for review of BIA order
- per curiam (Elrod, Smith, Graves), Elrod, C.J., concurring; immigration
- Dismissing in part and denying in part Mexican citizen’s petition for review of BIA orders affirming denial of his application for cancellation of removal, affirming denial of his application for voluntary departure, and affirming denial of a motion for continuance he sought in the underlying proceedings.
- Chief Judge Elrod concurred. “The per curiam opinion follows a long line of cases in which we have reviewed the BIA’s continuance determinations for an abuse of discretion. I write separately to explain why, if we were writing on a blank slate, I would conclude that we do not have jurisdiction to review such decisions.” (Footnote omitted).
- A.B. v. Salesforce, Inc., 23-20604, appeal from S.D. Tex.
- Morales, J. (Willett, Douglas, Morales, by designation), Communications Decency Act
- Affirming district court’s denial of immunity to cloud-server provider on claims by sex-trafficking victims under the Communications Decency Act, and remanding for further proceedings. “Because Plaintiffs’ claims do not treat Salesforce as the publisher or speaker of third-party content, Salesforce cannot avail itself of section 230’s grant of immunity.”
- U.S. Bank Trust N.A. v. Walden, 23-50662, appeal from W.D. Tex.
- Graves, J. (Clement, Graves, Ramirez), foreclosure
- Affirming in part, reversing in part, and remanding from summary judgment in favor of lender on claims arising from foreclosure on loan. The Court held that the district court erred “in finding that the entity did not manifest an unequivocal intent to abandon acceleration.”
- Clem v. Tomlinson, 22-11072, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- Jones, J. (Elrod, Jones, Barksdale), bankruptcy, collateral estoppel
- Reversing non-dischargeability judgment in favor of creditor; “the bankruptcy court erred in failing to apply collateral estoppel to the findings in an underlying arbitration, and also erred in its interpretation of a fraud-by-nondisclosure claim.” (Internal citation omitted).
- Grace v. Hooper, 24-30218, appeal from E.D. La.
- Southwick, J. (Southwick, Haynes, Graves), habeas corpus
- Reversing district court’s grant of habeas relief, holding there was no violation of clearly established law in the petitioner’s claimed Brady violation.
- U.S. v. Barber, 24-40069, appeal from E.D. Tex.
- Ho, J. (Ho, Engelhardt, Douglas), criminal, sufficiency of evidence, search and seizure
- Affirming conviction of possession of a firearm by a felon, upholding denial of motion to suppress, rejecting argument of facial unconstitutionality, and finding sufficient evidence in record to support conviction.
- Hernandez v. Causey, 24-60080, appeal from S.D. Miss.
- Higginson, J. (Elrod, Dennis, Higginson), Dennis, J., dissenting in part; sec. 1983, Bivens claim
- Affirming dismissal of Bivens claim.
- Judge Dennis dissented in part. “I agree with the majority that Hernandez’s Bivens claim is foreclosed by the Supreme Court’s decision in Egbert v. Boule, 596 U.S. 482 (2022). However, and with great respect for my esteemed colleagues, I would find that Hernandez has pleaded a § 1983 claim upon which relief can be granted. To plausibly plead that Causey acted under color of state law, rather than federal law, our cases do not require Hernandez to have alleged a conspiracy between the Laurel Police and ICE officers to seize Hernandez. Instead, when federal officials either conspire or act jointly with state officials to deny constitutional rights, the state officials provide the requisite state action to support § 1983 claims against the federal officials.”
Unpublished
- U.S. v. Castro, 24-10236, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Wiener, Ho, Ramirez), criminal
- Affirming constitutionality of conviction of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
- U.S. v. Bruzual, 24-10279, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Richman, Douglas, Ramirez), criminal
- Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.
- U.S. v. Ferguson, 24-10459, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Elrod, Haynes, Duncan), criminal, compassionate release
- Affirming denial of motion for compassionate release.
- U.S. v. Ybarra, 24-10616, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Richman, Douglas, Ramirez), criminal, sentence reduction
- Affirming denial of motion for sentence reduction.
- J.T. v. Uplift Education, 23-10773, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Southwick, Haynes, Douglas), Title IX
- Affirming summary judgment in favor of education company on claims arising from abuse of kindergartener by company’s employee.
- U.S. v. Ibarra, 24-20071, appeal from S.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Dennis, Haynes, Ramirez), criminal, sentencing
- Vacating 105-month sentence of defendant on two drug offenses, on finding district court’s sentencing was based on clearly erroneous fact-findings, and remanding for resentencing.
- U.S. v. Bobmanuel, 23-20549, appeal from S.D. Tex.
- per curiam (King, Southwick, Engelhardt), criminal, sentencing
- Affirming 168-month sentence on conviction of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense a controlled substance and maintaining a drug-involved premises and aiding and abetting.
- Sibley v. Touro LCMC Health, 24-30189, appeal from E.D. La.
- per curiam (Elrod, Oldham, Wilson), Title VII, COVID-19
- Reversing summary judgment in favor of employer on claims arising from three denials of religious exemption from employer’s COVID-19 vaccination policy, and remanding for further proceedings.
- Miller v. Salvaggio, 23-50849, appeal from W.D. Tex.
- Clement, J. (Smith, Clement, Higginson), qualified immunity, First Amendment
- Affirming qualified immunity summary judgment for officer defendants on First Amendment and false arrest claims arising from arrest of plaintiff, a “Second Amendment activist,” for bringing a prohibited weapon into a Texas court.
- U.S. v. Douglas, 23-11139, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Haynes, Higginson, Douglas), criminal
- Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.
- U.S. v. McZeal, 24-30346, appeal from W.D. La.
- per curiam (Smith, Stewart, Duncan), criminal
- Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.
- U.S. v. Haynes, 23-30368, appeal from W.D. La.
- per curiam (King, Southwick, Engelhardt), criminal
- Affirming conviction for possession of a firearm by a felon.
- Covenant Clearinghouse, L.L.C. v. Trinity Falls Holdings, L.P., 23-40601, c/w 23-40603, appeal from E.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Ho, Engelhardt, Douglas), bankruptcy
- Affirming judgment that claimant in bankruptcy, which had been the trustee of private transfer fees associated with a property development prior to the bankruptcy of the developer, and which the district court held was neither a creditor nor a party with interest in the bankruptcy, had no right to notice prior to the sale of the property.
- Jones v. O’Malley, 24-50485, appeal from W.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Smith, Stewart, Duncan), social security
- Affirming dismissal of challenge to administrator’s decision denying disability benefits.
- Villarreal v. Garland, 24-60134, petition for review of BIA order
- per curiam (Ho, Engelhardt, Douglas), immigration
- Denying Mexican citizen’s petition for review of BIA denial of her motion to reopen her removal proceedings.
- U.S. v. Valdez, 24-10464, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Barksdale, Stewart, Ramirez), criminal, supervised release
- Affirming revocation of supervised release.
- Anderson v. Collier, 23-20425, appeal from S.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Ho, Duncan, Oldham), prisoner suit
- Vacating dismissal of Texas state prisoner’s sec. 1983 claim, and remanding for further proceedings.
- U.S. v. Mendoza, 24-50198, appeal from W.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Haynes, Higginson, Douglas), criminal
- Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.
- U.S. v. Harmon, 24-50211, appeal from W.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Graves, Willett, Wilson), criminal, sentencing
- Affirming 105-month sentence on conviction of possession of a firearm by a felon.
- U.S. v. Washington, 24-30174, appeal from W.D. La.
- per curiam (Barksdale, Haynes, Wilson), criminal
- Affirming conviction of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
- U.S. v. Martinez, 24-40038, appeal from S.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Barksdale, Haynes, Wilson), criminal, sentencing
- Affirming 360-month sentence on conviction of sex trafficking.
- U.S. v. Hemphill, 23-50675, appeal from W.D. Tex.
- Jolly, J. (Jolly, Graves, Wilson), criminal, search and seizure
- Affirming convictions for aggravated escape from an institution and possession of a firearm by a felon, upholding denial of motion to suppress.
- U.S. v. Rodriguez-Sauceda, 23-50823, appeal from W.D. Tex.
- per curiam (King, Southwick, Engelhardt), criminal, sentencing
- Affirming 78-month sentence on conviction of assaulting, resisting, opposing, or impeding a United States Border Patrol (USBP) agent engaged in his official duties.
- U.S. v. Barrow, 24-10159, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Wiener, Ho, Ramirez), criminal
- Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.
- U.S. v. Martinez, 24-10269, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Elrod, Haynes, Duncan), criminal
- Affirming constitutionality of conviction of possession of a firearm by a felon.
- U.S. v. Sanchez, 24-10477, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Smith, Stewart, Duncan), criminal
- Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.
- U.S. v. Hall, 24-30286, appeal from E.D. La.
- per curiam (Barksdale, Stewart, Ramirez), criminal, First Step Act
- Affirming denial of motion for sentence reduction under the First Step Act.
- Cantu v. Redden, 24-40275, appeal from S.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Jolly, Graves, Wilson), personal tort, federal question jurisdiction
- Vacating dismissal of plaintiff’s malpractice suit on the merits, reversing district court’s judgment that it had federal question jurisdiction, and remanding with instructions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.
- U.S. v. Husband, 24-40404, appeal from E.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Smith, Stewart, Duncan), criminal
- Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.
- Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. Garland, 24-40792, appeal from S.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Stewart, Haynes, Higginson), Corporate Transparency Act
- Granting a motion for emergency stay pending appeal of district court’s nationwide preliminary injunction of the implementation of the Corporate Transparency Act’s reporting requirements.
- U.S. v. Linan, 24-50141, appeal from W.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Barksdale, Stewart, Ramirez), criminal, sentencing
- Affirming 180-month sentence on conviction of possession of a firearm by a felon.
- U.S. v. Miranda, 24-50196, appeal from W.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Smith, Stewart, Duncan), criminal
- Reversing dismissal of indictment of defendant for possession of a firearm by a felon as unconstitutional, and remanding for further proceedings.
- U.S. v. Williams, 24-50376, appeal from W.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Barksdale, Haynes, Wilson), criminal, sentencing
- Affirming 51-month sentence on conviction of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
- U.S. v. Corkern, 24-60189, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Smith, Stewart, Duncan), criminal, expungement
- Affirming denial of motion for expungement of record.
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