Designated for publication per curiam (Jones, Ho, Wilson), Ho, J., concurring; criminal, sentencing On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, affirming defendant’s conviction of being in possession of a firearm while subject to a domestic violence restraining order; and affirming sentence of 73 months to run consecutively with any state court sentence on pending charges. … More September 10-12, 2024, opinions
Designated for publication Jones, J. (King, Jones, Oldham), criminal, sentencing Affirming district court’s determination that federal sentence for possession of a firearm by a felon would run consecutively with state-court sentence and that defendant would not get 43 months’ credit for time spent serving sentence on state conviction. per curiam (Haynes, Willett, Oldham), Haynes, J., … More September 9, 2024, opinions
Unpublished per curiam (King, Stewart, Higginson), criminal Affirming conviction of wire fraud. per curiam (Jolly, Graves, Oldham), criminal, sentencing Affirming denial of motion for sentence reduction. per curiam (Jones, Willett, Engelhardt), foreclosure Affirming summary judgment dismissal of claims arising from mortgage servicing. per curiam (Jolly, Graves, Oldham), criminal, sufficiency of evidence Affirming conviction of possession … More September 5, 2024, opinions
Designated for publication Graves, J. (Barksdale, Southwick, Graves), Fair Labor Standards Act Affirming summary judgment dismissing plaintiffs’ FLSA overtime claims on the basis that each employee is a “bona fide executive” exempt from FLSA’s overtime provisions. Elrod, J. (Higginbotham, Smith, Elrod), evidence Affirming summary judgment for defendant trustees on claims brought by plaintiff beneficiaries of … More September 4, 2024, opinions
Designated for publication Southwick, J. (Stewart, Dennis, Southwick), securities fraud Denying second petition for en banc rehearing, no active-duty judge having requested a poll, and re-issuing mandate. The Court held that the district court judge’s finding of unclean hands, such that no setoff was awarded, rather than the unclean-hands issue going to the jury, was … More August 26-27, 2024, opinions
Designated for publication Stewart, J. (Higginbotham, Stewart, Higginson), criminal, equitable tolling, sufficiency of evidence, witness testimony Vacating conviction of making false statements on the basis that equitable tolling of the statute of limitations was unavailable; but affirming convictions of conspiracy to defraud the United States and falsification of records in a federal investigation, rejecting sufficiency … More August 22, 2024, opinions
Another quick-blurb catch-up post (the briefing and arguing has been non-stop since mid-July–Take the Fifth may need to take on some more staff!). Designated for publication Southwick, J. (Barksdale, Southwick, Graves), criminal, Sixth Amendment, sentencing Affirming conviction and sentence on fraud under the Paycheck Protection Program, upholding denial of motion to substitute counsel and district … More August 1-15, 2024, opinions
Take the Fifth’s resident opinion-aggregator was out of the country for the first two and a half weeks of July, so the following are just abbreviated accounts of dispositions without any summary. Designated for publication Southwick, J. (Smith, Southwick, Higginson), bankruptcy, contempt Affirming contempt order entered by bankruptcy court against defendant in adversary proceeding. Stewart, … More July 1-17, 2024, opinions
Designated for publication Southwick, J. (Richman, Southwick, Oldham), election law, sovereign immunity Reversing district court’s denial of District Attorney’s motion to dismiss constitutional claims of voters and others challenging recent amendments to Texas election laws, holding that District Attorney is entitled to sovereign immunity; vacating denial of motion to dismiss for lack of standing; and … More June 20-21, 2024, opinions
Designated for publication Stewart, J. (Stewart, Duncan, Engelhardt), attorney-client privilege Reversing order compelling depositions and production related to law firm reports prepared for public university arising from alleged incidents of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and racial discrimination, and remanding for further proceedings. Court held that it had jurisdiction over the appeal of the court’s discovery … More June 17-18, 2024, opinions
