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
Designated for publication Higginson, J. (Higginson, Willett, Oldham), criminal, sentencing Affirming 80-month sentence on guilty-plea conviction of possession of a firearm by a felon, which rejected a reduction for acceptance of responsibility and applied an upward adjustment from the Guidelines sentence on the basis of criminal history and likelihood of recidivism. Southwick, J. (Barksdale, Southwick, … More July 22, 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 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
Designated for publication Wilson, J. (Smith, Graves, Wilson), tax law, jury instructions Finding jury instructions “irredeemably flawed,” vacating verdict in favor of taxpayer for refund of IRS-imposed penalty for failure to timely file information returns, vacating attorney fees award as the plaintiff was no longer the prevailing party, and remanding for a new trial. The … More June 13-14, 2024, opinions
Designated for publication Wilson, J. (Clement, Engelhardt, Wilson), commercial litigation Affirming summary judgment in favor of bank, holding that Mississippi law allowed a loan guaranty to be transferred from original lender and that guarantor could not assert equitable defenses belonging to the borrower. Unpublished per curiam (Dennis, Elrod, Ho), mineral law After receiving response from … More June 4, 2024, opinions
Designated for publication per curiam (Richman, Higginbotham, Willett), Richman, C.J., dissenting in part; securities law, fraud, breach of contract Affirming summary judgment dismissal of extracontractual and Texas Securities Act fraud claims; but reversing summary judgment on federal securities law and Delaware common law fraud claims; and remanding for further proceedings. Claims arose from an agreement … More May 23-29, 2024, opinions
Designated for publication Dennis, J. (Dennis, Southwick, Ho), criminal, search and seizure Affirming conviction of defendant for transporting undocumented aliens, upholding denial of motion to suppress that was brought on the basis that the alert of a Border Patrol canine was insufficient reasonable suspicion to extend the stop and probable cause to search because the … More May 16-17, 2024, opinions
Designated for publication Elrod, J. (Elrod, Ho, Wilson), timeliness After receiving response from Texas Supreme Court on certified question, reversing district court’s dismissal of claims as barred by the statute of limitations, and remanding for further proceedings. Oldham, J. (Jolly, Engelhardt, Oldham), qualified immunity Affirming denial of qualified immunity. To quote from the Court’s introduction: … More May 1-7, 2024, opinions
Designated for publication Ramirez, J. (Richman, Oldham, Ramirez), criminal, sentencing, sufficiency of evidence, search and seizure Affirming convictions for money laundering, holding that sufficient evidence in the record supported the convictions, upholding denial of motion to suppress, finding no abuse of discretion in application of sentencing enhancements, and finding no abuse of discretion in denial … More April 23, 2024, opinions
