Doe v. Virginia Dep’t of State Police : A defendant who, in 1993 was convicted of carnal knowledge of a minor without use of force, for a relationship with a student under her supervision, does not have standing to challenge changes to Virginia law after 2008 classifying her as a violent sex offender who may not enter her children’s school without permission from local authorities; the 4th Circuit says she first must seek permission for access from the local state court and school board
Cedar Greene, LLC v. City of Charlotte While the Court of Appeals’ majority would have upheld the defendant-city’s practice of reimbursing solid waste disposal fees only for its single preferred collection company, we reverse for the reasons stated in Judge Calabria’s dissent:
North Carolina Right to Life Political Action Committee v. Leake On their second try, plaintiffs were successful in having matching-funds legislation struck down. Although plaintiffs are entitled to an award of fees for their attorneys’ work on the current lawsuit, they are not entitled to fees incurred in their earlier unsuccessful lawsuit. Work on the prior lawsuit did not sufficiently contribute to the current lawsuit.
Hardwick v. Heyward : The 4th Circuit upholds a decision by South Carolina public school officials to prohibit a student from wearing Confederate flag shirts to school, as defendant school officials complied with U.S. Supreme Court requirements for regulating student speech.
Woollard v. Gallagher : The 4th Circuit reverses a Maryland federal court’s injunction against enforcement of a state statute that conditions the right to carry a handgun in public on having a “good and substantial reason” to do so; because we disagree with the court’s conclusion that the good-and-substantial-reason requirement cannot pass constitutional muster, we reverse the judgment without needlessly demarcating the reach of the Second Amendment.
Ochsner v. Elon University Our Court of Appeals held that even though the Public Records Act applies to public law enforcement agencies, the Act defines “public law enforcement agency” to mean “a municipal police department, a county police department, a sheriff’s department, a company police agency commissioned by the Attorney General pursuant to G.S. 74E-1, et seq., and any State or local agency, force, department, or unit responsible for investigating, preventing, or solving violations of the law.” Since campus police departments are not in this list, we find that the General Assembly did not intend for campus police departments to be subject to the Act.
Clatterbuck v. City of Charlottesville A district court erred in dismissing plaintiffs’ First Amendment challenge to a Charlottesville city ordinance that restricts panhandling in certain areas; the 4th Circuit says plaintiffs have nudged their claim across the line from “conceivable” to “plausible.”
Lanier Construction Co. v. City of Clinton Although plaintiff, a minority-owned contractor, was the low bidder for a city construction project, the city manager questioned previous clients of both plaintiff and the second-lowest bidder, Paul Howard Construction Co. a non-minority-owned contractor.
Meyers v. Baltimore County, Md. A police officer who repeatedly used a Taser on a man after he stopped resisting arrest does not have qualified immunity in this civil rights suit filed by the estate of the man, who died after the incident; the 4th Circuit upholds qualified immunity for two officers who entered the Baltimore County home, but reverses the district court’s decision finding the third officer had qualified immunity.
De’Lonta v. Johnson A Virginia inmate who has the condition of Gender Identity Disorder has stated an Eighth Amendment claim for defendant Department of Corrections’ denial of her request for gender reassignment surgery, and the complaint survives screening under 28 U.S.C. § 1915, the 4th Circuit says
