Where the defendant falsely told police officers and court officials that the charges brought against him would be dismissed because he was an Assistant United States attorney, or AUSA, and repeated that he was an AUSA when he was trying ...
Read More »Criminal Practice – Falsely claiming to be AUSA nets conviction
Civil Practice – Amended complaint supplied basis for removal 
Where the original complaint filed by a landowner alleging her house was damaged when a railroad diverted water asserted only state-law claims for negligence, nuisance and trespass, but her amended complaint included new claims for adverse possession and prescriptive easement ...
Read More »Criminal Practice – Question about illegal items in car wasn’t improper 
Where a police officer asked two occupants in a stopped car whether there was “anything illegal” in the car, the motion to suppress firearms found in the car was denied because the question went to officer safety, given the time ...
Read More »Constitutional – Suit unripe, moot where challenged opinions withdrawn 
Where a labor union challenged advisory opinions limiting government employees’ speech about impeachment efforts in 2020, but those opinions were withdrawn after then-President Trump left office and there was no credible allegation of any chilling effect from the opinions while ...
Read More »Constitutional – No Takings Clause claim for county’s killing of bees 
Where a South Carolina county warned residents before it sprayed for mosquitoes in an effort to prevent the spread of the Zika virus, including issuing a press release to many media outlets and providing the experienced pilot with the locations ...
Read More »Insurance – Dismissal of interpleader action was error 
Where the insurance company filed an interpleader action to limit its liability in connection with suits brought against a convenience store arising out of the sale of alcohol to minors, the district court erred in dismissing the action. Because the ...
Read More »Criminal Practice – Failure to give confession instruction not error 
Where the district court is alleged to have erred by failing to instruct the jury “to give such weight to the confession as the jury feels it deserves under all the circumstances” when it admitted a confession into evidence, the ...
Read More »Labor/Employment – Creation of job-share not required by ADA 
Where there was no existing “job sharing” position available for the pharmaceutical sales representative in the district, the company had no duty to create one in order to reasonably accommodate her disability. Although the company had previously permitted her to ...
Read More »Civil Practice – NC legislators can’t intervene in voter-ID law case 
Where the North Carolina Attorney General is already representing the state’s interests in defending its voter-ID law and there was no evidence he lacked the “incentive” to robustly litigate on behalf of the law, the district court did not err ...
Read More »Criminal Practice – Convictions upset because of faulty instructions 
Where jury instructions jointly proposed by the government and the defendants did not track the charges in the indictment involving crimes of violence, and had the effect of broadening the possible basis for conviction, the convictions on the assault counts ...
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