Chavez-Alvarez v. AG — immigration — reversal — Ambro
Years after a lawful permanent resident was convicted by a military court of sodomy and other crimes, the government sought to deport him on the theory (among others) that his sodomy conviction was for a crime involving moral turpitude. The BIA upheld removal, “determining that because Chavez-Alvarez’s particular crime was subject to a sentence enhancement because it was committed forcibly, and because the application of the enhancement in his case was the “functional equivalent” of a conviction for the enhanced offense, he was convicted of forcible sodomy.”
Today, the Third Circuit reversed. Applying the categorical approach, the court ruled that a military conviction for sodomy did not require proof of force and, given Lawrence v. Texas, was not a crime involving moral turpitude. The court rejected the argument that the president’s military sentencing guidelines functioned to create separate offenses for categorial-approach analysis.
Joining Ambro were Vanaskie and Scirica. Arguing counsel were Craig Shagin of the Shagin Law Group for the petitioner — by my quick count, this is the fourth CA3 published win for Shagin since 2015! — and Sabatino Leo of the DOJ for the government.
Fried v. JP Morgan Chase — civil — affirmance — Ambro
In my book, this is opinion-introduction perfection:
Ginnine Fried bought a home in 2007 for $553,330. It was near high tide in the real estate market, but she had to believe she was getting a bargain, as an appraisal estimated the home’s value to be $570,000. Fried borrowed $497,950 at a fixed interest rate to make her purchase and mortgaged the home as collateral. Because the loan-to-purchase-price ratio ($497,950 / $553,330) was more than 80%, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (“Chase”), the servicer for Fried’s mortgage (that is, the entity who performs the day-to-day tasks for the loan, including collecting payments), required her to obtain private mortgage insurance. Fried had to pay monthly premiums for that insurance until the ratio reached 78%; in other words, the principal of the mortgage loan needed to reduce to $431,597, which was projected to happen just before March 2016.
We now know that the housing market crashed in 2008, and the value of homes dropped dramatically. Fried, like many homeowners, had trouble making mortgage payments. Help came when Chase modified Fried’s mortgage under a federal aid program by reducing the principal balance to $463,737. The rub was that Chase extended Fried’s mortgage insurance premiums an extra decade to 2026. Whether it could do this depends on how we interpret the Homeowners Protection Act (“Protection Act”), 12 U.S.C. § 4901 et seq. Does it permit a servicer to rely on an updated property value, estimated by a broker, to recalculate the length of a homeowner’s mortgage insurance obligation following a modification or must the ending of that obligation remain tied to the initial purchase price of the home? We conclude the Protection Act requires the latter.
Joining Ambro were Vanaskie and Scirica. Arguing counsel were Jonathan Massey of Massey & Gail (the attorney who won the Chavez en banc last year) for the bank and Antonio Vozzolo of NJ for the homeowner.
Edinboro College Park Apts. v. Edinboro University Foundation — antitrust / sovereign immunity — partial reversal — Smith
When apartment owners sued a state university’s foundation and its president for conspiring to monopolize the student-housing market, the defendants asserted they were state actors immune from antitrust liability. Today, the Third Circuit agreed because the university’s anticompetitive conduct conformed to a clearly articulated state policy and the foundations were directed by the university.
Joining Smith were McKee and Restrepo. Arguing counsel were Matthew Wolford of PA for the apartment owners, Matthew McCullough of MacDonald Illig for the foundation, and Kemal Mericli of the PA AG for the president.