Tag Archives: Major cases

Four new opinions, including an ACA blockbuster

Commonwealth of Pa. v. President United States of America—civil—affirmance—Shwartz

The Third Circuit on Friday upheld a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration’s effort to provide major exemptions to the ACA’s contraceptive-care requirement. Pennsylvania and New Jersey challenged the administration’s attempted action under the Administrative Procedures Act. The Third Circuit held that the states had standing given their costs for state-funded health care resulting from lack of access to contraception. On the merits, the court held that the administration violated the APA by proceeding without notice-and-comment procedures, that its action was neither authorized by the ACA nor required by RFRA, and that the district court did not abuse its discretion by entering a nationwide injunction. Without a doubt this is one of the Third Circuit’s highest profile recent opinions. (And the panel was impressively quick for a major case, issuing the opinion less than two months after oral argument.)

I imagine the government is certain to seek Supreme Court review; it may seek rehearing en banc first, but I’d predict the odds are against it being granted. Stay tuned.

Joining Shwartz were McKee and Fuentes. Arguing counsel were Michael Fischer, chief deputy for impact litigation for the Pa. AG’s office, for the states; Hashim Moopan for the government (who in the linked profile lists his daily habit as reading How Appealing); and Mark Rienzi of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty for intervenors.

 

Tilija v. AG—immigration—reversal—Greenaway

The Board of Immigration Appeals improperly denied a Nepali petitioner’s motion to remand his removal proceeding, the Third Circuit held. The BIA failed to accept his new evidence as true, and under the correct standard the man successfully made a prima facie claim for remand.

Joining Greenaway were Shwartz and Bibas. Arguing counsel were Rachel Horton of Schnader Harrison for the petitioner and Andrew Oliveira for the government.

 

U.S. v. Blunt—criminal—reversal—Restrepo

A husband and wife were convicted of benefits fraud after a joint trial, and on appeal they argued that the district court erred in denying their motions to sever. The Third Circuit agreed, vacating both defendants’ convictions: the husband’s because he was prejudiced by his wife’s otherwise-inadmissible testimony, and the wife’s because she was forced to choose between her privilege against testifying against her spouse and her right to testify in her own defense.

Joining Restrepo were Smith and McKee. Arguing counsel were Jennifer Wilson (whose MDPA nomination is pending before the full Senate) for the wife, former Fisher clerk Quin Sorenson of the MDPA defenders for the husband, and Kim Daniel for the government.

 

Nkomo v. AG—immigration—affirmance—Hardiman

The Third Circuit rejected an immigration petitioner’s argument that the immigration judged lacked jurisdiction over her removal proceedings because the notice to appear failed to specify the time and place of the hearing. It also rejected her challenges to removal on the merits.

Joining Hardiman were Chagares and Siler CA6 by designation. The appeal was apparently decided without oral argument.

New opinion—Third Circuit holds that one of world’s largest sellers is a “seller”

Oberdorf v. Amazon.com—civil—partial reversal—Roth

Amazon is subject to strict liability for injuries caused by defective products sold by other vendors on its website, the Third Circuit held today.

A woman sued Amazon after a dog collar she bought on Amazon from a third-party vendor broke and the recoiling dog leash left her blind in one eye. Her claims included strict liability, negligence, and failure to warn. Amazon moved for summary judgment on two grounds, both improbable-sounding. First, it argued that it wasn’t a “seller” in sales on its website involving third-party vendors and thus couldn’t be held strictly liable under Pennsylvania product-liability law. Second, it argued that it was a “provider … of an interactive computer service” posting “information provided by another information content provider” (think Craigslist or an online chat room) and thus shielded from liability by the Communications Decency Act. The district court sided with Amazon on both counts.

Today, the Third Circuit largely reversed. It held that (1) under Pennsylvania law, Amazon is a “seller” in third-party-vendor sales from its website, and (2) Amazon is not shielded from liability by the CDA for third-party-sale claims that are based on its “role as an actor in the sales process,” but it is shielded for claims based on its failure to add information such as warnings to vendors’ content.

Joining Roth were Shwartz in full and Scirica in part. Scirica dissented as to strict liability, arguing that “well-settled Pennsylvania products liability law precludes treating Amazon as a ‘seller’ strictly liable” for third-party-vendor claims. Arguing counsel were Eric Miller—formerly of Perkins Coie, now of the Ninth Circuit—for Amazon and David Wilk of Lepley Engelman for the woman.

New opinions — two Third Circuit rulings recognizing limits on religious-based discrimination

Fulton v. City of Philadelphia — civil — affirmance — Ambro

Catholic Social Services sued the City of Philadelphia because it wanted to continue to receive foster referrals from the city but it refused to comply with the city’s general anti-discrimination requirements because it refused to work with same-sex couples wanting to be foster parents. The Catholic foster agency claimed that the First Amendment’s Free Exercise, Establishment, and Free Speech clauses required the city to renew its contract with them despite the group’s unwillingness to comply with the city’s anti-discrimination laws. The district court ruled that Catholic Social Services was not entitled to a preliminary injunction, and today the Third Circuit affirmed, holding, “It has failed to make a persuasive showing that the City targeted it for its religious beliefs, or is motivated by ill will against its religion, rather than sincere opposition to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.”

The heart of the opinion:

CSS’s theme devolves to this: the City is targeting CSS because it discriminates against same-sex couples; CSS is discriminating against same-sex couples because of its religious beliefs; therefore the City is targeting CSS for its religious beliefs. But this syllogism is as flawed as it is dangerous. It runs directly counter to the premise of Smith that, while religious belief is always protected, religiously motivated conduct enjoys no special protections or exemption from general, neutrally applied legal requirements. That CSS’s conduct springs from sincerely held and strongly felt religious beliefs does not imply that the City’s desire to regulate that conduct springs from antipathy to those beliefs. If all comment on religiously motivated conduct by those enforcing neutral, generally applicable laws against discrimination is construed as ill will against the religious belief itself, then Smith is a dead letter, and the nation’s civil rights laws might be as well.

The Catholic foster agency’s discrimination first came to light in this news story last year by Julia Terruso in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

[Disclosure: I assisted counsel for intervor-appellees by serving as an argument-moot judge.]

Joining Ambro were Scirica and Rendell. Arguing counsel were Lori Windham of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty for Catholic Social Services, Jane Lovitch Istvan for the city, and Leslie Cooper of the ACLU for intervenor-appellees.

 

Curto v. A Country Place Condominium Assoc. — civil  — reversal — Ambro

A condominium community with a large Orthodox Jewish population had a swimming pool. To accommodate Orthodox principles, it aside over 60 hours a week for mens-only or women’s only swimming, leaving only 25 hours a week for mixed-gender swimming. Condo residents sued, alleging that the gender-segregation of the pool violated the Fair Housing Act. The district court ruled in favor of the condo, but today the Third Circuit reversed, holding that the pool segregation violates the FHA because it reserves most of the after-work hours to men.

Joining Ambro were Bibas and Fuentes. Fuentes also concurred to express skepticism that merely allocating the evening hours more evenly would save the condo’s sex-segregation policy. Arguing counsel were Sandra Park of ACLU for the plaintiffs and Angela Maione Costigan of Costigan & Costigan for the condominium association.

New opinion — Third Circuit decides a big case on drug-quantity aggregation

U.S. v. Rowe — criminal — reversal — Fisher

It is a crime to distribute, or to possess with intent to distribute, illegal drugs, and the distribution or possession of larger quantities triggers mandatory minimum sentences. For heroin, distribution or possession of 100 grams or more means a 5-year mandatory minimum, and 1000 grams means a 10-year mandatory minimum.

But how are those drug quantities calculated? Suppose a defendant acquires 600 grams of heroin, sells it all at once, then does it again. Are the two quantities added together, 600+600=1200, such that the defendant gets the 1000-gram 10-year mandatory? And does the answer depend on whether the crime was distribution (not a continuing offense) or possession (a continuing offense)?

Drug crimes are the most common federal crimes, so the answers to those questions matter a lot to lots of criminal defendants.

Today, in a major criminal-appeal ruling, the Third Circuit vacated a defendant’s drug conviction, holding that convictions and their resulting mandatory minimum sentences under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1) must be based on discrete distributions or possessions that exceed the drug-quantity thresholds, not a series of smaller quantities aggregated to meet the quantity threshold.

The distribution holding is important in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, where aggregation of sale quantities to trigger mandatory minimums has been a longstanding outlier practice. The possession holding will apply more broadly. The key passage: “possession of 1000 grams of heroin begins when a defendant has the power and intention to exercise dominion and control over all 1000 grams, and ends when his possession is interrupted by a complete dispossession or by a reduction of that quantity to less than 1000 grams.”

The court vacated the defendant’s conviction and remanded for resentencing for distribution and possession of 100 grams with the government barred from offering new drug-quantity evidence on remand. (The district court had calculated the defendant’s sentence under the Sentencing Guidelines based on over 10 kilograms, relying on evidence that had been excluded at trial and not introduced at sentencing, which on appeal the the government conceded was error.)

Joining Fisher were Smith and McKee. Arguing counsel were Peter Goldberger for the defendant and Stephen Cerutti II of the MDPA US Attorney’s office for the government.

This was already Goldberger’s second major Third Circuit win of 2019, following Piasecki; not surprisingly, Goldberger recently was honored by a publication based on peer voting as lawyer of the year for appellate practice in eastern Pennsylvania. His co-counsel on the case was Goldberger’s long-term senior associate and former Third Circuit staff attorney Pamela Wilk.

New opinion — FTC’s suit against drug maker was filed too late [updated]

FTC v. Shire Viropharma — civil — affirmance — Smith

The Federal Trade Commission brought a federal action against a drug company, alleging that the drug company wrongfully delayed approval of generic competition to its lucrative drug through a string of meritless FDA filings. The FTC brought the action over 4 years after the company’s challenged actions, under a statute that permits the FTC to sue a company that “is violating” or “is about to violate” the law. Today, the Third Circuit held that this statutory provision does not authorize suit based on a long-past action plus a reasonable likelihood of recurrence, affirming judgment in favor of the company.

Here’s the (exceptional, in my view) introduction:

Shire ViroPharma, Inc. … manufactured and marketed the lucrative drug Vancocin, which is indicated to treat a life-threatening gastrointestinal infection. After Shire got wind that manufacturers were considering making generic equivalents to Vancocin, it inundated the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) with allegedly meritless filings to delay approval of those generics. The FDA eventually rejected Shire’s filings and approved generic equivalents to Vancocin, but the filings nonetheless resulted in a high cost to consumers—Shire had delayed generic entry for years and reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in profits. Nearly five years later—and after Shire had divested itself of Vancocin—the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) filed suit against Shire in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware under Section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 53(b). The FTC sought a permanent injunction and restitution, alleging that Shire’s petitioning was an unfair method of competition prohibited by the Act. Shire moved to dismiss, arguing that the FTC’s allegations of long-past petitioning activity failed to satisfy Section 13(b)’s requirement that Shire “is violating” or “is about to violate” the law. The District Court agreed and dismissed the case.

On appeal, the FTC urges us to adopt a more expansive view of Section 13(b). According to the FTC, the phrase “is violating, or is about to violate” in Section 13(b) is satisfied by showing a past violation and a reasonable likelihood of recurrent future conduct. We reject the FTC’s invitation to stretch Section 13(b) beyond its clear text. The FTC admits that Shire is not currently violating the law. And the complaint fails to allege that Shire is about to violate the law. We will therefore affirm the District Court’s judgment.

And the notable concluding paragraph:

The FTC’s improper use of Section 13(b) to pursue long-past petitioning has the potential to discourage lawful petitioning activity by interested citizens—activity that is protected by the First Amendment. Because we affirm the District Court’s judgment dismissing the complaint, we need not address the issue further but suggest that the FTC be mindful of such First Amendment concerns.

Joining Smith were McKee and Fisher. Arguing counsel were Matthew Hoffman for the FTC and Steven Reed of Morgan Lewis for the drug company.

Update: here is a provocative analysis by Debevoise, entitled “The Third Circuit Sharply Curtails the FTC’s Preferred Enforcement Power.” Highlights:

On February 25, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upset
decades of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) practice by significantly limiting when the
FTC can bring competition and consumer protection enforcement actions in federal
court.

***

THE FTC’S NEXT STEPS

The FTC could seek a rehearing or a rehearing en banc from the Third Circuit, and may
ultimately seek Supreme Court review. But given Shire’s bad facts and a strong
possibility that the current Supreme Court would agree with the Third Circuit’s “plain
language” analysis, the FTC may not want to risk extending this ruling beyond the
Third Circuit. The FTC may instead prefer to seek legislative intervention. Many FTC
reform bills have been introduced in Congress in recent years, and this decision could
lead to the introduction of additional bills in the 116th Congress.

HOW THIS DECISION MIGHT AFFECT YOU
Section 13(b) has been a cornerstone of the FTC’s consumer protection and competition
enforcement efforts. This decision will have immediate, far-reaching ramifications on
that strategy’s use in the Third Circuit for both antitrust and consumer protection
(including false advertising and privacy/cybersecurity) matters.

Third Circuit rules against Trump administration in major sanctuary-cities appeal

City of Philadelphia v. Attorney General of the United States — civil — partial affirmance — Rendell

In a stinging loss for the Trump administration that they’ll surely ask the Supreme Court to review, the Third Circuit today rejected the Attorney General’s effort to deny federal grant money to Philadelphia in an effort to coerce the city into help federal law-enforcement “detain[] and remov[e] aliens upon their release from local criminal custody.” The court held that the AG lacked statutory authority to set policy conditions on the grant money:

Underlying this question, and potentially complicating its resolution, is the stark contrast in the priorities of the City and those of the Executive Branch regarding immigration policy. In resolving the discrete legal question before us, however, we make no judgment as to the merits of this policy dispute. Rather, our role is more confined, and our focus is only on the legality of the particular action before us.

Concluding that Congress did not grant the Attorney General this authority, we hold that the Challenged Conditions were unlawfully imposed.

Today’s ruling was a disaster for the Trump administration’s attack on sanctuary cities. The only sliver of good news for the administration was that the panel vacated the district court’s requirement for a judicial warrant to transfer a “criminal alien” to federal custody, holding that this injunction went beyond the bounds of the complaint.

My crystal ball says that the government is certain to ask the Supreme Court to grant certiorari, and that they’re quite unlikely to have the votes for rehearing en banc.

Joining Rendell were Ambro and Scirica. Arguing counsel were Neal Katyal of Hogan Lovells for the city and Katherine Allen for the government. Video of the oral argument—the best Third Circuit oral argument I’ve ever seen—is in my argument-compilation post here.

New opinion — Third Circuit vacates some of former congressman’s convictions

US v. Fattah — criminal — partial reversal — Smith

[UPDATE: the court issued an amended opinion replacing this one on January 16, 2019, link here.]

In a 142-page opinion, the Third Circuit today affirmed some, vacated some, and reinstated some of the criminal convictions of former Philadelphia Congressman Chaka Fattah Sr. and three co-defendants. The facts and procedural history of the opinion alone spanned over 40 pages, longer than most published opinions.

Joining Smith were Greenaway and Krause. Arguing counsel were Jonathan Ian Kravis for the government, Bruce Merenstein of Schnader for Fattah, and Ann Flannery of Philadelphia, Barry Gross of Drinker Biddle, and Glen Nager of Jones Day for the three co-defendants.

New opinions — a dramatic new chapter in the Doe transgender-bathrooms appeal, and a big class-action ruling

Doe v. Boyertown Area School Dist. (amended) —  civil — affirmance — McKee

Today the Third Circuit issued a revised, narrower panel opinion in Doe, the big transgender-bathrooms appeal in which the panel announced its ruling from the bench after oral argument. My post on the court’s original opinion is here.

Also today, the court issued an order denying without prejudice the appellants’ request for rehearing en banc, stating that they may re-file in light of the revised panel opinion.

And, most dramatically, Judge Jordan issued an opinion dissenting from the en banc denial, joined by Judges Chagares, Hardiman, and Bibas. The order and dissent are not posted on the court’s website, unfortunately, but they are on Pacer and also have been posted by one of the parties at this link.

Judge Jordan’s dissent explains that his purpose is not to take issue with the outcome of the panel opinion, conceding that the record can support the denial of the preliminary injunction. But he disagrees, strenuously, with the revised panel opinion’s discussion of whether requiring transgender students to use bathrooms according to their sex at birth would violate Title IX. He argues that this discussion is unnecessary, debatable, and dicta, concluding, “it is … axiomatic that we should confine ourselves to resolving the specific matters before us, not some bigger issue we might like to address.”

Remarkable. And still not the last word, I suspect.

 

Mielo v. Steak ‘n Shake — civil / class action — reversal — Smith

Here is the introduction from today’s opinion reversing class certification:

In this class action lawsuit, two disability rights advocates have sued Steak ’n Shake under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Alleging they have
personally experienced difficulty ambulating in their wheelchairs through two sloped parking facilities, these Plaintiffs seek to sue on behalf of all physically disabled individuals who may have experienced similar difficulties at Steak ’n Shake restaurants throughout the country. The District Court certified Plaintiffs’ proposed class, and Steak ’n Shake now appeals that certification decision. We are tasked with answering two questions: First, whether Plaintiffs have standing under Article III of the United States Constitution, and second, whether they have satisfied the requirements set out in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a).

As to the first question, we conclude that Plaintiffs have standing to bring their claims in federal court. Although a mere procedural violation of the ADA does not qualify as an injury in fact under Article III, Plaintiffs allege to have personally experienced concrete injuries as a result of ADA violations on at least two occasions. Further, Plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged that these injuries were caused by unlawful corporate policies that can be redressed with injunctive relief. We withhold judgment as to whether those corporate policies are indeed unlawful, as our standing inquiry extends only so far as to permit us to ensure that Plaintiffs have sufficiently pled as much.

As to the second question before us, we conclude that Plaintiffs have failed to satisfy Rule 23(a). The extraordinarily broad class certified by the District Court
runs afoul of at least two of Rule 23(a)’s requirements [numerosity and redressability]. In light of this conclusion, the District Court’s judgment will be reversed, and this matter will be remanded to the District Court to reconsider if a class should be certified.

Joining Smith are Hardiman and Restrepo. Arguing counsel were David Raizman of Ogletree Deakins for the appellants and Edwin Kilpela Jr. of Carlson Lynch for the appellee.

New opinion — Third Circuit issues opinion in transgender-bathroom case

Doe v. Boyertown Area SD — civil — affirmance — McKee

Last month, a Third Circuit panel dramatically announced just minutes after the oral argument that it would affirm the district court’s ruling in favor a school district policy that allowed transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity. My post on the oral ruling is here, and a link to post-argument commentary prediction an en ban petition and criticizing the panel as “Activist Judges” is here.

This afternoon, the Third Circuit issued its opinion, stating, “Although we amplify the District Court’s reasoning because of the interest in this issue, we affirm substantially for the reasons set forth in the District Court’s opinion.”

Joining McKee were Shwartz and Nygaard. Arguing counsel were Randall Wenger of the Independence Law Center for the appellants, Michael Levin of the Levin Law Group for the school district, and Ria Tabacco Mar of the ACLU for an intervenor.

New opinion — a big Third Circuit immigration ruling

Osorio-Martinez v. AG — immigration — reversal — Krause

In 2016, the Third Circuit issued a blockbuster immigration ruling in Castro v. US DHS, holding that federal courts lack jurisdiction to hear a challenges to removal brought by a group of women and children caught, on US soil, shortly after entering the US, and that this statutory denial of jurisdiction did not violate the Suspension Clause. It was a crushing loss for immigrant advocates and one of the Third Circuit’s most controversial recent opinions.

Today, just two years later, a different Third Circuit panel heard a second appeal brought by four of the children and their mothers who were among those denied a forum in Castro. The opinion’s introduction explains:

Now, two years after their initial detention, Petitioners raise what, at first glance, appear to be the same claims. But upon inspection they differ in a critical respect: The children now have been accorded Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status—a protective classification designed by Congress to safeguard abused, abandoned, or neglected alien children who are able to meet its rigorous eligibility requirements.

That one difference, the court held today, is dispositive:

[W]e are now confronted with a matter of first impression among the Courts of Appeals: Does the jurisdiction-stripping provision of the INA operate as an unconstitutional suspension of the writ of habeas corpus as applied to SIJ designees seeking judicial review of orders of expedited removal? We conclude that it does.

The court observed that the ” Government’s decision to continue seeking removal is particularly noteworthy because, as far as we are aware, until very recently DHS has never attempted to remove SIJ-classified children back to their countries of origin, much less on an expedited basis.”

How broadly available is SIJ status? Is today’s ruling just a narrow exception, or does it promise to swallow the Castro rule? I didn’t notice any discussion of these questions in today’s opinion, and I’m hoping that immigration experts will shed light here in the days ahead.

Joining Krause were Ambro and Scirica. Arguing counsel were Jessica Rickabaugh of the Tucker Law Group for the appellants and Joseph Darrow of the DOJ for the government. Other notable counsel on the briefs include Nancy Winkelman (formerly of Schnader, now at the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office) for amicus appellant and pending Sixth Circuit nominee Assistant Attorney General Chad Readler for the government.

New opinions: a big immigration win for the government, and a little preemption circuit split

Castro v. U.S. D.H.S. — immigration — affirmance — Smith

The Third Circuit issued a blockbuster immigration ruling today, holding that (1) federal courts lack jurisdiction to review challenges to expedited removal orders, and (2) the statute depriving courts of such jurisdiction does not violate the Suspension Clause.

On the statutory issue, the court joined a majority of courts to address the issue, citing opinions from the Second, Fifth, and Ninth Circuits and rejecting opinions from the Ninth Circuit and two district courts.

On the Suspension Clause issue, the court admitted it was “very difficult.” The opinion summarized the issue thus:

Petitioners argue that the answer to the ultimate question presented on appeal – whether § 1252 violates the Suspension Clause – can be found without too much effort in the Supreme Court’s Suspension Clause jurisprudence, especially in I.N.S. v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289 (2001), and Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. 723 (2008), as well as in a series of cases from what has been termed the “finality era.” The government, on the other hand, largely views these cases as inapposite, and instead focuses our attention on what has been called the “plenary power doctrine” and on the Supreme Court cases that elucidate it. The challenge we face is to discern the manner in which these seemingly disparate, and perhaps even competing, constitutional fields interact. Ultimately, and for the reasons we will explain below, we conclude that Congress may, consonant with the Constitution, deny habeas review in federal court of claims relating to an alien’s application for admission to the country, at least as to aliens who have been denied initial entry or who, like Petitioners, were apprehended very near the border and, essentially, immediately after surreptitious entry into the country.

Joining Smith were Hardiman and Shwartz. Hardiman also briefly concurred dubitante to express doubt about the opinion’s reasoning on the Suspension Clause issue. Arguing counsel were Lee Gelernt of the ACLU Immigrants Rights Project for the appellants and Erez Reuveni for the government. A large number of amici participated, represented by an impressive array of local and national counsel, and the opinion thanked amici for their valuable contributions.

Given its importance, the case is an obvious candidate for a petition for en banc rehearing, but the panel composition makes me suspect that finding a majority for rehearing will be difficult.

Update: Steve Vladeck has early commentary on the opinion in a post on his Just Security blog here. And it’s harsh commentary: “incredibly novel and misleading,” “simply nuts,” and “hopefully, a strong candidate for en banc review.”

Update2: Noah Feldman has this critical commentary (“The decision is wrong, and the U.S. Supreme Court should review it”) on Bloomberg View.

Rosenberg v. DVI Receivables XVII — civil — reversal — Ambro

Today the Third Circuit held that § 303(i) of the bankruptcy code does not preempt state-law claims predicated on the filing of an involuntary bankruptcy petition by non-debtors. The opinion creates a circuit split with the Ninth Circuit.

Joining Ambro were Jordan and Scirica. Arguing counsel were Lewis Pepperman of Stark & Stark for the appellants and Peter Levitt of Florida for the appellees.

En banc court upholds habeas relief in capital case, plus two divided panels and a sentencing affirmance

Another blockbuster August day today, with a big capital-habeas en banc ruling and three panel opinions. Over 300 pages of opinion today.

Dennis v. Secretary — capital habeas corpus — affirmance — Rendell

The en banc Third Circuit today affirmed habeas corpus relief for James Dennis, holding in a landmark habeas opinion that the prosecution suppressed evidence that effectively gutted its case and that the Pa. Supreme Court unreasonably applied Brady v. Maryland when it denied relief. The 2015 panel ruling (Fisher with Smith and Chagares) had ruled for the state.

Joining Rendell were McKee, Ambro, Fuentes, Greenaway, Vanaskie, Shwartz, and Krause, and by Jordan in part. McKee concurred “to underscore the problems inherent in eyewitness testimony and the inadequacies of our standard jury instructions relating to that evidence.” Jordan concurred in part and concurred in the judgment, noting:

Every judge of our en banc Court has now concluded that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s contrary determination was not only wrong, but so obviously wrong that it cannot pass muster even under AEDPA’s highly-deferential standard of review. In other words, it is the unanimous view of this Court that any fairminded jurist must disagree with the Dennis I court’s assessment of the materiality and favorability of the Cason receipt. Yet somehow a majority of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court endorsed Dennis’s conviction and death sentence. The lack of analytical rigor and attention to detail in that decision on direct appeal is all the more painful to contemplate because the proof against Dennis is far from overwhelming. He may be innocent.

Fisher dissented, joined by Smith, Chagares, and Hardiman, and Hardiman also authored a dissent that Smith and Fisher joined. Arguing counsel were Amy Rohe of Reisman Karron for Dennis and Ronald Eisenberg of the Philadelphia D.A.’s office for the state.

 

Watson v. Rozum — prisoner civil rights — reversal in part — McKee

A divided Third Circuit panel today ruled in favor of a prisoner alleging a First Amendment retaliation claim.

Joining McKee was Ambro; Ambro also concurred, explaining the court’s rejection of caselaw from the Fifth and Eighth Circuits and its disavowal of prior non-precedential circuit rulings. Hardiman dissented. Arguing counsel were Kemal Mericli of the Pa. A.G.’s office for the state and former Fisher clerk Ellen Mossman of Dechert for the prisoner.

 

NAACP v. City of Philadelphia — First Amendment — affirmance — Ambro

It’s unusual enough for the same panel to issue two precedential opinions on the same day, but it’s rare indeed for the same judge to dissent in both cases. But so it was here, where Hardiman again dissented from a McKee-Ambro majority. In this case, the majority affirmed a district court ruling that Philadelphia’s policy of banning non-commercial advertising at its airport violates the First Amendment.

Arguing counsel were Craig Gottlieb for the city and Fred Magaziner of Dechert (who clerked for Rosenn) for the challengers.

 

US v. Carter — criminal — affirmance — Shwartz

The Third Circuit affirmed a district court criminal sentence applying a sentencing enhancement for maintaining a stash house. The defendant had argued he did not maintain the stash house because he did not own or rent the house and did not pay for its operation from his own funds.

Joining Shwartz were Fuentes and Restrepo. The case was decided without oral argument.

New opinions — Cosby unsealing appeal dismissed as moot, plus a civil rights attorney-fees reversal

Constand v. Cosby — civil / justiciability — dismissal — Ambro

Sometimes I can’t summarize a case more clearly than the opinion does itself. The problem occurs frequently with Ambro opinions. To wit:

William H. Cosby, Jr., appeals the District Court’s order unsealing certain documents that reveal damaging admissions he made in a 2005 deposition regarding his sexual behavior. There was no stay of that order, and the contents of the documents received immediate and wide publicity. While the parties dispute whether the District Court properly balanced the public and private interests at stake in unsealing the documents, we must decide at the outset whether Cosby’s appeal has become moot due to the public disclosure of their contents. The Associated Press (the “AP”) argues in favor of mootness because resealing the documents after they have already become public will have no effect. Cosby claims this is not the case for two primary reasons, as resealing the documents would (1) at least slow the dissemination of their contents and (2) might affect whether they can be used against him in other litigation. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the appeal is moot.

Interestingly, the opinion relies in part on the results of a Google search performed the Friday before the opinion issued, including what looks to me like the first-ever circuit citation to Deadspin.

The court in a footnote expressed “serious reservations” about the district court’s reasoning that unsealing the documents was supported by Cosby’s image as a “public moralist,” a phrase the court described as “vague and undefined” and having “no basis in our jurisprudence.”

Joining Ambro were Smith and Krause. Arguing counsel were George Gowen III of Cozen O’Connor for Cosby and Gayle Sproul of Levine Sullivan for AP.

 

Raab v. Ocean City — civil / attorney’s fees — reverse in part — Chagares

A two-judge Third Circuit panel today held that a settling civil-rights plaintiff can be a prevailing party eligible to recover attorney’s fees where the district court dismissed the suit sua sponte in an order incorporating and retaining jurisdiction over the private settlement, even though the district court entered no consent decree and apparently did not review the settlement before entering its order.

Joining Chagares was Restrepo; Van Antwerpen was on the panel when the case was orally argued but died before the opinion issued. Arguing counsel were Paul Rizzo of DiFrancesco Bateman for the plaintiff, A. Michael Barker of Barker Gelfand for one defendant, and Thomas Reynolds of Reynolds & Horn for another defendant.

New Jersey clobbered in sports-betting en banc

NCAA v. Governor — civil — affirmance — Rendell — en banc

The en banc Third Circuit today rejected New Jersey’s effort to legalize sports betting, holding that the effort violated the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act and that PASPA did not violate constitutional anti-commandeering principles. The en banc ruling came out the same way as the earlier panel ruling.

A couple quick observations.

First, New Jersey got pasted. They came into en banc rehearing with reason to be fairly confident about two votes (Fuentes and Vanaskie, the dissenters from Christie I and the Christie II panel), so they needed to pick up another 5 votes for an en banc majority. They picked up zero. Their position was built around business and federalism, but they failed to pick up a single Republican-nominated judge. For New Jersey and for state-sports-gambling advocates, today’s outcome was a disaster.

Second, there was some speculation last month by prominent legal experts (here and here) that the court’s slowness in issuing the opinion gave reason to think New Jersey would win. That speculation proved badly off the mark.

New Jersey reportedly will to petition for Supreme Court review, but one supporter admits it’s a “long shot.” Indeed. [Update: oops.]

New opinions — a major immigration reversal, and an Alito loss

Cen v. Attorney General — immigration — reversal — Krause

The Third Circuit today struck down an immigration regulation, and it’s hard for me to imagine what possessed the government to take the position it did. Here’s the introduction from today’s opinion:

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) allows a child under the age of twenty-one whose alien parent has married a U.S. citizen abroad to obtain a temporary “K-4” visa to accompany her parent to the United States and, based on the parent’s marriage, to apply to adjust her status to that of a lawful permanent resident. On a petition for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), we now consider the validity of a regulation that makes it impossible for a child who entered on such a visa to remain with her family and adjust her status from within the United States if she was over the age of eighteen at the time of her parent’s marriage. Because the regulation departs from the plain language of the INA, contravenes congressional intent, and exceeds the permissible scope of the Attorney General’s regulatory authority, we conclude it is invalid. We therefore will grant the petition for review and will reverse and remand to the BIA for further proceedings.

The Seventh Circuit struck down the same regulation in 2013, but the government has continued to enforce it outside that circuit. The Third Circuit today held that the regulation failed at step two of Chevron analysis. The opinion is thorough, and vigorous: “the Government’s reading of § 1255(d) would transform K-4 visas for older K-4 children into nothing more than tourist visas, giving their holders only a glimpse of what life with their families might have been like in America before being sent home because they are legally incapable of fulfilling § 1255(a)(2)’s eligibility requirement. Such a reading defies common sense.”

Joining Krause were Shwartz and Greenberg. Arguing counsel were Scott Bratton for the petitioner and Robert Stalzer for the government.

 

1621 Rt 22 West Operating Co. v. NLRB — labor — affirmance — Jordan

If I were a circuit judge, would I be a little nervous about ruling against a party represented a Supreme Court Justice’s sister? I might. But that’s what the Third Circuit fearlessly did today, ruling in favor of the NLRB in a case where arguing counsel for the petitioner was Rosemary Alito, the Justice’s younger sister and quite a formidible lawyer in her own right.

The appeal arose out of a workplace union election. After the NLRB ruled that the employer engaged in anti-union activities, the employer argued for the first time on appeal that the NLRB’s acting general counsel was serving illegally and therefore his complaint and all that followed were invalid. The Third Circuit held that it lacked jurisdiction to hear this argument because it was not exhausted. The court also rejected the employer’s arguments that an NLRB member should have recused because his chief counsel had previously represented the union in this case but did not participate in the NLRB’s review, that its labor practices were legal, and that the NLRB imposed the wrong remedy.

Joining Jordan, who has been on an opinion tear lately, were Ambro and Scirica. Arguing counsel were Alito of K&L Gates for the employer and Jeffrey Burritt and Benjamin Shultz for the government.

New opinion — Third Circuit decides a major preemption case

Sikkelee v. Precision Airmotive — civil — reversal — Krause

The Third Circuit today held that federal aviation-safety law does not preempt state-law products-liability claims, reversing on interlocutory review a district court grant of summary judgment. The appeal arose from a fatal Cessna plane crash in 2005; the pilot’s wife alleged that the crash was caused by faulty design of the plane’s carburetor.

The opinion features a thorough and thoughtful discussion of preemption, “a necessary but precarious component of our system of federalism.” (On this point the opinion cites a 1995 Kennedy concurrence, notable because Judge Krause clerked for Kennedy in 1994-95.) The court rejected an expansive interpretation of a prior landmark preemption case, Abdullah v. American Airlines, 181 F.3d 363 (3d Cir. 1999), holding that Abdullah does not govern products-liability claims. It then proceeded to a close analysis and Congressional intent and relevant precedent.

Joining Krause were Chagares and Van Antwerpen. The high-powered arguing counsel were Teijinder Singh of Goldstein & Russell for the appellant and Kannon Shanmugam of Williams & Connolly for the appellees.

 

New opinion — Third Circuit upholds NFL concussion-suit settlement

In re: NFL Players Concussion Injury Litig. — class action — affirmance — Ambro

The Third Circuit today affirmed approval of a $1 billion settlement in a suit brought by former pro football players against the NFL for failure to inform of risks, and protect them from injuries, arising from concussions. The court rejected objections to both class certification and the settlement terms.

Early coverage by Ken Belson in New York Times here and Jeremy Roebuck on Philly.com here.

Joining Ambro were Hardiman and Nygaard. The superstar-studded cast of arguing counsel were Samuel Issacharoff and Paul Clement for appellees, and Howard Bashman, Deepak Gupta, Charles Becker, Cullin O’Brien, and Steven Molo for the appellant objectors. Audio of the almost-two-hour-long argument is here.

New opinion — Third Circuit finds serious misconduct by prosecution, but affirms due to overwhelming evidence

Gov’t of the V.I. v. Mills — criminal — affirmance — Krause

The Third Circuit today issued a major opinion on prosecutorial misconduct, holding that the prosecution committed severe and pervasive misconduct but that the defendant was not entitled to a new trial because the evidence against him was overwhelming, his defense was implausible, and the court gave effective curative instructions. The Third Circuit found three types of misconduct: urging jurors to convict Mills to protect themselves, urging jurors to convict based on bad conduct not relevant to the charged crimes, and displaying a photo of the victim’s corpse during closing argument to evoke sympathy.

Joining Krause were Fisher and Roth. (Notably, both Krause and Fisher were prosecutors before joining the court.) Arguing counsel were Su-Layne Walker for the government and Joseph DiRuzzo III for the defendant.