Justia U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Articles Posted in November, 2012
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Defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence of cocaine and subsequently pled guilty to drug charges. Defendant was driving a rental car with a passenger in Virginia when police pulled him over for speeding. Based on the passenger's apparent nervousness and the presence of four cellular phones in the center console, and on defendant's and the passenger's conflicting explanations of their travels, the officer called a drug-detection dog. The dog arrived 13 minutes after the initiation of the traffic stop and a resulting search revealed 830.6 grams of cocaine. The court held that the officer had reasonable suspicion and the delay and search of the vehicle were reasonable. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Vaughan" on Justia Law

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Defendant was convicted of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to commit smuggling for his role as the mastermind of a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud the Department of Defense (DOD). The crux of defendant's scheme involved the knowing supply of defective and nonconforming spare parts for use in U.S. military aircraft, vehicles, and weapons systems. Defendant appealed his convictions and sentence on a variety of grounds. The court found his arguments without merit and affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "United States v. Day, Jr." on Justia Law

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This case arose when plaintiff filed a putative class action in state court against Santander alleging violations of various Maryland consumer protection laws for undisclosed finance charges and other unfair business practices. Santander subsequently appealed from the district court's order denying its motion to compel arbitration and stay court proceedings of plaintiff's claims against it. While finding that an enforceable arbitration agreement encompassing plaintiff's claims existed, the district court nevertheless concluded that Santander had waived its rights to enforce arbitration by its delay. The court concluded that the record did not support the district court's finding of waiver. Therefore, the court reversed and remanded with directions to defer the claims to arbitration. View "Rota-McLarty v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc." on Justia Law

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The MTA applied to the Board to abandon freight transportation use of a right-of-way and to convert it to a recreational trail, as authorized by the National Trails System Act, 16 U.S.C. 1247. The Board rejected the MTA's application, concluding that instead of assuming full responsibility for legal liability or indemnifying the MTA for any potential liability, the proposed sponsors conditioned their undertakings by subjecting them to sovereign immunity and to future state legislative appropriations. The Board explained that instead of assuming full responsibility, the proposed sponsors offered the possibility of no responsibility. The MTA subsequently filed a petition for review. The court found that the MTA's arguments were unpersuasive, especially in light of its burden to demonstrate that the Board acted arbitrarily and capriciously. Accordingly, the court affirmed the decision of the Board and denied the petition for review. View "Maryland Transit v. Surface Transportation Board" on Justia Law

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Martin and Lucky Strike appealed the district court's grant of summary judgment in an action to enjoin enforcement of two South Carolina anti-gaming statutes, S.C. Code Ann. 12-21-2710 and 12-21-2712, which prohibited certain devices pertaining to games of chance. Because the statutes have a legitimate application, the court affirmed the district court's vagueness holding. The court further concluded that the statutes did not fall within the scope of Ex Parte Young's holding. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "Martin v. Lloyd" on Justia Law

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Petitioner, a native and citizen of the Republic of Angola, sought review of an order by the BIA denying his petition to obtain relief from removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1182. The BIA denied petitioner asylum and withholding of removal under the INA because he was a member of, and provided material support to, a terrorist organization. The court held that the BIA did not err in deeming petitioner statutorily ineligible for asylum and withholding of removal under the INA's Material Support Bar. Therefore, the court denied the petition for review. View "de Almeida Viegas v. Holder, Jr." on Justia Law

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Defendant was convicted of four charges which were based on intentional misrepresentations he made concerning his service in the United States Marine Corps. After reviewing the parties' arguments on appeal, the court held that there was substantial evidence to support both defendant's false statement conviction and theft conviction. The court further held that the statutes underlying defendant's insignia convictions were constitutional, both on their face and as applied to defendant. Accordingly, the court affirmed the convictions on all counts. View "United States v. Hamilton" on Justia Law

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Petitioner, a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitioned for review of a decision of the BIA affirming an IJ's grant of a motion by the DHS to pretermit his applications for adjustment of immigration status and for a waiver pursuant to Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) section 212(h). The court held that the district court erred in finding petitioner barred under section 212(h) from obtaining a waiver of inadmissibility and granted the petition for review. View "Leiba v. Holder, Jr." on Justia Law

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Plaintiff challenged the district court's judgment upholding the decision of the SSA denying his application for disability benefits. The court held that a VA disability determination must be accorded substantial weight in Social Security disability proceedings. The court also held that an ALJ must give retrospective consideration to medical evidence created after a claimant's last insured date when such evidence could be "reflective of a possible earlier and progressive degeneration." After considering all relevant evidence, and upon determining that plaintiff was disabled at any time, an ALJ must consult with a medical advisor if the date of onset of the disability was ambiguous. In this case, the ALJ made two errors of law in conducting his analysis of the evidence concerning whether plaintiff was disabled before his DLI and therefore, the court vacated the district court's judgment. View "Bird v. Commissioner of Soc Sec" on Justia Law

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Claimant filed a motion in the district court under Rule 60(b)(4) to set aside a forfeiture judgment as void because the government had filed its civil forfeiture complaint beyond the 90-day time limit imposed on it by 18 U.S.C. 983(a)(3). The court held that, while the time limit imposed on the government was mandatory, it was not jurisdictional, and because claimant did not raise this defense during the course of the forfeiture action, he forfeited it. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's order denying claimant's motion to vacate the forfeiture judgment. View "United States v. Wilson" on Justia Law