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

The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's 28 U.S.C. 2255 motion based on ineffective assistance of counsel. The court held that precedent at the time of defendant's 2013 sentencing did not strongly suggest that his career offender enhancement was improper, and thus counsel's failure to raise that argument did not constitute deficient performance under Strickland v. Washington. View "United States v. Morris" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit alleging that defendant unlawfully accessed messages in plaintiff's web-based email account in violation of the Virginia Computer Crimes Act and the federal Stored Communications Act (SCA). The Fourth Circuit reversed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's claims under the Virginia Act, holding that the district court improperly applied the doctrine of collateral estoppel to bar reconsideration of whether plaintiff adequately alleged that his property or person was injured within the meaning of the Virginia Act. The court also held that the district court incorrectly determined that plaintiff failed to plausibly allege injury to person or property within the meaning of the Virginia Act.The court held that previously opened and delivered emails stored in a web-based email client were "electronic storage" for purposes of the SCA, 18 U.S.C. 2510(17)(B). The court distinguished that opened and delivered emails stored by a web-based email service did not fall within the plain language of Subsection (A). Accordingly, the district court erroneously granted defendant's motion for summary judgment by concluding otherwise. The court remanded for further proceedings. View "Hately v. Watts" on Justia Law

Plaintiff appealed the district court's dismissal of his action against the Department of Education for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Plaintiff's action stemmed from defendants' treatment of an allegedly fraudulent student loan in plaintiff's name. The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of the action based on lack of jurisdiction because Congress had not waived sovereign immunity for suits under the FCRA. The court held that the purported FCRA waiver in this case fell short of being unambiguous and unequivocal. View "Robinson v. US Department of Education" on Justia Law

The parties dispute whether the obligation to "spud" three wells on a tract of land in West Virginia was an obligation only to begin drilling or to complete the wells to the point of mineral production. The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's holding that the Purchase Sale Agreement executed between the parties contained no requirement that the spudded wells be completed to production. The court also affirmed the district court's conclusion that Pine Resources failed to prove that it sustained any damages. View "Equinor USA Onshore Properties, Inc. v. Pine Resources, LLC" on Justia Law

The Fourth Circuit affirmed defendant's 70-month sentence imposed after he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a felon. Defendant argued that his prior North Carolina conviction did not qualify as a conviction for a crime of violence and that the district court erred in so concluding. The court held that any error that the district court might have committed in treating defendant's North Carolina conviction as a crime-of-violence predicate was harmless because the district court would have imposed the same 70-month sentence regardless of how it resolved the disputed Guidelines issue and the 70-month sentence would, in the circumstances, have been reasonable. View "United States v. Mills" on Justia Law

The Fourth Circuit vacated defendant's revocation sentence and remanded for resentencing. In this case, the district court determined that defendant committed the North Carolina offense of assault with a deadly weapon on a government official and four other violations of his release. The court held, however, that defendant's conviction for assault with a deadly weapon on a government official was categorically not a crime of violence and the district court erred by classifying defendant's supervised release violations as a Grade A violation. Therefore, this error anchored defendant's revocation sentence to an improperly calculated Guidelines range. View "United States v. Simmons" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed a 42 U.S.C. 1983 action against Officers Strickland and Heroux, alleging that the officers violated plaintiff's Fourth Amendment rights by using deadly force while arresting him. The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of the officers' motions for summary judgment, holding that the officers started or continued to fire on plaintiff after they were no longer in the trajectory of plaintiff's car and thus violated plaintiff's Fourth Amendment right to freedom from excessive force. The court also held that it was clearly established that using deadly force against plaintiff after the officers were no longer in the car's trajectory would violate plaintiff's right to freedom from excessive force. View "Williams v. Strickland" on Justia Law

Gateway filed suit to collect a $900,000 judgment from a contractor's liability insurer, Illinois Union. The Fourth Circuit held that the district court had diversity jurisdiction over the case and rightly refused to remand to state court. On the merits, the court held that Gateway's argument that Illinois waived certain defenses by failing to promptly inform Gateway of its coverage denial under Virginia Code section 38.2-2226 failed, because Illinois Union had not denied coverage because of the contractor's breach. In this case, the relevant policy covered only claims reported to the insurer during the policy period, and the policy expired 19 months before Illinois Union learned about Gateway's claim. Therefore, the court affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment for Illinois Union. View "Gateway Residences at Exchange, LLC v. Illinois Union Insurance Co." on Justia Law

Speaks Plaintiffs filed a class action against the Cooperative, seeking a declaratory judgment, distribution of the reserve funds to members, and judicial dissolution of the Cooperative as an alternative form of relief. Speaks Plaintiffs argued that after Congress enacted the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act (FETRA) and the price-support program ended, the Cooperative's primary purpose ceased to exist, and it should be forced to distribute the reserve funds and be judicially dissolved. The parties eventually mediated the case and the district court certified the class, approving a settlement.In this appeal, Fisher-Lewis class members, and would-be intervenor Dan Lewis, objected to the Speaks settlement. The Fourth Circuit dismissed Lewis' appeal for lack of jurisdiction, holding that Lewis filed his appeal far beyond the 30-day deadline prescribed by statute. The court affirmed the district court's denial of the attempted group opt-out. However, the court could not agree with the district court that the objectors' interests were adequately protected or that the settlement was fair, reasonable, and adequate for the class. Accordingly, the court reversed the district court's order certifying the class and granting final approval of the class-action settlement, remanding for further proceedings. View "Speaks v. U.S. Tobacco Cooperative Inc." on Justia Law

Defendant appealed his conviction for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and his mandatory minimum 15 year sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act. The Fourth Circuit affirmed in light of United States v. Massenburg, 564 F.3d 337 (4th Cir. 2009), which imposed an extreme burden on a defendant seeking plain error review of a court's failure to provide correct sentencing information before accepting a guilty plea. The court held that defendant failed to demonstrate plain error affecting his substantial rights. In this case, defendant did not make any statement on the record indicating that he would have proceeded to trial if he had been given the correct sentencing information. Nor did he express surprise at the statement in the PSR of a potential ACCA designation or seek to withdraw his plea on that basis. Finally, the government proffered strong evidence supporting the felon in possession charge. View "United States v. Lockhart" on Justia Law