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

After sustaining serious internal injuries in a personal watercraft (PWC) accident, plaintiff filed suit against the manufacturers of the PWC (Yamaha). On appeal, plaintiff argued that the district court erred in requiring expert testimony on her claims and in failing to conduct an appropriate Daubert analysis before excluding her expert's testimony. The Fourth Circuit held that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it excluded the expert's inadequate warning opinion and the district court properly concluded that the PWC's warnings were adequate as a matter of law. In this case, plaintiff based her claims of strict liability, negligence, and breach of warranties on theories of warning and design defects. The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment for Yamaha on all claims because the record was devoid of admissible evidence on either theory of defect. View "Hickerson v. Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A." on Justia Law

After sustaining serious internal injuries in a personal watercraft (PWC) accident, plaintiff filed suit against the manufacturers of the PWC (Yamaha). On appeal, plaintiff argued that the district court erred in requiring expert testimony on her claims and in failing to conduct an appropriate Daubert analysis before excluding her expert's testimony. The Fourth Circuit held that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it excluded the expert's inadequate warning opinion and the district court properly concluded that the PWC's warnings were adequate as a matter of law. In this case, plaintiff based her claims of strict liability, negligence, and breach of warranties on theories of warning and design defects. The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment for Yamaha on all claims because the record was devoid of admissible evidence on either theory of defect. View "Hickerson v. Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A." on Justia Law

The Fourth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction of deprivation of rights under color of law in violation of 18 U.S.C. 242. In this case, the evidence showed that defendant, in the course of his police duties, assaulted another individual following his arrest on various charges. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting evidence of prior bad acts; the evidence was more than sufficient to support the jury's determination that defendant acted willfully, as required under section 242; the district court did not abuse its discretion in using a special verdict form and by refusing defendant's proposed jury instruction on lesser-included offenses; and the district court acted within its discretion in requiring defendant to pay the full amount of the victim's medical expenses. View "United States v. Cowden" on Justia Law

The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's application of a sentencing enhancement under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. 924(e), holding that defendant's prior conviction under the North Carolina crime of voluntary manslaughter was a violent felony under the force clause of the ACCA. The court explained that voluntary manslaughter in North Carolina required an intentional killing, and thus plainly involved "the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another." View "United States v. Smith" on Justia Law

The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of a preliminary injunction against enforcement of Proclamation No. 9645, Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry Into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats. The Proclamation succeeded President Trump's executive orders and indefinitely suspended the entry of some or all immigrants and nonimmigrants from eight countries. Determining that plaintiffs' claims were justiciable, the court held that plaintiffs have met their high burden of demonstrating that the Proclamation's purported purpose was not "bona fide" under Kleindienst v. Mandel, 408 U.S. 753, 770 (1972). Next, the court examined official statements from President Trump and other executive branch officials, along with the Proclamation itself, and held that the Proclamation failed to demonstrate a primarily secular purpose. Rather, the Proclamation continued to exhibit a primarily religious anti-Muslim objective. Therefore, the court held that plaintiffs have demonstrated that they will likely succeed on the merits of their Establishment Clause claim. Furthermore, the likelihood of irreparable harm, the balance of equities, and the public interest all favored granting injunctive relief. View "International Refugee Assistance Project v. Trump" on Justia Law

Petitioner, a native and citizen of Honduras, petitioned for review of the denial of his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. The Fourth Circuit held that the BIA erred in holding that petitioner did not meet the nexus requirement where at least one central reason for petitioner's persecution was membership in his family, a protected social group under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Therefore, the court vacated the BIA's denial of withholding of removal and remanded for further proceedings. The court separately remanded for consideration of the asylum claim in light of its recent decision in Zambrano v. Sessions, 878 F.3d 84 (4th Cir. 2017), which affected petitioner's argument that a statutory "changed circumstances" exception allows consideration of his untimely application. Accordingly, the court granted in part and denied in part the petition for review. View "Salgado-Sosa v. Sessions" on Justia Law

The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of a school resource officer in an action brought by an elementary school student under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment and several state laws. The officer decided to handcuff the student for fighting with another student three days prior. The court held that, under the totality of the circumstances, the officer's actions were not objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances where the student was a ten year old girl who was sitting calmly and compliantly in a closed office surrounded by three adults and was answering questions about the incident at issue. Although the officer used excessive force, the student's right not to be handcuffed under the circumstances was not clearly established at the time of her seizure. Therefore, the officer was entitled to qualified immunity. The court also held that there was insufficient evidence in the record for a reasonable jury to conclude that the officer acted maliciously or with gross negligence when she handcuffed the student. View "E.W. v. Dolgos" on Justia Law

The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of a school resource officer in an action brought by an elementary school student under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment and several state laws. The officer decided to handcuff the student for fighting with another student three days prior. The court held that, under the totality of the circumstances, the officer's actions were not objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances where the student was a ten year old girl who was sitting calmly and compliantly in a closed office surrounded by three adults and was answering questions about the incident at issue. Although the officer used excessive force, the student's right not to be handcuffed under the circumstances was not clearly established at the time of her seizure. Therefore, the officer was entitled to qualified immunity. The court also held that there was insufficient evidence in the record for a reasonable jury to conclude that the officer acted maliciously or with gross negligence when she handcuffed the student. View "E.W. v. Dolgos" on Justia Law

The Fourth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for seven counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. The court held that the district court did not err in denying defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal based on insufficient evidence that he knowingly received and possessed the illicit files and based on insufficient evidence that he received child pornography using any means or facility of interstate commerce. The court also held that the district court did not erroneously instruct the jury because the instruction at issue was merely a variance from the superseding indictment, and such variance did not violate defendant's constitutional rights. View "United States v. Miltier" on Justia Law

In these consolidated products liability cases involving a transvaginal mesh prescription device called Obtryx, the jury returned verdicts for plaintiffs, awarding over $4 million to each. The Fourth Circuit held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in consolidating the four cases where common questions of fact and law formed a substantial part of each suit and the district court bent over backwards to ensure that distinct questions of fact and law could be appropriately developed at trial and distinguished by the jury. The court rejected BSC's evidentiary challenges; BSC was not entitled to judgment as a matter of law where it failed to establish that there was insufficient evidence to defeat the jury awards; and the district court's instruction to the jury regarding punitive damages was a correct statement of West Virginia law at the time of the trial. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's judgments. View "Campbell v. Boston Scientific Corp." on Justia Law