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

OpenRisk filed suit against MicroStrategy after MicroStrategy continued to provide services to OpenRisk's ex-employees after they had left and formed a new company. The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to MicroStrategy and held that the federal Copyright Act preempted OpenRisk's computer fraud claims under the Virginia Computer Crimes Act (VCCA). The court explained that the core of OpenRisk's VCCA claims was the unauthorized copying and transfer of its data, and that claim was "equivalent to" a copyright infringement action and was thus preempted. The court also held that MicroStrategy was entitled to summary judgment on OpenRisk's remaining claims of computer trespass, tortious interference, and conspiracy. View "OpenRisk, LLC v. MicroStrategy Services Corp." on Justia Law

The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of class certification and grant of summary judgment for CSC in an action filed by former executives pursuant to section 1132(a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq. Plaintiffs alleged denial of benefits under their deferred executive compensation plan after a plan amendment changed the applicable crediting rate, and sought class certification on behalf of all retired plan participants affected by the amendment. The court declined to decide which standards of review applied because the competing standards of review presented a distinction without a difference. Whether the court proceeded under a reasonableness inquiry, an abuse-of-discretion standard, or even de novo review, the 2012 Amendment and CSC's denial of benefits were valid. View "Plotnick v. Computer Sciences Corp." on Justia Law

The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's decision holding respondent in contempt after she failed to produce certain documents pursuant to an IRS summons. In this case, the IRS was investigating respondent's income tax liability and was seeking various documents. The court held that United States v. Rylander, 460 U.S. 752 (1983), was controlling in this case and that respondent's arguments against Rylander were meritless. The court also held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding petitioner in contempt where the IRS established that she had committed at least a constructive violation of the Enforcement Order by failing to produce documents presumptively within her possession or control, and respondent failed to satisfy her burden of demonstrating that she made in good faith all reasonable efforts to comply with the order. View "United States v. Ali" on Justia Law

The Fourth Circuit affirmed defendants' conviction of health care fraud and conspiracy to engage in health care fraud. Assuming that the district court did err in failing to consider materiality expressly when assessing guilt, the court held that such error was harmless because the record conclusively established that insurers would not have paid for the second, more sophisticated tests had they known those tests were not medically necessary and no rational fact finder could conclude otherwise. Furthermore, Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, — U.S. —, 136 S. Ct. 1989 (2016), did not compel a different conclusion. The court rejected defendants' remaining arguments, concluding that each lacked merit. View "United States v. Palin" on Justia Law

The Fourth Circuit vacated the district court's sentence after defendant pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography. The court held that defendant's plea agreement explicitly preserved the government's appellate rights and thus defendant's argument that the appeal was barred by an implied appellate waiver was rejected. On the merits, the court held that the conditions of defendant's autism spectrum disorder only marginally affected his criminal conduct and did not justify relieving defendant from the need for more serious punishment as consistent with the 18 U.S.C. 3553 factors. Therefore, the sentence imposed was substantively unreasonable. The court remanded for resentencing. View "United States v. Zuk" on Justia Law

Wayne Oliver filed suit in state court against CMC, alleging asbestos exposure claims. CMC filed a third-party complaint against several entities, including GE. GE removed to the district court and the district court granted Oliver's motion to sever his claims and to remand to state court and concomitantly retained jurisdiction over CMC's third-party claims, which the district court stayed. The Fourth Circuit dismissed CMC's appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction, including jurisdiction under the collateral order doctrine. View "Campbell-McCormick, Inc. v. Oliver" on Justia Law

This case arose out of competition in the market for software used to manage and analyze large and complex datasets. SAS filed suit against WPL, alleging that WPL breached a license agreement for SAS software and violated copyrights on that software. The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment finding WPL liable for beach of the license agreement, holding that the contractual terms at issue were unambiguous and that SAS has shown that WPL violated those terms. The court vacated the portion of the district court's ruling on the copyright claim and remanded with instructions to dismiss it as moot. View "SAS Institute, Inc. v. World Programming Ltd." on Justia Law

The Fourth Circuit affirmed defendant's sentence after he pleaded guilty to a drug offense and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The court held that defendant's prior previous North Carolina conviction for assault inflicting serious bodily injury constituted a crime of violence under USSG 4B1.2, because the residual clause of section 4B1.2 authorizes the increased sentence. View "United States v. Thompson" on Justia Law

A local government violated the Establishment Clause when it displays and maintains on public property a 40-foot tall Latin cross, established in memory of soldiers who died in World War I. The Fourth Circuit reversed and remanded the district court's judgment and held that the monument has the effect of endorsing religion and excessively entangles the government in religion. The court explained that the Latin cross is the core symbol of Christianity. In this case, the cross is 40 feet tall; prominently displayed in the center of one of the busiest intersections in Prince George's County, Maryland; and maintained with thousands of dollars in government funds. The court held that the purported war memorial breaches the "wall of separation between Church and State." View "American Humanist Assoc. v. Maryland-National Capital Park" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit alleging that defendant fired her for supporting defendant's political rival, and thus violated plaintiff's First Amendment rights. The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's determination that, as an Assistant State's Attorney, plaintiff was a policymaker exempt from the First Amendment's protection against patronage dismissals. The court reasoned that to hold otherwise would undermine the public mandate bestowed upon the victor of a hard-fought election and would needlessly interfere with a state official's managerial prerogative. View "Borzilleri v. Mosby" on Justia Law