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

Defendant was convicted of production, possession, and transportation of child pornography, in connection with his sexual molestation of a four-year-old boy. On appeal, defendant challenged the imposition of a 120-year sentence, arguing that the prison sentence was disproportionate to his crimes and constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. The court rejected defendant's constitutional challenges and concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in imposing a sentence designed to protect the public and to address the seriousness of defendant's crimes. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "United States v. Cobler" on Justia Law

Petitioner appealed the district court's dismissal of his motion to vacate his sentence. The court concluded that petitioner could use a 28 U.S.C. 2255 motion to challenge a sentence that was based on the career offender enhancement under the Sentencing Guidelines when subsequent case law revealed the enhancement to be inapplicable to him. The court held that equitable tolling applied to petitioner's claim and the erroneous application of the career offender enhancement amounted to a fundamental miscarriage of justice that can be corrected on collateral review. Accordingly, the court granted a certificate of appealability, vacated petitioner's sentence, and remanded for resentencing.View "Whiteside v. United States" on Justia Law

T-Mobile filed suit under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. 332(c)(7)(B), challenging the Board's denial of T-Mobile's application for permits to build two telecommunications towers in Loudoun County - one disguised as a bell tower and one disguised as a silo on a farm. The district court concluded that the Board improperly denied T-Mobile's application for the silo tower and affirmed the Board's decision denying permits for the bell tower. The court concluded that the Board's decision to deny T-Mobile's Bell Tower Site application was supported by substantial evidence; did not have the effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services in view of the possibility of other alternatives; and was not made on the basis of health concerns about radio frequency emissions. In regards to the Silo Site, the court concluded that while the aesthetic concerns that the Board gave for denying T-Mobile's application were supported by substantial evidence, its decision to base the denial of T-Mobile's application on improper environmental concerns about radio frequency emissions was prohibited by the Act. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.View "T-Mobile Northeast LLC v. The Loudoun Cty. Bd." on Justia Law

DuPont filed suit against Kolon, alleging the theft and misappropriation of its Kevlar trade secrets (the trade secrets case). Kolon's answer included the instant counterclaim (the antitrust case), alleging that DuPont had illegally monopolized and attempted to monopolize the U.S. para-aramid market through its supply agreements with high-volume para-aramid customers. Para-aramid is a strong, complex synthetic fiber used in body armor, tires, fiber optic cables, and a variety of other industrial products. The court concluded that following United States v. Owens, recusals under 28 U.S.C. 455(b) include a judicially implied timely-filing requirement, and that the district court acted within its discretion when it denied Kolon's recusal motion on timeliness grounds. The court deferred to the district court's considerable discretion in overseeing discovery and will not disturb its discovery rulings. On the merits of Kolon's antitrust suit, Kolon has failed to raise a triable issue of material fact sufficient to sustain either its attempted or actual monopolization claims. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.View "Kolon Indus. Inc. v. E. I. DuPont De Nemour" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against her former employer, ODU, alleging, inter alia, a claim for retaliation based on the denial of her application for tenure. On appeal, plaintiff challenged the district court's grant of summary judgment for ODU, arguing that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the retaliation claim that grew out of and was reasonably related to an untimely filed charge of discrimination. The court concluded that the district court properly exercised subject matter jurisdiction over plaintiff's related tenure retaliation claim where it had subject matter jurisdiction over her administratively exhausted but untimely filed non-retaliation claims. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "Hentosh v. Old Dominion University" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that defendants violated his constitutional rights by intentionally withholding exculpatory evidence during his 1988 trial for rape and murder. The district court dismissed the complaint on statute-of-limitations grounds, and, in the alternative, the district court held that the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office enjoyed sovereign immunity, the individual police officers enjoyed qualified immunity, and plaintiff's cause of action against the Baltimore City Police Department (BCPD) failed to state a claim on which relief could be granted. The court concluded that plaintiff filed suit within the applicable three year statute of limitations for a personal-injury action under Maryland law and his claims were timely; the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office is not an entity amenable to suit; precedent unmistakably provided that, by 1988, a police officer violates clearly established constitutional law when he suppresses material exculpatory evidence in bad faith; the officers in this case were not entitled to qualified immunity where they were clearly on notice of the impermissibility of their conduct in 1988, the time of the alleged violations; and plaintiff has stated a plausible claim against the BCPD. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court to the extent it dismissed plaintiff's claims against the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office; vacated in all other respects; and remanded for further proceedings. View "Owens v. Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office" on Justia Law

In these consolidated appeals, Chevron sought documents from two Maryland-based attorneys who assisted the lead attorney representing Ecuadorian plaintiffs in a multi-billion dollar judgment rendered in Ecuador against Chevron. The district court ordered production of the requested documents and the attorneys appealed. The court dismissed appeal number 13-1382 based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction to hear the appeal from the district court's order on Chevron's Rule 45 subpoenas because the finality rule prohibits such an interlocutory appeal, and affirmed the lower court's judgment in appeal number 13-2028 under 28 U.S.C. 1872 based on the lead attorney's waiver and two other independent bases to permit discovery of the documents at issue. View "Chevron Corp. v. Page" on Justia Law

The EEOC filed suit alleging that an employee retirement benefit plan maintained by the County discriminated against employees in the protected age group of 40 years of age and older, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. 621-634, by requiring them to pay high contribution rates than those paid by younger employees. In this interlocutory appeal, the court held that the district court correctly determined that the County's plan violated the ADEA, because the plan's employee contribution rates were determined by age, rather than by a permissible factor. The court also concluded that the ADEA's "safe harbor provision" applicable to early retirement benefit plans did not shield the County from liability for the alleged discrimination. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's award of summary judgment on the issue of liability and remanded for consideration of damages.View "EEOC v. Baltimore County, Maryland" on Justia Law

Debtors filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code. At issue was whether above-median-income debtors with negative disposable income were obligated to maintain Chapter 13 bankruptcy plans that last for five years when their unsecured creditors have not been paid in full. The court held that a plain reading of the Bankruptcy Code, and Section 1325 in particular, mandates that an above-median-income debtor maintain a bankruptcy plan for five years unless all unsecured creditor claims are paid in full and irrespective of projected disposable income. Debtors, as above-median-income debtors, were obligated to maintain a five-year plan. The bankruptcy court therefore did not err in deeming the early termination language in debtors' proposed plan void as a matter of law and in extending the duration of debtors' proposed plan. The court affirmed the bankruptcy court's order but remanded in order for debtors to have an opportunity to present evidence regarding the feasibility of their monthly payments. View "Pliler v. Browning" on Justia Law

Dickenson Coal contested a citation by the Secretary of Labor for violating the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, Pub. L. No. 95-164, 91 Stat. 1290, by failing to report an injury at one of its mines within ten days of its occurrence. The ALJ awarded summary judgment in the Secretary's favor and the Commission declined to exercise discretionary review of the ALJ's decision. Dickenson Coal petitioned for review. The court concluded that the unambiguous language of 30 C.F.R. 50.20(a) imposed an unconditional duty upon Dickenson Coal to report the injury within ten days. Dickenson Coal was not relieved of this duty when the injured person's employer timely reported the incident. Accordingly, the court denied the petition for review.View "Dickenson-Russell Coal Co. v. Secretary of Labor" on Justia Law