2012 Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals Case Law

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff brought suit under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act (FCA) against Lockheed Martin Corporation, alleging that Lockheed defrauded the United States Air Force under a contract for the Range…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) granted Petitioner's asylum application in 1996. In 2003, the INS ceased to exist, and its functions were transferred to the Department of Homeland Security. One of the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, Law Offices of Sidney Mickell, sent a debt collection letter addressed to Plaintiff, Catherine Evon, in "care of" her employer. Evon filed a class action lawsuit alleging (1) Mickell's act of sending letters…

Justia Opinion Summary: This opinion was a revised version of an earlier opinion issued by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on May 24, 2012. In that opinion, the Ninth Circuit held that, although the police did not have reasonable suspicion…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and kidnapping. Defendant was sentenced to death. Defendant subsequently petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court. The…

Justia Opinion Summary: Several Alaskan native villages (Villages) claimed they possessed non-exclusive aboriginal hunting and fishing rights in areas of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Gulf of Alaska. The Secretary of Commerce…

Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved a dispute over the proceeds of a life insurance policy. At issue was whether the federal interpleader remedy shields a negligent stakeholder from tort liability for its creation of a conflict over…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a former employee of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) who suffered from multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus, filed an administrative complaint based on alleged violations of the…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Department of Health and Human Services denied Medicare coverage of the BIO-1000, a piece of durable medical equipment used to treat osteoarthritis of the knee. In four decisions, the Medicare appeals counsel, the…

Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved an experimental forest thinning, fuels reduction, and research project (the Project) in the Deschutes National Forest in central Oregon. The Project allowed logging and controlled burning on 2,500…

Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. This case was the second time Defendant sought habeas review in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2008, the Ninth Circuit affirmed…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs were United States citizens or legal permanent residents who had good reason to believe they were on the Terrorist Screening Center's (TSC) no-fly list (List). They initially submitted grievances through the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Two environmental groups (Petitioners) petitioned for review of a final rulemaking by the EPA that approved a revision to a California state plan to implement national ambient air quality standards for air pollutants.…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Rufino Valdes-Vega appealed the district court's denial of his motion to suppress cocaine found in his truck. Defendant contended that the stop of his truck by border patrol agents seventy miles north of the…

Justia Opinion Summary: The district court presided over four class action cases. Two insurance companies (collectively, Defendants) were the defendants in the two underlying cases. Allianz Life Insurance Company (Allianz) was a defendant in…

Justia Opinion Summary: Marc and Claire Headley were two former ministers of the Church of Scientology International. Marc sued the Church and Claire sued the Church and the Religious Technology Center under the Trafficking Victims Protection…

Justia Opinion Summary: Deborah Benge, a former employee of Pacific Ship Repair and Fabrication, filed a disability claim under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act seeking compensation for her work-related injury. The ALJ found…

Justia Opinion Summary: Gregory Haynes was the counsel for the plaintiff in the underlying action. The district court (1) determined that Haynes continued pursuit of plaintiff's claims after it was clear the claims were frivolous and in bad…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted by a jury of drug-related crimes involving the distribution of methamphetmaine, cocaine, and marijuana. Defendant appealed the district court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pled guilty to mail fraud and money laundering. Based on the sentencing factors set out in 18 U.S.C. 3553(a), the district court imposed a prison sentence longer than the one proposed by the parties in the plea…

Justia Opinion Summary: M.P., a student with disabilities, appealed the district court's ruling that the Anchorage School District (ASD) did not deny him a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) because the failure to develop an updated…

Justia Opinion Summary: Sean Runningeagle and his cousin Corey Tilden were convicted of murdering two victims. The state trial court imposed a sentence of death upon Runningeagle but not upon Tilden. Runningeagle's direct and collateral appeals…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, who suffered from limb girdle muscular dystrophy, sued Walt Disney World Company under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), claiming that Disney denied her full and equal access to Disneyland by…

Justia Opinion Summary: In 1993, James Alderson filed a qui tam action under the False Claims Act (FCA) alleging Medicare fraud by Quorum Health Group, Inc., a hospital management company, and several related entities including the Hospital…

Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant, a former pilot for Vision Airlines, sued Vision on behalf of a Class of other pilots and flight crew employees to recover hazard pay, which Appellant and the Class alleged Vision had accepted on their behalf…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs were owners and operators of motels in Los Angeles. Plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) 41.49, which requires operators of hotels in the City to maintain certain…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals addressed whether the renewal of forty-one water supply contracts by the United States Bureau of Reclamation violated section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA)…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed the denial of his motion to suppress evidence of his possession of marijuana. Defendant argued that an officer's two separate commands directing him to empty his pockets each constituted illegal…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed his conviction for attempted possession with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. The district court denied Defendant's motion to suppress evidence of the drugs that were…

Justia Opinion Summary: Pentonville Developers, Ltd. and Marblearch Trading, Ltd., two Cyprus oil brokerage companies, sued the Republic of Iraq for unilaterally terminating two contracts for the purchase and sale of Iraqi oil. The district…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff brought suit against an airline alleging a common law breach of contract under the implied covenant of god faith and fair dealing. The district court held that Plaintiff's claim was preempted by the Airline…

Justia Opinion Summary: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) operated a customer rewards program, called Camel Cash, from 1991 to 2007. Customers could purchase Camel cigarettes, save Camel Cash certificates, enroll in the program, and…

Justia Opinion Summary: In a class action, any settlement must be approved by the court to ensure that class counsel and the named plaintiffs do not place their own interests above those of the absent class members. In this false advertising…

Justia Opinion Summary: After Lender failed to respond to Plaintiff's correspondence regarding ownership of his loan, Lender foreclosed on Borrower's property. Plaintiff filed suit against all the actors involved (Defendants), alleging…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs were automated teller machine (ATM) cardholders, who alleged horizontal price fixing of fees charged to the ATM owners by the banks when cardholders retrieve cash from an ATM not owned by their bank.…

Justia Opinion Summary: At issue before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in this case was whether an adverse claim to a stake may be so lacking in substance that a neutral stakeholder cannot interplead in good faith. Interpleader is proper…

Justia Opinion Summary: Timothy Nelson, a former student of the University of California at Davis (U.C. Davis), suffered permanent injury when he was shot in the eye by a pepperball projectile fired from the weapon of a U.C. Davis officer when…

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2004, Michael Rosa was apprehended by police officers after one of the officers deployed his advanced Taser M26 ECD (M26). After officers had Michael in restraints, Michael stopped breathing and later died of…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner was born was born in El Salvador and was admitted to the United States as legal permanent resident in 1992. In 2006, Petitioner pled guilty to resisting an executive officer in violation of Cal. Penal Code 69.…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs commenced an arbitration proceeding against Defendant pursuant to terms of a written agreement between the parties. Eber subsequently filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, and the arbitration was…

Justia Opinion Summary: Earnest Woods, a former inmate, sued the warden and appeals coordinator under 42 U.S.C. 1983 for deliberate indifference to his medical needs. First, the district court granted the warden's motion for summary judgment,…

Justia Opinion Summary: Howard Back filed this suit alleging that Secretary of Heath and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius violated her duties under the Medicare Act and the Due Process Clause by failing to provide an administrative process for…

Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner petitioned for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denying him asylum and withholding of removal because he provided material support to a terrorist organization in violation of 8…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed the sentence imposed following his guilty plea to being a deported alien found in the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. 1326. In particular, Defendant challenged the district court's application…

Justia Opinion Summary: David Day, an ERISA plan beneficiary, elected to roll over his pension benefits into an individual retirement account (IRA) upon separation from his employer, AT&T. Exercising its discretion, the plan's claims…