State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. v. United States ex rel. Rigsby is the perfect case for an eight member Court. So simple a unanimous Court issued an opinion in about a month after oral argument.
The False Claims Act (FCA) allows third parties to sue on behalf of the United States for fraud committed against the United States. Per the Act a FCA complaint is kept secret “under seal” until the United States can review it and decide whether it wants to participate in the case. Continue reading
Qualified immunity cases, generally speaking, could not be more straightforward for state and local governments. No matter how bad the facts of the case, one legal analysis is better.
Mesa v. Hernandez provides a qualified immunity quandary. If Agent Mesa wins his qualified immunity claim, other government officials in the future may lose their qualified immunity claims.
It is hard to keep quiet when you have a secret big enough that ABC’s 20/20 is interested in interviewing you. But if you talk too soon will the lawsuit your secret culminates in be dismissed?
The False Claims Act (FCA) allows third parties to sue on behalf of the United States for fraud committed against the United States. Per the Act a FCA complaint is kept secret “under seal” until the United States can review it and decide whether it wants to participate in the case.
In Rigsby v. State Farm the Supreme Court will decide what standard applies when deciding whether to dismiss a case because of a seal violation. Some federal circuits dismiss all cases. Continue reading
Here are last week’s published decisions involving local governments:
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Sixth Circuit
Eighth Circuit
Ninth Circuit
Tenth Circuit
(12/15/2014-12/19/2014)
Image courtesy of Flickr from Ken Lund (creative-commons license, no changes made).
In Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles Board (Board) rejected the Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans’ (Texas SCV) application for a specialty license plate featuring images of the Confederate Flag. The Supreme Court will decide whether this violates the First Amendment. 
This case may have implications beyond the specialty license plate context. Lower courts have struggled to determine whether government websites, advertisements on city buses, memorial bricks and tiles at public schools, etc. are government speech or private speech.
Texas allows nonprofits to propose license plate designs for state approval. Texas SCV applied for a specialty plate featuring its logo, a Confederate flag framed on all four sides with the words “Sons of Confederate Veterans 1896,” and a faint Confederate flag in the background. The Board voted unanimously against the plate because it received numerous public comments objecting to it.
The Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of Texas SCV. Continue reading
Catching up on recent published decisions involving local governments:
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit Continue reading
For the six reasons Lyle Denniston describes on SCOTUSblog, the Supreme Court’s announcement on Monday that it would not hear any of the seven petitions striking down same-sex marriage bans was stunning. Even though there was no circuit split, conventional wisdom indicated the Court would decide the issue because of its importance and because both sides asked the Court for review.
Amy Howe also of SCOTUSblog and Scott Michelman writing on SCOTUSblog speculate as to the why the Court’s liberals and conservatives may have decided not to get involved in the issue now. In short, the liberals had nothing to lose by waiting, and both side face uncertainty about Justice Kennedy’s position on the issue.
To understand where were are today with same-sex marriage a timetable is helpful.
Technically, Continue reading
Here are last week’s published decisions involving local governments:
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Third Circuit Continue reading
Apologies that this edition is delayed. I was tied up with a significant filing for the past week. The courts were busy too. Here are the last two weeks’ published decisions involving local governments:
First Circuit
Second Circuit Continue reading
Here are last week’s published decisions involving local governments:
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Here are last week’s published decisions involving local governments:
[Update: I added the Ninth Circuit’s Daubert decision. (7/31)]
Second Circuit
Carter v. Inc. Vill. of Ocean Beach, No. 13-815 (July 21, 2014): Affirming award of attorney’s fees to County defendants in case brought by former police officers alleging wrongful termination and defamation.
Cox v. Onondaga Sheriff’s Dept., No. 12-1526 (July 23, 2014): Affirming dismissal of complaint alleging Title VII retaliation for racial-harassment claims.
Reyes v. New York City Dept. of Ed., No. 13-158 (July 25, 2014): Finding that under IDEA, proposed IEP and school placement failed to provide student with free appropriate public education.
Fourth Circuit Continue reading
Here are last week’s published decisions involving local governments:
First Circuit
Merit Construction Alliance v. City of Quincy, No. 13-2189 (July 16, 2014): The court concluded that the district court: (1) properly determined that ERISA preempts a City ordinance mandating a specific apprentice-training program; and (2) erred by awarding attorney’s fees under ERISA’s fee-shifting statute.
Third Circuit
Batchelor v. Rose Tree Media Sch. Dist., No. 13-2192 (July 17, 2014): The court found that retaliation claims related to enforcement under the Indviduals with Disabilities in Education Act must be exhausted before a court may assert subject-matter jurisdiction. Continue reading
Here are last week’s published decisions involving local governments:
First Circuit
Second Circuit Continue reading
Here are last week’s published decisions involving local governments:
First Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Here are last week’s published decisions involving local governments:
First Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Here are last week’s published decisions involving local governments:
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Here’s how local governments fared in the federal courts of appeals during the past week.
Second Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Seventh Circuit
Here’s how local governments fared in the federal courts of appeals during the past week.
First Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Eleventh Circuit
Here’s how local governments fared in the federal courts of appeals during the past week.
Fifth Circuit
Sixth Circuit
Tenth Circuit
Eleventh Circuit
Local government regulation of immigration through housing ordinances has divided the courts.
Can a local government prohibit the leasing of housing to persons who entered the United States illegally?
Since June, three federal courts of appeals have tackled that difficult question—and reached different results.
The decisions present a range of perspectives on whether local housing ordinances “conflict” with federal law or intrude upon a “field” reserved to the federal government. They highlight the uncertain contours of the preemption doctrine—and demonstrate the risk facing any local government that regulates in this space.