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Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted in Monday Morning Review on September 3, 2014 By Kira Klatchko

Here are last week’s published decisions involving local governments:

First Circuit

Town of Johnston v. Fed. Housing Finance Agency, No. 13-2034 (Aug. 27, 2014): The court affirmed the dismissal of the municipalities’ claim that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed to pay taxes on property transfers; the court found that statutory exemptions from taxation applied. As the court put it: “Six other circuits have recently considered this attempt to shoe-horn a transfer tax into a real property tax, and they have unanimously rejected the argument.”

Second Circuit

Holt v. Town of Stonington, No. 12-4878 (Aug. 29, 2014): The court found that plaintiff who challenged Town’s restrictions on her ability to build on her property failed to exhaust administrative remedies as required by Connecticut law.

Third Circuit Continue reading →

Res Judicata and Full Faith and Credit Across State Lines and in Federal Court

Posted in Commentary on May 8, 2014 By Ann Schwing

When is a judgment a judgment for purposes of res judicata or the doctrine of full faith and credit when the judgment is obtained in one court and sought to be enforced in a different court?

Many possible answers come to mind: when the judgment is entered, when the time for appeal has elapsed, during the pendency of an appeal for which no supersedeas bond was provided, when any appeal of the judgment is finished, when the judgment is final in the court that entered it, when the judgment is final in the court in which enforcement is sought.

There may be a State and a circumstance in which every one of these possible answers is the right answer. Continue reading →

Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted in Monday Morning Review on May 4, 2014 By Kira Klatchko

Here are last week’s published decisions involving local governments:

First Circuit

Bellone v. Southwick-Tolland Reg. Sch. Dist., No. 13-1341 (May 2, 2014) (affirming grant of summary judgment for school district in case brought by former employee alleging violations of Family and Medical Leave Act).

Second Circuit

Betts v. Shearman, No. 13-619 (May, 2, 2014) (affirming dismissal of complaint alleging false arrest, false imprisonment, abuse of process, malicious prosecution, and denial of right to fair trial).

Continue reading →

A Supreme Court DIG, and a Lesson About Appellate Jurisdiction

Posted in Case Notes on October 18, 2013 By Kira Klatchko

The first significant case affecting local governments in this new Supreme Court term — Madigan v. Levin — ended poorly. The Court resolved the case with a DIG — the Court dismissed it as improvidently granted.

What went wrong? And what can we learn from it about appellate jurisdiction?

An Important Question

The case had all the hallmarks of a classic Supreme Court case.

The question presented was important. It asked whether when a state or local government employee alleges that his employer has discriminated against him because of his age, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”) provides his exclusive remedy, or whether he may also bring a claim under 42 U.S.C. 1983 because the discrimination violates the Constitution’s Equal-Protection Clause.

The question had divided the lower courts. The Seventh Circuit acknowledged that its holding — that the ADEA does not prevent the employee from bringing a Section 1983 claim — created a deep circuit split.

And it had far-reaching implications. It could literally impact every state and local government.

What Went Wrong?

So why would the Court, after granting cert. and hearing oral argument, suddenly change its mind and toss the case?

Continue reading →