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Prisons – First Step Act – Credit
Where an appellant filed a petition for habeas relief claiming that the Bureau of Prisons violated the First Step Act of 2018 when it refused to award him credit for work he performed while housed at a county jail during the 15 months between his first sentencing and his transfer to a federal facility, the entire 15-month period the appellant spent at the county jail should have been considered by[...]
Habeas corpus – Speedy trial
Where a petitioner was convicted of first-degree murder by a Massachusetts jury, he is not entitled to habeas relief despite claiming a violation of his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial.
Criminal – Sentencing – Mitigating role
Where a defendant has challenged the denial of a three-level role reduction in her sentencing range, the sentencing court failed to perform the correct mitigating role analysis, so a remand for resentencing must be ordered.
Administrative – Grants – NIH
Where a U.S. District Court judge decided to vacate in its entirety a "Supplemental Guidance" issued by the National Institutes of Health, that decision should be affirmed because NIH’s attempt to impose a 15 percent indirect cost reimbursement rate cap violates a congressionally enacted appropriations rider and the duly adopted regulations of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Trump administration cannot slash NIH research funding, 1st Circuit rules
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Jan. 5 ruled that President Donald Trump's administration cannot carry out steep cuts to federal grant funding provided by the National Institutes of Health to universities engaged in scientific and medical research.
Criminal – Extortion
Where a defendant was found guilty of attempting to extort a Puerto Rico government official, the defendant should be denied relief on appeal despite his assertion that the evidence was insufficient to support any of the three counts on which he was convicted, the government violated his due process rights by suborning perjury from witnesses, the trial evidence materially varied from the allegatio[...]
Civil rights – Wyatt Detention Facility – 42 U.S.C. §1983
Where a plaintiff filed a 42 U.S.C. §1983 complaint alleging that he suffered violations of his rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments while confined at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility awaiting resentencing on federal charges, a U.S. District Court judge’s decision to dismiss the complaint must be reversed because the complaint plausibly alleges action under color of state law.
Arbitration – Jurisdiction
Where a plaintiff applied for confirmation of an arbitration award pursuant to Section 9 of the Federal Arbitration Act, the application should be dismissed, without prejudice, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
Immigration – Hardship
Where a petitioner applied for cancellation of removal, a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals to affirm an immigration judge’s denial of the application should be upheld because the BIA did not disregard key record evidence in its review for clear error of the IJ's findings of fact, nor has the petitioner carried his burden to establish hardship to his son that is exceptional or extreme[...]
Employment – First Amendment – Retaliation
Where a police officer brought suit contending that he was unconstitutionally disciplined in retaliation for a post about George Floyd on his personal Facebook account, a grant of summary judgment in favor of the police department should be affirmed because the department’s interest in regulating the officer's speech outweighs his free speech interests in the balancing test set forth in Pickerin[...]
Search and seizure – Vertical collective knowledge doctrine
Where (1) a Connecticut state trooper stopped the defendant’s vehicle at the request of the Drug Enforcement Administration and (2) the defendant moved to suppress evidence found during a warrantless search of the vehicle, a judge’s decision to deny that motion should be upheld because the DEA agents’ imputed knowledge provided an adequate basis to search the vehicle.
Administrative – Preemption – Puerto Rico regulation
Where a regulatory provision was promulgated by the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture (PRDA) requiring a PRDA inspector to be present when a shipping container transporting poultry meat is opened and unloaded, that provision is expressly preempted by the Poultry Products Inspection Act.
Verdicts & Settlements
- Injury during baby’s adenoidectomy leads to stroke
- Construction worker’s hand caught in cement mixer
- Worker trapped in freezer, dies during steam cleaning
- Pedestrian, 69, hit by motor vehicle while in crosswalk
- Four-vehicle pileup leaves driver with spinal cord injury
- Nursing home staff blamed for kidney-failure death
- Pharmacy’s late delivery blamed for patient’s death
- Man, 25, drowns after swimming lesson at fitness club
Opinion Digests
- Jurisdiction – Forum selection clause – Non-signatory
- Criminal – Responsibility
- Attorneys – Lien
- Landlord and tenant – Default judgment
- Zoning – Constructive grant – Comprehensive permit
- Fraud – False Claims Act – Settlement share
- Civil practice – Discovery – Cybersecurity
