Justia U.S. D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Appellee, an employee of the FBI, alleged that FBI officials retaliated against him in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when, by reporting unfounded security concerns to the Bureau's Security Division, they prompted an investigation into his continued eligibility for a security clearance. In the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals' earlier opinion in this case, Rattigan v. Holder, the Court held that although the Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit precedent shields the Security Division's security clearance-related decisions from judicial review, the Title VII claim could nonetheless go forward so long as it challenged only the reporting of Appellee to the Security Division and not the Division's decision to investigate. On rehearing, however, the Court vacated the district court judgment and narrowed the scope of Title VII liability in these circumstances, holding that Appellee's Title VII claim could proceed only if he could show that agency employees acted with a retaliatory or discriminatory motive in reporting or referring information that they knew to be false. Remanded for further proceedings. View "Wilfred v. Holder" on Justia Law

Intercollegiate Broadcasting, Inc. appealed a final determination of the Copyright Royalty Judges (CRJs) setting the default royalty rates and terms applicable to internet-based webcasting of digitally recorded music. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the positions of the CRJs, as currently constituted, violates the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. To remedy that violation, the Court followed the Supreme Court's approach in Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Bd. by invalidating and severing the restrictions on the Librarian of Congress's ability to remove CRJs. The Court concluded that with such removal power in the Librarian's hands, the CRJs are "inferior" rather than "principal" officers, and no constitutional problem remained. Because of the Appointments Clause violation at the time of the decision, the Court vacated and remanded the determination challenged here. View "Intercollegiate Broad. v. Copyright Royalty Bd." on Justia Law

Appellant pled guilty to racketeer influenced corrupt organization conspiracy and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment. Appellant appealed, arguing that his conviction was obtained in violation of Kastigar v. United States, that he received ineffective assistance of counsel, and that the government breached his plea agreement. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals remanded for the district court to consider certain of Appellant's claims of ineffective assistance but denied his appeal in all other respects, holding (1) with respect to the Kastigar hearing, there was nothing deficient about counsel's performance; but (2) as to the other claims of ineffective assistance, the cause should be remanded for factual development, as Appellant raised the claims for the first time on appeal, and the Court could not tell from the record whether he was entitled to relief. View "In re Sealed Case" on Justia Law

In 2005, Chevron Mining, Inc. (CMI) amended its employee bonus plan in response to the decision of the United Mine Workers of America to call "memorial period" work stoppages. The National Labor Relations Board (Board) concluded that the amended was an unfair labor practice. CMI filed a petition for review in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Board filed a cross-application for enforcement. The Ninth Circuit denied CMI's petition for review and granted the Board's cross-application for enforcement, holding (1) the employees' participation in the 2004 memorial days was protected under the National Labor Relations Act (Act); and (2) the Board's finding that CMI's amendment to the bonus plan violated the Act was supported by substantial evidence. View "Chevron Mining Inc. v. NLRB" on Justia Law

Atrium at Princeton owned and operated a nursing home. The National Labor Relations Board (Board) held Atrium committed various unfair labor practices in connection with its negotiations for new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with SEIU 1199 New Jersey Health Care Union. The Board concluded Atrium did not bargain in good faith with the Union because the parties were not at an impasse when Atrium refused to bargain any further. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Atrium's petition for review and granted the Board's cross-application for enforcement, holding that Atrium violated sections 8(a)(1) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act by refusing to meet and to bargain with the Union, refusing to comply with the Union's information requests, and making various unilateral changes to the terms and conditions of employment. View "Atrium of Princeton, LLC v. NLRB" on Justia Law

The Vermont Department of Public Service and the New England Coalition petitioned for review of a decision of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issuing to Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. a renewed license to operate the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station. Petitioners contended the license renewal was unlawful because Entergy failed to furnish a state water quality certification, which they asserted was required under the Clean Water Act. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the petitions for review, concluding that Petitioners failed to exhaust their administrative remedies before the NRC and thereby waived the right to raise their water quality certification objection on judicial review. View "Vt. Dep't of Pub. Servs. v. Nuclear Regulatory Comm'n" on Justia Law

Following the Supreme Court's decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, the EPA promulgated a series of greenhouse gas-related rules: (1) an Endangerment Finding, in which the EPA determined that greenhouse gases may "reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare"; (2) the Tailpipe Rule, which set emission standards for cars and light trucks; and (3) the Timing and Tailoring Rules, in which the EPA determined that only the largest stationary sources would initially be subject to the requirements for major stationary sources of greenhouse gases to obtain construction and operating permits. Petitioners, various states and industry groups, challenged all these rules. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed for lack of jurisdiction all petitions for review of the Timing and Tailoring Rules and denied the remainder of the petitions, holding (1) the Endangerment Finding and Tailpipe Rule are neither arbitrary nor capricious; (2) EPA's interpretation of the governing Clean Air Act provisions is unambiguously correct; and (3) no Petitioner has standing to challenge the Timing and Tailoring Rules. View "Coalition for Responsible Regulation, Inc. v. EPA" on Justia Law

Edwina Bigesby was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for various drug-related offenses, including possession with intent to distribute fifty grams or more of crack cocaine. Bigesby appealed, contending her convictions should be vacated because the trial judge erroneously excluded evidence critical to her defense. Alternatively, Bigesby claimed her sentence should be reduced under the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA), which increased the amount of crack cocaine needed to trigger a ten-year mandatory minimum sentence. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected both arguments and affirmed the judgment below, holding (1) the trial judge did not improperly exclude evidence relevant to Bigesby's defense; and (2) Bigesby was not entitled to re-sentencing under the FSA. View "United States v. Bigesby" on Justia Law

RSM Production Corporation brought a complaint against a law firm and two of its partners ("Freshfields"), alleging that Freshfields, through its representation of the nation of Grenada in international arbitration, conspired to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) in an effort to prevent RSM from obtaining an exclusive license for offshore oil and gas exploration and development in Grenada. The district court ruled that RSM's lawsuit was barred under the doctrine of res judicata because of its prior lawsuit in the Southern District of New York regarding the same licensing effort. On appeal, RSM contended that Freshfields was not in privity with the New York defendants and that RSM was not required to add Freshfields as a party to that litigation on pain of res judicata. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed on the alternative ground that RSM's complaint failed to state a claim of RICO conspiracy against Freshfields. View "RSM Prod. Corp. v. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer U.S. LLP" on Justia Law

This case was a part of a long-running and sprawling international litigation battle in which various indigenous Ecuadorian groups claimed that Chevron Corporation was liable for environmental harm caused in the Amazon over three decades. Patton Boggs LLP represented the plaintiffs and wished to continued to do so. The district court denied Patton Boggs both a declaratory judgment that it could not be disqualified from that representation and leave to amend its complaint with claims that Chevron and its counsel tortiously interfered with the firm's contract with its clients. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court, holding that the court did not abuse its discretion (1) by failing to exercise jurisdiction and take up the request for a declaratory judgment; (2) in denying Patton Boggs' request to amend the complaint; and (3) by dismissing Patton Boggs' new complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. View "Patton Boggs, LLP v. Chevron Corp." on Justia Law