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

26 U.S.C. 7623(b)(4) does not contain a "clear statement" that timely filing is a jurisdictional prerequisite to the tax court's hearing the whistleblower's case. In this case, the Irwin presumption has not been rebutted and the filing period in section 7623(b)(4) is subject to equitable tolling.After the IRS denied appellant's application for a whistleblower award, he sought relief from the tax court. The tax court found that his petition was untimely and dismissed it for lack of jurisdiction. Determining that it had jurisdiction, the DC Circuit reversed and remanded for further proceedings because, although the petition was untimely, the filing period was not jurisdictional and was subject to equitable tolling. View "Myers v. Commissioner" on Justia Law

The DC Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment for the Architect with respect to plaintiff's discrimination claims, holding that there was sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to infer that the 2014 and 2015 decision not to select plaintiff as Branch Chief was motivated by bias.The court affirmed the district court's grant of of summary judgment with respect to plaintiff's retaliation claims, holding that plaintiff failed to introduce anything beyond his weak evidence of temporal proximity to show that the Architect's decisions were motivated by a desire to retaliate against him. Furthermore, even if it were to adopt plaintiff's interpretation of the relevant dates and find that he has established a prima facie case for retaliation using evidence of temporal proximity, there would still be insufficient evidence to defeat summary judgment. View "Iyoha v. Architect of the Capitol" on Justia Law

The DC Circuit denied the petition for review of OSHA's citation to Griffin for violating workplace safety standards designed to prevent electric shock. The court held that substantial evidence supported the ALJ's determination that Griffin violated two safety standards under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970; a Griffin supervisor's carelessness was foreseeable to other supervisors and he had both actual and constructive knowledge of the violations; and the ALJ reasonably rejected Griffin's unpreventable employee misconduct defense. Therefore, the Commission's order was not arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. View "Wayne J. Griffin Electric, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor" on Justia Law

EPIC filed suit seeking to enjoin the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. EPIC alleged that, before the Department's announcement of the citizenship question, its members were entitled to a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) by law.The DC Circuit remanded to the district court to dismiss the case, because EPIC lacked standing. The court held that EPIC's assertion of organizational standing was plainly foreclosed by precedent, and its assertion of associational standing also failed, because it has not identified a concrete injury suffered by one of its members. View "Electronic Privacy Information Center v. US Department of Commerce" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against the the Acting Architect of the Capitol (AOC), in her official capacity, alleging that the selecting officials at the AOC denied him a promotion on the basis of his race and national origin in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.The DC Circuit vacated the district court's grant of summary judgment to the AOC, holding that a jury reasonably could find the panelists did not select plaintiff for promotion because of his race or national origin. Because plaintiff argued his case as a single-motive claim and at oral argument forfeited any potential mixed-motive claim he could have made, he bears the burden of showing the alleged animus was a but-for cause of the decision not to promote him. Therefore, the court remanded for trial where plaintiff will bear the typical burden in this single-motive case to establish that he would have been selected for the promotion but for the alleged improper motive. View "Mayorga v. Merdon" on Justia Law

Plaintiff appealed the district court's stay of proceedings in its federal complaint. The district court applied the Colorado River doctrine to grant the stay. The DC Circuit held that none of the Colorado River factors -- avoiding piecemeal litigation, which court first obtained jurisdiction over the case, and whether federal or state law controls -- alone or in combination, provide the "exceptional circumstances" required to suspend a federal court's "virtually unflagging obligation" to exercise its jurisdiction. Accordingly, the court reversed the order granting the motion to stay the federal proceedings. View "Edge Investment, LLC v. District of Columbia" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit alleging that the retroactive application of the 2000 parole guidelines, rather than the 1987 guidelines in effect at the time of his offense, in his parole hearings violated the Ex Post Facto Clause and the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause.The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal in favor of defendants, holding that plaintiff's claim for damages failed because the parole officials named as defendants were entitled to qualified immunity. The court also held that the parole commission did not violate plaintiff's due process rights where, even assuming the evidence supporting plaintiff's guilt of the first rape was insufficient to support the denial of parole, it was undisputed that the second rape—his offense of conviction—occurred while he was out on bond. The court held that this alone sufficed to suggest a risk of recidivism and to support a rational determination that his relatively low guidelines range inadequately accounted for the risk he posed. Finally, the court held that the district court properly dismissed plaintiff's Fourth Amendment claim that the arrest warrant was unsupported by probable cause. View "Johnson v. District of Columbia" on Justia Law

Because the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 contains a citation to nowhere, the EPA issued a document setting forth its interpretation of the periodic-review provision of renewable fuel requirements and explaining why it believes it has complied. Valero petitioned for review of the EPA's document. The DC Circuit dismissed Valero's petition based on lack of jurisdiction, because the EPA document did not constitute final agency action. View "Valero Energy Corp. v. EPA" on Justia Law

The union petitioned for review of the Authority's decision that the union's unfair labor practice charge was untimely. The DC Circuit held that the charge was timely and therefore granted the union's petition for review in part. In this case, the Authority's finding that the Agency had openly refused to make certain changes as of 2010 was not supported by substantial evidence.However, the court denied the petition insofar as it asked the court to retain jurisdiction. The court held that retaining jurisdiction was unwarranted because it was up to the Authority to consider in the first instance the Agency's exceptions to the ALJ's holding that the Agency had committed an unfair labor practice. View "Federal Education Association v. Federal Labor Relations Authority" on Justia Law

These consolidated appeals stemmed from the cyberattack of multiple OPM databases that resulted in the data breach of sensitive personal information from more than 21 million people. Plaintiffs alleged that OPM's cybersecurity practices were inadequate, enabling the hackers to gain access to the agency's database of employee information, in turn exposing plaintiffs to heightened risks of identity theft and other injuries. The district court dismissed the complaints based on lack of Article III standing and failure to state a claim.The DC Circuit held that both sets of plaintiffs have alleged facts sufficient to satisfy Article III standing requirements; the Arnold Plaintiffs have stated a claim for damages under the Privacy Act, and have unlocked OPM's waiver of sovereign immunity, by alleging OPM's knowing refusal to establish appropriate information security safeguards; KeyPoint was not entitled to derivative sovereign immunity because it has not shown that its alleged security faults were directed by the government, and it is alleged to have violated the Privacy Act standards incorporated into its contract with OPM; and, assuming a constitutional right to informational privacy, NTEU Plaintiffs have not alleged any violation of such a right. Accordingly, the court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings. View "In re: U.S. Office of Personnel Management Data Security Breach Litigation" on Justia Law