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

Petitioner sought review of PowerPoint presentations that the FMCSA posted on its website on May 16, 2012. Petitioners claimed that the presentations represented an "astonishing" change in agency policy, which the agency failed to subject to notice-and-comment rulemaking as required by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. 500 et seq. The court concluded that the presentations did nothing more than explain the agency's Safety Measurement System, which was announced and implemented in 2010. The court dismissed the petition as untimely because, under the Hobbs Act, 28 U.S.C. 2344, challenges to agency rules, regulations, or final orders must be brought within 60 days of their issuance. View "Alliance for Safe, Efficient and Competitive Truck Transp., et al. v. FMCSA, et al." on Justia Law

A member of the British House of Commons, an informal British parliamentary caucus, and an American lawyer representing both all filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, request seeking various records from the CIA and other intelligence agencies. The district court dismissed their suit to compel disclosure, agreeing with the agencies that the requesters all qualified as "representatives" of the British government. The court concluded that FOIA requesters who have authority to file requests on behalf of foreign government entities are "representatives" of such entities when they file requests of the sort they have authority to file. Since the intelligence agencies conceded that under this theory these three requesters fall outside the Foreign Government Entity Exception, the exception posed no barrier to the FOIA requests at issue. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded.View "All Party Parliamentry Group, et al. v. Dept. of Defense, et al." on Justia Law

This appeal arose out of a contract dispute between 3D and MVM. On appeal, 3D argued that the district court had discretion to award prejudgment interest under Virginia law. As an initial matter, the court accepted, without deciding, the parties' assertion that abuse of discretion is the appropriate standard of review. Applying that standard, the court concluded that 3D's argument that the district court had discretion to award prejudgment interest in this instance failed as a matter of law; there was no abuse of discretion in the district court's decision to change its earlier ruling after it had a more fulsome opportunity to consider the relevant Virginia law; and the district court did not err in concluding that the parties did not reach an agreement to submit the issue of prejudgment interest to the court. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.View "3D Global Solutions, Inc. v. MVM, Inc." on Justia Law

Congress prohibited Bell Operating Companies from subsidizing their own payphones or charging discriminatory rates to competitor payphone providers. At issue were the remedies available for violations of that prohibition. Specifically, whether independent payphone providers who were charged excessive rates by Bell Operating Companies were entitled to refunds or instead were entitled only to prospective relief in the form of lower rates. The court concluded that Congress granted discretion to the FCC to determine whether refunds would be required in those circumstances and that the Commission reasonably exercised that discretion here. The court denied the petitions in part and dismissed the remainder for lack of jurisdiction. View "Illinois Public Telecommunications v. FCC, et al." on Justia Law

Defendants Bondo and Fahnbulleh appealed their convictions and sentences on several counts of fraud in connection with their work on a humanitarian aid program in Africa funded by an agency of the United States government. The court concluded that defendants were not denied a speedy trial where the district court did not clearly err in granting the 18 U.S.C. 3161(h)(8) delay periods; there was no error in regards to subject matter jurisdiction and venue; the district court did not err by admitting two government exhibits into evidence; the district court did not err in denying a motion by Bondo for a mistrial where the improper remarks by the prosecutor did not prejudice defendants; and the district court properly calculated defendants' sentencing guidelines range. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.View "United States v. Fahnbulleh" on Justia Law

Petitioners challenged the EPA's issuance of a memorandum entitled, "Next Steps for Pending Redesignation Requests and State Implementation Plan Actions Affected by the Recent Court Decision Vacating the 2011 Cross-State Air Pollution Rule." The court dismissed the petition for review because petitioners failed to show that they suffered injury that is imminent or certain as a result of the Memorandum. Accordingly, the court lacked jurisdiction to consider petitioners' challenges.View "Sierra Club, et al. v. EPA, et al." on Justia Law

In August 2011, the Department updated the special procedures that establish the minimum wages and working conditions employers must offer U.S. sheepherders, goatherders, and open-range (cattle) herders before hiring foreign herders. Plaintiffs, U.S. workers experienced in herding claimed that the Department administers the temporary worker visa program in a way that gives herding operations access to inexpensive foreign labor without protecting U.S. workers. The court concluded that the district court erred in holding that plaintiffs lacked both Article III and prudential standing to bring this action where plaintiffs were injured by the Department's promulgation of the Training and Employment Guidance Letters (TEGLs) and fell within the zone of interests protected by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, 8 U.S.C. 1188(a)(1). On the merits, the court concluded that plaintiffs were entitled to entry of summary judgment in their favor where the Department violated the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553, by promulgating TEGLs without providing public notice and an opportunity for comment. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded.View "Mendoza, et al. v. Harris, et al." on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against Facebook and its founder, alleging that their delay in removing a page entitled "Third Palestinian Intifada," and related pages, which called for Muslims to rise up and kill the Jewish people, constituted intentional assault and negligence. The court affirmed the district court's holding that the Communications Decency Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. 230, shielded Facebook and its founder from suit where Facebook qualified as an interactive computer service; the complaint acknowledges that the objected-to information was provided by third party users, not Facebook itself; and the complaint seeks to hold Facebook liable as the "publisher or speaker" of that information.View "Klayman v. Zuckerberg, et al." on Justia Law

The Board of County Commissioners of Kay County appealed the district court's dismissal of its complaint seeking a declaratory judgment that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with the FHFA as their conservator, violated state law by failing to pay Oklahoma's documentary stamp tax (the Transfer Tax). The court held that 12 U.S.C. 1452(e), 1723a(c)(2), 4617(j)(1)-(2) exempt the entities from all state and local taxation, including Oklahoma's Transfer Tax, and that the Transfer Tax did not constitute a tax on real property such that it fell into the real property exceptions from the exemptions. The court also held that Kay County has forfeited its argument that the exemptions represent an invalid exercise of the Commerce power. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.View "Bd. of Cty. Comm'rs v. FHFA, et al." on Justia Law

These consolidated petitions concerned proposed alternatives to security procedures mandated by the TSA. Amerijet requested alternative cargo screening procedures at various foreign airports it services and the TSA largely denied these requests. Amerijet petitioned for review, arguing that TSA's denials failed for want of reasoned decisionmaking and that TSA's actions violated Amerijet's right to equal protection of the law. The court concluded that, even under a highly deferential standard of review, TSA's denials were arbitrary and capricious as to most of Amerijet's requests where TSA failed to adequately explain most of its denials. Because the court had no meaningful basis to evaluate TSA's decisionmaking, the court remanded, excluding two issues. Accordingly, Amerijet's equal protection claim is unripe and the court dismissed the claim without prejudice.View "Amerijet Int'l, Inc. v. Pistole" on Justia Law