9th Circuit Court of Appeals (43 summaries)
United States v. Huitron-Rocha
A state statute is “divisible” under Descamps v. United States when that statute includes a listing of other controlled substances and the statute is indicative that the controlled substance constitutes an essential element of the crime.
Area(s) of Law:- Criminal Law
Vathana v. EverBank
No private right of action exists in order to enforce the provisions of the Truth in Savings Act.
Area(s) of Law:- Civil Procedure
United States v. Hernandez
A state statute is deemed to be a "categorical match” whereby allowing federal courts to impose sentencing enhancements upon a state conviction only if the state statute details the same or less amounts of conduct as the comparable federal statute.
Area(s) of Law:- Sentencing
PRMA v. County of Alameda
A County Ordinance does not violate the dormant Commerce Clause if the Ordinance caused no discrimination towards interstate commerce, the Ordinance’s effect was limited to only the boundaries of the county, and that the burden of the ordinance is not outweighed by the local benefits of the program.
Area(s) of Law:- Constitutional Law
Chemehuevi Indian Tribe v. Jewell
Under the Indian Nonintercourse Act, even though a tribe would still hold title to the land, an assignment of a deed that grants control similar to that of fee simple ownership requires Congress’s approval.
Area(s) of Law:- Indian Law
United States v. FRC
Even though a settlement under CERCLA may cause another primarily responsible party to become disproportionately liable, a court will not be found to have abused its discretion in not conducting a comparative fault analysis.
Area(s) of Law:- Environmental Law
United States v. Hardrick
Prior acts evidence intended to show knowledge of the defendant doesn’t need to be similar to the charged act, so long as the prior act was an act that would tend to make the fact that the defendant actually had knowledge more probable than not.
Area(s) of Law:- Evidence
ASARCO v. Union Pacific
An otherwise time barred claim in an amended pleading shall be found timely if the claim is able to relate back to an original pleading and the amended pleading came about from “the conduct, transaction or occurrence” as raised in the original pleading.
Area(s) of Law:- Civil Procedure
Murphy v. Sloan
In deciding whether to return a child under the International Child Abduction Remedies Act the court will look to the last held mutual intent on where the child’s habitual residence will be, as well as whether the child’s attachment to the two countries has shifted to the point that returning the child would result in removal from a developed social and family life.
Area(s) of Law:- Family Law
Nguyen v. Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Contract Law: Unless there is evidence that a user of a website obtained actual knowledge of the Terms of Use via the use of the website, the validity of notice provided by a browsewrap agreement is based on whether the use of the website would put a “reasonably prudent user” on notice, where sufficiency of notice will depend on the content and design of the website.
Area(s) of Law:- Contract Law
Van Asdale v. Int’l Game Tech.
The postjudgment interest rate to be applied on an award of back wages as a result of a whistleblower case arising under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is to be the same rate as applied to all civil cases that arise in federal district court.
Area(s) of Law:- Employment Law
United States v. Hernandez-Arias
The Ninth Circuit in amending its previous decision in this case, 745 F.3d 1275, allows for the adjustment of an alien to the status of a lawful temporary resident.
Area(s) of Law:- Immigration
Daubert v. Lindsay USD
The Americans with Disabilities Act does not require school districts holding events at a facility constructed prior to the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act to offer access to specific areas of the facility because it is not a normal function of a government entity to provide a particular social experience of watching a football game from the bleachers.
Area(s) of Law:- Disability Law
Van Der Hule v. Holder
Even though a felon has had some rights restored following completion of a felony sentence, further federal restriction on the right to purchase and possess a firearm is permitted unless those restored rights grant the convicted person full rights equal to a person never convicted of a felony.
Area(s) of Law:- Constitutional Law
In Re: Icenhower
Even after a notice of appeal has been filed, a bankruptcy court typically does not have the ability to alter or expand a judgment, although, the bankruptcy court retains jurisdiction to oversee any ordered course of conduct by parties to an action.
Area(s) of Law:- Bankruptcy Law
Ramona Equip Rental v. Carolina Cas. Ins. Co.
In an action brought under the Miller Act regarding an open book account for the same government project, any ninety day notice of a claim will be considered timely to all deliveries made on the account so long as the notice is given within ninety days of the last delivery.
Area(s) of Law:- Civil Procedure
ReadyLink Healthcare v. SCIF
Abstention in civil cases is proper when state proceedings: (1) are ongoing; (2) either involve a state’s interest in enforcing orders or judgments of its courts or are quasi-criminal actions; (3) are of an important state interest; and, (4) permit involved parties to bring federal challenges.
Area(s) of Law:- Civil Procedure
Wilcox v. Arpaio
When determining if two parties created an enforceable agreement, resulting in the settling of both federal and state law claims through the use of the same evidence for both sets of claims, federal mediation law is to be applied.
Area(s) of Law:- Alternative Dispute Resolution
United Nat’l Maint. v. San Diego Convention Ctr.
Under California law even though a party has an economic interest in a contractual relationship, that party can still be found liable for any intentional interference with that contract.
Area(s) of Law:- Tort Law
Horne v. USDA
USDA’s action of imposing a raisin marketing order diverting a percentage of raisins from raisin handlers does not violate the Takings Clause because the requirement to divert raisins in order to maintain market conditions is “roughly proportional to the specific interest” that the USDA is attempting to protect.
Area(s) of Law:- Property Law
United States v. Thum
In order for a defendant to have encouraged or induced an illegal alien to reside in the US in violation of 8 USC § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv), the defendant must expel some effort to actually convince the illegal alien to remain in the United States, or to actually assist in the alien’s ability to remain living in the United States indefinitely.
Area(s) of Law:- Criminal Law
Gordon v. Deloitte & Touchie
The statute of limitations period cannot be reopened after an insurance company decided to reopen a claim because doing so would discourage any future decisions by insurance companies to reopen a claim even when the decision to do so may be warranted.
Area(s) of Law:- Insurance Law
Organized Village of Kake v. USDA
Regardless of an existing agency rule or decision, an agency is not stopped from changing that rule or decision, nor does the agency face a higher burden to do so under the Administrative Procedure Act.
Area(s) of Law:- Administrative Law
Jackson v. City & Cnty. of San Francisco
When governmental action does not create a substantial burden on Second Amendment rights, intermediate scrutiny may be applied in determining the constitutionality of regulations that limit the sale of hollow-point ammunition and requiring safe storage of firearms when not being carried on the person.
Area(s) of Law:- Constitutional Law
Clabourne v. Ryan
When a district court has ruled on a petitioner’s default of a claim prior to the announcement of Martinez v. Ryan, and the result of that claim would otherwise be uncertain, appellate courts should otherwise remand the case for additional review.
Area(s) of Law:- Habeas Corpus
Sheehan v. City & Cnty. of San Francisco
Under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, summary judgment should not be granted when a genuine issue of material fact exists in whether a state’s actors were objectively reasonable in forcing a confrontation with a known emotional and mentally ill person.
Area(s) of Law:- Civil Rights § 1983
Greater L.A. Agency on Deafness v. CNN
For a defendant to successfully move for dismissal under California’s anti-SLAPP statute, the targeted conduct needs to be protected by the defendant’s free speech rights, and then the plaintiff must not have established a probability of prevailing on the merits of their claim.
Area(s) of Law:- Civil Procedure
Dickens v. Ryan
When otherwise procedurally defaulted from raising a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, a petitioner may otherwise succeed if he can show cause and prejudice by establishing that the claim is substantial, in the initial PCR hearing they were either not represented or had ineffective assistance of counsel, a state PCR hearing was their initial review proceeding, and state law required them to bring the claim in their initial review.
Area(s) of Law:- Habeas Corpus
United States v. Mondragon
When a defendant either consents to or moves for a mistrial, the applicability of the Double Jeopardy Clause hinges on whether the alleged misconduct was an attempt preclude the empaneled jury from eventually reaching a verdict.
Area(s) of Law:- Criminal Procedure
Mondragon v. Capital One
Under the Class Action Fairness Act, in order to support a finding that two-thirds of plaintiff class members are actually local state citizens there needs to be actual facts; however, an inference in determining citizenship of a prospective plaintiff class may be adequate so long as the definition of the class limits the class to the state in question.
Area(s) of Law:- Civil Procedure
Visendi v. Bank of America
A multi-plaintiff lawsuit is subject to removal to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act, and the federal court will retain jurisdiction even if the plaintiffs are misjoined.
Area(s) of Law:- Civil Procedure
United States v. Gomez
An alien defendant's due process rights will be violated when undergoing a stipulated removal proceeding if the alien defendant’s waiver to their right of appeal is found to be invalid when that waiver is not voluntary, knowing and intelligent.
Area(s) of Law:- Criminal Procedure
McMaster v. United States
In order to withstand a motion for summary judgment when bringing a complaint under the Quiet Title Act a plaintiff needs to detail the scope of their right, title or interest the they are claiming in the real property, the circumstances of how it was obtained, and the right, title, or interest being claimed by the United States.
Area(s) of Law:- Property Law
Gonzalez v. City of Maywood
In a civil rights case it is not unreasonable for the prevailing party to receive attorney’s fees greater than the amount awarded to the client, and when making a reduction in attorney’s fees awards, courts must use the prevailing market rate and provide a clear explanation for any reduction greater than 10% in the amount awarded compared to what was claimed.
Area(s) of Law:- Attorney Fees
In Re: Application for Exemption
Appellate courts lack the jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 to review decisions dealing with the collection of user fees for the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system because the decision is an administrative action that is issued outside of the litigative function and is not of a judicial character.
Area(s) of Law:- Appellate Procedure
Griffin v. Harrington
A defense counsel’s failure to take an action that deprives the defendant of the sole opportunity to make inadmissible the prosecution’s only direct evidence connecting the defendant to the crime does not amount to acceptable tactical error and constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel.
Area(s) of Law:- Habeas Corpus
Schwirse v. Director, OWCP
Under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, an injury that is ”occasioned solely by” intoxication means that the legal cause of the injury was the intoxication, regardless of where the intoxicated person fell.
Area(s) of Law:- Employment Law
Logan v. U.S. Bank
Under the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009, there is no private right of action, and the regulation of eviction proceedings “does not implicate an important state interest.”
Area(s) of Law:- Civil Procedure
Watkins v. Vital Pharmaceuticals
An undisputed declaration showing that the total amount of sales exceeds $5 million is sufficient to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the Class Action Fairness Act’s amount in controversy requirement has been met.
Area(s) of Law:- Civil Procedure
United States v. Gonzalez-Aguilar
The defendant bears the burden of showing that there is a “reasonable probability” that an imposed sentence would have been less had the government not breached the plea agreement.
Area(s) of Law:- Sentencing
Center for Food Safety v. Vilsack
The United States Department of Agriculture’s deregulation of Roundup Ready Alfalfa (“RRA”) was proper because the agency was correct in determining that RRA was not a “plant pest” under the Plant Protection Act, and therefore was not required to consult the Fish and Wildlife Service regarding RRA’s effects on endangered and threatened species.
Area(s) of Law:- Administrative Law
Jamerson v. Runnels
In order to overrule the trial court's determination on the credibility of racially discriminatory preemptory challenges, there must be sufficient evidence that the trial court erred.
Area(s) of Law:- Habeas Corpus
United States of America v. Yuman-Hernandez
In the context of a “fictitious stash house robbery,” in order to establish sentencing entrapment a defendant only needs to show either a lack of intent or a lack of capability.
Area(s) of Law:- Sentencing