4th U.S. Circuit Court Of Appeals | Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Prison Must Justify Beard Policy

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 16, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Rights, Judge William B. Traxler Jr.

Virginia prison officials failed to show how allowing a Sunni Muslim inmate to wear a one-eighth-inch beard would implicate prison health or security concerns, and the 4th Circuit vacates summary judgment for defendant officials in the inmate’s suit under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
We find that the prison policy of not allowing [...]

Consent Involuntary When Exit Blocked

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 16, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, Search & Seizure

Police in a high-crime area who followed a car with four African-American occupants and out-of-state tags onto private property and blocked the car’s exit, then questioned the driver and asked him to lift his shirt and consent to a pat-down, violated the driver’s Fourth Amendment rights, and the 4th Circuit reverses the district court’s refusal [...]

‘Abu Ghraib’ Appeals Dismissed

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 16, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Robert B. King, Tort

On rehearing en banc, the 4th Circuit says it has no jurisdiction to consider appeals by Iraqis who were detained and tortured at Abu Ghraib military prison and elsewhere and whose tort claims against defendant government contractors were partly dismissed by federal courts.
Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the U.S. military took control of Abu [...]

Burden Shifted to School Board

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 15, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Rights, Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

Parents’ groups that oppose a county school board’s 2011-2012 student assignment plan win their appeal in the 4th Circuit, which says the district court erred by failing to apply, and requiring the school board to rebut, a presumption that racial disparities in the assignment plan resulted from the school board’s prior unconstitutional operation of a [...]

N.C. Road Project Violates NEPA

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 15, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Environmental, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

The 4th Circuit vacates summary judgment for state and federal highway agencies in North Carolina that approved construction of the “Monroe Connector Bypass,” a new 20-mile toll road linking Mecklenburg and Union Counties; the agencies violated the National Environmental Protection Act by failing to disclose “critical assumptions” underlying project approval and by providing the public [...]

‘Notice’ Works for TILA Rescission Right

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 15, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Consumer Protection, Judge Henry F. Floyd

A homeowner may exercise a right to rescind a mortgage transaction under the Truth in Lending Act by notifying the creditor within the three-year period; the owner is not required to file a lawsuit within the three-year window to exercise the rescission right, and the 4th Circuit reverses a contrary district court decision on a [...]

‘Protective Sweep’ Gun is Admissible

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 15, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Dennis W. Shedd, Search & Seizure

Police responding to four quick 911 “domestic” calls relating to a couple they knew did not exceed defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights when, after arresting defendant and making a protective sweep to locate defendant’s 14-year-old autistic brother, they asked the brother where the reported gun was and he pointed to a rifle in a gun rack; [...]

Denial of DME Coverage Upheld

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 8, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

The 4th Circuit upholds the Secretary of Health and Human Services’ denial of Medicare Part B coverage for the BIO-1000, a device to treat osteoarthritis of the knee, rejecting the claims of the manufacturer’s bankruptcy trustee that the Secretary improperly used the adjudicative process to develop a policy denying coverage and her decisions were arbitrary [...]

Gang Expert Testimony OK’d

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 2, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Allyson K. Duncan

A defendant who served as “first word” for a local “clique” of the transnational gang La Mara Salvatrucha cannot overturn his murder and racketeering-related convictions for the murder of a woman who had contacts with rival gang members; the 4th Circuit approves the use of testimony from a police expert on gangs as an element [...]

No Qualified Immunity for Bail Bondsman

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 2, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Rights, Judge Albert Diaz

A bail bondsman pursuing a fugitive in his home neighborhood must pay $100,000 to a disabled woman whose home the bondsman surveilled and searched; the 4th Circuit says the bail bondsman is not entitled to qualified immunity from the woman’s § 1983 claim and the district court did not err in submitting the immunity issue [...]

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