Denial of Juror Questionnaires is Harmless Error

Laches Defense to Trademark Claim Remanded

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 13, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Intellectual Property, Judge Andre M. Davis

Although plaintiff communications company, which registered the Agrinet service mark in 1972 and has used it for radio broadcast of farm news, acknowledges it permitted certain uses of the Agrinet mark in some local markets by predecessors of defendant Clear Channel Inc., the district court erred in granting defendant summary judgment on the ground of [...]

Sentences Vacated in Oxycodone Conspiracy

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 9, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Andre M. Davis

The 4th Circuit says a trial court erred in sentencing a mother and daughter who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute the mother’s prescription oxycodone pills, because the district court did not adequately explain its methodology for calculating drug quantity and make findings that would permit appellate review of the mother’s 120-month sentence and the [...]

Green-Card Check OK During Traffic Stop

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 21, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Andre M. Davis, Search & Seizure

A police officer who questioned a pickup passenger’s alien legal residence card during a routine traffic stop did not violate the passenger’s Fourth Amendment rights when he extended the stop to call the local customs office to check the validity of the passenger’s identification, and the 4th Circuit affirms defendant passenger’s conviction for illegal reentry [...]

Prior Assault Conviction Cannot Be Used To Enhance Sentence

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 2, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Andre M. Davis

In sentencing defendant for possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, a district court could not use an unincorporated “statement of probable cause” to establish a prior assault conviction as a “crime of violence” in order to enhance defendant’s firearm sentence, and the 4th Circuit vacates the 78-month sentence and remands for resentencing. The [...]

Police Search Lacked ‘Reasonable Suspicion’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 17, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Andre M. Davis, Search & Seizure

Police officers responding to an anonymous tip about “shots fired” in a high-crime neighborhood, who saw four young men several blocks from the reported gunfire, did not have reasonable, particularized suspicion to conduct a pat-down of one of the young men who appeared nervous and refused consent to search; the 4th Circuit reverses defendant’s conviction [...]

Arbitration Award on Union Sign-Off Grievance Upheld

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 27, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Andre M. Davis, Labor

In a challenge by a Treasury Department employees’ union to a partial remedy for its grievance alleging the IRS was processing members’ dues revocation forms without a union sign-off that would allow the union to contact members opting out, the 4th Circuit affirms the Federal Labor Relations Authority decision upholding an arbitration award that gave [...]

Rule 68 Offer Silent on Fees, But Fees Awarded

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 22, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Judge Andre M. Davis

A woman who sued defendant deputy after her suicidal husband shot himself when the deputy was trying to take him into custody for a psychiatric examination, can collect $66,463.80 in attorney’s fees and costs, in addition to $30,000 under defendants’ Rule 68 offer of judgment; although defendants’ Rule 68 offer of judgment for $30,000 made [...]

No ‘One Free Lawyer’ Rule for Appointed Counsel

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 2, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Andre M. Davis

Although a defendant charged with racketeering and drug conspiracy feared his lawyer would “sabotage” his defense after they argued over challenging defendant’s prior convictions, and the district court erred in telling defendant “one lawyer is your free limit,” the district court’s denial of new counsel did not render defendant’s guilty plea involuntary, and the 4th [...]

Federal appeals court hears first healthcare law cases

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 10, 2011
Tags: Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Federal Courts, Health Care Bill, Judge Andre M. Davis, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, Judge Henry E. Hudson, Judge James A. Wynn Jr., Judge Norman K. Moon

The legal battle over the federal health care act has made it to the next level. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments May 10 in the first two cases to advance from the trial court level to a federal appeals court, en route to a likely showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court. [...]