No Showing Plea Would Have Been Accepted

U.S. appeals panel ponders: what is a pirate?

By The Associated Press
Published: May 16, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Federal Courts, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, Judge Henry F. Floyd, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

(AP) — In the violent world of piracy, Mohammad Saaili Shibin was a multilingual negotiator based in lawless Somalia, working his cellphone to negotiate multimillion-dollar ransoms for merchant ships and sailors that dared to venture into pirate-infested international waters off Africa. Does that make him guilty of piracy? The question was the central argument May [...]

Restitution Reversed for Unnamed ‘Victim’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 7, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

The 4th Circuit reverses a sentencing order insofar as it required defendant to pay $685 in restitution for a homeowner’s broken window and homeowner’s deductible, on defendant’s conviction pursuant to a plea agreement to possession of a stolen firearm; the presentence report identified no “victim” of the offense of conviction and the restitution order was [...]

A Super Bowl sob story

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 10, 2013
Tags: Federal Courts, Judge Anthony J. Trenga, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, Real Estate

Here’s how missing the Super Bowl can get your case into federal court. Residents of two NoVa subdivisions chafed under contracts that said they could subscribe to one, and only one, cable provider. The folks in Lansdowne on the Potomac, which had over 2,000 residents, began complaining about the quality of service provided by OpenBand [...]

Past, Former Owners Share CERCLA Costs

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 10, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Environmental, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

In these appeals arising from disputes over liability for hazardous substance cleanup at a former fertilizer manufacturing site in Charleston, S.C., the 4th Circuit affirms a trial court order that holds both the current and former owners responsible for costs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. The westernmost 34 acres of the [...]

HOA Has no Standing to Sue Video Provider

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 10, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

A homeowners’ association did not adequately allege standing to sue a wire-based video services provider on a claim that its contract making it the sole provider to the subdivision violates the FCC Exclusivity Order, but the 4th Circuit says the complaint should have been dismissed without prejudice to allow the HOA to replead. The Federal [...]

Appeals court strikes down Virginia anti-sodomy law

By The Associated Press
Published: March 18, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Federal Courts, Judge Albert Diaz, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, Judge Robert B. King

(AP) The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a Virginia anti-sodomy law that remains on the books a decade after a similar Texas statute was invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 2-1 ruling March 12, a panel of the 4th Circuit declared that Virginia’s law against oral and anal sex violates [...]

Amendment 750 Sentence Reduction Upheld

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

The 4th Circuit upholds reduction of a sentence for a defendant convicted in 1998 of intent to distribute crack cocaine and distribution of powder cocaine, as the district court did not clearly err in holding that it had not originally made a finding that rendered defendant ineligible for the reduction. We review a district court’s [...]

Ex-Husband Can’t Keep ERISA Benefits

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 13, 2013
Tags: Employment, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A man who waived his benefits under his ex-wife’s ERISA retirement and insurance plans in a divorce settlement cannot rely on the preemption doctrine for protection from a state court action by the ex-wife’s parents to enforce the divorce decree in which husband waived his rights; the 4th Circuit says ERISA does not preempt post-distribution [...]

Church Says Zoning Violates RLUIPA

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 6, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, Real Estate

The 4th Circuit reverses summary judgment for Montgomery County, Md., in a megachurch’s challenge to zoning regulations that prevented the church from building a new facility in an area zoned as “rural density transfer zone”; the church says the county’s actions violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. Bethel World Outreach Ministries’ principal [...]