Diversity Depends on Company’s ‘Nerve Center’

OB-GYN Expert Works Against Va. Nurse

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 14, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge James A. Wynn Jr., Medical Malpractice

Although an OB-GYN did not have an active practice in nursing, he performed postpartum monitoring of high-risk patients with preeclampsia and could testify as an expert in a med-mal suit alleging a nurse’s failure to monitor plaintiff led to her stroke and permanent brain damage, and the 4th Circuit upholds the $900,000 judgment for plaintiff. [...]

Local Carrier Has No Standing for Telecom Suit

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 14, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative, Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

The 4th Circuit upholds dismissal of a suit filed by a billing agent for local telecommunications carriers against BellSouth, the incumbent local exchange carrier, as plaintiff billing agent does not have statutory standing to bring this suit. In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress attempted to deregulate all aspects of U.S. telecommunications markets, especially local [...]

China Should Hear Melamine-Tainted Milk Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: September 12, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

Chinese citizens and residents who allege injury from melamine-contaminated infant formula may not sue a Chinese subsidiary of a company incorporated in Maryland in a Maryland federal court; the 4th Circuit says China is an available, adequate and more convenient forum to redress the plaintiffs’ grievances, and it affirms the district court’s dismissal on forum [...]

Court Can’t Hear Deportation Challenge

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 6, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Immigration, Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

A Mexican citizen and lawful permanent resident loses his challenge to an order that he be deported because of his convictions for domestic violence; the 4th Circuit lacks jurisdiction to hear his appeal from a denial of his request to stay because he raises no constitutional claims or questions of law. Petitioner Reynaldo Sorcia, a [...]

No Habeas Relief on ‘Ineffective Assistance’ Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 8, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

The 4th Circuit upholds denial of habeas relief for a North Carolina defendant sentenced to death for his role in the fatal stabbing of a husband and wife who owned a mobile home park where a co-defendant had lived; none of the multiple allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel by the lawyer who represented defendant [...]

Good-Faith Exception Does Not Save Child Porn Conviction

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 2, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge James A. Wynn Jr., Search & Seizure

The 4th Circuit reverses defendant’s child pornography conviction because evidence seized pursuant to a deficient search warrant should not have come in under the Leon good-faith exception; information provided to the local magistrate did not show when defendant allegedly possessed pictures of nude children and whether the alleged pictures were in fact child pornography under [...]

ERISA Insurance Benefits Denied, But Premiums Refunded

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 17, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Employment, Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

A bank employee who paid for life insurance for her daughter through her employee benefit plan, but who was denied insurance benefits when her 25-year-old daughter died, is not entitled to the insurance proceeds as “equitable relief” for the insurance carrier’s breach of fiduciary duty after the daughter was no longer eligible for the insurance; [...]

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. [...]

Energy Company Can’t Overturn Attorney’s Fee Award

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 20, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Attorneys, Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

The 4th Circuit refuses to overturn an award of attorney’s fees to plaintiff environmental groups on defendant energy company’s claim that a fee award was not justified for the district court order that forced the energy company to submit to administrative evaluations by the North Carolina state regulators who administer the Clean Air Act In [...]