Agency Pesticide Opinion ‘Arbitrary,’ Court Says

CWA Permit Upheld for Mine Company

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 21, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Environmental, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

The 4th Circuit affirms issuance of a water quality permit under the Clean Water Act to Highland Mining Company, on the basis that a proposed surface coal mine adjacent to a stream in Logan County would not damage water quality or violate water quality standards. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection issued a permit [...]

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 [...]

No Jurisdiction from Internet Pharmacy Sales

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 7, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

Defendant foreign banks cannot be sued in a Virginia federal district court for an alleged global cyber-crime conspiracy to collect funds from the sale of illegal counterfeit prescription drugs over the Internet to American consumers; the 4th Circuit affirms dismissal of this suit for injunctive relief for lack of personal jurisdiction over the foreign banks. [...]

State Gets Hearing Before Federal Fund Cut-Off

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 3, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

The 4th Circuit has jurisdiction to hear a state’s challenge to a the federal Department of Education’s refusal to waive the entire amount of money the state owed for failing to match federal special education funds with state funding; the State of South Carolina is entitled to notice and a hearing before the federal agency [...]

Court Won’t Review Security Clearance Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 3, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

An employee of a federal intelligence agency who alleges he lost his top-secret security clearance and his job after he married a Muslim woman cannot sue the agency for violation of his constitutional rights, reinstatement and back pay; the 4th Circuit says plaintiff was merely restating “speculative and conclusory” allegations of constitutional violations which the [...]

Court Can’t Review Beach Protection Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 22, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Environmental, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

A district court did not err in dismissing a North Carolina coastal town’s suit seeking to enforce the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ alleged commitments to protect adjacent beaches during a project to widen portions of the Cape Fear River navigation channel, and the 4th Circuit affirms dismissal of the suit. The Village of Bald [...]

One Signature OK to Remove Case to Federal Court

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 22, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

Defendant school board’s removal to federal court of a complaint by temporary employees alleging the board and union violated a labor contract by hiring temps for permanent jobs, need not be remanded to state court; the 4th Circuit says a defendant does not need signatures by all lawyers for defendants, but may remove the case [...]

No Amendment of Dismissed Complaint

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 20, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

A church that filed a lawsuit challenging a city’s denial of a special use permit to allow it to expand its child-care program could not amend its complaint because the complaint already had been dismissed by the district court; the 4th Circuit says there simply was no complaint pending to amend. The church wanted to [...]

Conspiracy Charge Sticks for False Distress Call

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Although defendant claims he could not be convicted of federal conspiracy to make a false distress call to the Coast Guard because his girlfriend was not aware a call to the Coast Guard would be part of the plan to fake his death in order to avoid a state probation violation hearing, evidence showed she [...]