4th Circuit hears former congressman’s appeal

Vehicle Search Did Not Exceed Consent

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 29, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer, Search & Seizure

The 4th Circuit offers a refresher course in assessing “probable cause” and reverses a district court order suppressing drugs found in a secret compartment of defendant’s car because the district court applied the wrong standards for determining whether police had defendant’s consent to search the vehicle and whether there was probable cause to search it. [...]

School Board Policy Covers Attorney’s Fees

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 29, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Insurance, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

An Albemarle County school board’s failure to pay its school bus drivers and transportation assistants overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act was a “wrongful act” under the school board’s commercial insurance policy, and the policy does not cover wage payments but should cover liquidated damages and attorney’s fees, the 4th Circuit says. The [...]

Lien Avoided for Defective Recordation

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 15, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Bankruptcy, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

A bank cannot collect on a loan secured by a deed of trust on two contiguous parcels in Orange County, N.C., because the deed of trust on one of the tracts was not properly recorded under state law, and the 4th Circuit upholds the bankruptcy court order to avoid the bank’s lien on that tract. [...]

Overtime-Pay Claimants May Pursue Claims

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 13, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Bankruptcy, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

Three “Named Claimants” who filed proofs of claim for overtime pay in Circuit City’s consolidated bankruptcy cases may proceed with their claims in bankruptcy court, but the 4th Circuit employs an alternative procedural approach for allowing claimants to file class proofs of claim and to present motion to proceed as a class. The Named Claimants [...]

No Derivative Jurisdiction in Title VII Suit

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 26, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Employment Discrimination, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

The 4th Circuit upholds dismissal of this Title VII race discrimination suit filed by an African-American who was dismissed from the federal air marshal training program; the U.S. did not consent to be sued in North Carolina state court and removal of the suit to federal court, under the doctrine of derivative jurisdiction, did not [...]

Remand on Drug User’s Gun Rights

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 26, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

A marijuana user who asserts his Second Amendment right to possess firearms for his own protection in a dangerous neighborhood has his firearms conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) vacated by the 4th Circuit; Congress might have reasonably concluded that disarming drug users could reduce gun violence, and the government gets another chance to make [...]

Doctor Disability Pay Denial ‘Reasonable’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 17, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Employment, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

A physician who closed his practice when he became medically disabled cannot collect the maximum monthly disability payment he says he is owed under the practice’s long term disability policy, as the plan administrator was entitled to interpret plan language to allow deduction of the physician’s medical-practice start-up costs from his income to determine that [...]

Wrong Form for Refi, But No TILA Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 9, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Consumer Protection, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

A lender did not violate the Truth in Lending Act when it used a form similar to “Model Form H-8” instead of “Model Form H-9” to notify a lender refinancing a home mortgage of his right to rescind the transaction, and the 4th Circuit upholds the district court’s dismissal of the defaulting borrower’s TILA claim. [...]

Court: Despite lender’s use of wrong form, no TILA claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 21, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Consumer Protection, Judge James A. Wynn Jr., Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

A mortgage lender did not violate federal consumer protection law when it failed to use the correct notice form for a mortgage refinancing, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said last week. Case law supports strict interpretation of lender requirements under the Truth in Lending Act, but the appellate court’s 2-1 split decision on [...]