Defendant Objected to Drug Stipulation, Gets New Trial

No Immunity for Grabbing Glock, Not Taser

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 19, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Rights, Judge Roger L. Gregory

A deputy who mistook his pistol for a Taser can be sued for shooting an unarmed, fleeing suspect; on rehearing, the en banc 4th Circuit says a jury could find that the deputy’s mistake was “objectively unreasonable” because he should have realized he had grabbed a .40 caliber Glock handgun and there was no threat [...]

Cocaine Defendant Loses on Speedy Trial, Severance Claims

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 27, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Roger L. Gregory

A defendant cannot overturn his cocaine conspiracy conviction with claims of violations of the Speedy Trial Act and of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments; the 4th Circuit says the district court properly granted a continuance, rightly denied defendant’s motion to sever his trial from the trial of his alleged coconspirators and properly calculated defendant’s sentence. [...]

Ambulance Services are “Emergency Services”

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 27, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative, Judge Roger L. Gregory

In this Medicaid reimbursement case, the 4th Circuit holds that ambulance services are “emergency services” under 42 U.S.C. § 1396u, and defendant Richmond Ambulance Authority is not entitled to set its own rates for the ambulance services it provides members of plaintiff Healthkeepers’ Medicaid program. This dispute concerns what rate Healthkeepers must pay the Authority [...]

Surgeon says that he relied on job promise

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 18, 2011
Tags: Contract, Federal Courts, Judge Harvie J. Wilkinson III, Judge Roger L. Gregory

A cardiac surgeon who closed his Alabama practice to move to Virginia can try his claim against the hospital he thought had hired him as its new chief cardiac surgeon. Earlier this month, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated summary judgment for Rockingham Memorial Hospital and Cardiac & Thoracic Surgical Associates, the defendants [...]

4CA Decries Government ‘Spin’ for Search

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 30, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Roger L. Gregory, Search & Seizure

An officer who emerged from a restaurant lunch with his wife, and saw defendant, whom he had arrested in the past for a revoked license, “going haywire” with his arms, did not have a reasonable suspicion to make an investigative stop of the defendant, and the 4th Circuit reverses defendant’s drug conviction, based on a [...]

No Qualified Immunity for Nine-Gunshot Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 23, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Rights, Judge Roger L. Gregory

A reasonable police officer would have recognized that deadly force was no longer needed after plaintiff was injured and helpless with his back on the ground, and the 4th Circuit upholds denial of qualified immunity to a Baltimore police officer. We take judicial notice of plaintiff’s conviction for kidnapping the officer and his acquittal of [...]

ERISA Fiduciary Can Terminate Plan

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 23, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Employment, Judge Roger L. Gregory

In this appeal of a successful ERISA enforcement action by the Secretary of Labor against a company and its president, the 4th Circuit upholds a district court’s decision to grant a replacement independent fiduciary authority to terminate the plan, in light of the company’s repeated efforts to misappropriate pension funds. The company, Information Systems and [...]

Employer faces harassment trial for third-party acts

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 7, 2011
Tags: Employment Discrimination, Federal Courts, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, Judge Robert B. King, Judge Roger L. Gregory

When an employee of your biggest client is sexually harassing your employee, it’s a tough situation to manage. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hasn’t officially looked at whether an employer can be liable for harassment by non-employees. But three members of the court tip their hand in a new unpublished opinion that lets [...]

‘Mid-Level’ Drug Dealer’s Sentence Reversed

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 1, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Roger L. Gregory

A mid-level drug dealer who did not supervise others should not have received a three-level enhancement for a “leadership” role under USSG § 3B1.1(b); the enhancement constitutes plain error and the 4th Circuit vacates defendant’s 365-month sentence and remands for resentencing. Investigators in New Bern, N.C., determined that defendant was a mid-level drug trafficker, who [...]