Where a borrower challenged whether interest in a promissory note compounded after the note matured, but that borrower previously submitted a spreadsheet that the court adopted in which its expert compounded interest following maturity, res judicata applied. Background In 2008, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Contract

Where police had probable cause to search a shoebox containing heroin and fentanyl based on information from a reliable confidential informant and their own independent corroboration of his story, a drug defendant’s challenge to his sentence failed. Background In 2017, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Julius N. Richardson

Where detention of a male walking with an AR-15-style assault rifle was supported by reasonable suspicion, including that the same type of rifle had been used in a school shooting, he was walking toward a school, appeared to be a ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge Robert B. King

Where the district court discussed the defendant’s “extensive criminal history,” but never addressed his argument that two California drug convictions that were 34 and 28 years old were stale and should be excluded, his sentence was vacated and the case ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Henry F. Floyd

Where a defendant convicted on numerous racketeering counts was originally sentenced to 570 months’ in prison, but one count constituting a 360-month component was later vacated, the new 360-month sentence was not unreasonable given his role in the offenses and ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

Where a railroad that was party to a guaranteed shipping contract did not expressly breach the agreement, but a jury could have found that its conduct violated the duty of good faith and fair dealing, the declaratory judgment against it ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Contract Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr.

Where the resident of El Salvador was only 15 when members of the MS-13 gang beat him and made death threats, the immigration court erred by not taking his age into account when analyzing his past persecution and fear of ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Immigration Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

Where a defendant was only 15 years old when he participated in a series of violent carjackings, including one resulting in death, the district court’s imposition of a 52-year sentence was not unreasonable as it considered a variety of factors, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

Where the defendant moved to vacate his conviction for brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence and drug trafficking because it relied in part on a now invalid predicate offense, but the statement of facts in his plea agreement ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Albert Diaz

Where former employees of national security agencies voluntarily signed agreements giving the agencies prepublication review of certain materials they intend to publish, they knowingly waived their First Amendment rights to challenge the requirement that they submit materials for review. Moreover, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Judge Paul V. Niemeyer