Where homeowners claimed defendants breached mortgage contracts in 2011 but filed suit in 2017, their claims were dismissed as time-barred and their argument that the statute of limitations does not apply because of equitable estoppel was rejected. Background In 2006, ...

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

Where a property settlement agreement was ambiguous on whether an ex-wife relinquished her rights to the husband’s life insurance policy as part of their divorce, the district court erred by awarding the policy’s proceeds to the decedent’s daughter. The issue ...

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

The arguments of two defendants, members of the MS-13 street gang who were convicted in a racketeering case, that the district court made numerous evidentiary errors during the trial were rejected. In addition, claims by one of the defendants who ...

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

Although a judge’s comments about pit bulls and dogfighting made after vivid photos and videos were presented during the sentencing of defendants convicted of dogfighting and drug-trafficking offenses were “injudicious,” they did not require recusal. Nor were the sentences procedurally ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Per Curiam Opinion

Where a defendant convicted in two bank fraud schemes was sentenced under an enhancement that applies when the criminal proceeds are derived from financial institutions, but the proceeds in this case came from third-party purchasers of properties, he was entitled ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Per Curiam Opinion

Where the defendant filed his appeal 283 days after the entry of judgment, the district court’s failure to advise him of his right to appeal at his sentencing did not prevent his appeal from being dismissed as untimely. Background Kirk ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Pamela A. Harris

Where a suit against an employer was originally filed in the name of a man who died two days before his claims were filed, there was no Article III standing and the error could not be cured through substitution of ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Employment Discrimination Judge Pamela A. Harris

Where the plea agreement of a wire fraud defendant stipulated a loss amount corresponding to a 24-level sentencing enhancement but he was given a 26-level enhancement, he demonstrated ineffective assistance of counsel and resulting prejudice by arguing that his lawyer ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Per Curiam Opinion

Where a panel for the first time addressed whether a conviction under South Carolina’s voyeurism statute constitutes a “sex offense” requiring registration under Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, it found that a violation of the statute—which does not require ...

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

Although the government did not challenge as procedurally unreasonable the downward departure of a sentence given to a man who pleaded guilty to assault for repeatedly injuring his infant son, the court was nevertheless required to analyze procedural reasonableness, which ...

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