Despite not providing school transportation to students with known disciplinary problems, municipal entities had no duty to stop the students from harming residents of the neighborhoods the students traversed to reach school. Background Richard Fletcher and his wife lived just ...

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

Fired the day after asking for grievance paperwork, a black employee reasonably believed she was subject to a hostile work environment that was attributable to her employer. The district court erred in granting summary judgment against her. Background In August ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Employment Employment Discrimination Judge Roger L. Gregory

The federal Copyright Remedy Clarification Act’s broad abrogation of states’ sovereign immunity for copyright infringement was not a valid exercise of Congressional authority, either under Article I’s Copyright Clause or § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. Background In 1717, the ...

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

A serial killer, sentenced to death under North Carolina law, did not have a constitutional right to inform his sentencing jury that he was ineligible for parole. This right, which accrues when the prosecutor points to the defendant’s future danger ...

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

The federal Copyright Remedy Clarification Act’s broad abrogation of states’ sovereign immunity for copyright infringement was not a valid exercise of Congressional authority, either under Article I’s Copyright Clause or § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. Background In 1717, the ...

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

BY HEATH HAMACHER BridgeTower Media Newswires One of the men responsible for the Beltway sniper attacks of 2002 that left 10 dead and three injured has won an appeal to have four life sentences reconsidered by the Virginia courts that ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Albert Diaz Judge Paul V. Niemeyer Judge Robert B. King

A written agreement between a corporation and the government preserved the company’s attorney-client privilege and work-product protection for information that the general counsel of a subsidiary entity disclosed to the government. Background Several years ago, federal prosecutors opened a grand ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Business Law Contract Criminal Evidence Judge Roger L. Gregory

An immigrant was not rendered ineligible for cancellation of removal based solely on $100 in court costs that he paid after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor. Such costs, which are not discretionary and sometimes are imposed by the court clerk, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Immigration Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

Six defendants tried together were properly convicted of murder and attempted murder offenses related to their gang membership. Their convictions were upheld despite challenges to prosecutorial conduct, jury instructions, evidence admitted at trial, joint trial, access to counsel, warrantless cell ...

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

Fired the day after asking for grievance paperwork, a black employee reasonably believed she was subject to a hostile work environment that was attributable to her employer. The district court erred in granting summary judgment against her. Background In August ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Employment Employment Discrimination Judge Roger L. Gregory Municipal