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 the original complaint filed by a landowner alleging her house was damaged when a railroad diverted water asserted only state-law claims for negligence, nuisance and trespass, but her amended complaint included new claims for adverse possession and prescriptive easement ...

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

Where a police officer asked two occupants in a stopped car whether there was “anything illegal” in the car, the motion to suppress firearms found in the car was denied because the question went to officer safety, given the time ...

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

Where counsel presented substantial mitigating evidence about the defendant’s neglectful and violent childhood and his significant brain damage, including the opinions of four experts about the effects of brain damage on his behavior, the defendant sentenced to death for rape ...

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

Where a Black Annapolis police officer was diagnosed with a permanent knee impairment that rendered him disabled, he offered no evidence to support his race bias claim and his failure to accommodate claim failed because disability retirement isn’t a reasonable ...

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

Where the record was replete with evidence the applicant was illiterate and disabled, the administrative law judge erred in concluding he had a “marginal education” and could perform medium work. He was awarded “long overdue” benefits. Background Antonio Bilotta appeals ...

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

After a jury determined the merger of two manufacturers in the American doorskin market violated the Clayton Antitrust Act, the remedy included unwinding the merger and ordering the sale of the acquired company.  Background JELD-WEN Inc. acquired a competitor, CMI, ...

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

Where NIKE stopped an advertising campaign after the district court found it infringed on Fleet Feet’s trademarks, NIKE’s cessation of the campaign mooted its appeal of the preliminary injunction. Background In 2019, NIKE Inc., NIKE USA Inc. and NIKE Retail ...

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

Because an inmate challenging a policy requiring him to cut his dreadlocks, which he kept in accordance with his Rastafarian faith, introduced evidence showing that his religious beliefs are sincere, the district court must consider whether the policy is “the ...

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

Where the parties in a dispute over whether a fax was an unsolicited advertisement never briefed what level of deference should be afforded a 2006 FCC rule interpreting what constitutes an “advertisement” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the case ...

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