Where French trial and appellate courts previously declared the French Republic, and not a California company, is the rightful owner of the domain name France.com, the French Republic was immune from France.com’s trademark and cybersquatting suit. Background In 1994, a ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Intellectual Property Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

Where the owner of a blood testing laboratory and two lead salespersons were repeatedly warned that paying commissions to independent contractors might violate an anti-kickback statute, but they went ahead and paid physicians for drawing patients’ blood and processing the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Commercial Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

Because the Virginia legislature has conferred broad authority on local governing bodies to engage in anticompetitive conduct in the EMS vehicle services market, antitrust claims against the City of Richmond, stemming from its denial of an ambulance company’s permit to ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Commercial Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

Where a defendant challenged his convictions stemming from his involvement with MS-13, the court joined other circuits in finding the Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits imposition of cumulative punishments for § 924(c) and § 924(j) convictions based on the same conduct. ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

Where the police went to the private home of the defendant’s girlfriend believing he might be there, but lacked probable cause to conclude that he lived there, their entry without a warrant required suppression of the evidence and his convictions ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

Attempted Hobbs Act robbery is not a “crime of violence” because it may be committed without the use or attempted use of physical force. This decision splits from three other circuits, which held that attempted Hobbs Act robbery qualifies as ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

Where the defendant in a wrongful death action brought by a woman whose husband’s exposure to asbestos caused his death from mesothelioma, argued the jury was improperly instructed on causation and the trial court erred by refusing to reduce the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diana Gribbon Motz Products Liability

Where the district court set aside the defendant’s convictions for money laundering and other charges and ordered a new trial, and the order vacating the convictions was reversed, the case was remanded because of the court’s failure to specify why ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

Where a broker executed trades on investors’ portfolio margin accounts in clear violation of a rule of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc., or FINRA, the arbitration panel did not manifestly disregard the law by imposing liability against the broker, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Arbitration Judge Diana Gribbon Motz Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

Although the orders authorizing wiretaps simply identified a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division as the authorizing official, and there are six persons who hold that title, because the specific official was named in the applications, which accompanied ...

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