A jury will decide if a police officer’s arrest of a 62-year-old man for congregating on the sidewalk, maintaining the charge for three years before dropping it before trial, together with other circumstantial evidence, support a claim for malicious prosecution. ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge G. Steven Agee Judge Roger L. Gregory

Where choice-of-law-provisions required the application of tribal law, they operated as a prospective waiver of a party’s right to pursue statutory remedies and, as a result, violated public policy and were unenforceable. Background In this appeal, the court considers the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Arbitration Judge G. Steven Agee

Where arbitration agreements included within the terms of payday loans provided for the application of tribal law, to the exclusion of any contrary federal statutory law, the agreements were unenforceable because they prevented a plaintiff from effectively vindicating certain federal ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Arbitration Judge G. Steven Agee

Although a company argued it was improperly held liable for the conduct of an alleged employee because of a faulty jury instruction, the alleged error was harmless. There was “extensive evidence,” independent of the alleged faulty instruction, showing the company ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Albert Diaz Judge G. Steven Agee Negligence

Although three individuals convicted for their actions as part of the United Blood Nation gang challenged the use of an anonymous jury, there was sufficient evidence the jury needed protection, and steps were taken to protect the rights of the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge G. Steven Agee

Where a direct action brought by the company was resolved in a broad release, and there was no evidence of collusion or bad faith, a derivative action asserting identical or similar claims arising out of the same underlying facts was ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Commercial Judge G. Steven Agee

Defendants convicted of using a firearm in a crime of violence resulting in murder failed in their arguments that statements by co-defendants violated the Confrontation Clause and/or were generally inadmissible under the Federal Rules of Evidence. Moreover, given the scope ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge G. Steven Agee

A defendant’s argument that the district court declined to specify the evidence supporting its finding he committed violations while in prison on drug charges failed because transcripts showed the court relied on the testimony of multiple witnesses and a video. ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge G. Steven Agee

While there was no error in sentencing an individual to 276 months’ imprisonment and a term of lifetime supervised release after he pleaded guilty to knowingly traveling in foreign commerce to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge G. Steven Agee

Where a prison disciplinary proceeding that resulted in the revocation of 20 days of an inmate’s “good-time” credits contained no probative evidence to support his conviction, his due process rights were violated, requiring that his good-time credits be restored. Background ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Judge G. Steven Agee