The 4th Circuit says the Board of Immigration Appeals may determine on a case-by-case basis that a non-aggravated felony is a “particularly serious crime” for purposes of asylum, and the court rejects a Chinese citizen’s application for withholding of removal ...

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

A group of corporations suspected of financing terrorist activity that refused to turn over documents pursuant to a grand jury subpoena has findings of civil contempt upheld by the 4th Circuit. The twelve interrelated corporations in this case refused to ...

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

Where plaintiff cancer patients won their earlier class action suit demanding defendant insurance carriers pay as “actual charges” of treatment the full amount billed, not the amount received, by medical providers, defendant insurance carriers cannot take advantage of a new ...

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

A defendant convicted of a firearm offense in connection with his spraying 22 rounds from an AK-47 into a nightclub parking lot after a confrontation with rival gang members can have his sentence enhanced under the Armed Career Criminal Act, ...

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

A party’s repudiation of a contract that prompted the other party to sue and request specific performance does not preclude the non-repudiating party from claiming monetary damages under West Virginia law, and the 4th Circuit reverses a district court’s decision ...

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

The 4th Circuit says a district court’s “de novo do-over” of a North Carolina murder defendant’s habeas claim alleging ineffective assistance was impermissible under the AEDPA, and it reverses a decision for defendant and remands for dismissal of his habeas ...

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

A police officer who used his “find-and-bite” patrol dog to search for a 13-year-old boy reportedly suffering from alcohol intoxication and hypothermia has qualified immunity from the boy’s suit for violation of his Fourth Amendment rights after the police dog ...

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

Saying defendant is trying to create an exception to the automobile exception to the warrant requirement, the 4th Circuit rejects defendant’s claim that police should not have been allowed to search a car parked on the street in front of ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III Search & Seizure

In this FOIA action arising from an earlier patent suit brought by New Technology Patents Inc., a client of Hunton & Williams, against Research In Motion Ltd., manufacturer of BlackBerry devices, the 4th Circuit affirms the district court conclusion that ...

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

A poultry processing plant is not required under the Fair Labor Standards Act to pay employees for “donning and doffing” protective gear, as that activity constitutes “changing clothes,” and the 4th Circuit affirms a judgment that allowed the plant to ...

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