Where a pharmaceutical company sought discovery from a competitor for use in their foreign patent litigation, its request under 28 U.S.C § 1782 was denied. The competitor company was not “found” in the district where the application was filed because ...

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

Where the Bankruptcy Code provides that small business debtors are not entitled to discharge certain categories of debt, including debts “for willful and malicious injury by the debtor to another entity or to the property of another entity,” a debtor ...

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

Where a reasonable person would conclude a consultant was entitled to compensation after he fully performed under the parties’ contract, the court did not err in awarding damages using unjust enrichment principles. Background In connection with two undeveloped parcels of ...

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

Where a plaintiff failed to serve defendants within the 90-day period required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(m), the rule gives district courts discretion to grant an extension even without a showing of good cause. Background The plaintiffs served process ...

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

Where a claimant’s defamation suit was dismissed with a warning that further frivolous pleadings might justify sanctions, her subsequently filed claims based on new conduct were not frivolous and did not warrant sanctions. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ...

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

Where a naturalized citizen whose citizenship was revoked in 2016 waited until 2018 before attempting to collaterally attack his 2010 guilty plea on drug charges, and the record showed he could have discovered facts supporting his claim in 2016, his ...

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

Where the district court sanctioned a woman and her attorney for filing a ­complaint based upon allegedly privileged communications, but the privilege applied only to a defamation claim and not a claim for tortious interference, and the district court failed ...

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

Where a detainee files a motion for compassionate release, it would be error for the district court to use a bright-line rule that accepts only the CDC’s highest risk conditions as a basis for grating the motion. Such a holding ...

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

Where a high school drama teacher alleged the school board failed to pay him for his tech work because of his race, but he had been paid a theater director supplement and he did not allege that any other performing ...

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

Where West Virginia law is unclear on the amount of coverage that must be provided when an exclusion in an automobile liability insurance policy violates West Virginia Code § 33-6-31(a) because it would deny coverage to a permissive user of ...

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