In this case involving a prisoner who was attacked and injured by another inmate, the district court instructed the jury, “Deliberate indifference is established only if the defendants . . . had actual knowledge of a substantial risk that Anderson ...

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

U.S. v. Gattis (VLW No. 017-2-207, 22 pp.) (Niemeyer, J.) 16-4663; Dec. 4, 2017; USDC at Raleigh, N.C. 4th Cir. Holding: Although the North Carolina offense of common law robbery does not qualify as a “violent felony” under the force ...

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

A plaintiff who took out a home mortgage while he was serving in the U.S. Navy and defaulted on the mortgage loan after his discharge from the Navy, but joined the U.S. Army after notification of foreclosure proceedings, is not ...

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

The 4th Circuit upholds defendant’s sentence enhanced under the Armed Career Criminal Act, on a firearm possession conviction; his three prior convictions under Va. Code § 18.2-55, for knowing and willful infliction of bodily injury on a juvenile-facility employee, were ...

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

A boiler manufacturer’s claim that it had government-contractor immunity from a lawsuit filed by the family of a shipyard worker who died of mesothelioma sufficiently alleges a colorable federal defense; the 4th Circuit vacates the district court order remanding the ...

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

In sentencing defendant for knowingly failing to register in Virginia as a sex offender, the district court did not err in sentencing him as a Tier  offender under USSG § 2A.3(a)(1), based on a Georgia rape conviction that was comparable ...

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

An owners’ association that did not opt out of multidistrict litigation in the District of South Carolina against a manufacturer of allegedly defective windows was properly enjoined from pursuing its separate suit in the wake of settlement of the multidistrict ...

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

At defendant’s trial on charges arising from his participation in an illegal operation fencing over-the-counter medications and health and beauty products stolen by drug addicts and resold through a warehouse operation, the 4th Circuit upholds the trial court’s decision to ...

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

In a dispute over denial of homeowners’ claim under a National Flood Insurance Program for damage by Hurricane Irene to the foundation of their waterfront home, the 4th Circuit reverses the district court’s award of $700,194 in treble damages and ...

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

A defendant convicted of possessing a stolen firearm knowing it was stolen loses his challenge to his 70-month sentence based on his claim that Johnson v. U.S.’s invalidation of the residual clause in the Armed Career Criminal Act meant the ...

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