A nursing home violated the quality of care regulation governing Medicaid providers when it failed to provide a medical clearance for approximately eight months so that one of its residents could undergo a necessary tooth extraction surgery. Background The West ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

A debtor might be able to discharge a $20 million plus judgment through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The district court found the debt nondischargeable under principles of collateral estoppel, reasoning that, because the debtor was found liable for misappropriating trade ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Bankruptcy Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

A parole board is not required to consider age-related mitigating characteristics of a defendant who was sentenced in 1988 when he was 17, to life with the possibility of parole. While the Supreme Court has addressed the sentencing of minors ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

An entire award to a farmer who argued that his insurance company breached a contract was vacated because the arbitrator exceeded her authority by awarding extra-contractual damages, which can only be awarded by a court; and although her decision included ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Arbitration Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

Although evidence obtained during a military search of the defendant’s cellphone was inadmissible because it violated the Military Rules of Evidence, the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule and “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine nonetheless allowed the government to ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

Where an employee’s depression resulted in repeated absences and tardiness from work, her employer’s refusal to offer her a permanent position did not constitute unlawful discrimination or retaliation. Background In March 2011, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Employment Discrimination Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

The appellate court found that although the Forest Service had “serious environmental concerns,” it was “suddenly, and mysteriously, assuaged in time to meet a private pipeline company’s deadlines” in issuing a permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a natural gas ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the state court erred in not allowing an expert for a convicted murderer to testify on the probability of the defendant committing future violent acts in prison, which went directly to the dangerousness ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

In a habeas challenge brought by a defendant on death row for the murder of a Norfolk law enforcement officer, an evidentiary hearing is necessary to determine whether juror bias tainted the conviction. Despite a straightforward inquiry by trial counsel, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

Under three environmental statutes, the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service improperly approved rights-of-way through federal lands for Mountain Valley Pipeline’s construction and operation of the largest pipeline of its kind to cross the Jefferson National Forest. Background ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Environmental Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker