Justia U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Florida VirtualSchool, a Florida state agency, appealed the district court's dismissal of its trademark infringement suit against K12 for lack of standing. At issue on appeal was whether Florida VirtualSchool was authorized under Florida law to assert such claims, or whether that authority lies exclusively with Florida's Department of State. The court found that the relevant Florida law was ambiguous on the issue and certified the question to the Florida Supreme Court. View "Florida VirtualSchool v. K12, Inc., et al." on Justia Law

The law requires a financial institution to file with the Department of Treasury reports of cash transactions by any person on a single day that exceed $10,000. Defendant was indicted on 85 counts of violating 31 U.S.C. 5324(a)(3), which makes it a crime to structure cash transactions for the purpose of evading the reporting requirement. After he was convicted of 70 counts, defendant appealed. The court concluded that the indictment in this case did not provide the necessary factual allegations and failed under any reasonable construction to charge all of the elements of the offense. Where no count in the indictment charges a crime, the defendant was entitled to have the judgment vacated and the case remanded with instructions that the indictment be dismissed. Accordingly, the court vacated and remanded. View "United States v. Lang" on Justia Law

Defendants were convicted of murdering a family and sentenced to death. Defendants raised numerous issues on appeal. The court concluded that the majority of defendants' arguments had no merit; the district court did not abuse its discretion in its admission of the uncharged firearms and drug trafficking offenses; the district court's exclusion of expert testimony from a forensic psychologist was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence against Defendant Troya; and the district court properly admitted testimony of the government's psychologist to rebut Defendant Sanchez's expert testimony at sentencing. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "United States v. Troya, et al." on Justia Law

Defendant appealed his convictions for drug and firearms possession charges. The court concluded that the district court did not err by denying defendant's motion to suppress because the district court made a proper credibility finding and completed a sound Fourth Amendment analysis in light of the facts that it reasonably found; there was sufficient evidence to convict defendant of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime under 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(1)(A); and any error in the district court's application of Batson v. Kentucky was harmless. Accordingly, the court affirmed defendant's convictions and sentences. View "United States v. Williams" on Justia Law

The City appealed the district court's order granting T-Mobile's motion for summary judgment and issuing an injunction on the basis that the City's denial of T-Mobile's requested cell phone tower permit violated the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. 322(c)(7)(B)(iii). The district court held that the City's short denial letter failed to satisfy the "in writing" requirement under the Act. Under the court's recent analysis in T-Mobile South, LLC v. City of Milton, the court concluded in this instance that the documents at issue collectively were enough to satisfy the writing requirement under the Act. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded. View "T-Mobile South, LLC v. City of Roswell, GA" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs filed suit against the Navy under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.; the Endangered Species Act (ESA), 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.; and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. 701-706. Plaintiffs challenged the Navy's decision to install and operate an instrumented Undersea Warfare Training Range (the range) in waters adjacent to the only known calving grounds of the endangered North Atlantic right whale, and the NMFS's biological opinion assessing the impact of the range on threatened and endangered species. The court concluded that plaintiffs have not pointed to any provision in NEPA requiring an agency to authorize all phases of a proposed action evaluated in an environmental impact statement (EIS) at the time it issued a record of decision (ROD). Therefore, the court found that it was not an independent violation of NEPA, warranting reversal of the district court's judgment, for the Navy to enter into a construction contract after it signed an ROD authorizing construction and after having its NEPA analysis upheld by the district court. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's judgment that the Navy complied with NEPA. The court affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment for the Navy as to plaintiffs' remaining claims. View "Defenders of Wildlife, et al. v. U.S. Dept. of the Navy, et al." on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, seafarers who worked aboard cruise ships operated by NCL, filed suit under the Seaman's Wage Act, 46 U.S.C. 10313 et seq. Plaintiffs alleged that NCL did not pay them their full wages because their compensation did not take into account the amounts they were required to pay their helpers to complete their work on embarkation days. On appeal, plaintiffs argued that the district court erred in not awarding penalty wages under the Act. The court concluded that the district court made findings of fact which were supported by the record and the district court did not err by failing to award penalty wages based upon these findings. There was simply no evidence of willful, arbitrary, or willful misconduct on the part of NCL. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "Wallace, et al. v. NCL (Bahamas) Ltd." on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit under the Family Medical Leave Act, 29 U.S.C. 2601, against defendants, alleging that defendants demoted her from a ninety-day temporary assignment in retaliation for leaving work to care for an ailing uncle. On appeal, plaintiff contended that defendants were equitably estopped under federal common law from disputing her FMLA eligibility because her manager approved her FMLA leave. The court concluded that plaintiff failed to provide evidence or even assert that she relied on any misrepresentation. Assuming that federal common law equitable estoppel applied to the FMLA, plaintiff failed to assert a prima facie case of estoppel. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment for defendants. View "Dawkins v. Fulton County, et al." on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against her employer for gender discrimination, racial discrimination, and national origin discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000 et seq., as well as hostile work environment, unlawful retaliation claims, and state law claims. On appeal, plaintiff challenged the district court's grant of summary judgment in the employer's favor. The court concluded that plaintiff has made out a prima facie case of employment discrimination, but it remained unclear as to whether she created a dispute of material fact regarding whether the reason the employer offered for hiring another employee over her was a pretext for discriminatory animus. Accordingly, the court vacated the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the employer regarding plaintiff's employment discrimination claim, remanding for further proceedings. The court affirmed in all other respects. View "Kidd v. Mando American Corp." on Justia Law

Debtor purchased a car from TCL Auto Sales and financed the purchase through Acorn. Debtor then filed for bankruptcy on July 21, 2010. Acorn did not perfect its security interest in the vehicle until July 27, 2010. The court concluded that, where, as here, a Chapter 13 trustee was aware of defects in a creditor's security interest well before confirmation, and chose not to object to the creditor's claim, and affirmatively recommended to the bankruptcy court that it confirm a proposed plan in which the creditor is given a secured position, the bankruptcy court's confirmation of the plan binds the trustee and precluded a post-confirmation avoidance action against the creditor. Accordingly, the court affirmed the decision of the bankruptcy court and the district court granting summary judgment in favor of Acorn. View "Hope v. Acorn Financial Inc" on Justia Law