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

Defendants, three foreign nationals in a foreign vessel in the territorial waters of Jamaica, were arrested by the United States Coast Guard with the consent of the foreign country and prosecuted in the United States for drug-trafficking crimes under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA). Defendants pleaded guilty and preserved their right to appeal the denial of their motion to suppress.The Eleventh Circuit vacated defendant's convictions, holding that the MDLEA is unconstitutional and exceeded Congress's authority under the Foreign Commerce Clause. The court also held that, as applied to defendants, the MDLEA was not a valid exercise of Congress's authority under the Necessary and Proper Clause to effectuate the subsequently enacted 1989 Convention Against Illicit Traffic Treaty and the 1997 Jamaica Bilateral Agreement between the United States and Jamaica. View "United States v. Davila-Mendoza" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit certified the following questions of law to the Alabama Supreme Court under Alabama Rule of Appellate Procedure 18: (1) Can property owned by a solid waste disposal authority "belong[] to" a county or municipality for purposes of section 6-10-10? (2) If so, what factors should courts consider when making such a determination? (3) If section 6-10-10 can apply to property owned by a solid waste disposal authority, is such property "used for county or municipal purposes" when the authority has not used the property but is holding it for a future use? (4) Does Alabama continue to recognize a common law exemption from execution for property used for public purposes as described in Gardner v. Mobile & N.W.R. Co., 15 So. 271 (Ala. 1894)? (5) If so, does that exemption apply to public corporations like the Authority, and what standards should courts employ in applying this common law exemption? View "WM Mobile Bay Environmental Center, Inc. v. The City of Mobile Solid Waste Authority" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The gun fell from defendant's waistband as he complied with a police order to get on the ground and crawl out of a room during the execution of fugitive task force arrest warrants.The court held that police officers did not violate the Fourth Amendment by entering the hotel room to execute the arrest warrants, because they reasonably believed that the hotel room was the dwelling of two gang members. Furthermore, Supreme Court precedent, Summers v. Michigan, 452 U.S. 692, 705 (1981), foreclosed defendant's argument that requiring him, an innocent bystander who was not sought by police, to crawl out of the hotel room was unreasonable and violated the Fourth Amendment. Rather, requiring defendant to lower himself to the ground allowed officers to peer over him and look for any emerging threats from the room. Finally, the court held that the district court did not violate defendant's Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against him where the questions he wished to ask would not have been probative of any bias or lack of truthfulness; they would have confused the issues; and the district court did not otherwise abuse its discretion by restricting cross-examination on these topics. View "United States v. Mastin" on Justia Law

After plaintiff bought a puppy from Petland and the puppy died a week later, plaintiff filed suit under the civil provisions contained in the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), alleging that the puppy's death was the result of a nationwide racketeering conspiracy. Plaintiff alleged that defendants are involved in a conspiracy to sell sick puppies for premium prices and engaged in a campaign of obfuscation after the sale to aid Petland in avoiding its warranties.The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's RICO complaint for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). The court held that the complaint failed to plead facts that plausibly support the inference that defendants shared a common purpose to commit the massive fraud she alleges. Furthermore, plaintiff has failed to allege with particularity that each defendant engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity. The court also held that plaintiff adequately alleged in her complaint that the Class Action Fairness Act vested the district court with original jurisdiction over her Georgia RICO claim. Therefore, the court vacated the portion of the district court's order declining to exercise supplemental jurisdiction and remanded with instructions to dismiss plaintiff's state-law RICO claim with prejudice. View "Cisneros v. Petland, Inc." on Justia Law

The trustee objected to the modification of debtor's Chapter 13 modification plan, arguing that the doctrine of res judicata barred debtor's modification. The bankruptcy court confirmed the modified plan, finding that 11 U.S.C. 1329 creates an exception to the finality of confirmed Chapter 13 plans, and that debtor's modified plan satisfied the express requirements of section 1329.The Eleventh Circuit affirmed and held that section 1329 does not impose a change-of-circumstances requirement on debtors. Therefore, debtor need not make any threshold showing of a change in circumstances before proposing a modification to a confirmed plan under section 1329. View "Whaley v. Guillen" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs filed a medical malpractice suit against AAP and several other defendants. Under the Federally Supported Health Care Assistance Act of 1999 (FSHCAA), 42 U.S.C. 233, the government removed the case to federal district court. The government sought to have the United States substituted as the defendant and the suit converted to an action under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). Then the government acknowledged that its section 233 scope-of-employment certification was in error, withdrew the certification, and stipulated to the remand of the case to state court. The district court then remanded the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Defendants Dr. Tolliver and AAP Healthcare appealed, seeking review of the district court's order remanding the case.The Eleventh Circuit held that 28 U.S.C. 1447(d) precludes the court from reviewing the district court's order remanding this action to state court for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Accordingly, the court dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. View "Thomas v. Albany Area Primary Healthcare Inc." on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed defendant's convictions for conspiracy to commit immigration-document fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering. Defendant's convictions arose out of a scheme to obtain fraudulently an employment-based visa for "multinational executives and managers," called an EB-1C visa. Defendant recruited and paid U.S. businesses to enter into a fictitious joint venture with a Chinese business, and then defendant filed an employer I-140 Petition for Immigrant Worker in the U.S. business's name on behalf of a named Chinese-national beneficiary to classify that beneficiary as an EB-1C multinational executive or manager, even though defendant knew that beneficiary would not work for the U.S. business or the joint venture.The court held that there was sufficient evidence to convict defendant of the fraud-conspiracy offense because the I-140 petitions and certain related documents contained false statements and were required by immigration laws or regulations, within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. 1546(a). The court also held that there was sufficient evidence to support defendant's two money laundering convictions because the immigration-document fraud was an underlying "specified unlawful activity" for purposes of section 1956(a)(1)(A)(i). View "United States v. Jimenez" on Justia Law

American Guarantee appealed the district court's dismissal of their complaint for lack of jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1). The complaint identifies the challenged conduct as the Forestry Branch's negligent failure to observe, monitor, and maintain a controlled burn once the fire was started.The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of American Guarantee's negligence claims against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). The court assumed at this stage that the Forestry Branch officials were negligent in their observation, monitoring, and maintenance during the controlled burn itself as alleged in the complaint, but held that the alleged conduct by its nature, involves an exercise of discretion and considerations of social, economic, political, and public policy. Because the government's decisions about how to monitor and maintain a controlled burn are shielded from judicial second-guessing by the discretionary function exception to the FTCA, the court held that plaintiffs failed to allege a plausible claim that falls outside the discretionary function exception. Because the discretionary-function exception applies in this case, the court held that the United States has not unequivocally waived its sovereign immunity. Therefore, the district court lacked jurisdiction over plaintiffs' FTCA claim. View "Foster Logging, Inc. v. United States" on Justia Law

Plaintiff and 22 other employees filed suit under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), challenging the plan administrator's denial of Special Early Retirement (SER) benefits. Plaintiffs claim that they are entitled to SER benefits because the sale of the parent company's interests to another company effected either a layoff or a permanent plant shutdown. Before and after the sale, the factory remained continuously operational and the employees remained employed in their same jobs.The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of the ERISA benefits because plaintiffs were neither laid off nor terminated by a permanent plant shutdown and thus they were not entitled to SER benefits under the language of the plan. The court also held that plaintiffs cannot make out a claim for equitable relief because their alternative theory arises form the same factual circumstances as their first. View "Hill v. Employee Benefits Administrative Committee of Mueller Group LLC" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the bankruptcy court's finding that UpRight, a debt relief agency that represented assisted persons, violated several applicable provisions and rules, and upheld the bankruptcy court's imposition of sanctions against it.The court held that the bankruptcy court had subject matter jurisdiction to impose sanctions; because adequate notice came from both the bankruptcy administrator and the bankruptcy court, and UpRight had a reasonable opportunity to respond both orally and in writing, the fundamental fairness of due process was met; UpRight's contention that the bankruptcy court applied the wrong legal standard in imposing the suspensions pursuant to 11 U.S.C. 105 is moot; the totality of the circumstances support a finding of a "clear and consistent pattern or practice" under 11 U.S.C. 526(c)(5); and the monetary sanctions that were imposed were not grossly excessive and did not fall outside the reasonable "range of choice" that was available to the bankruptcy court. View "Law Solutions of Chicago, LLC v. Corbett" on Justia Law