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

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal based on lack of standing of this action for damages under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act and remanded with instructions for the district court to dismiss the complaint with prejudice. The court held that the Addendum (but not the Nunc Pro Tunc Assignment) is impermissible parol evidence; although the Nunc Pro Tunc Assignment could create standing on the basis of retroactive assignment of claims, plaintiffs did not receive any rights under it; and the court declined to consider whether the Recovery Agreement by itself equitably assigned plaintiffs HFHP's rights under the Act because plaintiffs did not assert this argument before the district court. View "MSP Recovery Claims, Series LLC v. QBE Holdings, Inc." on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for two counts of using a deadly weapon to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere with a federal officer. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion by declining to give defendant's requested "forcibly" jury instruction, use of a deadly weapon instruction, and lesser included offense instruction. The court also held that the district court's response to the jury's question -- regarding whether a car is still a deadly weapon if you do not intend to use it that way -- correctly stated the principle of law. Finally, the court held that evidence was sufficient to support defendant's conviction and there was no error in the district court's denial of defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal on count two of the indictment. View "United States v. Gumbs" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed defendant's sentence and held that USSG 2K2.1(b)(6)(B) applies if the government proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant knew, intended, or had reason to believe (rather than hoped, wished, or dreamed) the gun was going to be used to buy drugs, and the sale would have (rather than may or might have) happened but for the defendant's arrest or something else getting in the way. In this case, the district court found that defendant intended that his stolen shotgun would be bartered for a pound of dope. Therefore, the court held that the district court's finding was supported by the evidence and was not clearly erroneous. View "United States v. Martinez" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit reversed the district court's dismissal of a petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. 2254 as untimely. The court held that its decisions in Hall v. Secy, Dep't of Corr., 921 F.3d 983, 988–90 (11th Cir. 2019); Green v. Sec'y, Dep't of Corr., 877 F.3d 1244, 1247–49 (11th Cir. 2017), issued after the district court dismissed the petition, foreclosed the government's arguments.Hall and Green held that the one-year limitations period tolled the day a petitioner filed a procedurally noncompliant Rule 3.850 motion if he was permitted to and did later file a compliant motion. Therefore, a compliant Rule 3.850 motion relates back to the date of filing of a noncompliant motion, such that the compliant motion was "properly filed" and "pending" as of that date for purposes of tolling the limitations period in section 2244 of Title 28. In this case, because the limitations period tolled on the date of petitioner's initial motion, the court held that he timely filed his petition in federal court. Accordingly, the court remanded for further proceedings. View "Bates v. Secretary, Department of Corrections" on Justia Law

Approximately 25 years after his guilty plea to resisting a police officer with violence, an IJ found petitioner removable and ruled he was no longer eligible for cancellation of removal on account of the stop-time rule.The Eleventh Circuit held that it was error to retroactively apply the stop-time rule to petitioner's pre-Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) conviction. The court found no clear congressional statement that the stop-time rule should be applied retroactively to pre-IIRIRA plea agreements like petitioner's and held that in the circumstances presented here—specifically, where petitioner's pre-IIRIRA plea agreement did not render him immediately deportable—applying the stop-time rule to his 1995 conviction would have an impermissibly retroactive effect. Therefore, the court reversed the BIA's decision and remanded for further proceedings. View "Rendon v. U.S. Attorney General" on Justia Law

After plaintiff sat on a vanity chair in her Carnival Cruise ship and it collapsed, she filed suit against Carnival, alleging that it had failed to inspect and maintain the cabin furniture (or else warn her of the danger the chair posed).The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment for Carnival, holding that plaintiff failed to establish that Carnival had actual or constructive notice that the chair was dangerous. Unlike the district court, the court declined to consider whether res ipsa loquitor applies in this case. The court explained that, even if it does, the doctrine cannot cure a defect in notice. Furthermore, because plaintiff has not shown that Carnival committed sanctionable spoliation of evidence, her case is not saved through an adverse inference sanction. View "Tesoriero v. Carnival Corp." on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction and sentence for healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. The court held that sufficient evidence supported defendant's convictions, and that the indictment was plainly sufficient. The court rejected defendant's two evidentiary claims, holding that the district court did not err in permitting an FBI forensic accountant to testify as a lay witness or in allowing a government witness to testify as an expert. The court also held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant's motions for continuance; there was no cumulative error requiring reversal; and the district court did not clearly err in calculating the loss amount and thus the guidelines range. View "United States v. Chalker" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment and denial of habeas relief to petitioner. Petitioner was convicted of capital murder for leaving an elderly woman in the hot trunk of a car, where she eventually suffered a heart attack and died, after robbing her.The court held that the state court's determination that petitioner's counsel was not encumbered by an actual conflict that adversely affected his performance was neither contrary to nor an unreasonable application of clearly established law or an unreasonable determination of the facts. The court also held that the petition failed to establish ineffective assistance of counsel during the penalty phase of his capital trial where his lawyers failed to adequately investigate and present mitigating evidence, because petitioner failed to establish prejudice. View "Dallas v. Warden" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed defendant's sentence for multiple counts of mail fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, as well as conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice. This case comes before the court a second time, because defendant claims that the district court did not remedy the original errors found in his sentence. After review, the court held that the district court addressed and entirely solved the issues raised by the previous panel.The court declined to address defendant's challenges to his conviction based on the mandate rule and the law of the case doctrine. The court affirmed the district court's calculation of loss, holding that the district court reasonably relied on evidence and analysis provided by a qualified expert who had earlier served as the acting division director and chief economist of the SEC's Division of Economic and Risk Analysis. The court held that defendant's remaining due process and forfeiture claims fall outside the scope of the limited remand in this case. Finally, the court rejected defendant's challenges to the district court's forfeiture order. View "United States v. Stein" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against two officers, alleging claims of malicious prosecution under both the Fourth Amendment and Alabama law. After plaintiff was shot by one of the officers and spent two months in a hospital recovering, he spent more than 16 months in pretrial detention on charges of attempted murder. The charges were eventually dropped when a news organization eventually published a video recorded on a dashboard camera that supported plaintiff's account that he had dropped his gun and complied with the officers' commands.The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of summary judgment based on qualified immunity to the officers. The court held that the record presents a genuine dispute of fact about whether plaintiff's pretrial detention was unlawful where, regardless of its applicability to warrantless arrests, the any-crime rule does not apply to claims of malicious prosecution under the Fourth Amendment; malicious prosecution requires plaintiff to prove that the judicial determination of probable cause underlying his seizure was invalid; and plaintiff has established a genuine issue of fact over whether he suffered an unconstitutional seizure pursuant to legal process. Furthermore, the officers caused plaintiff's injury and plaintiff had a clearly established right to not be seized based on intentional and material misrepresentations in a warrant application. The court also held that the officers are not entitled to state-agent immunity because a genuine dispute of fact exists about whether the officers acted maliciously. View "Williams v. Aguirre" on Justia Law