Recently in Civil Rights Law Category

In plaintiff's civil rights case against the state of Rhode Island and a State Police representative and other police officers who had executed a search warrant of his workplace at the Narrangansett Indian Tribe "smoke shop", jury's verdict in favor of the defendant in the second trial is affirmed as: 1) there was no abuse of discretion in the district court's grant of a new trial based on the second ground, that even if the jury verdict had unambiguously rested on the increased force theory, that theory would have been contrary to the weight of the evidence; and 2) plaintiff's argument that the district court erred in granting a new trial because defendant failed to press the district court for a ruling on this motion after it initially and erroneously ruled the motion was moot is rejected.   

Read Jennings v. Jones, No. 08-2117

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island

Decided November 19, 2009

Judges

Before:  Lynch, Chief Judge, and Gajarsa and Lipez, Circuit Judges

Opinion by Lynch, Chief Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:     Charles M. Bradley

For Appellee:   Rebecca Tedford Partington, Deputy Chief, Civil Division, John Moreira, Special Assistant Attorney General

In plaintiffs' civil rights case against the members of the State Electoral Commission of Puerto Rico challenging the Commission's decision to print ballots in the November 2008 elections solely in Spanish, district court's judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and a permanent injunction compelling the Commission to print bi-lingual ballots is vacated and remanded where: 1) district court's judgment should be vacated because it was rendered moot by an independent, intervening act of legislation mandating the Commission to use bilingual ballots under Puerto Rican law; 2) plaintiffs were prevailing parties entitled to attorney's fees for the costs of the district court litigation notwithstanding the subsequent mootness; 3) district court did not abuse its discretion in reducing plaintiffs' award of attorney's fees; and 4) motion for substitution of parties by the defendant, former President of the Commission, is granted.   

Read Diffenderfer v. Gomez-Colon, No. 08-2139

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico

Decided November 19, 2009

Judges

Before:  Lynch, Chief Judge, and Torruella and Ripple, Circuit Judges

Opinion by Lynch, Chief Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:    Noel S. González-Miranda, González Miranda & González Abella PSC

For Appellee:   Eliezer Aldarondo Ortiz, Eliezer A. Aldarondo and Aldarondo & López Bras

In plaintiff's disability discrimination action against his former employer under the ADA, summary judgment for defendant is affirmed where: 1) the district court correctly determined that the allegations of discrimination encompassed by his 2001 Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) charge placed a limitation on the claims plaintiff can present now, and as such, plaintiff could only pursue his action with respect to alleged acts of discrimination that occurred in the 300-day window preceding his 2001 MCAD charge; and 2) the district court correctly determined that, assuming the 2001 MCAD complaint was properly limited, plaintiff's remaining allegations did not support his claims of violations of the ADA.  

Read Thornton v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., No. 08-2162

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Decided November 12, 2009

Judges

Before:  Boudin, Lipez, and Gajarsa, Circuit Judges

Opinion by Gajarsa, Circuit Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:  Michael Tumposky, Stephen B. Hrones

For Appellee:  Elizabeth A. Kowal, and Susan J. Baronoff

In plaintiffs' case against the Office of the Insurance Commissioner of Puerto Rico and two consecutive Insurance Commissioners claiming that they were investigated and sanctioned for Insurance Code violations solely because of their political affiliations, district court's judgment in favor of the plaintiffs in the amount of $4.7 million and a permanent injunction is affirmed as all of defendants' grounds for relief are without merit.     

Read Guillemaro-Ginorio v. Contreras-Gomez, No. 08-1302

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico

Decided October 27, 2009

Judges

Before:  Torruella, Silar, and Howard, Circuit Judges

Opinion by Torruella, Circuit Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:  Carlos A. Del Valle-Cruz, Special Counsel, Department of Justice, with whom Roberto J. Sánchez-Ramos, Secretary of Justice, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and Maite Oronoz-Rodríguez, Acting Solicitor General,

For Appellee:   Joseph D. Steinfield and Jeffrey J. Pyle of Prince, Lobel, Glovsky & Tye, LLP, Joan S. Peters of Nachman & Guillemard

In plaintiff's section 1983 action against the town and employees arising from his arrest for simple assault of his estranged wife, grant of defendants' motion for summary judgment is affirmed as an officer had sufficient information to conclude that the state offense of simple assault had taken place, and as such, there was no violation of the Fourth Amendment.  

Read Holder v. Town of Sandown, No. 08-1582

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire

Decided October 29, 2009

Judges

Before:  Lynch, Chief Judge, Torruella, Ripple, Circuit Judges

Opinion by Ripple, Circuit Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:  Sven D. Wiberg and Wiberg Law Office

For Appellee:   Brian J.S. Cullen and CullenCollimore, PLLC

In a political discrimination case against a municipality in Puerto Rico, default judgment against defendants is affirmed where the district court did not abuse its discretion in entering the default judgment for repeated discovery violations, and the law of the case doctrine bars defendants' attempt to re-argue the adequacy of plaintiffs' complaint. 

Read Remexcel Managerial Consultants, Inc. v. Arlequin, No. 08-1753

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico

Decided October 1, 2009

Judges

Before:  Torruella, Tashima, and Lipez, Circuit Judges 

Opinion by Lipez, Circuit Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:  Jorge Martínez-Luciano, with whom Johanna M. Emmanuelli Huertas and Emil Rodríguez-Escudero

For Appellee:  Pedro R. Vázquez III

In plaintiffs' section 1983 suit against various town and school officials alleging that defendants advocated for approval of budgets and spending through various channels of communication media while denying plaintiffs access to the same communication channels, the district court's judgment is affirmed where: 1) district court correctly concluded that the three added plaintiffs in the amended complaint lacked standing as they could not show any actual or imminent injury; 2) district court did not err in dismissing plaintiffs' claims besides those pertaining to the town website and the 2006 annual report on res judicata grounds based on the earlier state court action; and 3) district court's grant of summary judgment to the defendants on plaintiffs' town website free speech claim is affirmed but on the ground that the claim fails because the town defendants' actions in setting up and controlling a town website and choosing not to allow certain hyperlinks constituted government speech. 

Read Sutliffe v. Epping Sch. Dist., No. 08-2587

Appellate Information

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire

Decided September 17, 2009

Judges

Before: Lynch, Chief Judge,  Torruella, and Ebel, Circuit Judges.   

Opinion by Lynch, Chief Judge 

Counsel

For Appellant: Benjamin T. King and Charles G. Douglas, III, Douglas, Leonard & Garvey PC

For Appellee:  John T. Alexander, Daniel J. Mullen and Ransmeier & Spellman, PC were on brief for Town appellees.

Diane M. Gorrow, Soule, Leslie, Kidder, Sayward & Loughman, P.L.L.C. was on brief for school appellees.

In condemnation proceedings involving a 34 acre parcel used by the Federal Aviation Administration for aircraft navigation, the district court's judgment is affirmed where the district court: 1) did not abuse its discretion in excluding defendant's own testimony when the court had excluded similar testimony by defendant's expert; 2) did not err in holding that the "before and after" method was appropriate in valuing the property, assuming a partial taking; and 3) did not err in submitting to the jury unity of use. Defendant's remaining contentions were without merit.       

Read US v. Piza-Blondet, No. 08-2263 

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico

Decided September 11, 2009

Judges

Before:  Boudin, Seyla, and Dyk, Circuit Judges.   
Opinion: Dyk, Circuit Judge 

Counsel

For Appellant:  Paul E. Harrison, Francisco Diez and J. Wayne Mumphrey.

For Appellee:  Aaron P. Avila, Attorney, U.S. Dep't of Justice, John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General and Jeffrey M. Tapick, Attorney, U.S. Dep't of Justice.

District court's dismissal of plaintiffs' suit against Puerto Rico Police Department officers and their supervisors for violations of their constitutional rights, as well as claims under Puerto Rico's constitutional and civil law, is affirmed as time-barred where under the identicality requirement, the causes of action asserted in the complaint must be based on the same substantive claims as asserted in the extrajudicial letter. 

Read Santana-Castro v. Toledo-Davilla, No. 08-1964

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United State District Court for the District of Puerto Rico
Decided August 27, 2009

Judges

Before Lynch, Chief Judge, Torruella, Circuit Judge, and Ebel, Of The Tenth Circuit, sitting by designation.    
Opinion by Torruella, Circuit Judge.

Counsel

For Appellants: Guillermo Ramos-Luiña, Harry Anduze-Montaño and José A. Morales-Boscio

For Appellee:  Rosa Elena Pérez-Agosto, Assistant Solicitor General, Irene S. Soroeta-Kodesh, Solicitor General, Leticia Casalduc-Rabell, Deputy Solicitor General, and Zaira Z. Girón-Anadón, Deputy Solicitor General

In a case brought by dismissed employees of a government agency in Puerto Rico claiming political discrimination, district court's order of reinstatement against defendant-intervenor is affirmed where: 1) it was proper for the district court to revisit the earlier order where, under the law of the case doctrine, courts may reopen a matter previously decided on a showing of exceptional circumstances such as the serious injustice to the plaintiffs in this case; 2) the reinstatement order was proper as defendants could be substituted for the original party under Rule 25(c) and they are not protected by sovereign immunity. 

Read Negron-Almeda v. Santiago, No. 08-2360

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United State District Court for the District of Puerto Rico
Decided August 26, 2009

Judges

Before Boudin and Lipez, Circuit Judges, and Signal, District Judge. 
Opinion by Lipez, Circuit Judge.

Counsel

For Appellant:  Eyck O. Lugo-Rivera, Martinez Odell & Calabria.

For Appellee: Claudio Aliff-Ortiz, Eliezer A. Aldarondo-López, Aldarondo & López Bras, PSC.