Justia U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

A member of the Boston City Council was convicted of attempted extortion under color of official right (Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. 1951) and three counts of making a false statement to FBI agents, 18 U.S.C. 1001 for accepting $1,000 in exchange for performing official acts to assist a local businessman in obtaining a liquor license for a supper club. That businessman was cooperating with the FBI. The First Circuit affirmed, rejecting challenges to sufficiency of the evidence and to jury instructions on reciprocity and interstate commerce. The court upheld the 36-month sentence against a contention that the government impermissibly sought vindictively to punish defendant. View "United States v. Turner" on Justia Law

Mead was fired from her job as administrator of 15 assisted living facilities operated by IA and licensed by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. She sued under 42 U.S.C. 1983,alleging that her termination without a hearing infringed her procedural due process rights. She also asserted state law claims.The district court dismissed the due process claims, explaining that IA was a nonstate actor and thus could not be held accountable under section 1983, and that the complaint failed to allege a constitutional violation by the DHHS employees. The First Circuit affirmed. View "Mead v. Independence Ass'n" on Justia Law

Plaintiff, an American company (OneBeacon), claims that a Canadian company, (Aviva), is obligated to reinsure OneBeacon for policies OneBeacon issued to certain entities in the early 1980s. The district court granted summary judgment to Aviva. The First Circuit affirmed, stating that there was no evidence that Aviva agreed to provide reinsurance beyond the term of the first policy year. View "OneBeacon Am. Ins.Co. v. Commercial Union Assurance Co. of Canada" on Justia Law

The EPA initiated efforts to remediate contamination at the Rhode Island Centredale Manor Superfund Site under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. 9601-9675 and issued a unilateral administrative order to compel entities, including NE Container and Emhart to remove hazardous substances that had been disposed of at the Site as part of the former operations of several companies. Emhart sued NE Container and its insurers, which had provided general commercial liability policies to NE Container during different time periods from the late 1960s through the mid-1980s. Travelers agreed to contribute to NE Container's defense pursuant to a reservation of rights, while PWIC took the position that it had no duty to defend. Travelers has incurred significant defense costs and filed this suit, seeking contribution from PWIC. The district court ruled that PWIC was not contractually obligated to defend NE Container in the Emhart action, observing that the alleged property damage occurred before the commencement of the PWIC policy period between 1982 and 1985. The First Circuit vacated. The district court mistakenly focused solely on the timing of the insured's alleged polluting activities, rather than also considering the potential timing of property damage caused by those activities. View "Travelers Casualty & Surety Co. v. Providence WA Ins. Co., Inc." on Justia Law

An FBI agent went online, undercover, to search for child pornography, using LimeWire, a commercially available peer-to-peer filesharing program. He used a special version developed by the FBI, known as EP2P, to assist child pornography investigations. Modifications permit agents to download a file from a single source, learn the general location of the source, and facilitate the identification of child pornography as such. The agent downloaded files and confirmed that they contained graphic depictions of young girls, served a subpoena on the ISP, traced the IP address to a residence owned by the defendant's father, executed a search warrant, and spoke to defendant, who took responsibility for seized computers and admitted to using LimeWire. He denied that he had ever searched for, or downloaded, child pornography. Forensic analysis revealed over 5,000 images and videos of child pornography on the desktop and nearly 2,000 on the laptop. Convicted of two counts of possessing child pornography, 18 U.S.C. 2252(a)(4)(B), and one count of distribution, 2252(a)(2), defendant was sentenced to 97 months plus a life term of supervised release and payment of $10,000 to each of two victims who requested restitution. The First Circuit affirmed, rejecting claims of multiplicity and upholding evidentiary rulings. View "United States v. Chiaradio" on Justia Law

One defendant pled guilty to seven counts of aggravated identity theft, 18 U.S.C 1028 A, and access device fraud, 18 U.S.C. 1029 (a)(2) and the other was convicted of aggravated identity theft and two counts of identity fraud, arising from their participation in a substantial credit card fraud scheme. The First Circuit affirmed, rejecting challenges to the indictment, evidentiary rulings, and the sentences of 81 months and 168 months. View "United States v. Savarese" on Justia Law

Petitioners, a father and children, natives of Honduras, entered the U.S. without inspection in 1991. The father, who had uncovered tax fraud as an auditor in Honduras, sought asylum in 1992, claiming death threats. DHS began removal proceedings in 2007. The IJ denied the application finding that petitioners failed to establish past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution to qualify for asylum. The BIA affirmed. The First Circuit denied review. View "Lobo v. Holder" on Justia Law

Plaintiff sought damages resulting from a delayed delivery of perishable food items from Puerto Limón, Costa Rica to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The district court dismissed as time-barred by the statute of limitations in the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, 46 U.S.C. 30701. The First Circuit affirmed,rejecting and argument that the parties meant to incorporate COGSA solely for the purpose of limiting the carrier's liability to $500, per COGSA's limitation of liability provision and equitable arguments. View "Greenpack of PR, Inc. v. Am. President Lines" on Justia Law

Plaintiff's decedent was shot and killed by a man wielding a stolen handgun. Plaintiff claimed that the gun owner's negligent storage of the weapon and his failure timely to report its theft proximately caused the decedent's death. The district court rejected the claims. The First Circuit affirmed. Applying New Hampshire law, the court stated that the record, even construed in the light most favoring the plaintiff, does not show either a particularized risk of harm or a degree of foreseeability sufficient to animate an exception to the general rule that there is no duty to protect others from third-party criminal predations. View "Jones v. Secord" on Justia Law

The Belfast Project collected taped interviews of the recollections of members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the Provisional Sinn Fein, the Ulster Volunteer Force, and other paramilitary and political organizations involved in the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland from 1969 forward. The Project had various confidentiality measures in place, but in 2011, the United States submitted an application to the district court ex parte and under seal pursuant to the US-UK Mutual Assistance Treaty and 18 U.S.C. 3512, seeking appointment of an Assistant U.S. Attorney to collect evidence and to take other action to effectuate a request from law enforcement authorities in the United Kingdom, concerning the 1972 murder and kidnapping of Jean McConville. The district court granted the government's application. The First Circuit affirmed, stating that there was no First Amendment basis for challenging the subpoenas. The fact that communications were made under a promise of confidentiality does not create a privilege. View "In Re: Request from the United Kingdom" on Justia Law