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

A federal grand jury in the district of Maine handed up an indictment that charged an elementary-school music teacher with two counts of transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. After a bench trial, the district court found the teacher guilty and imposed a twelve-year incarcerative sentence. The teacher appealed, arguing, among other things, that the district court improperly admitted evidence of his contact with the victim during a bus trip and his inappropriate conduct with another young girl. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding (1) Defendant forfeited his Fed. R. Evid. 404(b) claim of error; (2) the district court afforded Defendant a reasonable opportunity to cross-examine a government witness; and (3) Defendant's sentence was substantively reasonable. View "United States v. Raymond" on Justia Law

Petitioner Muhammad Saleem Sheikh, a native and citizen of Pakistan, sought review of a final order of removal issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The order came after the BIA dismissed Petitioner's appeal of an immigration judge's denial of a continuance in his removal proceedings. The First Circuit Court of Appeals denied the petition, holding (1) there was no abuse of discretion in the decision to deny the motion for continuance under the standards set forth in Matter of Hashmi; and (2) Petitioner's hopes for immigration reform did not warrant forbearance in his removal proceedings. View "Sheikh v. Holder" on Justia Law

In this adverse employment action, Plaintiff appealed the district court's award of summary judgment to his former employer ("the Company") on his claims of age discrimination in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. On appeal, the First Circuit Court of Appeals noted inconsistencies between the Company's stated reasons for dismissal and Plaintiff's performance record at the Company, the lack of credibility that could be ascribed by a jury to certain of the Company's justifications for dismissal, and the fact that in response to arguably similar conduct by Plaintiff's younger replacement, the Company took no disciplinary action. The First Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment, holding that there was sufficient evidence presented on summary judgment from which a jury could draw the permissible inference that the Company's claimed reasons for terminating Plaintiff were pretextual and that the decision was the result of discriminatory animus. View "Acevedo-Parrilla v. Novartis Ex-Lax, Inc." on Justia Law

After a jury trial in the United States district court, Appellant, an attorney, was convicted on bribery, extortion, and conspiracy charges stemming from his involvement in a scheme to purchase the votes of three corrupt town councilmen on two zoning matters. During the trial, the district court admitted into evidence under Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(2)(E) a number of recorded statements about Appellant made by one of the councilmen to a government informant. On appeal, Appellant argued that some of these statements should have been excluded as hearsay, and challenged the admission of all the statements on constitutional grounds under the Confrontation Clause. Appellant also claimed the district court erred in calculating his sentence under the United States Sentencing Guidelines. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding (1) the district court did not clearly err in admitting the challenged statements; and (2) the sentence imposed was appropriate. View "United States v. Ciresi" on Justia Law

This case required the First Circuit Court of Appeals to decide, for the first time, whether section 1101(a)(42)(B), a statute enacted to pave the way for asylum for victims of China's coercive population control policies, extends automatically to a spouse of a person forced to undergo an abortion. Petitioner, a Chinese national, petitioned for asylum, seeking to remain in the United States because of, among other things, his wife's forced abortion. Petitioner argued he was entitled to per se refugee status under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(42)(B) "as a person who has been forced to abort a pregnancy." The immigration judge rejected this argument, and the board of immigration appeals affirmed. The First Circuit Court denied Petitioner's petition for judicial review after joining several of its sister circuits in holding that, given the language of the relevant statute and the Attorney General's reasonable interpretation of it, the agency did not err in refusing to grant Petitioner's per se refugee status on the basis that the Chinese government had compelled his wife to undergo a forced abortion. View "Dong v. Holder" on Justia Law

In this Hague Convention case concerning claims by a motion of wrongful retention in this country of her fourteen-year-old daughter who was in need of emergency psychiatric care, the district court both denied relief and dismissed the Swiss mother's case. The district court interpreted orders of the relevant Swiss Guardianship Authority and a Swiss court as having stripped the mother of all custody rights so as to deprive the federal court of jurisdiction. The First Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the district court's dismissal of the case, holding that while the language of these orders was imprecise, the orders had a far more limited scope, and the federal court was required under the Convention to hear the case. View "Felder v. Wetzel" on Justia Law

Appellant Juan Colon-Rodriguez was convicted in 2009 on twelve counts of making false statements on Farm Service Agency (FSA) loan applications and one count of defrauding a financial institution. The district sentenced Appellant to thirty-seven months' imprisonment on each count, to be served concurrently. The First Circuit Court of Appeals (1) affirmed two of the challenged convictions, holding that the evidence was sufficient to support these convictions; (2) vacated the third challenged conviction, holding that no rational jury could have concluded that the government proved all elements of this offense beyond a reasonable doubt; and (3) affirmed the sentence, holding that the sentence was substantively reasonable. View "United States v. Colon-Rodriguez" on Justia Law

Appellant Ivan Gonzalez-Cancel aspired to run for Governor of Puerto Rico as Partido Nuevo Progresista's ("PNP") candidate in the 2012 general election. When he applied for the job, however, PNP said he was not qualified. Gonzalez-Cancel and Jose Barbosa, a supporter of Gonzalez-Cancel's candidacy, sued PNP and Puerto Rico's Elections Commission in federal court, alleging that the decision violated their constitutional rights. The district court dismissed the complaint for lack of jurisdiction, concluding that Appellants' claims did not fall within one of the few narrow exceptions required for a federal court's intervention in state or local electoral disputes. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the exercise of federal jurisdiction over this election dispute was not appropriate. View "Gonzalez-Cancel v. Partido Nuevo Progresista" on Justia Law

In this breach of contract case, defendant DHL Express (USA), Inc. ("DHL") appealed from a judgment on the pleadings for plaintiff C.A. Acquisition Newco LLC ("Newco"). The district court concluded that DHL had terminated the contract and awarded the $50,000 per month provided for in the contract in the event of a "termination." In total, the court entered final judgment for Newco in the amount of $413,333 plus interest. The First Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the judgment of the district court, holding that the contract was ambiguous as to whether DHL's actions constituted a termination under the contract. Remanded. View "C. A. Acquisition Newco, LLC v. DHL Express (USA), Inc." on Justia Law