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

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court dismissing Matthew Haney's complaint, brought as the Trustee of the Gooseberry Island Trust, against the Town of Mashpee and its Zoning Board of Appeals, holding that Haney's arguments on appeal were either waived or meritless.Haney brought this action seeking a declaratory judgment that Defendants' actions constituted uncompensated taking of property in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution due to an unconstitutional taking and the Massachusetts Constitution due to inverse condemnation. The district court dismissed the complaint on the grounds that the claims were not ripe for review. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) Haney waived his argument relative to whether the government had reached a final decision on the Trust's request for variances; and (2) Haney's remaining arguments were meritless. View "Haney v. Town of Mashpee" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court convicting Defendant of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, holding that the district court did not err in denying Defendant's motion to suppress drug evidence.Defendant was a passenger in a single-vehicle car accident on the Maine Turnpike. Suspicion that the vehicle and/or its occupants were transporting drugs Maine police officers searched Defendant's bag and discovered narcotics. Defendant filed a motion to suppress, arguing that the evidence was obtain in violation of her Fourth Amendment rights. The district court denied the motion, after which Defendant conditionally pleaded guilty. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that Defendant's arguments for suppression failed. View "United States v. Howard" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court denying Appellant's challenge to his sentence under 28 U.S.C. 2255, holding that Appellant did not meet his burden of showing that his counsel's performance during the underlying criminal trial was deficient.Appellant pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to distribute a substance containing cocaine base and one count of malicious damage or destruction of property by fire. At sentencing, the trial court determined that Appellant was a career offender in part because his prior Maine state court conviction for unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs qualified as a "controlled substance offense" under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. In this collateral challenge to his sentence, Appellant argued that he received constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel during his sentencing hearing based on his counsel's failure to object to the use of the Maine drug conviction as a predicate offense for the career offender enhancement. The First Circuit denied relief, holding that Appellant's ineffective assistance claim failed. View "Thompson v. United States" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the order of the district court granting Defendant's motion for summary judgment and dismissing Plaintiff's action alleging gender discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq. and other claims under Puerto Rico law, holding that Defendant was not entitled to relief on her assignments of error.Plaintiff sued Defendant after she was not selected for promotion and her employment was terminated. The district court dismissed Plaintiff's claims on summary judgment, finding that Plaintiff failed to show that Defendant's decisions relating to Plaintiff's employment were motivated by discriminatory animus. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that summary judgment was proper as to all of Plaintiff's claims. View "Lopez-Hernandez v. Terumo Puerto Rico LLC" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court dismissing the claim brought by the Back Beach Neighbors Committee alleging that the Town of Rockport, Massachusetts committed a class-of-one equal protection violation by failing adequately to enforce local rules against scuba divers at Back Beach, holding that the district court did not err.The Committee brought this complaint claiming that the Town's failure consistently to enforce various rules as to Back Beach led to the singling out of the beach as a place "to welcome divers." The district court granted the Town's motion to dismiss as to six of the complaint's eight counts and then granted summary judgment for the Town on the remaining counts. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that because the Committee did not plausibly allege the existence of similarly-situated comparators, its class-of-one equal protection claim failed. View "Back Beach Neighbors Committee v. Town of Rockport" on Justia Law

The First Circuit reversed in part the order of the district court granting summary judgment rejecting Defendants' affirmative defense of qualified immunity against Plaintiff's procedural due process claim, holding that the district court erred in granting summary judgment on the federal claims against Defendants.Plaintiff brought this action against three former board members of the Town of Freetown Board of Selectmen, citing 42 U.S.C. 1983 and alleging deprivation of her right to procedural due process on the basis that Defendants removed her state court action to the federal district court. The district court rejected Defendants' argument for qualified immunity on summary judgment. The First Circuit reversed, holding that the doctrine of qualified immunity shielded Defendants from liability against Plaintiff's due process claim. View "Lawless v. Sadeck" on Justia Law

The First Circuit reversed the judgment of the district court dismissing Plaintiff's claims against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) for false arrest, false imprisonment, and violation of the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act (MCRA), holding that the district court incorrectly determined that 8 U.S.C. 1252(g) deprived it of jurisdiction.In his complaint, Plaintiff argued that, for the purpose of his repatriation to Cambodia, he was improperly arrested and detained by federal immigration officers. At issue was whether section 1252(g)'s bar on judicial review of claims "arising from" the government's decision to "execute removal orders" precludes jurisdiction over challenges to the legality of the detention at issue in this case. The district court granted the government's motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The First Circuit reversed, holding that section 1252(g) did not bar judicial review of Plaintiff's challenge to the lawfulness of his detention. View "Kong v. United States" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's conviction and sentence of a 108-month term of immurement for attempted possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl, holding that Defendant was not entitled to relief on his allegations of error.Specifically, the First Circuit held (1) Defendant waived his claim that the district court erred by denying his motion to suppress on the grounds that his arrest and the subsequent search of his person were unreasonable; (2) the district court did not plainly error in allowing the testimony of a detective; (3) the evidence was sufficient to support the conviction; and (4) Defendant's sentence was substantively reasonable. View "United States v. Concepcion-Guliam" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court concluding that the government had shown by a preponderance of the evidence that Appellant had violated the conditions of his supervised release and sentencing him to a two-year term of imprisonment, holding that there was no error.On appeal, Appellant challenged the district court's determination that the government proved, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he possessed a firearm in violation of the conditions of his supervised release. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) a releasee does not have a Sixth Amendment right to confront adverse witnesses during revocation proceedings, and Appellant's remaining constitutional challenge was waived; (2) the district court erred in failing to make the explicit balancing determination contemplated by Fed. R. Civ. P. 32.1(b)(2)(C), but the error was harmless; and (3) the district court's factual findings were not clearly erroneous. View "United States v. Teixeira" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court granting Defendants' motion to dismiss this case arising from a labor dispute under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), holding that Plaintiff's constitutional rights were not violated by the designation of his union as the exclusive bargaining representative for all employees within Plaintiff's bargaining unit.At issue was whether a public employee's First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and association are infringed when a public employer authorizes a union to serve as the exclusive representative in collective bargaining for employees within that employee's designated bargaining unit. Plaintiff, a law professor, brought this lawsuit against, inter alia, the union that represented his bargaining unit, arguing that Defendants infringed his First Amendment rights by making the union his exclusive representative in negations regarding certain pay cuts. The district court granted Defendants' motions to dismiss. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that there was no merit to Plaintiff's contention that his constitutional rights were infringed by the designation of the union as the exclusive bargaining representative for all employees within Plaintiff's bargaining unit. View "Peltz-Steele v. Umass Faculty Federation" on Justia Law