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

The First Circuit affirmed the order of the district court entering a partial judgment dismissing Plaintiffs' claims against Defendants, holding that Plaintiffs were not entitled to relief on their claims of error.Nathalie Nicole-Rivera-Aponte (Rivera) was raped while she was a student at Ponce Paramedical College in Ponce, Puerto Rico by the driver of the bus operated by Gomez Bus Line, Inc., (GBL), a company who contracted with the College to provide transportation services to students. Plaintiffs, Rivera and her mother, sued GBL and the College (together, Defendants), alleging negligence. The district court granted Defendants' motions for summary judgment and dismissed the claims against them. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that Plaintiffs' claims of error were unavailing. View "Rivera-Aponte v. Gomez Bus Line, Inc." on Justia Law

In this dispute over indemnification arising from an underlying negligence case, the First Circuit vacated the decision of the district court as to a contractual crossclaim for indemnification, holding that the district court erred.John Caruso was staying at the Omni Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island when he tripped and fell on a curb separating the hotel's valet from its main entrance. Caruso brought this complaint against the both the hotel's valet operator and its owner, claiming that Defendants negligently maintained the premises and had a duty to warn him of an unreasonably safe condition, causing his injuries. The hotel owner filed crossclaims against the valet in the action, seeking indemnification for its litigation costs. As to the indemnification crossclaims the district court held that Omni was not entitled to relief. The First Circuit vacated the judgment for the valet and directed the district court on remand to enter judgment for the hotel owner, holding that the district court's rejection to the hotel owner's right to contractual indemnification was premised on an incorrect view of both Rhode Island law and the language of the parties' contractual agreement. View "Omni Hotels Management Corp. v. Ultimate Parking, LLC" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the trial court convicting Defendant of sex trafficking of a minor, use of an interstate facility to promote unlawful activity, and maintaining a drug-involved premises, holding that Defendant was not entitled to relief on his claims of error.On appeal, Defendant argued that the trial judge erred in denying his motion to a mistrial after the trial judge dismissed two jurors immediately before the jury started deliberating and further erred in denying his motion for a new trial. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) there was no patent abuse of discretion in the trial judge's conclusion that mistrial was unwarranted; and (2) Defendant was not entitled to a new trial on the ground that the government had suppressed impeachment information about one of its witnesses because the suppression did not undermine the confidence in the jury's guilty verdicts. View "United States v. Tucker" on Justia Law

The First Circuit denied Petition's petition for review of the decision of the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (Board) to deny Petitioner a disabled child's annuity under the Railroad Retirement Act (Act), 45 U.S.C. 231a(d)(1)(iii), holding that the Board's findings were supported by substantial evidence.Petitioner, who was born in 1954, applied in 2015 for a disabled child's annuity under a provision of the Act that entitles unmarried children of certain deceased railroad employees to an annuity if they have developed a disability before the age of twenty-two. The Board found, among other things, that there was inadequate evidence to support a finding that Petitioner suffered a physical or mental impairment prior to age twenty-two. The First Circuit denied Petitioner's petition for review, holding that substantial evidence supported the Board's conclusion that Petitioner did not have any physical or mental impairment prior to age twenty-two. View "Crockett v. U.S. Railroad Retirement Bd." on Justia Law

The First Circuit vacated the sentence imposed upon Defendant after he pleaded guilty, pursuant to a plea agreement, to possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, holding that there was procedural error in the proceedings below.In the plea agreement at issue the parties agreed to recommend a combined sentence between ninety-six and 120 months in prison. The aggregated Guideline Sentencing Range for the crimes was sixty to sixty-two months' imprisonment. The district court, however, varied upwards to impose a sentence of 144 months. The First Circuit vacated the upwardly variant sentence, holding that because the district court offered no explicit rationale tying the instant facts to the statutory sentencing goals, the court committed plain error. View "United States v. Munoz-Fontanez" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court convicting Defendant of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of substantive wire fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft, holding that Defendant was not entitled to relief on appeal.Defendant was convicted of crimes he committed participating in an international scheme that used stolen identities to file fraudulent federal income tax returns with the IRS. The district court sentenced Defendant to a total of seventy months' imprisonment. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) this Court declines to review the merits of Defendant's ineffective assistance claim on direct appeal; (2) a challenged jury instruction did not constructively amend the indictment and was not error; and (3) during sentencing, the district court did not clearly err in calculating the loss amount attributable to Defendant's conduct. View "United States v. Akoto" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the rulings of the bankruptcy court in this adversary proceeding brought by Ann Tracy Botelho against her neighbor and business partner, Mary E. Buscone, during Mary's bankruptcy proceedings, holding that there was no error in the challenged rulings.In 2012, Mary and Ann opened up a frozen yogurt shop together. The business ceased operations in 2014, and Ann filed for bankruptcy. In 2018, after Ann received a Chapter 7 discharge, Ann sued Mary in state court, resulting in a default judgment. The court attached a lien for the judgment amount plus interest to Mary's home. Mary then brought her own Chapter 7 case, listing in her schedules Ann's claim against her. Ann subsequently initiated an adversary proceeding seeking a determination that her claim against Mary was non-dischargeable. A prolonged discovery dispute ensued resulting in another default judgment against Mary as a sanction for her failure to comply with discovery orders. The bankruptcy appellate panel largely affirmed the bankruptcy court's rulings. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that the district court did not err in denying Mary's motion for summary judgment, granting Ann's second motion to compel, and denying Mary's motion for reconsideration. View "Botelho v. Buscone" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the order of the bankruptcy court determining that Donald Kupperstein knowingly and fraudulently omitted and misrepresented material facts in his Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition and related schedules, requiring that Kupperstein be denied a discharge, holding that there was no error.Kupperstein filed in bankruptcy court a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 7. Appellees commenced adversary proceedings seeking the denial of Kupperstein's bankruptcy discharge under 11 U.S.C. 523, 727(a)(4)(A) on the grounds that Kupperstein had engaged in clear and blatant misconduct. The bankruptcy court denied a discharge and granted summary judgment for Appellees. The district court affirmed. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the bankruptcy court did not err in denying Kupperstein's motion for leave to file a belated response to Appellees' joint statement of facts in support of their motion for summary judgment; and (2) the bankruptcy court did not err in granting Appellees' joint motion for summary judgment. View "Kupperstein v. Schall" 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

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the Title III court dismissing this adversary proceeding for lack of jurisdiction, holding that the district court properly dismissed the action.The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico determined that the the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Retirement System - the entity that administers the university's pension plan - was heading toward insolvency and therefore issued fiscal plans for UPR that, inter alia, identified the options UPR had for adjusting its continuing accrual of obligations to the Retirement System. Plaintiffs filed this adversary proceeding seeking to block any pension changes. The Title III court dismissed the complaint for lack of jurisdiction. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that the district court did not err in granting dismissal pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1). View "Asociacion Puertorriquena de Profesores Univ. v. University of Puerto Rico" on Justia Law