Justia U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

For budget reasons, St. Cloud State University shut down six of its sports teams, including women's tennis and Nordic Skiing teams. Female student-athletes brought a Title IX discrimination action. 20 U.S.C. 1681(a). The district court preliminarily enjoined cutting the women's teams, concluding the University failed to comply with Title IX requirements in its allocation of athletic participation opportunities and treatment and benefits for student-athletes.The Eighth Circuit reversed in part and remanded. The court upheld findings that the University uses a tier system for dividing particular teams, offering different levels of support to each tier. The University violated Title IX by not providing equitable participation opportunities for men and women. The district court erred, however, by requiring the University to provide equitable treatment and benefits “among the tiers of support,” and by mandating steps toward eliminating the unequal distribution of “participation opportunities among the tiers” rather than analyzing the institution's programs as a whole. View "Portz v. St. Cloud State University" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, employees of civilian and military contractors who used Combat Arms Version 2 earplugs, filed separate suits against 3M in Minnesota state court, asserting failure-to-warn claims under state law. After removal to federal court, the district court granted plaintiffs' motions to remand the cases to state court for lack of federal jurisdiction, concluding that 28 U.S.C. 1442(a)(1) was not a basis for removal.Reviewing de novo, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the remand orders in the Graves and Hall actions, whose members acquired commercial earplugs. The court concluded that 3M failed to establish it was "acting under" a federal officer or agency in developing and disseminating warnings and instructions for its commercial earplugs. However, the court affirmed in part and reversed in part the remand orders in the Copeland cases and remanded for further proceedings. The court concluded that 3M has a colorable federal contractor defense for claims made by Copeland plaintiffs who acquired earplugs through the military, and has satisfied the other elements required for section 1442(a)(1) removal as to these plaintiffs. Therefore, the district court's remand orders are reversed as to this group, whose members will need to be determined on remand. View "Graves v. 3M Company" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of the Pension Fund's amended complaint in this securities fraud class action. The Pension Fund, as lead plaintiff, alleged securities fraud under section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act, as well as controlling-person liability under section 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act.The court concluded that, 137 of the 138 statements listed in the amended complaint were clearly either (1) statements identified as forward looking and accompanied by meaningful cautionary statements, (2) corporate puffery, or (3) forward-looking statements that the complaint's allegations do not imply by strong inference were made with actual knowledge of their falsity. Furthermore, although the remaining statement comes closer than the other 137 to giving the Pension Fund a section 10(b) claim, it too falls short. The court explained that, even assuming arguendo the statement was false, the confidential former employee's allegation does not give rise to a strong inference of severe recklessness. Therefore, the complaint fails to satisfy the heightened pleading standards with respect to the misrepresentation and mental-state requirements of section 10(b) liability. Consequently, the section 20(b) claims were also properly dismissed. Finally, reviewing the issue of futility de novo, the court concluded that the district court properly denied leave to amend. View "City of Plantation Police Officers Pension Fund v. Meredith Corp." on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the bankruptcy appellate panel's decision affirming the bankruptcy court's determination that debtor's debt to Lariat is excepted from discharge because it was obtained by actual fraud. The court explained that, although Lariat's claim was partially disallowed against debtor's bankruptcy estate under 11 U.S.C. 502(b)(6), the landlord cap does not foreclose Lariat's argument that the claim should be excepted from discharge under section 523(a)(2)(A). Therefore, Lariat's claim is excepted from discharge under section 523(a)(2)(A) to the extent that it was obtained by actual fraud. In this case, the bankruptcy court did not clearly err in finding that debtor had received a fraudulent transfer from her husband, and the record supports the bankruptcy court's finding that debtor participated in the scheme with the requisite wrongful intent. View "Lariat Companies, Inc. v. Wigley" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment holding that Safeco was not liable for coverage for a claim stemming from an accident involving an uninsured driver. In this case, the insured was killed when her motorcycle collided with a car driven by the uninsured driver. The court concluded that the district court did not err in determining that coverage for the accident was excluded under the insurance policy's motorcycle exclusion. Therefore, the policy unambiguously excluded coverage for the insured's accident. View "Safeco Insurance Co. of Illinois v. Palazzolo" on Justia Law

After panel rehearing, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motions to suppress and his objection to application of the career criminal enhancement in USSG 4B1.1(a). Defendant robbed a Sprint Wireless Express store at gunpoint, and then left with a GPS tracker.The court concluded that the police had at least reasonable suspicion to stop the vehicle where, considering the tight window of opportunity officers have to locate a fleeing suspect, it was reasonable for police to rely on third-party GPS data. Furthermore, other factors also supported the officers' suspicion, such as the store employee's description of the vehicle and the unusual behavior of the vehicle's occupants. Therefore, the totality of the circumstances gave police at least reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot, and thus stopping the vehicle to investigate that suspicion comported with the Fourth Amendment. The court also concluded that any error in denying as moot defendant's objection to evidence of a show-up was harmless after the government stated it did not intend to use the evidence at trial. Finally, the court concluded that the district court did not err in imposing the career offender enhancement where Illinois armed robbery qualifies as generic robbery under the enumerated offense clause of section 4B1.2(a)(2). View "United States v. Martin" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit challenging the South Dakota State Penitentiary's pornography policy under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Plaintiff named as defendants four South Dakota corrections officials in their official capacities. The district court granted in part and denied in part the parties' motions for summary judgment.In regard to plaintiff's as-applied challenges, the Eighth Circuit applied the Turner v. Safely, 482 U.S. 78 (1987), factors and concluded that the district court erred in granting summary judgment for plaintiff on his claim that the policy is unconstitutional as applied to two erotic novels because defendants were within their discretion to censor these books. However, the district court properly granted summary judgment for plaintiff on his claim that the policy is unconstitutional as applied to the art book and nine pictures of Renaissance artwork.In regard to plaintiff's facial challenges, the court dismissed as moot plaintiff's claim that the prohibition on nudity is overbroad, but plaintiff's claim that the prohibition on sexually explicit content is overbroad remains a live case or controversy based on the court's reversal of the district court's ruling on his as-applied challenges regarding the erotic novels. The court read the policy in light of the doctrine of constitutional avoidance and concluded that plaintiff failed to show that the policy's prohibition on sexually explicit content is "substantially overbroad." The court concluded that although plaintiff's resolution of plaintiff's as-applied challenges does not moot his claim that the policy's prohibition on sexually explicit content is overbroad, this claim fails on the merits. Finally, the court dismissed as moot plaintiff's request for coercive sanctions, denied his request for compensatory sanctions, and denied plaintiff's request for sanctions for defendants' alleged violations of the district court's orders. Accordingly, the court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings. View "Sisney v. Kaemingk" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress after defendant pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. In this case, a police officer stopped the vehicle defendant was driving for having an unsafe windshield and, during the scope of the traffic stop, the officer asked defendant to get out of the vehicle, conducted a pat down search, and discovered a handgun.The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion by deciding, in the absence of disputed facts, to rule on the motion to suppress without conducting an evidentiary hearing. The court also concluded that a reasonable officer could have believed on initial observation that the cracked windshield constituted a safety defect and the officer's mistake of fact was an objectively reasonable one. Therefore, defendant was not unreasonably seized when the officer conducted the traffic stop. Furthermore, the officer did not unlawfully expand the scope or extend the stop when he asked for identification from the occupants of the vehicle. View "United States v. Foster" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit reversed the district court's ruling that an arbitration clause found in Walmart.com's terms of use was unenforceable against purchasers of gift cards. In this case, plaintiffs filed suit against Walmart after gift cards they purchased turned out to be worthless because third parties tampered with, and stole the funds on, the gift cards. Walmart sought to compel arbitration based on a notation on the back of the gift cards directing purchasers to see Walmart.com for complete terms.The court concluded, under the point-of-purchase theory, that the parties did not enter into a binding arbitration agreement at the moment plaintiffs purchased their gift cards because Walmart did not state that it wished to have the arbitration agreement bind the parties at the moment of purchase. Rather, the arbitration provision states that a customer accepts arbitration only by using or accessing the Walmart Sites. While the parties do not dispute that this case involves a browsewrap agreement, the court concluded that material disputes of fact exists on the question of whether the parties agreed to arbitration. The court explained that material disputes exist regarding whether plaintiffs used the website, whether the design of the website was sufficient to give a reasonable browser notice of the arbitration, and whether the language on the card was sufficient to put the buyer on notice. Accordingly, the court remanded for further proceedings. View "Foster v. Walmart, Inc." on Justia Law

A global settlement was approved in 2002 in securities law class actions concerning the merger of companies to form Bank of America, which included an award of approximately $58 million in fees to the attorneys appointed to represent the NationsBank Class. Two decades later, one of the lead plaintiffs for the class filed a motion to reconsider the fee award and to order disgorgement of some $38 million in fees previously paid to NationsBank Class Counsel based on their poor performance, mismanagement of the settlement fund, and abandonment of the class.The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of plaintiff's motion for redetermination, concluding that disgorgement of attorneys' fees was barred by the equitable doctrine of laches. The court concluded that the delay in asserting plaintiff's claim is manifestly unreasonable and inexcusable, prejudicing the other parties; the court and/or the district court previously rejected plaintiff's challenges; the challenged actions, from the inclusion of an exculpatory clause in the settlement checks to opposing cy pres distribution, occurred seven to fifteen years before plaintiff sought total disgorgement in his motion for redetermination; and plaintiff's failure to seek disgorgement in the proper manner and before the proper court was inexcusable delay. Finally, the court concluded that the district court has not failed to honor its ongoing fiduciary duty to the class in overseeing a complex settlement fund distribution made more complex and dilatory by the contentious actions of its participants, and the court has not allowed the class to be abandoned by those responsible for distributing the settlement fund. View "Oetting v. Sosne" on Justia Law