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

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to defendants in an action alleging that plaintiff was arrested in violation of his First and Fourth Amendment rights, as well as the statute authorizing the arrest. Plaintiff was participating in a highway overpass protest when he was arrested for not following a state trooper's orders to disperse from a crowd. The court held that qualified immunity protected State Trooper Jenkins from First Amendment damages because he had no reason to know, based on preexisting law, that his order was unlawful; qualified immunity also protected Jenkins from the Fourth Amendment damages claim; the statute authorizing arrest, 43.170 RSMo, did not violate the First Amendment by being overbroad; 43.170 RSMo was not unconstitutional as applied to plaintiff nor on its face for being unconstitutionally vague; and plaintiff presented no facts to support his request for an injunction and declaratory relief. View "Weed v. Jenkins" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of excessive force claims in a 42 U.S.C. 1983 action filed by the estate of Fallon Frederick. Frederick was shot and killed by an officer when she charged another officer with a knife. The court agreed with the district court that the officers were objectively reasonable in tasing Frederick and then shooting her when she charged them, and that the officers were entitled to qualified immunity because they did not violate Frederick's clearly established Fourth Amendment rights. The court held that existing precedent did not place "beyond debate" that the officers violated Frederick's Fourth Amendment rights when they discharged a taser at Frederick in these circumstances. View "Frederick v. Motsinger" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit denied a petition for review of the BIA's decision affirming the IJ's decision sustaining DHS's charges that petitioner entered into a fraudulent marriage with the purpose of procuring adjustment of status. The court held that the testimony and documentary evidence submitted by DHS -- and not refuted by credible evidence that petitioner and his wife ever lived together -- was substantial evidence that supported the IJ's finding that the marriage was fraudulent under 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(6)(C)(i) and therefore petitioner was removable under section 1227(a)(1)(A). View "Abuya v. Sessions" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the denial of petitioner's 28 U.S.C. 2254 petition and motion to reconsider. The court rejected petitioner's Brady claims, holding that there was no agreement that a witness and the state entered into that the government could have failed to disclose; assuming the state's decision to make relocation payments to a witness was Brady information, its nondisclosure did not undermine confidence in the verdict; petitioner defaulted any claims that he may have had concerning the witness's testimony regarding a gun used in the crime; and because petitioner failed to show that the district court clearly erred in finding that no "non-prosecution" agreement existed, the state did not suppress any information in violation of Brady. The court also rejected petitioner's argument that the district court failed to consider the cumulative effect of the suppression of Brady materials. View "Kennell v. Dormire" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's order remanding a putative class action, alleging that Ferrara engaged in false, deceptive, and misleading conduct by selling substantially under-filled boxes of Red Hot candies, back to state court. The court held that, even if plaintiffs prevailed in this case, they will be entitled to monetary relief and attorney's fees well below $5 million, regardless of whether the monetary relief comes in the form of compensatory damages, restitution, or disgorgement. Furthermore, Ferrara's affidavits were insufficient to quantify, beyond mere speculation, the costs it would incur in complying with an award of injunctive relief in this case. View "Waters v. Ferrara Candy Co." on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress evidence obtained during a police encounter that occurred more than four years before he was indicted for misusing a social security number. The court held that the district court did not clearly err in finding that defendant's roommate's consent to enter the apartment was voluntary; the fact that the roommate was under arrest and had not received a Miranda warning did not render the consent involuntary; and agents had reasonable suspicion to believe that defendant was in the country illegally and to seize him by adjuring him to sit in the living room for questioning. View "United States v. Cobo-Cobo" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs filed suit against defendants, challenging the management of a defined benefit pension plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq. Plaintiffs alleged that defendants violated sections 404, 405, and 406 of ERISA by breaching their fiduciary obligations and causing the Plan to engage in prohibited transactions with a U.S. Bank subsidiary, FAF Advisors. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of the case as moot based on the Plan's overfunded status where there was no actual or imminent injury to the Plan itself that caused injury to plaintiffs' interests; dismissal of the Equities Strategy claim on statute-of-limitations and pleading grounds; and dismissal of plaintiffs' motion for attorneys' fees and costs. View "Thole v. U.S. Bank" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's 188 month sentence after he pleaded guilty to possessing heroin with intent to distribute. The court held that defendant was a career offender under USSG 4B1.1 because his prior conviction for first degree assault in Missouri was a crime of violence. View "United States v. Minnis" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's sentence of 121 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. The court held that defendant's sentence was substantively reasonable where the district court considered the mitigating factors, but gave them little weight relative to the other 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) factors. Furthermore, the district court also did not commit a clear error of judgment in weighing the section 3553(a) factors. In this case, the district court did not clearly err by giving great weight to defendant's extensive history of criminal conduct, or by giving little weight to her history of drug addiction and the fact that her previous offenses were all misdemeanors. View "United States v. Ballard" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's sentence of five years probation including six months confinement and order of restitution to the Social Security Administration. Defendant pleaded guilty to theft of United States property for knowingly receiving four Social Security disability benefits to which he was not entitled, and the district court applied a six-level sentencing enhancement under 2B1.1(b)(1)(D). The court held that the district court did not err by denying defendant's motion for leave to file his untimely objections. Furthermore, the motion was futile because he failed to object with specificity and clarity to fact statements in the presentencing report; overpayments began when he became capable of substantial gainful activity, regardless of when he began earning income; and had the district court allowed defendant to raise an untimely objection to the amount of loss, the government could have presented evidence addressing when he was able to engage in substantial gainful activity, when he intended to begin receiving benefits he did not deserve, and how long he intended those benefit thefts to continue. View "United States v. Dokes" on Justia Law