The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (in case citations, 1st Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
MoreSELYA, Circuit Judge. Although a residential subdivision proposed for construction in a bucolic Rhode Island town never saw the light of day, its ghost continues to haunt the parties. But apparitions rarely have substance, and this one is no exception. After careful consideration of the plaintiff's complaint and the district court's order of dismissal, we lay the ghost to rest. "Because this case was decided below on a motion to dismiss, we rehearse the facts as revealed by the complaint and...
LYNCH, Chief Judge. This appeal is the latest development in long-running litigation 1 between Coverall North America, Inc., a company which contracts to provide commercial janitorial cleaning services to building owners or operators in the United States, and its "franchisees," who do the cleaning. Proceeding under federal diversity jurisdiction, the franchisees assert a variety of state-law claims against Coverall. The plaintiffs assert claims for breach of contract, misrepresentation,...
SELYA, Circuit Judge. The petitioners, Jianli Chen and her husband, Min Fen Hu, are Chinese nationals. They seek judicial review of the final orders of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)(i) affirming the denial of their applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT); and (ii) denying their motion for reconsideration. Chen appears both as an applicant for relief in her own right and as a derivative beneficiary of her...
SELYA, Circuit Judge. This is a tort case that pits a Massachusetts woman who claims to have been wronged against a nationally known celebrity. Although the allegations of the plaintiff's complaint paint a poignant picture, we conclude — as did the district court — that the defendant is entitled to judgment on the pleadings. Accordingly, we affirm. I. BACKGROUND Inasmuch as the district court decided this case by entering judgment on the pleadings, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(c), we rehearse the...
Not For Publication PER CURIAM. After careful consideration we conclude that this appeal presents no colorable issue for decision and, therefore, we summarily affirm the district court's judgment. We briefly explain this conclusion. The defendant's principal claim of error concerns the district court's purported use of an obstruction-of-justice enhancement, based on the defendant's alleged perjurious testimony at a preliminary hearing, in calculating the guideline sentencing range (GSR)....
STAHL, Circuit Judge. This is the second appeal we have heard regarding an insurance coverage dispute arising from charges of sexual harassment brought by a former employee against Luciano Manganella, the one-time president of Jasmine Company, Inc. See Manganella v. Evanston Ins. Co., 700 F.3d 585 (1st Cir.2012). After Manganella filed an action against Jasmine's liability insurance provider, Evanston Insurance Co., seeking defense and indemnification for the harassment charges, Evanston...
HOWARD, Circuit Judge. Appellant Robert Wayne Infante was charged with five criminal offenses 1 based on the discovery of marijuana plants and pipe bombs in his home, and on his statements to law enforcement. Infante moved to suppress the evidence seized from his home, claiming that it was discovered pursuant to a search that violated his Fourth Amendment rights. He also moved to suppress his statements to investigators on the grounds that he was not advised of his Miranda rights and that...
RIPPLE, Circuit Judge. Anthony Jones was indicted on one count of possessing five or more grams of cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1). After his motion to suppress evidence was denied, he entered a conditional plea of guilty. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(a)(2). Mr. Jones was sentenced to 180 months' imprisonment. 1 He now timely appeals the denial of his suppression motion as well as the use of certain prior convictions in calculating his sentence guideline range. 2 I...
LYNCH, Chief Judge. In May of 2007, there were two shooting deaths, one of a civilian, Liko Kenney, and one of a police officer, Bruce McKay, following traffic stops in Franconia, New Hampshire. Kenney shot Officer McKay four times and ran over him twice with his car. Thereafter, a witness to the shooting, Gregory Floyd, approached Kenney and asked him to drop his weapon. When Kenney refused, Floyd shot and killed Kenney, fearing that Kenney might shoot Floyd or his son, who had gone to McKay'...
LYNCH, Chief Judge. The question presented is whether the governor of Maine violated the First Amendment by removing a large state-owned mural, commissioned by the former administration, from its location on the walls of a small waiting room for visitors to the Maine Department of Labor ("MDOL"). The governor's initial stated reason was that he agreed with complaints that the mural did not convey a message of evenhanded treatment toward both labor and employers and so the mural was...
LYNCH, Chief Judge. This case involves legal challenges to recent federal management actions taken in New England's sensitive Multispecies Groundfish Fishery. We reject the many challenges and affirm entry of summary judgment for the federal defendants. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801-1884, the New England Fishery Management Council ("N.E. Council") regulates fishery resources within the federal waters off New England's coast. It does so...
STAHL, Circuit Judge. This insurance coverage dispute arises from charges of sexual harassment brought by a one-time employee against appellant Luciano Manganella, the former president of Jasmine Company, Inc. Manganella sought a defense to and indemnity for the harassment claims from appellee Evanston Insurance Co., Jasmine's liability insurance provider. The district court ruled that Manganella was not entitled to coverage from Evanston because, under the doctrine of issue preclusion, a...
SELYA, Circuit Judge. A jury convicted defendant-appellant Hernardo Medina-Villegas on nine counts growing out of a conspiracy to commit armed robbery and the unlawful killing of a guard during the robbery. In an earlier multi-defendant appeal, we affirmed the appellant's convictions and sentences on eight of the nine counts. See United States v. Catal n-Roman, 585 F.3d 453 , 475 (1st Cir.2009). As to the remaining count, however, we affirmed the appellant's conviction but vacated his...
HOWARD, Circuit Judge. After a three-day trial, a jury in the District of Rhode Island convicted Arjusz Roszkowski of being a felon in possession of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1), and knowingly possessing a firearm with an altered serial number, id. 922(k). Roszkowski now appeals, claiming that the district court erroneously precluded his proposed entrapment defense and improperly admitted certain evidence at trial. He also contends that the aforementioned statutes of conviction are...
BOUDIN, Circuit Judge. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 ("Adam Walsh Act"), Pub.L. No. 109-248, tit. III, 302(4), 120 Stat. 587, 620-22 (codified at 18 U.S.C. 4247-4248 (2006)), allows the federal government to seek civil commitment of "sexually dangerous persons" already in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons ("BOP"). Once ordered so committed by a federal court, the person is confined to a treatment facility until its director or a court finds that the person is...
PER CURIAM. In this appeal, Greater Omaha Packing Company ("GOPAC") asks this court to vacate a jury's unanimous finding that GOPAC supplied Fairbank Reconstruction Corporation ("Fairbank") with E. coli -tainted beef, which Fairbank then packaged and shipped to two supermarkets in Maine, resulting in two women who bought meat there becoming seriously ill. There is no basis to upset the jury's verdict, and we affirm. I. GOPAC is a beef slaughtering and processing company, located in Omaha,...
BOUDIN, Circuit Judge. This commercial fraud case is before us for a second time following proceedings in the district court to carry out the "limited correction" ordered on remand in House of Flavors, Inc. v. TFG Michigan, L.P., 643 F.3d 35 , 42 (1st Cir.2011). Our earlier opinion describes in full the underlying dispute between the parties, House of Flavors, Inc. ("House of Flavors") and Tetra Financial Group ("Tetra"), and this opinion is limited to the facts necessary to resolve...
SELYA, Circuit Judge. This case requires us to explore the parameters of the doctrine of quasi-judicial immunity. The underlying litigation is a will contest turned conspiracy case. The plaintiff prevailed in probate court, but only after two and a half years of pretrial discovery and legal wrangling. All the while, the estate's assets waned and the legal fees waxed. In the end, the plaintiff, although found to be the sole lawful heir of the decedent, had little to show for his victory....
McCONNELL, District Judge. A jury convicted Eric Murdock of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1). Mr. Murdock was sentenced under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. 924(e) ("ACCA"), to 216 months in prison. On appeal, Mr. Murdock argues that the district court erred in three ways, by (i) refusing to suppress his statement regarding a bag containing firearms; (ii) admitting an audio recording of a telephone call; and (iii) sentencing him under...
BOUDIN, Circuit Judge. Michael Truczinskas, age 46, was employed until his death by GD Arabia, Ltd. ("GD") as a military trainer in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. On the morning of December 5, 2008, according to the testimony of a co-worker, Truczinskas was found inside his villa hanging from a cross-beam with a noose around his neck. Shortly thereafter, a doctor at a nearby hospital pronounced Truczinskas dead and identified "asphyxiation by hanging" as the cause of death. Five months later, Michael...
