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:
MoreLYNCH , Circuit Judge . Objectors to a class action settlement bring this appeal from a district court order approving settlement and awarding attorneys' fees. Bezdek v. Vibram USA Inc., 79 F.Supp.3d 324 (D.Mass.2015). The underlying action concerned allegedly deceptive advertising and marketing claims made about the health benefits of certain "barefoot" running shoes. The objectors argued both to the district court and to us that the class notice was misleading, positing a higher...
STAHL , Circuit Judge . Jeannette Buntin's late father, Oswald Hixon, was formerly employed as a mechanic by the City of Boston ("City"). Buntin, proceeding as the administratrix of Hixon's estate, brought suit alleging that the City and Hixon's supervisors, James McGonagle and Scott Alther, discriminated against Hixon on the basis of his race and retaliated against him by terminating his employment. 1 Concluding that Buntin had not pled facts sufficient to support one claim and had failed...
BARRON , Circuit Judge . This appeal arises out of a suit over repair work on a luxury motor coach. The company that owns the vehicle, LimoLiner, Inc., contracted with an automotive repair company, Dattco, Inc., to do the work. The parties do not contest the finding below that Dattco breached the repair contract by failing to do all of the work that LimoLiner had requested. But LimoLiner does appeal the rulings below that Dattco may not be held liable under a Massachusetts regulation for...
Opinion En Banc The judgments entered in the district courts are affirmed by an equally divided en banc court. See Savard v. Rhode Island, 338 F.3d 23 , 25 (1st Cir.2003) (en banc). Opinions follow. BARRON , Circuit Judge , with whom TORRUELLA and THOMPSON, Circuit Judges, join. Congress has long given the Attorney General discretion to decide whether to take aliens who are subject to removal into immigration custody. Congress also has long given the Attorney General discretion to...
SELYA , Circuit Judge . In this qui tam action, the district court dismissed the claims of the relator, Robert Gadbois, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. While his appeal of that order was pending, subsequent events coalesced to dissolve the jurisdictional impediment to the relator's action. He responded to this development by broadening his appeal to include the possibility of supplementing his pleadings. We conclude, as a matter of first impression in this court, that Federal...
BARRON , Circuit Judge . A company that provides skycap services to airlines was defending against a class action lawsuit when one of the skycaps that the company had employed brought his own individual suit against the company. The skycap alleged in his suit that the company had fired him for his role in helping to organize the class action. A jury eventually found for the skycap in that unlawful-termination suit. And the company now appeals both from that verdict and from the District...
LYNCH , Circuit Judge . Inconsistent characterization of the governing law by the immigration authorities and insufficient analysis by the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") lead us, in an abundance of caution, to remand this petition to the BIA. Lizbeth Patricia Velerio-Ramirez 1 ("Valerio"), a native and citizen of Costa Rica, petitions for review of an order of the BIA denying her application for withholding of removal. Her petition contends that the BIA erred in upholding the...
BARRON , Circuit Judge . In these consolidated criminal appeals, Karapet Dzhanikyan and Ronald Martinez raise a number of challenges to their convictions, including some that concern the District Court's decision to try the two men together. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm each of the convictions except for Martinez's conviction for conspiring to use extortionate means to collect an extension of credit in violation of 18 U.S.C. 894(a). I. The initial indictment charging...
KAYATTA , Circuit Judge . This appeal arises out of a lawsuit brought by an organization that calls itself Students For Fair Admissions, Inc. ("SFFA") challenging Harvard College's consideration of race in its undergraduate admissions decisions. An opposing group of current and prospective Harvard students ("Students") who claim to be benefited by the school's current practice sought to intervene, over the objection of both parties, in order to advocate "vigorously" for the defeat of SFFA's...
KAYATTA , Circuit Judge . Permanent resident non-citizens such as petitioner Anthony Whyte are removable under United States immigration laws if they are convicted of an "aggravated felony" under 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii). An "aggravated felony" includes any offense defined in 18 U.S.C. 16 as a "crime of violence," for which the term of imprisonment is at least one year. See 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43)(F). Because Whyte was convicted in 1999 of third-degree assault under a Connecticut...
LYNCH , Circuit Judge . These interlocutory appeals are from a district court order that, among other things, compels the law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, P.C. (Mintz Levin) to produce certain documents pertaining to a fraud allegedly committed by David Gorski in his operation of Legion Construction, Inc. (Legion). Gorski and Legion appeal the district court's order that attorney-client privileged documents be produced under the crime-fraud exception. The prosecution...
LIPEZ , Circuit Judge . Two former managers of Dunkin' Donuts stores in Massachusetts brought this action claiming they were improperly denied overtime pay in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"). See 29 U.S.C. 207(a)(1). Based on facts it deemed undisputed, the district court rejected the recommendation of the magistrate judge and granted summary judgment for the defendant employers, finding that plaintiffs were "bona fide executive[s]" excluded from the statute's...
BARRON , Circuit Judge . In this appeal, John Analetto brings three challenges to his conviction, under 18 U.S.C. 894, for knowingly participating in the use of extortionate means to collect or attempt to collect an extension of credit. We reject each one of Analetto's challenges and affirm the conviction. I. After a jury trial, Analetto, a former Massachusetts state trooper, was convicted of using extortionate means to attempt to collect an extension of credit—arising out of a...
Prologue THOMPSON , Circuit Judge . We write today about a suit started in state court and removed to federal court. As relevant here, Perfect Puppy, Inc. (our plaintiff) believes it has a rock-solid facial—and as-applied-takings claim against the City of East Providence (our defendant) based on a city ordinance banning dog and cat sales. 1 A district judge, though, gave any supposed facial claim the boot on summary judgment for lack of development and remanded the as-applied claim to...
LYNCH , Circuit Judge . Under the terms of a security agreement assigned to it, Harley-Davidson Credit Corp. ("Harley-Davidson") seeks to collect $108,681.50 from Mark B. Galvin. Galvin is the guarantor of a defaulted promissory note on a loan secured by an interest in a Cessna 421C aircraft ("the Aircraft"). The suit is for the deficiency balance that remained due after Harley-Davidson repossessed and sold the Aircraft through a third-party dealer for $155,000.00. Galvin disputes the...
LYNCH , Circuit Judge . In 2010, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC" or "Commission") issued an Order Instituting Proceedings against two former employees of State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street"): (1) James D. Hopkins, a former vice president and head of North American Product Engineering, and (2) John P. Flannery, a former chief investment officer ("CIO"). The Commission alleged that during the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis, Hopkins and Flannery "...
LYNCH , Circuit Judge . This habeas corpus petition comes to us again following our previous opinion remanding to the federal district court. Sanchez v. Roden ( Sanchez I ), 753 F.3d 279 , 309 (1st Cir.2014). The petition contests the state court's conclusion that the state prosecutor did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment in his exercise of a peremptory challenge during jury selection for Dagoberto Sanchez's state trial on charges of second-degree murder and unlawful possession of a...
LYNCH , Circuit Judge . Jose Rosario was convicted in September 2000 of the first degree shooting murder of Mario Cordova in Springfield, Massachusetts. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. 1 There is no claim Rosario was the shooter. He was convicted because he ordered the shooting, which was carried out by a member of the Latin Kings gang subordinate to him. The state trial court denied his motion for a new trial, and the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) affirmed his conviction....
STAHL , Circuit Judge . The Plaintiff-Appellant, Deanne Casey, was formerly employed as a nurse coordinator with the Civilian Health Promotion Services Program ("CHPS Program") at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Massachusetts ("Hanscom"). After Casey's employment was terminated, she brought suit against the government contractor that employed her, her supervisor, as well as several government agencies and officials that she believed were involved in her termination. In relevant part,...
BARRON , Circuit Judge . Louise Durand appeals the District Court's dismissal of her 42 U.S.C. 1983 claim against Dr. Theresa Harpold. Durand alleges that Harpold violated Durand's federal constitutional rights when Harpold issued an order, pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 123, 12, authorizing Durand to be seized from her home and brought to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. We affirm. I. Harpold, Durand's co-worker at a Massachusetts Department of Mental Health facility in...
