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:
MoreKAYATTA , Circuit Judge . Making their second appearance before this court are eight police officers, a police cadet, and a provisionally hired 911 operator (collectively, the "Officers"), who claim that they suffered adverse employment actions by the Boston Police Department ("Department") as a result of a racially discriminatory hair drug test. Eschewing any claim that the Department discriminated against them intentionally, the Officers advance a so-called disparate impact claim under...
STAHL , Circuit Judge . Relator-Appellant Andrew Hagerty ("Hagerty") brought a qui tam action against Appellee Cyberonics, Inc. ("Cyberonics") alleging, among other things, that Cyberonics violated the False Claims Act ("FCA"), 31 U.S.C. 3729 et seq. , and related state statutes. Specifically, Hagerty alleged that Cyberonics promoted medically unnecessary replacements of batteries in nerve stimulator devices used to treat epilepsy patients, which in turn resulted in patients and...
LYNCH , Circuit Judge . Under the Internal Revenue Code, taxpayers receive, subject to various technical requirements, credits against owed U.S. income tax for every dollar paid to a foreign country for taxable international business transactions of economic substance. See 26 U.S.C. 901-909. Over the past decade, some banks have engaged in complicated transactions the very purpose of which is to generate a foreign tax credit in order to take advantage of the U.S. deductions, and have...
BARRON , Circuit Judge . In this case, a group of construction-industry employers' associations and employers ("employers") seek relief from a broad category of enforcement actions that may be brought under the Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law ("ESTL"), Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, 148C. Specifically, the employers contend that the ESTL "is preempted" by Section 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 185(a), "with respect" to those employers in the state who are parties to...
KAYATTA , Circuit Judge . Like most states, the State of New Hampshire has long required that political parties seeking to have their nominees listed on statewide election ballots first demonstrate a sufficient modicum of support among registered voters. New Hampshire law deems that a party has made such a demonstration if, in the most recent prior statewide election, one of its candidates received at least four percent of the statewide vote for Governor or United States Senator. N.H. Rev....
LYNCH , Circuit Judge . This is an important case resting at the intersection of the Bankruptcy Code and Medicare law. It concerns the efforts of the Parkview Adventist Medical Center ("Parkview") in Brunswick, Maine, which filed for bankruptcy on June 16, 2015, to use the Bankruptcy Code to challenge the actions of appellee United States, through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS"), in terminating its "Provider Agreement" with Parkview and declining to reimburse Parkview...
HOWARD , Chief Judge . When a company's stock declines, a shareholder lawsuit often follows. This case is no exception. Following a drop in the share price of ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc., investors filed suit against the company and four corporate officers (together "ARIAD"), alleging securities fraud in violation of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act"), 15 U.S.C. 78j(b) and 78t(a), as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC")...
STAHL , Circuit Judge . Relator-Appellant Peter Lawton ("Lawton") brought a qui tam action against Appellees Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd. and its affiliates ("Takeda") and Eli Lilly and Company ("Eli Lilly") (collectively, "Defendants") under the False Claims Act ("FCA"), 31 U.S.C. 3729 et seq. , and the False Claims Acts of 28 different states and the District of Columbia. 1 Lawton alleges that Takeda and Eli Lilly conspired in a fraudulent marketing campaign that caused third-...
STAHL , Circuit Judge . Yarushka Rivera died of a seizure in 2009 after receiving mental health treatment at Arbour Counseling Services in Lawrence, Massachusetts, a facility owned and operated by Defendant-Appellee Universal Health Services ("UHS"). UHS submitted reimbursement claims for these services to MassHealth, the state's Medicaid agency. Following Yarushka's death, her mother and stepfather learned that Arbour had employed unlicensed and unsupervised personnel, in violation of...
LYNCH , Circuit Judge . This appeal arises from the first pharmaceutical-settlement antitrust action tried before a jury since the Supreme Court's decision in FTC v. Actavis, Inc. , ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 2223 , 186 L.Ed.2d 343 (2013). The jury found that although the plaintiffs had proved an antitrust violation in the form of a large and unjustified reverse payment from AstraZeneca to Ranbaxy, the plaintiffs had not shown that they had suffered an antitrust injury that entitled them...
LYNCH , Circuit Judge . This court, sitting en banc in Casta eda v. Souza , 810 F.3d 15 (1st Cir. 2015) (en banc), divided evenly over the question of whether the "when ... released" clause in 8 U.S.C. 1226(c)(1) limits the scope of 1226(c)(2). More specifically, the question was whether 1226(c)(2) categorically "bars the Attorney General from releasing certain aliens on bond once they have been placed in immigration custody" only if she takes those aliens into immigration...
HOWARD , Chief Judge . Defendant-Appellant Carole Swan, former selectperson for the Town of Chelsea, Maine, appeals her convictions for Hobbs Act extortion, 18 U.S.C. 1951(a), tax fraud, 26 U.S.C. 7206(1), and making false statements to obtain federal worker's compensation, 18 U.S.C. 1920. The sole issue raised on appeal is the district court's denial of a motion to suppress incriminating statements made during Swan's interview with two sheriff's deputies. Swan argues that suppression...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S FEDERAL REPORTER THOMPSON , Circuit Judge . This case arises from what the district court characterized as "the worst-papered set of arrangements [it had] ever seen." Chuck Meadors — along with his company, Chuck Meadors, Inc. (collectively, Meadors) — appeals from the entry of summary judgment in favor of Continental Structural Plastics, Inc. (CSP) and from the denial of his motion for summary judgment. We reverse in part and affirm in part. Because we write...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S FEDERAL REPORTER PER CURIAM . Petitioner Luis Estuardo Ordonez-Santay ("Ordonez"), a native and citizen of Guatemala, asks us to review a Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") order denying his motion to reconsider. After careful review of the briefs and the record, we deny the petition. I. Ordonez came to the United States in 2008 and was subsequently served with a Notice to Appear charging him as removable pursuant to Immigration and Nationality Act 212(a)(...
SELYA , Circuit Judge . The system through which the federal government reimburses hospitals for charity care is among the most arcane known to man. A central feature of this system is a provision through which hospitals receive so-called disproportionate share payments (DSH payments). See 42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(5)(F)(i)(I). These appeals involve a dispute between the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the Secretary) and a group of eight Maine hospitals 1 about DSH payments for...
McCONNELL , District Judge . A bankruptcy court denied Richard D. Crawford's petition for bankruptcy, in part, because Crawford omitted the existence of his Cash Balance Plan ("CBP"), a retirement account, from his Schedule B filing. While Crawford omitted the existence of the account, he disclosed the account's value through inclusion with a second retirement account, a 401(k). On appeal, this Court considers whether omitting an asset's name but including the asset's value on a Schedule B...
McCONNELL , District Judge . A bankruptcy court denied Richard D. Crawford's petition for bankruptcy, in part, because Crawford omitted the existence of his Cash Balance Plan ("CBP"), a retirement account, from his Schedule B filing. While Crawford omitted the existence of the account, he disclosed the account's value through inclusion with a second retirement account, a 401(k). On appeal, this Court considers whether omitting an asset's name but including the asset's value on a Schedule B...
McCONNELL , District Judge . A bankruptcy court denied Richard D. Crawford's petition for bankruptcy, in part, because Crawford omitted the existence of his Cash Balance Plan ("CBP"), a retirement account, from his Schedule B filing. While Crawford omitted the existence of the account, he disclosed the account's value through inclusion with a second retirement account, a 401(k). On appeal, this Court considers whether omitting an asset's name but including the asset's value on a Schedule B...
BARRON , Circuit Judge . Michael O'Donnell appeals from his conviction on one count under 18 U.S.C. 1344, the Bank Fraud Act. We affirm. I. O'Donnell was indicted under the Bank Fraud Act (the Act) on June 15, 2015. The Act provides: Whoever knowingly executes, or attempts to execute, a scheme or artifice — (1) to defraud a financial institution; or (2) to obtain any of the moneys, funds, credits, assets, securities, or other property owned by, or under the custody or control of, a...
NOT FOR PUBLICATION PER CURIAM . Reza Sherkat ("Sherkat"), on behalf of himself and as the guardian of Shahram Sherkat ("Shahram"), appeals the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts's dismissal of the complaint he brought against New England Village, Inc. ("NEV"), three of its officers, Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services ("DDS") Commissioner Elin Howe, and another DDS official. NEV is a private organization that receives funding from Massachusetts...
