DUBINA, Chief Judge: This appeal comes to us following the district court's entry of a preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of Alabama Act No. 2010-761 (the "Act"). This Act would prohibit a state or local government employee from arranging "by payroll deduction or otherwise" the payment of any contribution to an organization that uses any portion of those contributions for "political activity." The district court found that the statute impinges on important free speech rights...
WILSON, Circuit Judge: This case concerns the constitutionality of the Florida Department of Corrections' (FDOC) Pen Pal Solicitation Rule. Joy Perry, who operates two pen pal services, and WriteAPrisoner.com, Inc. (WAP), brought this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983 alleging that the Rule violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. Appellants seek to enjoin FDOC officials from banning all pen pal-solicitation correspondence between the entities that...
PER CURIAM: Anthony Davila appeals following his conviction for conspiracy to defraud the United States by obtaining false tax refunds, 18 U.S.C. 286. 1 During a February 2010 hearing before a magistrate judge, Davila requested the discharge of his court-appointed attorney, expressing a concern that counsel had not discussed any pertinent strategies with him except to plead guilty. The magistrate judge responded that "there may not be viable defenses to these charges," and that pleading...
PER CURIAM: This case is about whether the district court should have permitted a dispute to be arbitrated. Plaintiffs, Grigsby & Associates, Inc., 1 argue that the district court should have enjoined the arbitration proceedings, in part because Defendants, M Securities Investment, Inc., 2 waived the right to arbitrate by engaging in litigation conduct inconsistent with that right. Plaintiffs also argue that, even if arbitration was permissible, the district court should have vacated the...
BLACK, Circuit Judge: Alabama death-row inmate Billy Joe Magwood's 28 U.S.C. 2254 petition was partially granted by the district court on his claim that his death sentence violated the fair-warning requirement of the Due Process Clause because it was based on Ex parte Kyzer, 399 So.2d 330 (Ala. 1981), which was decided after he committed his offense and was retroactively applied to his case. Magwood v. Culliver, 481 F.Supp.2d 1262 , 1287 (M.D.Ala.2007). The State of Alabama then...
BARKETT, Circuit Judge. Jennifer Keeton was enrolled in the Counselor Education Program at Augusta State University (ASU), a Georgia state school, seeking to obtain her master's degree in school counseling. After Keeton completed her first year in the program, ASU's officials asked her to participate in a remediation plan addressing what the faculty perceived as deficiencies in her "ability to be a multiculturally competent counselor, particularly with regard to working with gay, lesbian,...
CARNES, Circuit Judge: The last opinion we issued in this case, Ash v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 392 Fed.Appx. 817 (11th Cir.2010) ( Ash IV ), was the fourth one in a series from this Court. See Ash v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 31 Fed. Appx. 938 (11th Cir.2002) ( Ash I ); Ash v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 129 Fed.Appx. 529 (11th Cir.2005) ( Ash II ), vacated, 546 U.S. 454 , 126 S.Ct. 1195, 163 L.Ed.2d 1053 (2006), reinstated, Ash v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 190 Fed.Appx. 924 (11th Cir.2006) ( Ash III )....
PER CURIAM CERTIFICATION FROM THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT TO THE SUPREME COURT OF GEORGIA, PURSUANT TO O.C.G.A. 15-2-9. TO THE SUPREME COURT OF GEORGIA AND ITS HONORABLE JUSTICES: In this case, we must decide whether an insured's claim against his insurer for breach of contract is barred by the insurance policy's one-year limitation to suit, or whether we must reform the insurance policy to include a two-year limitation to suit, pursuant to Ga. Comp. R. &...
MARTIN, Circuit Judge: We previously issued an opinion in this case. Guzman v. Sec'y, Dep't of Corr., 661 F.3d 602 (11th Cir. 2011). The panel has decided to vacate that opinion and substitute this one. The new opinion deletes three paragraphs but otherwise remains identical to the first. In this death penalty case, Respondents-Appellees appeal the District Court's Order granting Petitioner Guzman a new trial based upon Brady 1 and Giglio 2 errors involving the State's payment of...
PER CURIAM: Petitioner was convicted in Florida state court of armed burglary and first-degree murder. A sentence of death was imposed. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed Petitioner's conviction and sentence and later denied post-conviction relief. Petitioner then filed this petition in federal court seeking a writ of habeas corpus. The District Court denied habeas relief but granted a certificate of appealability on two issues, and this appeal commenced. BACKGROUND Petitioner was convicted...
TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge: I. A. In 1941, the Georgia legislature enacted the Hospital Authorities Law, 1941 Ga. Laws 241 (codified as amended at O.C.G.A. 31-7-70 et seq. ). That statute creates a hospital authority, "a public body corporate and politic," for each city and county, O.C.G.A. 31-7-72(a), or for multiple cities or counties combined, id. 31-7-72(d). The hospital authority does not become operative, however, unless the governing body of the city or county determines that the...
PER CURIAM: This appeal involves an insurance dispute. R. Michael Stillwell, a Georgia resident, purchased an Allstate Insurance Company landlord insurance policy from Anthony Edwards Insurance Agency, Inc. ("Edwards"), a Georgia corporation, for a property he owned in East Point, Georgia. The property had at least nine bedrooms, all with separate locks and keys, and Stillwell rented the rooms to unrelated tenants, who had access to the common areas, including a bathroom, kitchen, and living...
BARKETT, Circuit Judge: Sewell R. Brumby appeals from an adverse summary judgment in favor of Vandiver Elizabeth Glenn on her complaint seeking declaratory and injunctive relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983 for alleged violations of her rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Glenn claimed that Brumby fired her from her job as an editor in the Georgia General Assembly's Office of Legislative Counsel ("OLC") because of sex discrimination,...
HODGES, District Judge: This appeal presents an issue concerning the interpretation and application of a collective bargaining agreement between Jim Walter Resources, Inc. ("Jim Walter"), and the United Mine Workers of America (the "Union"). Jim Walter sued the Union in the district court for damages caused by a work stoppage conducted by the Union in alleged violation of the collective bargaining agreement. 1 The district court entered summary judgment without reaching the merits holding...
PER CURIAM: The district court's jurisdiction in this case is not contested, but jurisdiction cannot be created by consent. Lowry v. Int'l Bhd. of Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders & Helpers of Am., 259 F.2d 568 , 575 (5th Cir. 1958). We are obligated to raise concerns about the district court's subject matter jurisdiction sua sponte. Fitzgerald v. Seaboard Sys. R.R., Inc., 760 F.2d 1249 , 1251 (11th Cir.1985) (citation omitted). The complaint in this case alleges that Plaintiff...
DUBINA, Chief Judge: Appellant First United Security Bank ("FUSB") appeals the district court's affirmation of the bankruptcy court's order that partially overruled FUSB's objection to confirmation of the Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan. FUSB contends that under Section 506(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, debtor Daniel W. Garner must pay interest on its claim at the contract rate of 10.5% because FUSB is an oversecured creditor. The bankruptcy and district courts found that FUSB can only recover post-...
HULL, Circuit Judge: In 1996 state habeas proceedings, Warren Lee Hill, Jr. unsuccessfully alleged that he is mentally retarded and ineligible for the death penalty. Hill, a Georgia death row inmate, was able to raise this claim in 1996, well before the Atkins decision 1 was issued in 2002, because in 1988 the State of Georgia led the nation by abolishing the death penalty for mentally retarded defendants. See O.C.G.A. 17-7-131 (1988 statute prohibiting death penalty where defendant...
PER CURIAM: CERTIFICATION FROM THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT TO THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA PURSUANT TO FLORIDA CONSTITUTION ARTICLE V, 3(b)(6). TO THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA AND ITS HONORABLE JUSTICES: This case involves unanswered questions of Florida law that are central to this appeal. Because these questions are determinative of the cause in this case and there are no controlling precedents from the Supreme Court of Florida, we respectfully certify...
TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge. This is a Fair Labor Standards Act case. Luis Carlos Josendis sued his former employer, Wall to Wall Residence Repairs, Inc., 1 for unpaid overtime and back wages pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (the "FLSA"), 2 its implementing regulations, and Florida law. Wall to Wall moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim for relief. Because Wall to Wall attached an affidavit and a...
HOPKINS, District Judge: This is a case of statutory construction. The question presented by this appeal under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (the "LHWCA" or the "Act"), as amended, 33 U.S.C. 901-950 (2006), is which date—the date on which disability occurred, or the date on which the injured employee was awarded benefits for such disability—determines the maximum weekly rate of compensation for a permanently totally disabled employee who is "newly awarded compensation."...
