OPINION OF THE COURT AMBRO , Circuit Judge . "The whole thing was a very cleverly planned jigsaw puzzle, so arranged that every fresh piece of knowledge that came to light made the solution of the whole more difficult."—Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express. "It's like kind of complicated to me"—John Doe, on the withdrawal of his 2255 motion. I. Introduction John Doe, whose identity we protect because he is a Government informant, appeals from the denial of (1) a 28 U.S.C....
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * McKEE , Chief Judge . Appellants Philadelphia Parking Authority, Vince Fenerty, and Jim Ney appeal the district court's order granting in part, and denying in part, appellees Filomena Ward, Michelle McCandless, German Parodi, David Wittie, Randy Alexander, Carol Marfisi, and Disabled in Action's Motion for an Award of Attorneys' Fees. We will affirm the district court's order in its entirety. I. Because we write for the parties who are already familiar with...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * HARDIMAN , Circuit Judge . David Calhoun appeals two District Court orders: one dismissing his Bivens claims against Assistant United States Attorneys Kenya Mann and Joel Goldstein and the other denying his motion for reconsideration. Calhoun claims the facts he pleaded, viewed in the light most favorable to him, permit the inference that Mann and Goldstein violated his clearly established constitutional rights when they caused him to be unlawfully detained...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * CHAGARES , Circuit Judge . Richard Woods appeals the District Court's dismissal of his 28 U.S.C. 2254 petition. For the reasons that follow, we will affirm, albeit on an alternative basis. 1 I. Because we write exclusively for the parties, we set forth only those facts necessary to our disposition. Woods was charged on April 10, 2001, with first-degree murder by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the killing of his brother, and his trial in the Court of...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * SMITH , Circuit Judge . Coleman R. McCall was a Custodial Worker I at the Philadelphia International Airport, which is administered by the City of Philadelphia. McCall began his employment in April of 2001. Ten years later, McCall's employment was terminated. Thereafter, he filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania alleging that the City had violated his rights under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), 29 U....
OPINION OF THE COURT FUENTES , Circuit Judge . Mark Leyse brought an action under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act after receiving a prerecorded telemarketing call on the landline he shares with his roommate. Leyse was not the intended recipient of the call — his roommate was. For this reason, the District Court dismissed the complaint for lack of statutory standing. We find that it was error for the District Court to consider the motion to dismiss, which raised an argument that could...
OPINION OF THE COURT GREENBERG , Circuit Judge . I. INTRODUCTION Joaquin Foy appeals from an order entered by the District Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on December 7, 2010, denying his motion filed under Fed. R.Civ.P. 60(d)(3) on November 18, 2010, seeking to vacate an order of civil commitment pursuant to which he was confined at that time and thus requesting that he be released. Although the Eastern District Court previously had issued temporary orders committing Foy,...
OPINION OF THE COURT FUENTES , Circuit Judge . Goldman Sachs and Athena Venture Partners participated in an arbitration to settle a $1.4 million investment-related dispute. In that proceeding, Athena asserted claims of misrepresentation, securities fraud, common law fraud and breach of fiduciary duty, among others. Following a nine-day arbitration hearing, conducted under Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") rules, the panel ruled in favor of Goldman. After the award, Athena...
OPINION OF THE COURT JORDAN , Circuit Judge . Edward Ross appeals from the denial of his motion under 28 U.S.C. 2255 to vacate, set aside, or correct his criminal sentence. He asserts that his trial and appellate counsel rendered ineffective assistance to him when they failed both to challenge a deficient jury instruction and to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence on one of his counts of conviction. Because we conclude that he has not satisfied a threshold requirement of section...
OPINION SMITH , Circuit Judge . This is the second appeal from District Court action on Daniel Saranchak's petition for writ of habeas corpus following his conviction on first degree murder charges of killing both his grandmother, Stella Saranchok, 1 and his uncle, Edmund Saranchak. The first issue Saranchak raises in this appeal is whether the District Court erred when it rejected Saranchak's claim that the degree-of-guilt phase of his trial in the Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill...
OPINION OF THE COURT KRAUSE , Circuit Judge . Leonard G. Young, Jr., a Pennsylvania prisoner with a long history of mental illness, filed suit alleging that Appellees-Defendants 1 violated his Eighth Amendment rights by securing him in a four-point restraint chair, naked, for fourteen hours, although he did not pose a threat to himself or others. Because we agree with Young that the District Court erred as a matter of law in granting summary judgment against him, we will vacate the...
OPINION OF THE COURT KRAUSE , Circuit Judge . In 2003, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court grew troubled by the frequency of meritless professional malpractice claims filed in the state system. To address that concern, the Court amended the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure to require malpractice plaintiffs or their attorneys to file a certificate of merit ("COM") within sixty days of bringing suit. Failure to comply conferred upon a defendant the right to have the action dismissed. Five...
OPINION OF THE COURT FUENTES , Circuit Judge . A plaintiff who files suit in federal court may face significant difficulties when jurisdiction is premised on diversity and the defendant is an unincorporated association such as a partnership or limited liability company ("LLC"). The members of the association determine its citizenship, but these members may be unknown to the plaintiff even after a diligent pre-filing investigation. The plaintiff may tentatively assert that complete...
OPINION OF THE COURT AMBRO , Circuit Judge . Contents I. Introduction .................................................................... 738 II. Procedural and Legal History .................................................... 738 III. Summary of Our Decision ......................................................... 741 IV. Standards of Review and Jurisdiction ............................................ 742 A. Mootness ........................................................................
OPINION GREENAWAY, Jr. , Circuit Judge . I. INTRODUCTION The Government appeals the District Court's grant of Regina Tolliver's ("Appellee" or "Tolliver") 28 U.S.C. 2255 motion. Because material facts are in dispute surrounding Tolliver's ineffective assistance of counsel ("IAC") allegations based on her trial counsel's failure to investigate, the District Court abused its discretion in granting the 2255 motion without first holding an evidentiary hearing. As such, we will vacate and...
OPINION OF THE COURT GREENBERG , Circuit Judge . I. INTRODUCTION This matter comes on before this Court on an appeal from an order entered in an action that plaintiff-appellee Joseph Stevens, a former employee of a subsidiary of defendant-appellant Santander Holdings USA Inc. ("Santander"), brought against Santander seeking to recover benefits from two disability benefit plans that Santander provided for its eligible employees. As an employee of a Santander subsidiary, Sovereign Bank,...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * GREENAWAY, Jr. , Circuit Judge . Plaintiff-Appellant Cato Capital, LLC ("Cato") appeals from the final judgment entered by the District Court in favor of Defendant-Appellee Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. ("Hemispherx") on Cato's breach of contract claim. Cato, an investment bank, sued Hemispherx, a biopharmaceutical company and former client, to recover a placement fee after several companies invested millions of dollars in Hemispherx—notwithstanding the fact that:...
OPINION OF THE COURT HARDIMAN , Circuit Judge . In this appeal, we consider whether a suspension with pay constitutes an "adverse employment action" under the substantive discrimination provision of Title VII. We hold that it typically does not. I Michelle Jones was fired in 2011 by her employer, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). SEPTA says it dismissed Jones for submitting fraudulent timesheets; Jones says her termination was the culmination of years of...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * GREENBERG , Circuit Judge . I. INTRODUCTION This matter comes on before this Court on an appeal from a summary judgment in favor of appellees, Benihana, Inc., and its subsidiary, Noodle Time Inc., in an action brought against them by appellant, Benihana of Tokyo, Inc. See Benihana of Tokyo, Inc. v. Benihana, Inc. , 59 F.Supp.3d 654 (D. Del. 2014). As a matter of convenience, we will refer to appellees as though they are a single entity. Because we are...
OPINION SMITH , Circuit Judge . Plaintiff Sheldon Stephens appeals the dismissal of his claims against Defendant Kevin Clash for injuries resulting from the parties' sexual relationship while Stephens was underage, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2422, 18 U.S.C. 2423, and state law. The District Court dismissed Stephens's claims as untimely. For the reasons that follow, we will affirm. I. Because the District Court dismissed both Stephens's complaint and his amended complaint on motions...
