OPINION VANASKIE , Circuit Judge . This interlocutory appeal authorized by Rule 23(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure presents us with two significant questions. First, did the District Court err in certifying a class of Citizens Bank (N.A.) Mortgage Loan Officers from ten different states who bring claims alleging that they were unlawfully denied overtime pay And second, may we exercise pendent appellate jurisdiction over the District Court's order certifying a collective action...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * AMBRO , Circuit Judge . Defendant-appellant Alfredo Carbajal-Valenzuela pled guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute heroin and was sentenced to a prison term of 57 months, three years of supervised release, and a special assessment of $100. Carbajal claims the District Court misapplied the Sentencing Guidelines when it denied his request for a mitigating role adjustment under U.S.S.G. 3B1.2. Because the record is unclear whether the...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * CHAGARES , Circuit Judge . Lane Hurley was convicted by a jury of multiple acts of sexual abuse against his then ten-year-old niece and he seeks habeas corpus relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2254. The District Court denied his habeas petition, and for the reasons stated below, we will affirm. I. We write solely for the parties and therefore recite only the facts necessary to our disposition. Because Hurley contends there was insufficient evidence to convict...
OPINION SHWARTZ , Circuit Judge . Today we address whether one of New Jersey's responses to the rise in active and mass shooting incidents in the United States — a law that limits the amount of ammunition that may be held in a single firearm magazine to no more than ten rounds — violates the Second Amendment, the Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause, and the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. We conclude that it does not. New Jersey's law reasonably fits the State's interest in...
OPINION OF THE COURT FUENTES , Circuit Judge . We are asked to determine whether referencing a criminal defendant's need for drug rehabilitation is appropriate when imposing a prison sentence following the revocation of supervised release. Appellant is Janet Sonja Schonewolf, a repeat offender struggling with heroin dependency. Following her most recent arrest, the District Court revoked Schonewolf's supervised release and sentenced her to 40 months' imprisonment, an upward variance over...
OPINION GREENAWAY, JR. , Circuit Judge . Rafael Guerrero-Sanchez, a native and citizen of Mexico whose original removal order was reinstated pursuant to 8 U.S.C. 1231(a)(5), was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") from May 2015 to February 2017 while he awaited the Immigration Court's decision on whether he would be afforded country-specific protection from removal. The District Court determined that his detention was governed by the pre-removal detention provision of...
OPINION OF THE COURT JORDAN , Circuit Judge . Sheet Metal Workers Local No. 80 Pension Trust Fund and Westchester Teamsters Pension Fund ("the Funds") brought a putative securities fraud class action against Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. ("Hertz" or "the Company") and several of its current and former executives for violating 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("PSLRA"), and Rule 10b-5, 17 C.F.R. 240....
OPINION GREENAWAY, JR. , Circuit Judge . About a year after approving a merger agreement that called for the payment of a $275 million termination fee under certain conditions, the Bankruptcy Court in this Chapter 11 case admitted that it had made a mistake, granted a motion for reconsideration, and narrowed the circumstances under which the termination fee would be triggered. Were it not for the order granting reconsideration, Appellant NextEra Energy, Inc. would now be entitled to...
OPINION CHAGARES , Circuit Judge . I. Introduction ... 174 II. Facts and Procedural History ... 174 III. Analysis ... 178 A. Sufficiency of the Evidence Challenge... 179 B. Jury Instruction Challenges ... 182 1. Lack of a Specific Unanimity Instruction... 183 2. "Death Results" Instruction ... 187 C. Substantive Challenges to the Prosecution of the Case ... 190 1. First Amendment ... 190 2. Venue in Delaware ... 194 D. Evidentiary Challenges ... 195 1. Family Court Opinion ......
OPINION SHWARTZ , Circuit Judge . Reverend Dr. William David Lee was terminated from his position as pastor of the Sixth Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church ("the Church") and sued the Church for allegedly breaching his employment contract. The District Court granted summary judgment in the Church's favor because the adjudication of Lee's contract claim would impermissibly entangle the Court in religious doctrine in violation of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. We agree and...
OPINION OF THE COURT HARDIMAN , Circuit Judge . These consolidated petitions for review concern the Atlantic Sunrise Project, an expansion of the natural-gas distribution network owned by Intervenor Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company (Transco). At issue is a decision of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP or the Department) granting Atlantic Sunrise a Water Quality Certification under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1341(a)(1). In addition to...
OPINION GREENAWAY, JR. , Circuit Judge . The Hayes family receives enhanced voucher rental assistance from the federal government, and a federal statute provides that enhanced voucher holders "may elect to remain" in their housing developments, even after their landlord has opted out of the federal housing assistance program. 42 U.S.C. 1437f(t)(1)(B). But the Hayes family's landlord, Appellee Philip Harvey, contends that this statutory right to "elect to remain" does not apply at the...
OPINION OF THE COURT AMBRO , Circuit Judge . Edison, New Jersey, Police Officer Daniel Bradley and his partner saw a minivan on the road at night without headlights, while its driver was using a mobile phone and had an obstructed view. They pulled over the van, driven by Donald Roberts, in which Appellee Theodore "Tyrone" Clark III was a passenger. The traffic stop lasted about 23 minutes from the time Officer Bradley arrived at the driver-side window until he discovered a handgun and a...
OPINION OF THE COURT GREENBERG , Circuit Judge . I. INTRODUCTION Plaintiff Kelly Conard appeals from the July 12, 2016 order of dismissal of a civil rights action that she brought under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against her former employer, the Pennsylvania State Police, and her former State Police supervisors, Sergeants Joseph Tripp and Dennis Hile. The District Court held that the bulk of Conard's claims were barred because they had been adjudicated in a prior action which she initiated after...
OPINION OF THE COURT NYGAARD , Circuit Judge . I. In the run-up to a joint trial on a 77-count indictment that charged Appellants with operating a ticket-fixing scheme in the Philadelphia Traffic Court, the District Court denied a motion, under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(b)(3)(B)(v), to dismiss charges of conspiracy (18 U.S.C. 1349), mail fraud (18 U.S.C. 1341), and wire fraud (18 U.S.C. 1343). Appellants Henry Alfano (private citizen) and William Hird (Traffic Court...
OPINION OF THE COURT KRAUSE , Circuit Judge . For decades, the Rehabilitation Act (RA) and its progeny, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), have served as twin pillars of federal disability discrimination law. Both statutes secure the rights of individuals with disabilities to independence and full inclusion in American society and, unsurprisingly, have been constant companions in our case law as it has developed to effect those rights. The RA assures "meaningful access" to...
OPINION SMITH , Chief Judge . Table of Contents I. Introduction....211 II. Background....212 A. The Fattah for Mayor Scheme ....212 1. The Lord Loan and Its Repayment....212 2. ....219 3. The NOAA Grant and the Phantom Conference....219 B. The Blue Guardians Scheme....221 C. The Fattah-Vederman Bribery Scheme....221 D. The Indictment and Trial....224 III. Juror Misconduct and Dismissal of Juror 12....231 A. Investigation of Alleged Juror Misconduct....232 B. Dismissal of Juror...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * RENDELL , Circuit Judge . This case arises from a decade-long trade-secret dispute litigated on multiple continents and involving two global competitors: Heraeus Kulzer GmBh and Biomet, Inc. Heraeus previously obtained extensive discovery from Biomet through 28 U.S.C. 1782, which allows a party to procure Rule 26-style discovery for use in a foreign tribunal. The German Court accepted Heraeus's submissions and found in its favor at the first of two separate...
OPINION OF THE COURT McKEE , Circuit Judge . This appeal requires us to decide whether the District Court correctly refused to enjoin the defendant School District from allowing transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that are consistent with the students' gender identities as opposed to the sex they were determined to have at birth. The plaintiffs — a group of high school students who identify as being the same sex they were determined to have at birth (cisgender) — believe...
OPINION GREENAWAY, JR. , Circuit Judge . Staci Sconiers asks us to reinstate her tort claim against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act ("FTCA"), 28 U.S.C. 346(b), 2671-80 (2012), because she presented her claim to the United States Postal Service (USPS) within two years, as required by 28 U.S.C. 2401(b). We decline to do so because we hold that the FTCA additionally requires claimants to file their claims within six months of an agency's written denial, which Sconiers...
