NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * McKEE , Circuit Judge . Peter Ponzini and Miryem Barbaros, co-administrators of the estate of Mumun Barbaros (collectively "Plaintiffs"), appeal the District Court's order granting PrimeCare Medical, Inc.'s Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict which reversed the jury's award of $8,000,000 in punitive damages. PrimeCare, Paul James, Patricia Bauer, Christina Rowe, Wendy Johnson, and Grace Ramos (collectively, the "PrimeCare Defendants") cross-appeal...
OPINION OF THE COURT KRAUSE , Circuit Judge . This case requires us to determine the constitutionality of a Pittsburgh ordinance that creates a fifteen-foot "buffer zone" outside the entrance of any hospital or healthcare facility. Pittsburgh, Pa., Code 623.04 (2005) [hereinafter "the Ordinance" or "Pitts. Code"]. In relevant part, the Ordinance states that "[n]o person or persons shall knowingly congregate, patrol, picket or demonstrate" in the prescribed zone. Id. Outside of a...
OPINION OF THE COURT AMBRO , Circuit Judge . Here we are again. After our last encounter with the periodic review by the Federal Communications Commission (the "FCC" or the "Commission") of its broadcast ownership rules and diversity initiatives, the Commission has taken a series of actions that, cumulatively, have substantially changed its approach to regulation of broadcast media ownership. First, it issued an order that retained almost all of its existing rules in their current form,...
OPINION OF THE COURT PORTER , Circuit Judge . This appeal asks whether, under Pennsylvania insurance law, a manufacturer may recover from its liability insurers the cost of settling a lawsuit alleging that the manufacturer's product was defective. Consistent with long-standing precedent, we hold that recovery turns on the language of the specific insurance policies at issue. We will thus affirm in part and vacate in part the District Court's judgment and remand for further consideration...
OPINION OF THE COURT PORTER , Circuit Judge . Weih Chang appeals the District Court's orders dismissing his complaint under the False Claims Act ("FCA") and its Delaware counterpart. He argues that the District Court was obliged under those statutes to hold an in-person hearing before dismissing his claims. We disagree, so we will affirm. I A The FCA prohibits the submission of false claims for payment to the United States. See 31 U.S.C. 3729(a)(1); United States ex rel. Petratos...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * GREENAWAY, JR. , Circuit Judge . In McCreesh, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court adopted a "flexible approach" to determine the efficacy of a plaintiff's service of process, thus abandoning "the draconian action of dismissing claims based on technical failings that do not prejudice the defendant." McCreesh v. City of Philadelphia, 888 A.2d 664 , 666 (Pa. 2005). We believe that the District Court's dismissal of this action was such a draconian action. While...
OPINION OF THE COURT AMBRO, Circuit Judge The Pennsylvania House of Representatives begins most legislative sessions with a prayer. The practice has two features that are challenged in this appeal. First, the House invites guest chaplains to offer the prayer, but it excludes nontheists (those who do not espouse belief in a god or gods, though not necessarily atheists) from serving as chaplains on the theory that "prayer" presupposes a higher power. Second, visitors to the House chamber pass a...
OPINION OF THE COURT SMITH , Judge . In 2015, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Daniel Golden and publicist Tracy Locke were conducting research for Golden's then-forthcoming book, Spy Schools: How the CIA, FBI, and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America's Universities. 1 As part of that research, Golden and Locke invoked open records laws to request documents from public universities. From April to August of 2015, Golden and Locke submitted three records requests to the New...
OPINION OF THE COURT FUENTES , Circuit Judge . Petitioner Dexter Anthony Hillocks is a lawful permanent resident who was convicted of the Pennsylvania state crime of using a communication facility— i.e., a phone—to facilitate a felony. The question before us is whether that crime constitutes either an "aggravated felony" or a "conviction relating to a controlled substance" under federal immigration laws. Either would make him removable. Typically, when deciding whether a particular state...
JUDGMENT ORDER ON REMAND FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES D. Brooks Smith , Chief Judge . By opinion and judgment entered July 6, 2017, this Court affirmed the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania's dismissal of appellant Rose Mary Knick's Fourth Amendment challenge for lack of standing and her Fifth Amendment takings claim without prejudice pending exhaustion of state-law compensation remedies under Williamson County Regional Planning Comm'n v....
HARDIMAN , Circuit Judge . OPINION OF THE COURT For almost 75 years, the official seal of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania has included a Latin cross surrounded by nearly a dozen secular symbols of historical, patriotic, cultural, and economic significance to the community. The question presented is whether that seal violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Consistent with the Supreme Court's recent decision in American Legion v. American...
OPINION OF THE COURT HARDIMAN , Circuit Judge . This case comes to the Court as a certified interlocutory appeal. The sole question presented is whether, under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933, 15 U.S.C. 77k, a nonvoting board observer affiliated with an issuer's placement agent is a "person who, with his consent, is named in the registration statement as being or about to become a director[ ] [or] person performing similar functions . . . ." Id. 77k(a)(3). We think not. As...
OPINION OF THE COURT SHWARTZ , Circuit Judge . The Women's Health Amendment to the Affordable Care Act ("ACA") mandated that women's health insurance include coverage for preventive health care. Through the Amendment, Congress directed the Health Resources and Services Administration ("HRSA"), a component of the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS"), to issue guidelines setting forth the preventive health care services that women should be provided. Among the services HRSA...
OPINION RENDELL , Circuit Judge : Carl Simon was convicted in 1994 for his part in a break-in that led to the death of Daniel Ezekiel. Twenty-five years later, we review his petition for habeas relief. Although we agree with the Appellate Division of the District Court for the Virgin Islands that most of Simon's claims do not entitle him to relief, we remand for two reasons. First, the Superior Court abused its discretion when it declined to conduct an evidentiary hearing to address...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION ** S NCHEZ , Chief District Judge . Following a five-day hearing, an arbitrator found that Melody Shan had breached her fiduciary and contractual obligations to Sabre GLBL, Inc., her former employer, and awarded Sabre damages, injunctive relief, and attorney's fees for these and other violations of state and federal law. Sabre moved to confirm the arbitration award in its entirety, and Shan moved to vacate the arbitrator's award of "head start" disgorgement...
OPINION OF THE COURT JORDAN , Circuit Judge . Kenneth James appeals the denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. He argues that the District Court of the Virgin Islands erred as a matter of law and abused its discretion in declining to grant the motion. We disagree and will affirm. I. BACKGROUND James arranged to sell cocaine to someone who turned out to be a confidential informant of the Drug Enforcement Agency ("DEA"). After several phone calls and conversations between James...
OPINION GREENBERG , Circuit Judge . I. INTRODUCTION This matter comes on before this Court on the appeal of plaintiff Robert W. Mauthe M.D. P.C. challenging the District Court's grant of summary judgment against its complaint brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. 227 ("TCPA"). We consolidated this case for argument with Mauthe v. Nat'l Imaging Assocs., Inc. , No. 18-2119, 767 Fed.Appx. 246, 2019 WL 1752591 (3d Cir. Apr. 17, 2019) (" NIA "), a case that the same...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * JORDAN , Circuit Judge . Tomas Lirano Castillo appeals the sentence imposed on him by the District Court of the Virgin Islands. We will affirm. I. BACKGROUND In 2016, Castillo, carrying a backpack filled with several kilograms of cocaine, boarded a ship in Tortola headed for St. Thomas. Unbeknownst to Castillo, Drug Enforcement Administration agents in St. Thomas had been tipped off about the smuggling and were waiting for his arrival. They apprehended him...
OPINION OF THE COURT SMITH , Chief Judge . This consolidated appeal involves issues tangential to the expansive National Football League (NFL) concussion injury litigation. Following approval of the settlement agreement in that class action in 2015, various class members entered into cash advance arrangements with third party litigation funders. Under the agreements relevant to the cases on appeal, class members purported to assign their rights to a portion of their settlement proceeds in...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * PORTER , Circuit Judge . Jos Luis Reinoso-Selda, aka Jos Rudiaris Lajara ("Reinoso"), asks us to remand his case to the Board of Immigration Appeals to reopen sua sponte his 1996 deportation hearings. The Government responds that we lack jurisdiction to review the Board's decision declining to exercise its authority to reopen sua sponte. The Government is correct, so we must dismiss Reinoso's petition. I Reinoso is a native and citizen of the Dominican...
