Silberman , Senior Circuit Judge : Appellant Laurence Schneider — also called a Relator — brought a qui tam suit under the False Claims Act against JPMorgan Chase, alleging that Chase falsely claimed compliance with a Settlement it, and a number of other large banks, reached with the United States and state governments. The Settlement — and it is a massive one, costing Chase alone $1.1 billion of cash and over $4.2 billion of in-kind aid to consumers — resolved claims against the banks...
Per Curiam : Respirable crystalline forms of silica, 1 a compound made of silicon and oxygen, are commonly found in workplaces with rock, sand, gravel, concrete, and brick. Exposure to silica is one of the oldest known occupational hazards. And the health effects of exposure to silica — most commonly silicosis, a progressive and irreversible lung disease caused by the inflammatory effects of silica — are not a thing of the past. "Currently, silicosis is the most prevalent chronic...
Kavanaugh , Circuit Judge : In 1996, Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Prison Litigation Reform Act, known as the PLRA. The Act sought to stem the tide of frivolous litigation filed in federal court by some federal and state prisoners. Under the Act, a dismissal of a prisoner's lawsuit for failure to state a claim, or as frivolous or malicious, is commonly referred to as a strike. With some limited exceptions, the Act's basic rule is this: Three strikes and the prisoner is...
MILLETT , Circuit Judge . Since 1975, the United States Forest Service has protected and managed wild horses in the Devil's Garden section of the Modoc National Forest in Northern California. That wild horse territory originally consisted of two separate tracts of land of roughly 236,000 acres. But at some point in the 1980s, a Forest Service map added in an approximately 23,000 acre tract of land known as the Middle Section and, in so doing, linked the two territories into a larger and...
Srinivasan , Circuit Judge : Kansas law calls for hospitals to establish an internal peer-review program to monitor the quality of care furnished by their medical professionals. As required by state law, Menorah Medical Center, a Kansas acute-care hospital, formed a peer-review committee for the facility's nursing staff. The committee examines alleged violations of the applicable standard of care by the hospital's nurses and reports serious breaches to the state licensing agency. This case...
Pillard , Circuit Judge : This case arises from restaurant patron Michelle Hall's claims that employees of Cities Restaurant and Lounge, and the Metropolitan Police Department officers they summoned, reacted overly harshly when she raised a question about her bill and temporarily left the restaurant. Hall appeals the district court's final judgment against her resulting from dismissal of some of her damages claims on the pleadings, and others on summary judgment. Hall celebrated her...
Srinivasan , Circuit Judge . Rhino Northwest, LLC, helps assemble equipment for concerts, festivals, and other events throughout the Pacific Northwest. A group of its employees called "riggers" sought to form a separate collective-bargaining unit. The National Labor Relations Board certified the proposed unit, and Rhino now challenges the Board's certification. According to Rhino, the company's other employees are so similar to its riggers that a bargaining unit cannot consist solely of the...
Garland , Chief Judge . Oberthur Technologies of America seeks review of orders and a certification decision issued by the National Labor Relations Board. Following a representation election, the Board certified International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 14M as the collective bargaining representative of a group of Oberthur employees. The Board also found that the company violated the National Labor Relations Act before the election by restricting employee speech and freezing employee...
Millett , Circuit Judge : Since 1975, the United States Forest Service has protected and managed wild horses in the Devil's Garden section of the Modoc National Forest in Northern California. That wild horse territory originally consisted of two separate tracts of land of roughly 236,000 acres. But at some point in the 1980s, a Forest Service map added in an approximately 23,000 acre tract of land known as the Middle Section and, in so doing, linked the two territories into a larger and...
Edwards , Senior Circuit Judge : The Communications Act of 1934 ("1934 Act") authorized the Federal Communications Commission ("Commission" or "FCC") to ensure that interstate telephone rates are "just and reasonable," 47 U.S.C. 201(b), but left regulation of intrastate rates primarily to the states. In the Telecommunications Act of 1996 ("1996 Act"), Congress amended the 1934 Act to change the Commission's limited regulatory authority over intrastate telecommunication so as to promote...
Garland , Chief Judge : For many years, Cable News Network (CNN) used outside contractors to provide technicians to operate the electronic equipment at its Washington, D.C. and New York City bureaus. In 2003, CNN changed that longstanding arrangement, terminating its latest contracts and hiring a new in-house workforce. The National Labor Relations Board found that CNN's replacement of its unionized contractor with a nonunion, in-house workforce violated the National Labor Relations Act in...
Millett , Circuit Judge : The gray wolf once roamed in large numbers across the contiguous forty-eight States. But by the 1960s, hunting, depredation, and habitat loss drove the gray wolf to the brink of extinction, and the federal government declared the gray wolf an endangered species. After a portion of the gray wolf population rebounded, the government promulgated the rule at issue here, which removes from federal protection a sub-population of gray wolves inhabiting all or portions of...
Brown , Circuit Judge . Petitioner Fred Meyer Stores, Inc. ("Fred Meyer") operates big-box stores — selling both grocery and non-food goods — in the northwest United States. It operates several stores in the Portland, Oregon area, including the Fred Meyer Hillsboro Store (the "Store") at issue here. On October 15, 2009, an encounter between Fred Meyer employees and representatives of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (the "Union") 1 escalated and resulted in the arrests of...
Griffith , Circuit Judge : Constitutional challenges to gun laws create peculiar puzzles for courts. In other areas, after all, a law's validity might turn on the value of its goals and the efficiency of its means. But gun laws almost always aim at the most compelling goal — saving lives — while evidence of their effects is almost always deeply contested. On top of that, the Supreme Court has offered little guidance. Its "first in-depth examination of the Second Amendment" is younger than...
Karen LeCraft Henderson , Circuit Judge : "In Vegas, everybody's gotta watch everybody else. Since the players are looking to beat the casino, the dealers are watching the players. The boxmen are watching the dealers. The floormen are watching the boxmen. The pit bosses are watching the floormen. The shift bosses are watching the pit bosses. The casino manager is watching the shift bosses. I'm watching the casino manager. And the eye in the sky is watching us all." — Sam "Ace" Rothstein,...
Millett , Circuit Judge , and Ginsburg, Senior Circuit Judge: In 2007-2008, the national economy went into a severe recession due in significant part to a dramatic decline in the housing market. That downturn pushed two central players in the United States' housing mortgage market — the Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae" or "Fannie") and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac" or "Freddie") — to the brink of collapse. Congress concluded that resuscitating...
Ginsburg , Senior Circuit Judge : The National Labor Relations Board held that Arc Bridges, Inc. violated 8(a)(3) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act by failing to give a wage increase to represented employees, with whom it was then bargaining, when it increased the wages of its nonunion employees. The Employer petitioned this court for review. Because we hold that substantial evidence did not support the Board's findings, we grant the Employer's petition for review, vacate the...
Tatel , Circuit Judge : More than a decade ago, the parents of six children, ages three to six, sued the District of Columbia, alleging that it was violating the "Child Find" requirement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act by failing to provide special education to their children and hundreds of other preschoolers with disabilities. The district court certified the suit as a class action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, found the District liable, and entered a...
Garland , Chief Judge : The Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reform certain depreciation rates on the ground that those rates were unjust, unreasonable, unduly discriminatory, or preferential. FERC rejected the request, finding that LPSC failed to meet its burden of proof. LPSC now petitions for review. For the reasons stated below, we deny its petition. I Entergy Corporation is a public utility holding company that sells...
Opinion for the Court filed Per Curiam 1 : The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved new rules governing the buying and selling of "capacity." "Capacity" is the ability to produce electricity. Purchasers of capacity acquire the right to buy electricity in the future. Petitioners object to the Commission's approval of revisions to the rules for capacity markets operated by PJM Interconnection. I. PJM Interconnection is a regional transmission organization that oversees the...
