OPINION OF THE COURT GREENBERG, Circuit Judge. I. INTRODUCTION Jestyn G. Payne, successor custodian for shares of stock owned by L.L., a minor, appeals from an order of the District Court affirming the Bankruptcy Court's order dismissing an adversary proceeding that Payne brought against the debtor, Harold C. Lampe, Jr. ("Harold"), the prior custodian for the shares, and sustaining Harold's objections to Payne's proof of claim. In the Bankruptcy Court, Payne sought to recover $345,000 from...
OPINION OF THE COURT SLOVITER, Circuit Judge. The bankruptcy proceeding that is the subject of this appeal is one of three matters pending in three jurisdictions. We are advised by the parties that the amount ultimately at issue is between 8 or 9 billion dollars. The specific issue before us is the interpretation of the police power exception to the automatic stay contained in 11 U.S.C. 362(b)(4). The Bankruptcy Court, affirmed by the District Court, held that the automatic stay applies to...
OPINION OF THE COURT JORDAN, Circuit Judge. Kenyatta Johnson and Damon K. Roberts (collectively, "Appellants") appeal the District Court's grant of summary judgment for the City of Philadelphia (the "City"), contending the District Court erroneously concluded that a City ordinance prohibiting the posting of signs on street poles passes constitutional muster under the First, Fourteenth, and Twenty-Fourth Amendments of the United States Constitution. For the reasons that follow, we will affirm....
OPINION OF THE COURT RENDELL, Circuit Judge, with whom Circuit Judges SCIRICA, AMBRO, FUENTES, FISHER, CHAGARES and VANASKIE, join. At issue on appeal in this class action litigation is the propriety of the District Court's certification of two nationwide settlement classes comprising purchasers of diamonds from De Beers S.A. and related entities ("De Beers"). 1 The settlement provided for a fund of $295 million to be distributed to both the direct and indirect purchasers: the direct...
OPINION OF THE COURT HARDIMAN, Circuit Judge. This appeal requires us to interpret 2K2.1(b)(6) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines (USSG), which increases a defendant's offense level by four points when he "used or possessed any firearm or ammunition in connection with another felony offense." In a trio of cases over the past decade, we crafted a test for district courts to use in deciding when to apply USSG 2K2.1(b)(6). We held that for an offense to count as "another felony...
OPINION OF THE COURT GREENAWAY, JR., Circuit Judge. This case involves school redistricting in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania and allegations that the implemented redistricting plan violates the Equal Protection Clause. Here, the Lower Merion School District ("the District") used pristine, non-discriminatory goals as the focal points of its redistricting plan, Plan 3R. The District's goals included that: 1. "The enrollment of the two high schools and two middle schools will be equalized;" 2. "...
OPINION OF THE COURT ALDISERT, Circuit Judge. Akhil Bansal and Frederick Mullinix appeal from their jury convictions in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on a 42-count indictment alleging crimes arising from their multi-national, internet-based, controlled-substance-distribution scheme. They have, in our estimation, challenged every decision of the District Court, at almost every moment of the litigation before, during, and after their convictions. Yet...
OPINION OF THE COURT HARDIMAN, Circuit Judge. This appeal arises under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended in 1991. At issue is the legality of a residency requirement for firefighter candidates imposed by North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue (North Hudson), a fire department comprising five New Jersey municipalities. The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey held the residency requirement invalid because it has a disparate impact on African-American...
OPINION SMITH, Circuit Judge. This is the latest action in a long series of disputes that followed the attempted condemnation of commercial property in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Seeking to revitalize the Conshohocken waterfront, the Redevelopment Authority of Montgomery County (the "Authority")—at the behest of developer Donald Pulver—attempted to condemn Plaintiffs' property, which was home to a successful steel processing business. The Plaintiffs fought the condemnation in state court....
OPINION OF THE COURT HARDIMAN, Circuit Judge. Anthony Brown was convicted in Pennsylvania state court of first-degree murder, reckless endangerment, and possession of an instrument of crime. After exhausting his state court remedies, Brown filed a federal habeas petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2254(d)(1), claiming that the decision of the Pennsylvania Superior Court was an unreasonable application of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 , 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). The...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION OF THE COURT FUENTES, Circuit Judge. Christopher Morris appeals from the District Court's grant of summary judgment to the Appellees on his malicious prosecution and selective prosecution claims. While he recognizes that, in order to bring a malicious prosecution claim, he must show that his criminal case was "favorably terminated," he argues that the District Court held him to too high of a standard in resolving this question. Morris also argues that he put forward...
OPINION GREENAWAY, JR., Circuit Judge. Ricardo Pieschacon-Villegas ("Pieschacon-Villegas") petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA" or "Board") dismissing his appeal of the Immigration Judge's ("IJ") denial of his request for deferral of removal under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment ("CAT"). Pieschacon-Villegas seeks this Court's review because he asserts that: (1) the BIA used an...
OPINION OF THE COURT GREENBERG, Circuit Judge. This matter comes on before this Court on a petition for review of a decision and order of the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") dated October 29, 2010, denying petitioner Mamadou Nbaye's motion to reopen his proceedings seeking asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture based on changed country conditions in Guinea, his country of origin. He filed that motion seeking reconsideration of the BIA's denial of...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION CHAGARES, Circuit Judge. Yellowbird Bus Company ("Yellowbird") appeals the District Court's dismissal of their complaint against Lexington Insurance Company ("Lexington") and five individuals: Carmen Batista, Jose Rosado, Brendi Lopez, Neena Meeker, and Fanny Cepeda (collectively, the "individual defendants"). For the reasons stated below, we possess jurisdiction over the appeal docketed as 10-3396 and will affirm. We will dismiss the appeal docketed as No. 10-3859....
OPINION SMITH, Circuit Judge. This appeal requires that we determine whether Denorris Mahone's conviction for making terroristic threats under 2706 of Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code constitutes a "crime of violence" under United States Sentencing Guideline (U.S.S.G.) 2K2.1(a)(2). We conclude, based on the record before us, that Mahone's conviction qualifies as a crime of violence. For that reason, we will affirm the judgment of the United States District Court. I. Mahone...
OPINION GREENAWAY, JR., Circuit Judge. Jeoffrey L. Burtch ("Burtch" or "Appellant"), Chapter 7 Trustee of Factory 2-U Stores, Inc. ("Factory 2-U"), appeals the District Court's May 31, 2009 Order granting Defendants' Motion to Dismiss as well as the District Court's June 4, 2010 Order denying leave to amend Burtch's Complaint. Capital Factors, Inc. ("Capital"), HSBC Business Credit ("HSBC"), Rosenthal & Rosenthal, Inc. ("Rosenthal"), and Wells Fargo Century, Inc. ("Wells Fargo"), collectively...
ORDER AMENDING OPINION VANASKIE, Circuit Judge. IT IS NOW ORDERED the above captioned case be amended as follows: Footnote 5 shall now read: The District Court erroneously held that the presumption of the business judgment rule is overcome only by evidence of gross negligence. The District Court cited a Delaware Supreme Court case which held that "under the business judgment rule director liability is predicated upon concepts of gross negligence." Aronson v. Lewis, 473 A.2d 805 , 812 (...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION OF THE COURT HARDIMAN, Circuit Judge. Daniel Van Pelt appeals his judgment of conviction and sentence following a jury trial. We will affirm. I Because we write for the parties, we recount only the essential facts and procedural history. We review the facts in the light most favorable to the Government, as the verdict winner. United States v. Hoffecker, 530 F.3d 137 , 146 (3d Cir. 2008) (citing United States v. Wood, 486 F.3d 781 , 783 (3d Cir. 2007)). Van...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION OF THE COURT FISHER, Circuit Judge. Jeanes Hospital ("Jeanes") appeals from the order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granting summary judgment in favor of appellee Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services ("Secretary"). The District Court affirmed the decision of the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("Administrator" or "CMS") denying Jeanes's...
OPINION SMITH, Circuit Judge. In order to remove a lawsuit filed in state court to a federal district court under the federal removal statute, 28 U.S.C. 1441, 1446, a defendant must file a notice of removal within thirty days of the date on which the plaintiff serves "the defendant." Courts have split in interpreting this thirty day limitation: the Fourth and Fifth Circuits have held that the thirty day period ends thirty days after the first defendant is served (the "first-served" rule),...
