STEPHEN A. HIGGINSON , Circuit Judge : This lawsuit alleging personal and property damages stemming from oil pipe-cleaning operations was filed in Louisiana state court and removed to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act, 28 U.S.C. 1332(d) (CAFA). The district court allowed jurisdictional discovery and then ordered the case remanded to state court on the ground that Defendants had not met their burden of showing that at least one plaintiff satisfies the individual amount-in-...
FORTUNATO P. BENAVIDES , Circuit Judge : This appeal involves the application of Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 971, the state's "anti-SLAPP" statute, which provides a procedural mechanism for dismissing certain defamation claims early in litigation unless the plaintiff can establish a "probability of success." Plaintiff-Appellant Yaroslav Lozovyy sued Richard Kurtz and Thomas Klei for allegedly stating during a conference call that he destroyed and/or stole research data, and...
KING , Circuit Judge : Plaintiffs-Appellants Helen and Robert Allen filed a personal injury suit against Defendants for alleged workplace injuries to Helen Allen. Defendants moved for summary judgment, contending that the suit should be barred by judicial estoppel because the Allens failed to disclose the personal injury claim during their concurrent Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceeding. The district court granted the motion for summary judgment, and the Allens appeal. As modified herein, we...
KING , Circuit Judge . Defendant-Appellant Mark Hebert was sentenced by the district court to a term of 92 years of imprisonment after pleading guilty to a series of counts involving bank fraud. The district court imposed the sentence following a detailed four-day hearing where it found that Hebert had committed second degree murder in connection with the bank fraud counts. Hebert appeals his sentence, arguing that the evidence before the district court was insufficient to prove second...
HAYNES , Circuit Judge : Robert L. Collins appeals the district court's order and judgment dismissing his claims against A.S. Sidharthan, in which the district court adopted the report and recommendation of the bankruptcy court. Collins argues that the bankruptcy and district courts lacked "related to" jurisdiction over this case under 28 U.S.C. 1334 because Sidharthan's cross-claims for indemnity and contribution against the debtor in bankruptcy, KSRP, Limited ("KSRP"), had no...
E. GRADY JOLLY , Circuit Judge : Three defendants appeal their convictions for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute controlled substances and related charges. These defendants were part of a group of thirty-seven people who were indicted for a drug conspiracy after a multi-year FBI investigation that recorded over 77,000 telephone calls. Other than the three defendants here (and codefendants who do not appeal), all indicted coconspirators pled guilty, and many testified against these...
EDITH H. JONES , Circuit Judge . Appellant Margie Brandon ("Brandon") filed suit against the Sage Corporation ("Sage"), alleging racial discrimination, wrongful termination, and retaliation, in violation of Title VII as amended by the Civil Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-3(a) ("Title VII") and 42 U.S.C. 1981 (" 1981") and the comparable Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, and other state law claims. The district court granted Sage's motion for summary judgment. Brandon appeals...
EDITH H. JONES , Circuit Judge : This case requires us to determine whether a non-operating partner in a joint-venture qualifies as a "statutory employer" as that term is used in the Louisiana Workers' Compensation Act ("LWCA"), LA. STAT. ANN. 23:1021 (2014) et seq., even though the operating partner signed a contract with a contractor that did not specifically designate the non-operating partner as a "statutory employer." Holding that the plaintiff has not overcome the presumption that...
EDITH BROWN CLEMENT , Circuit Judge . Petitioner Entergy Mississippi, Incorporated ("Entergy") is a power utility company. This case concerns the status of a certain group of Entergy's employees—dispatchers —under the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA" or "Act"), 29 U.S.C. 151-169. Dispatchers use various information systems to monitor the flow of electricity through Entergy's grid. The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition ("SCADA") system "provides dispatchers with data...
HAYNES , Circuit Judge : Plaintiff JSI Communications appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendant Travelers Casualty & Surety Company of America on JSI's payment bond and bad faith claims. We REVERSE and RENDER in part, REVERSE and REMAND in part, and VACATE and REMAND in part. I. Background McMillan-Pitts Construction Company, LLC was selected as the prime contractor on a public project to construct the New Stoneville Office Building, Mississippi State...
HAYNES , Circuit Judge : Johnny Ray Long appeals the district court's award of costs to GSD&M Idea City, LLC ("GSD&M"). 1 The district court dismissed Long's underlying qui tam False Claims Act ("FCA") case against GSD&M with prejudice based on judicial estoppel for Long's failure to disclose his FCA claims in his bankruptcy case. For the reasons that follow, we MODIFY the award of costs by subtracting $7768.89 of the costs and AFFIRM as MODIFIED in all other respects. I. Long sued...
EDITH BROWN CLEMENT , Circuit Judge . In 2003, Daniel Morales, the former Attorney General of Texas, was convicted of mail fraud and of making and filing a false income tax return. During his criminal prosecution, the district court entered a protective order covering discovery materials produced by certain victims and third parties. More than a decade later, Morales moved to modify that protective order to permit the limited disclosure of certain documents. The district court denied that...
STEPHEN A. HIGGINSON , Circuit Judge : This case concerns the Gulf Coast domestic steel industry. In 2011, two longtime steel industry salesmen opened a new steel distributor, MM Steel, L.P. ("MM"). MM quickly found it difficult to survive because certain steel manufacturers, including Nucor Corporation ("Nucor") and JSW Steel (USA), Inc. ("JSW"), refused to sell them steel. Shortly before MM closed, MM sued the manufacturers and MM's competing distributors, claiming that the distributors...
REAVLEY , Circuit Judge : Borrowers defaulted on a loan guaranteed by the VA Home Loan Guaranty Program, and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs acquired the property through foreclosure. Later, after ad valorem property taxes imposed by Jackson County, Mississippi went unpaid, the property was sold to plaintiff-appellant Equity Trust Company at a tax sale. Equity Trust Company claims that it acquired title by that tax sale and ultimately filed suit to quiet title in a Mississippi state court....
EDITH BROWN CLEMENT , Circuit Judge : This is an insurance dispute arising out of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Liberty Insurance Underwriters, Inc. ("Liberty"), appellee-cross-appellant here, insured Cameron International Corporation ("Cameron"), appellant-cross-appellee here and the manufacturer of the blowout preventer used on Deepwater Horizon, for potential losses associated with the blowout preventer. After the spill, Cameron settled with BP, the well owner, and sought the...
EDWARD C. PRADO , Circuit Judge : This school-redistricting equal protection case is now before us for the second time. In the first appeal, in 2011, a divided panel of this Court reversed summary judgment in favor of Defendant-Appellee Ascension Parish School Board ("Board"), holding that material fact issues surrounded the discriminatory purpose and effect of the Board's adoption of a redistricting plan that concentrated economically disadvantaged students in a majority-nonwhite school...
JENNIFER WALKER ELROD , Circuit Judge . In this interlocutory appeal, Brad Livingston, Rick Thaler, and William Stephens (collectively "Defendants") challenge an order of the district court that deferred ruling on their motion to dismiss on the basis of qualified immunity and ordered limited discovery. Because the district court correctly concluded that the complaint was sufficient and that further factual development was needed to rule on Defendants' qualified immunity defense, and because...
PRISCILLA R. OWEN , Circuit Judge . A jury convicted Defendant-Appellant Renee Gill Pratt (Pratt) of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 1 and this court affirmed the conviction on appeal. 2 Pratt then filed a motion for a new trial, citing revelations that a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office had posted disparaging comments about her online while her trial was underway. Pratt appeals the district court's denial of this motion, contending...
PER CURIAM : Petitioner Raphael Deon Holiday is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas on November 18, 2015. Since 2011, CJA-appointed counsel, Seth Kretzer and James Volberding, have represented Holiday on federal habeas review. Through separate pro bono counsel, Holiday appeals the district court's orders, entered on September 24, 2015, October 22, 2015, and October 26, 2015, denying his motion for appointment of new counsel under 18 U.S.C. 3599 and moves for a stay of execution....
JERRY E. SMITH , Circuit Judge : The United States 1 appeals a preliminary injunction, pending trial, forbidding implementation of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents program ("DAPA"). Twenty-six states (the "states" 2 ) challenged DAPA under the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA") and the Take Care Clause of the Constitution; 3 in an impressive and thorough Memorandum Opinion and Order issued February 16, 2015, the district court enjoined the...
