SHEPHERD, Circuit Judge. Mayme Brown, the Hot Spring County, Arkansas Circuit Clerk, filed suit in Arkansas state court against the appellees, various originators and servicers of loans (Lenders). Brown alleged that the Lenders used the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) to avoid paying recording fees on mortgage assignments and, thus, deprived Arkansas counties of revenue. The Lenders removed the case to federal court pursuant to the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA),...
SHEPHERD, Circuit Judge. In 2009, Nathan Melton was convicted of bank fraud and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and 5 years supervised release. Melton's supervised release has been revoked three times. Melton now challenges the third revocation proceeding, arguing that the district judge should have recused from the proceeding. We hold that the district court 1 did not commit plain error by not recusing sua sponte. 2 Approximately one month after Melton was discharged into supervised-...
COLLOTON, Circuit Judge. Brian Ward entered pleas of nolo contendere to rape and second-degree sexual abuse in Arkansas state court. He later petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in the district court, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2254. The district court dismissed the petition with prejudice on two alternative grounds: that Ward had procedurally defaulted his claims in state court and that the claims lacked merit. The court then granted a certificate of appealability on the question of...
MURPHY, Circuit Judge. Randy G. Spencer filed this action under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against Jackson County, Missouri and employees in its detention center, alleging violation of his constitutional rights by Margo Carter, the supervisor of the inmate worker program, and case managers Gale Anthony and Brenda Williams. The district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment. Spencer appeals the dismissal of his First Amendment claims. After carefully reviewing the record, we reverse...
SHEPHERD, Circuit Judge. In Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States, the United States Supreme Court held that exceptional circumstances may permit a federal court to refrain from hearing a case and instead defer to a concurrent, parallel state-court proceeding. The question in this appeal is whether a federal court may utilize Colorado River to stay a federal shareholder-derivative proceeding that contains a valid claim within the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal...
SMITH, Circuit Judge. Richard A. Burton sued his former employer, Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin ("Secretary of State"), in his official capacity, and the Chief of the Arkansas State Capitol Police, Darrell Hedden, in his individual and official capacity, (collectively, "state defendants") for race discrimination and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 2000e, et seq.; 42 U.S.C. 1983; and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth...
COLLOTON, Circuit Judge. Yulanda Hill sued her supervisor, Carolyn Walker, individually and in her official capacity as an employee of the Arkansas Department of Human Services ("the Department"), alleging that Walker violated the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"), 29 U.S.C. 2601 et seq., and the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. 201 et seq. Hill asserted that Walker contravened these statutes by refusing to grant Hill certain leave time that she requested and by failing...
WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge. Richard Strong was convicted of two counts of capital murder and sentenced to death. The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentence on direct appeal and later affirmed the denial of Strong's motion for postconviction relief. The district court 1 denied Strong's petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. 2254. We granted a certificate of appealability on four of Strong's claims, and we now affirm the denial of the writ. I. Background On...
[Published] PER CURIAM. Jonathan Simmons pleaded guilty to drug and firearm offenses, and the District Court sentenced him to two consecutive sixty-month prison terms. Simmons appeals, challenging the validity of his guilty plea. 1 We affirm. In September 2010, Simmons was indicted by a grand jury on three counts: Count One charged that Simmons knowingly possessed with intent to distribute one hundred or more marijuana plants, a violation of 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(B); Count Two...
BYE, Circuit Judge. This is an insurance coverage dispute between Macheca Transport Company (Macheca) and Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company (Philadelphia) arising from an ammonia leak which occurred in a refrigerated warehouse in November 2001. The dispute has resulted in extended litigation. An initial appeal to our court reversed a summary judgment in favor of Philadelphia. See Macheca Transp. v. Phila. Indem. Co., 463 F.3d 827 , 834 (8th Cir.2006) ( Macheca I ). On remand, the...
MURPHY, Circuit Judge. After a flood caused damage to their home, Glenn and Lisa Gunter filed claims under their Standard Flood Insurance Policy (SFIP) with Farmers Insurance Company Inc. and their supplemental policy with American Security Insurance Company. Farmers promptly paid the amount claimed in the Gunters' timely filed proof of loss. When their home was later condemned as uninhabitable, the Gunters sued Farmers and American for breach of contract and various state law violations,...
LOKEN, Circuit Judge. In the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 ("CAFA"), Congress permitted removal from state to federal court of certain class actions, including "mass actions." 28 U.S.C. 1332(d), 1453(a) and (b). "[T]he term `mass action' means any civil action... in which monetary relief claims of 100 or more persons are proposed to be tried jointly on the ground that the plaintiffs' claims involve common questions of law or fact," 1332(d)(11)(B)(i), but does not include an action in...
GRUENDER, Circuit Judge. Charles Bethel II and Jennifer Frantz appeal the district court's 1 grant of summary judgment in favor of Darwin Select Insurance Company ("Darwin") on their claims for declaratory relief, breach of contract, and breach of implied contractual duties of good faith and fair dealing. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm. I. Background In 2005, Trent Jonas formed Zen Title, LLC, a Minnesota-based title insurance agency. Jonas persuaded Bethel and Frantz to invest...
WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge. Marquez Lanell Lawhorn pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). Lawhorn appeals from the district court's 1 denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. We affirm. I. Background At approximately 11:32 p.m. on June 6, 2011, Columbia, Missouri, police responded to a 911 call about a black male sitting in a red Ford Bronco in a hotel parking lot. The 911 caller stated that the person in the car...
[Published] PER CURIAM. Margie P. Shephard pleaded guilty, pursuant to a written plea agreement, to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and identity theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 371; to aggravated identity theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1028(a); and to obstruction of justice, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1503. In addition to imposing a sentence of imprisonment and supervised release, the court ordered Shephard to pay $8,918.36 in restitution. She later filed a motion pursuant to 28 U.S.C....
BRIGHT, Circuit Judge. Christopher Stoner suffered arrest on suspicion of violating an Arkansas statute that prohibited a person from possessing a weapon in a vehicle with a purpose to employ the weapon against a person. See Ark.Code Ann. 5-73-120(a) (2010) (amended 2013). After release from any charges, Stoner brought a civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983 and the Arkansas Civil Rights Act of 1993 against five members of the St. Francis County Sheriff's Office, including...
MELLOY, Circuit Judge. Gabriel Coker sued the Arkansas State Police and one of its state troopers, Brad Cartwright, in his individual and official capacities, under 42 U.S.C. 1983. Coker claimed that Cartwright used excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution when Cartwright arrested Coker after a high-speed chase along a divided Arkansas highway. Coker claimed that Cartwright used excessive force when he used his patrol vehicle to hit Coker's motorcycle,...
WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge. Bruce Martin Construction, Inc. (Bruce Martin), appeals two district court 1 orders, one dismissing its negligent misrepresentation claim against CTB, Inc., on the pleadings, the other granting summary judgment to CTB on Bruce Martin's breach of warranty claim. We affirm. I. Grain storage can be a dangerous, physically demanding process. When the time comes to unload grain from a cylindrical bin, most of the grain (some 80 percent) will flow out the bottom of the bin...
MELLOY, Circuit Judge. In a prior appeal, we held that Travelers Property Casualty Insurance Company of America ("Travelers"), who paid $10 million to settle claims on an excess policy, was entitled to receive $10 million from a primary insurer who had obtained a larger judgment through subrogation litigation against a third party. Travelers Prop. Cas. Ins. Co. of Am. v. Nat. Union Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh ( Travelers I ), 621 F.3d 697 (8th Cir.2010). We expressly declined to rule on the...
RILEY, Chief Judge. L.T. Simes, II, is the first African-American circuit court (trial court) judge elected in Phillips County, Arkansas. During disciplinary proceedings against him before the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission (commission), Simes filed a federal lawsuit, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983, against the commission and six of its officials: five commissioners and Executive Director David Stewart (collectively, officials). 1 The district court 2 denied Simes'...
