Justia U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Petitioner, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, sought review of the BIA's order affirming the IJ's finding that he had been convicted of an aggravated felony and was ineligible for cancellation of removal. The court concluded that petitioner's New York state conviction under NYPL 220.39(1) constituted an aggravated felony, which deprived the court of jurisdiction to review the order of removal. The court also denied petitioner's additional motions as moot. View "Pascual v. Holder" on Justia Law

Plaintiff and others brought claims of hostile work environment based on gender under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e; 42 U.S.C. 1983; and the New York State Human Rights Law, N.Y. Exec. Law 290 et seq. (NYSHRL), as well as claims of retaliation under Title VII and the NYSHRL. Plaintiff subsequently appealed from the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the City. The court concluded that plaintiff's claim of a hostile work environment involving allegations of repeated solicitation of sexual relations in a vulgar and humiliating manner sufficed to warrant a trial; plaintiff's claim of gender discrimination because of hostile work environment also sufficed under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; but the district court properly determined that plaintiff's claims of retaliation failed. Accordingly, the court reversed in part, affirmed in part, and remanded. In a summary order, the court affirmed the dismissal of the claims of the other plaintiffs. View "Desardouin v. City of Rochester" on Justia Law

Defendant appealed his convictions stemming from his involvement in a Medicare fraud scheme. At issue was whether health care fraud was an enumerated felony violation cognizable under 18 U.S.C. 1028A. The district court rejected defendant's argument that the parenthetical language limited the applicable provisions of Chapter 63 to those relating only to mail, bank, and wire fraud. The court agreed with the district court and held that the parenthetical language "relating to mail, bank, and wire fraud" in section 1028(c)(5) was merely a shorthand signal to the reader concerning the general nature of offenses contained in Chapter 63. It was not intended to limit the predicate felonies enumerated in Chapter 63. Rather, it encompassed the other frauds criminalized in Chapter 63. The court also held that the instruction given to the jury on the charge of aggravated identity theft was neither misleading nor inadequate. Most of defendant's arguments on appeal have been disposed of in a separate summary order filed simultaneously with this opinion. View "United States v. Rahman" on Justia Law

This case involved an alleged bid-rigging scheme that sought to defraud various New York State and City government agencies in connection with the purchase by those agencies of a particular brand of mobile radio. Gatt, an admitted past participant in the purported scheme, sought to recover damages from alleged co-conspirators for losses arising from the termination of Gatt's at-will distribution contract for those radios. Gatt raised federal and state antitrust claims arising under the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. 1; the Donnelly Act, N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law 340; and New York common law. The court concluded that Gatt lacked antitrust standing to pursue its antitrust claims and that its common law claims were properly dismissed as a matter of law. Therefore, the court affirmed the district court's dismissal of Gatt's complaint. View "Gatt Communications, Inc. v. PMC Associates, L.L.C." on Justia Law

Defendants appealed the district court's denial of their motion for summary judgment. Plaintiffs' commitments were effected by means of an executive-branch effort aimed at preventing the release of some "sexually violent predators." The court agreed with the district court that there was sufficient evidence in the record to support plaintiffs' procedural due process claims and therefore defeated the motion for summary judgment. The court also concluded that at the time of the Initiative, the constitutional principal that, absent some emergency or other exigent circumstance, an individual could not be involuntarily committed to a psychiatric institution without notice and a predeprivation hearing was firmly established. Because the law pertaining to the involuntary civil commitment of prisoners was firmly established, the district court properly determined that defendants should not enjoy qualified immunity. View "Bailey v. Pataki" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs appealed from the district court's dismissal of their action brought under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 18 U.S.C. 2331 et seq., against UBS, alleging that plaintiffs were direct or indirect victims of terrorist attacks in Israel facilitated by UBS's furnishing of United States currency to Iran, which the U.S. Department of State had listed as a state sponsor of terrorism. The district court dismissed plaintiffs' First Amended Complaint (FAC) for lack of standing and failure to state a claim. On appeal, plaintiffs contended principally that the FAC alleged a chain of causation between transfers of funds to Iran by UBS and plaintiffs' injuries at the hands of various terrorist groups sponsored by Iran, sufficient to establish traceability for purposes both of standing and of stating a claim under the ATA. The court concluded that the FAC was sufficient to show Article III standing but insufficient to state a claim on which relief could be granted. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "Rothstein v. UBS AG" on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted of offenses arising from his malfeasance as an air monitor for asbestos abatement projects. Defendant was sentenced to five years' probation after the district court granted his motion under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29 to dismiss the conspiracy charge. On appeal, the court reinstated the conviction for the conspiracy charge and remanded for resentencing. The court concluded that the sentence was procedurally unreasonable and vacated and again remanded for resentencing. View "United States v. Desnoyers" on Justia Law

Petitioner (Father) brought this suit under the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (ICARA), 42 U.S.C. 11603(b), seeking the return of his two minor children to Turkey, as well as an order enforcing his rights under Turkish law to visit the children as long as they stayed in the United States with their mother. The court held that the Father had demonstrated that he retained custody rights under Turkish law and that the Mother's removal of the children from Turkey in 2011 interfered with the exercise of his custody rights. With regard to visitation claims, the court held that section 11603(b) created a federal right of action to enforce "access" rights protected under the Hague Convention. With regard to costs, however, the court concluded that in light of the particular circumstances of this case, an award of full costs would be "clearly inappropriate." Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's return order and vacated the costs award. View "Ozaltin v. Ozaltin" on Justia Law

Petitioner, a tenant-stockholder of a cooperative housing corporation, appealed from the tax court's denial of her petition for a redetermination of a deficiency determination by the Commissioner. The tax court granted the Commissioner's motion for summary judgment, ruling that petitioner held no property interest in the cooperative's grounds sufficient to entitle her to the claimed deduction. The court concluded that petitioner had a sufficient interest in "property" within the meaning of 165(c)(3), and the Commissioner's arguments in support of the tax court's ruling were without merit. Accordingly, the court vacated and remanded for further proceedings. View "Alphonso v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue" on Justia Law

Plaintiff brought a putative class action against defendants, alleging that defendants violated Section 10(b) and Section 20(a) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. 78u-4(b)(2)(A), by issuing a misleading press release concerning the results of a clinical trial for a drug called bapineuzumab. Plaintiff appealed from the district court's dismissal of his amended complaint with prejudice for failure to state a cause of action under Rule 12(b)(6) and denying leave to amend. The court concluded that, in the context of the full presentation of the details surrounding the study of the drug, nothing omitted from the press release rendered it false or misleading to a reasonable investor. Moreover, the court held that plaintiff offered insufficient additional allegations to cure this deficiency. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "Kleinman v. Elan Corp., PLC" on Justia Law