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

Plaintiffs appealed the district court's judgment in favor of Federal, denying plaintiffs indemnification under their insurance policy for the destruction of their barn by fire. The court concluded that the permissive adverse inference instruction with respect to a photograph that plaintiffs had not produced in discovery was appropriate; Federal was not entitled to attorney fees; Federal was not entitled to equitable relief to recover payments made to plaintiffs; and, therefore, the judgment of the district court was affirmed. View "Mali v. Federal Ins. Co," on Justia Law

Plaintiff challenged the court's holding in Grochowski v. Phoenix Construction, which held that the Davis-Bacon Act, 40 U.S.C. 3141-3148, barred third-party private contract actions, brought under state law, aimed at enforcing the Act's prevailing wage schedules. The court concluded that Grochowski was the controlling law of this Circuit and foreclosed plaintiff's third-party beneficiary contract claim for failure to pay prevailing wages; the district court did not err in setting aside the jury's award of punitive damages under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50; the district court did not err in denying plaintiff's motion for a new trial as to damages on his discrimination claim; and, therefore, the judgment of the district court was affirmed. View "Carrion v. Agfa Construction, Inc." on Justia Law

Defendants appealed the district court's judgment of liability after a jury found them liable for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and violation of plaintiff's right to a fair trial. The court concluded that jury instructions adequately reflected the holding in Rehberg v. Paulk and mitigated the prejudicial impact of the opening and closing statements; the district court's instruction referencing the favorable termination of the prosecution without further elaboration was not a basis for reversal or a new trial; and the district court's exclusion of recognition evidence did not merit a new trial. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "Marshall v. Randall" on Justia Law

Gaia and State Street were bound by a mezzanine loan agreement with Lehman Brothers to help finance the construction of a residential building in Manhattan. At issue on appeal was whether equitable estoppel, principles of good faith and fair dealing, or general principles of equity prevented State Street from keeping the Accrued Interest. The court concluded that Gaia could not rely on equitable estoppel to recover the Accrued Interest because Gaia did not demonstrate an omission or misrepresentation by State Street on which Gaia reasonably relied to its substantial detriment; State Street was entitled to act in its own self-interest and require payment of the Accrued Interest, even if such action lessened Gaia's anticipated profits, because State Street acted consistently with the contract and did not violate a presumed obligation or Gaia's reasonable expectations; State Street's actions were not taken in bad faith; State Street did not unlawfully demand payment of the Accrued Interest and it was not liable for the Doral damages; and the Professional Fee provision applied in this action and State Street was entitled to Professional Fees incurred as a result of this litigation. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded. View "Gaia House Mezz LLC v. State St. Bank & Trust Co." on Justia Law

Petitioner, the father, initiated this action under the Hague Convention and the International Abduction Remedies Act (ICARA), 42 U.S.C. 11601 et seq., alleging that respondent, the mother, had wrongfully removed the child from Italy. The district court held that the father had not established that the child's habitual residence was Italy and denied the father's petition for return of the child. The court found no clear error in the district court's finding regarding the parents' shared intent that the child would reside in New York; the parents never shared an intent for their child to abandon his prior habitual residence in the United States; and the father waived any arguments with respect to "acclimation." Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment dismissing the petition. View "Guzzo v. Cristofano" on Justia Law

Defendant appealed from a sentence imposed by the district court for retaining classified documents without authorization. The court vacated defendant's sentence and remanded for resentencing. At issue here was whether the case was remanded for a limited or a de novo resentence. The court concluded that the remand was for a limited sentencing and the district court shall resentence defendant by recalculating the Guidelines range without the two-level enhancement for abuse of a position of trust, and without re-litigating issues previous waived or abandoned by the parties, or decided by this or the prior panel. View "United States v. Malki" on Justia Law

Plaintiff sued Marvel, contending that he conceived the comic book character "Ghost Rider," the related characters, and the origin story. Plaintiff also claimed that he owned the renewal term copyrights in those works. On appeal, plaintiff challenged the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Marvel, holding that plaintiff had assigned any rights he had in the renewal term copyrights to Marvel when he executed a form work-for-hire agreement (the Agreement), six years after the initial publication of the issue in question. The court, by applying the "strong presumption against the conveyance of renewal rights," concluded that the district court erred in holding as a matter of law that plaintiff had assigned his renewal rights to Marvel by signing the Agreement; plaintiff's claim was not untimely as a matter of law because there were genuine disputes regarding whether plaintiff should have known about Marvel's repudiation of his claim of ownership; and there were genuine disputes of material fact that precluded granting summary judgment on the issue of authorship. Accordingly, the court vacated and remanded for trial. View "Gary Friedrich Enters., LLC v. Marvel Characters, Inc." on Justia Law

Charter appealed the district court's holding that it was liable to CGS for its expenses in defending and settling a trademark infringement suit. The court concluded that the relevant insurance policy did not cover the liability alleged in the trademark action and Charter was not liable for the settlement amount; however, there was sufficient legal uncertainty about the coverage issue to oblige Charter to defend the action; and, therefore, the district court's ruling was affirmed insofar as it held that Charter was liable for defense costs, but reversed insofar as it held that Charter was liable for the settlement. Accordingly, the court vacated and remanded for further proceedings. View "CGS Indus., Inc. v. Charter Oak Fire Ins. Co." on Justia Law

Appellants sought to avoid and recover certain payments made by debtor, QWUSA, to appellees, noteholders, in exchange for private placement notes that had been issued by one of debtor's affiliates. On appeal, appellants challenged the district court's affirmance of the bankruptcy court's grant of appellees' motion for summary judgment. The bankruptcy court held that the payments were exempt from avoidance because they were both "settlement payments" and "transfers made... in connection with a securities contract," under 11 U.S.C. 546(e). The court affirmed the district court's judgment, concluding that the payments fell within the safe harbor for "transfers made... in connection with a securities contract." View "In re: Quebecor World (USA), Inc." on Justia Law

Defendant appealed his convictions for conspiring to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana knowing that it would be unlawfully imported into the United States and conspiring to import 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana. The court held that ongoing, formalized collaboration between an American law enforcement agency and its foreign counterpart did not, by itself, give rise to an "agency" relationship between the two entities sufficient to implicate the Fourth Amendment abroad; the Fourth Amendment's exclusionary rule did not impose a duty upon American law enforcement officials to review the legality, under foreign law, of applications for surveillance authority considered by foreign courts; defendant was not entitled to discovery of the wiretap application materials, submitted by Jamaican law enforcement to courts in that nation, underlying the electronic surveillance abroad; the district court correctly denied defendant's motion to suppress the fruits of the foreign wiretaps and his motion to compel the documentation underlying the foreign wiretap orders; defendant's amended judgment of conviction was supported by sufficient evidence and the district court properly admitted expert testimony at defendant's trial regarding the values and quantities of marijuana generally used by drug traffickers in the course of distribution. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's judgment. View "United States v. Lee" on Justia Law