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

Defendant challenged the district court's revocation of his supervised release, principally arguing that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress and admitting evidence of postarrest statements. The Second Circuit found no merit in defendant's Fourth Amendment challenges to the stop and search of the vehicle.However, the court held that evidence of statements by the driver that incriminated defendant without incriminating the driver did not fall within the hearsay exception provided by Rule 804(b)(3) of the Federal Rules of Evidence for statements against the interest of the declarant, and that the district court did not perform the analyses required under Rule 804(b)(3)(B) or under Rule 32.1(b)(2)(C) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, in order to determine the admissibility of the declarant's other statements. Accordingly, the court vacated the judgment, remanding for further proceedings. View "United States v. Ojudun" on Justia Law

US Bank appealed the district court's dismissal of its second amended consolidated complaint as untimely. The Second Circuit affirmed and held that ACE Secs. Corp. v. DB Structured Prods., Inc., 25 N.Y.3d 581 (2015), and Deutsche Bank Nat'l Tr. Co. v. Quicken Loans Inc., 810 F.3d 861, 868 n.8 (2d Cir. 2015), governed U.S. Bank's contractual claims in this case.The court held that the district court properly granted summary judgment to GreenPoint where the first two causes of action for breach of contract were untimely under settled New York law, because they were filed over six years after the statute of limitations began running. The court also held that the district court properly dismissed the third cause of action for indemnification under section 9 of the Flow Mortgage Loan Purchase and Warranties Agreement, because U.S. Bank's claim was in reality a repackaged version of its breach of contract claims. Finally, the court held that the fourth cause of action for breach of the indemnification agreements did relate back to the original filing for claims based on any of the Trusts, and was therefore untimely asserted. View "Lehman XS Trust v. Greenpoint Mortgage Funding, Inc." on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against the Academy, alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Articles 6 and 19 of the New York Labor Law (NYLL). The Second Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of judgment on the pleadings. The court held that individuals enrolled in a for‐profit vocational academy, who are preparing to take a state licensure examination and who must first fulfill state minimum training requirements, fulfill those requirements by working under Academy supervision for a defined number of hours, without pay; the primary beneficiary test in Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc., 811 F.3d 528, 536‐537 (2d Cir. 2015), governs in the for‐profit vocational training context; and plaintiff, as a former student of the Academy, was the primary beneficiary of the relationship, thus excusing the latter from potential compensation obligations under FLSA or NYLL related to plaintiff’s limited work there as a trainee. View "Velarde v. GW GJ, Inc." on Justia Law

The Second Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment in an action against Direct Energy, alleging breach of contract, deceptive and unfair trade practices, and unjust enrichment. Plaintiff had entered into a consumer electricity contract with Direct Energy which initially guaranteed a fixed electricity rate. Consistent with the terms of the contract, the fixed‐rate plan was converted into a variable rate plan after the first twelve months.The court affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Direct Energy and held that, by the contract's plain terms, Direct Energy promised that the variable rate would be set in its discretion and that it would reflect "business and market conditions," a phrase which encompasses more than just procurement costs. Because plaintiff's claims under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act were entirely duplicative of his contract claim, they also failed. Finally, the court affirmed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's unjust enrichment and Massachusetts unfair trade practices claims. View "Richards v. Direct Energy Servs., LLC" on Justia Law

The Second Circuit reversed the district court's grant of a 28 U.S.C. 2255 petition to reduce defendant's sentence. The court held that the district court erred in concluding that defendant's prior convictions for the New York offenses of robbery in the third degree and attempted robbery in the third degree did not qualify as predicate "violent felonies" under the Armed Career Criminal Act. Accordingly, the court remanded for the district court to reinstate defendant's original sentence. View "United States v. Thrower" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit under New York state law and 42 U.S.C. 1983 against the City and others, alleging that each were responsible for constitutional infirmities that infected plaintiff's criminal trial, caused his wrongful conviction, and resulted in damages. The district court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment.The Second Circuit held that plaintiff raised material issues of fact as to certain, but not all, of his claims that detectives fabricated and withheld material evidence. The court also held that the City may be held liable for the consequences of the alleged policies of the Queens County District Attorney's (QCDA) office under the Monell doctrine, and that plaintiff has raised material issues of fact as to the underlying constitutional violations: the non-disclosure of financial benefits received by one of the state's principal witnesses and impropriety of his prosecutor's summation. Accordingly, the court vacated in part, affirmed in part, and remanded for further proceedings. View "Bellamy v. City of New York" on Justia Law

Defendant appealed his conviction and sentence for possessing child pornography. The court held that the district court did not err in denying defendant's motion to suppress evidence where, even assuming the warrant was not supported by probable cause, the good faith exception applied; the court rejected defendant's claim with respect to the interstate or foreign commerce element of the crime of conviction; and the district court properly recognized that the mandatory minimum of ten years applied to defendant.However, the court agreed with defendant that his "risk" condition of supervised release was vague and afforded too much discretion to the probation officer. The court affirmed the polygraph special condition and held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in ordering polygraph examinations as part of defendant's sex offender treatment following his most recent conviction. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment in all respects except that the court vacated the "risk" condition of supervised release and remanded for clarification. View "United States v. Boles" on Justia Law

The Second Circuit reversed the district court's decision upholding the denial of plaintiff's application for disability insurance benefits. The court held that the Commissioner's decision was not supported by substantial evidence because it relied on testimony from a vocational expert that appeared to be in conflict with the authoritative guidance set out in the Department of Labor's Dictionary of Occupational Titles. In this case, the Commissioner was not entitled to rely on this testimony without first identifying and inquiring into the apparent conflict. Therefore, the district court erred by declining to set aside the Commissioner's benefits decision. View "Lockwood v. Commissioner" on Justia Law

In this action under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Second Circuit affirmed the district court's decision ordering Xerox and others to recalculate plaintiffs' retirement benefits as a matter of equitable reformation and to pay prejudgment interest at the federal prime rate. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion by selecting the new hire approach as an equitable remedy to redress the Plan Administrator's notice violations. The court affirmed the district court's decision to use the prime rate because the district court had broad discretion to grant prejudgment interest and to select a rate; carefully considered all the relevant factors in determining whether prejudgment interest was warranted, and, if so, what the rate should be; and thoroughly explained its reasoning for using the federal prime rate. View "Frommert v. Conkright" on Justia Law

The FTC filed suit alleging that defendants' debt collection practices violated several provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) and the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The Second Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment for the FTC. Because Defendant Moses submitted no brief prior to the deadline submission set by the court, the court dismissed the appeal under Local Rule 31.2(d). The court also held that the disgorgement assessed jointly and severally against all defendants, including Briandi and Moses, was in an appropriate amount because it was a reasonable approximation of the total amounts received by the defendant companies from consumers as a result of their unlawful acts. View "Federal Trade Commission v. Federal Check Processing, Inc." on Justia Law