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

The Second Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for attempted sex trafficking of a minor and the possession, distribution, and transportation of child pornography. The court held that defendant was not in custody when the FBI conducted a pre-warning interrogation. In this case, the circumstances and phrasing of the pre‐warning request for cooperation would have constituted an interrogation under Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291 (1980), if defendant had been in custody, but under Circuit law, he was not. View "United States v. Familetti" on Justia Law

The Second Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of a 28 U.S.C. 2255 motion and decision to uphold petitioner's sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. 924(e). The court held that petitioner's prior convictions pursuant to the New York first degree robbery statute satisfied the intent requirement for ACCA predicate offenses under the ACCA's "elements" clause. Therefore, these convictions qualified as violent felonies under the ACCA. View "Stuckey v. United States" on Justia Law

The Second Circuit vacated the district court's judgment in favor of defendants in a class action alleging that several national securities exchanges mislead them about certain products and services that the exchanges sold to high-frequency trading firms. The court held that it had subject matter jurisdiction over the case; the exchanges were not entitled to absolute immunity; and the district court erred in dismissing the complaint. In this case, plaintiffs have sufficiently pleaded that the exchanges engaged in manipulative or deceptive conduct in violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. 78j(b), and Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b‐5, 17 C.F.R. 240.10b‐5. View "City of Providence v. BATS Global Markets, Inc." on Justia Law

The Second Circuit held that the Secretary of Labor reasonably determined that the cited workplace conditions were subject to regulation under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards, rather than the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The court noted that the Secretary's reasonable determination regarding which conditions are to be regulated by MSHA and which by OSHA was entitled to substantial deference. In this case, the ALJ gave no deference whatsoever to the Secretary's decision to issue the citations for the Bag Plant violations under the authority of OSHA, but rather imposed his own interpretation of what the Mine Act covered. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded for further proceedings. View "Secretary of Labor v. Cranesville Aggregate Cos." on Justia Law

A jury found William Scully guilty of mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States through the introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce, introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce, receipt of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce and delivery thereof for pay, introduction of unapproved drugs into interstate commerce, and unlicensed wholesale distribution of prescription drugs. He was sentenced principally to 60 months in prison. The main issue on appeal was whether the district court properly excluded evidence relating to Scully’s advice-of-counsel defense. Because the Second Circuit found that the evidence was admissible and its exclusion was not harmless error, it vacated the district court’s judgment and remanded for further proceedings. View "United States v. Scully" on Justia Law

Claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. 201, are subject to arbitration. In this case, plaintiff filed suit against defendants, alleging that he was denied overtime pay in violation of the FLSA. Plaintiff's employment contract contained a clause requiring arbitration of any dispute arising out of the contract. The Second Circuit affirmed the district court's order compelling arbitration of a claim under the FLSA and dismissing the complaint for violations of the Act. The court held that plaintiff's remaining contentions lacked merit. View "Rodriguez-Depena v. Parts Authority, Inc." on Justia Law

The Second Circuit vacated defendant's sentence of 60 months in prison, nearly three times the top of the Guidelines range, after he pleaded guilty to one count of illegally reentering the United States after having been removed following a conviction for an aggravated felony. In the context of the Sentencing Commission's statistics for illegal reentry cases and all the circumstances here, the court was not persuaded that the justification offered by the district court was sufficient to support the magnitude of the variance. The court also held that there may have been factual errors in the district court's discussion of the record and the district court's reluctance to credit defendant's acceptance of responsibility (although it did so in the end) suggested that the district court may have conflated defendant's statements in mitigation with a failure to accept responsibility. Accordingly, the court remanded for resentencing. View "United States v. Singh" on Justia Law

Unpaid interns in this case were not "employees" of Hearst for the purpose of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York Labor Law (NYLL). The Second Circuit applied the "primary beneficiary" test in Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. and considered the seven non-exhaustive considerations specific to the context of unpaid internships. The court held that the facts of this case permit inferences that support Hearst with respect to certain Glatt factors, and inferences that support particular interns with respect to other factors. Such mixed inferences did not foreclose a ruling on summary judgment. The court agreed with the district court, which weighed all factors under the totality of the circumstances, and concluded that the interns were not "employees" for the purposes of the FLSA. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment for Hearst. View "Wang v. The Hearst Corporation" on Justia Law

On remand from the Supreme Court, the Second Circuit certified the following question to the New York Court of Appeals: Does a merchant comply with New York's General Business Law 518 so long as the merchant posts the total‐dollars‐and‐cents price charged to credit card users? View "Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court's decision in Rodriguez v. United States, ––– U.S. –––, 135 S. Ct. 1609 (2015), abrogated the Second Circuit's holding in United States v. Harrison, 606 F.3d 42, 45 (2d Cir. 2010). In this case, the court held that the extension of defendant's traffic stop violated the Fourth Amendment. Nonetheless, the court held that the good‐faith exception to the exclusionary rule applied because the officers reasonably relied on the court's then‐binding precedent. Furthermore, the district court did not clearly err in concluding that the initial traffic stop was valid and that defendant consented to the searches. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Gomez" on Justia Law