Jacqueline Houser

9th Circuit Court of Appeals (21 summaries)

Williams v. Swarthout

If a judge misstates and assigns guilt to a criminal defendant, “he strips the jury of its fundamental role and subverts the requirement that the jury must confirm the truth of every accusation.”

Area(s) of Law:
  • Habeas Corpus

United States v. Wilkes

If Supreme Court precedent directly applies in a case, but appears to rest upon “reasons rejected in some other line of decisions, the Court of Appeals should follow the case which directly controls,” because the Supreme Court is entitled to overrule its own decisions, not the Court of Appeals.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Criminal Law

Reese v. Malone

A court should conduct a holistic scienter analysis to determine whether a party has pled sufficient facts in order to give rise to a strong inference of scienter.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Civil Procedure

Carolina Cas. Ins. Co. v. Team Equip., Inc.

A district court should not dismiss an original complaint without leave to amend when it does not find that an attempt to amend would be futile; when a plaintiff needs additional information to establish diversity of citizenship for federal jurisdiction diversity, the plaintiff is allowed to plead jurisdictional allegations based on information and belief.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Civil Procedure

Cano v. Taylor

Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, as long as the federal claims to be added to the initial complaint were administratively exhausted and arose prior to the initial complaint’s filing, they may be added to the complaint by amendment.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Criminal Law

United States v. Caceres-Olla

The crime of statutory rape is not a forcible sex offense and therefore is not a “crime of violence” as defined by the United States Sentencing Guideline 2L 1.2.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Sentencing

Long v. Johnson

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 requires federal courts to give “a double dose of deference” to state court decisions on non-direct appeal, thus limiting the federal court’s review power to whether or not the state court applied the law correctly.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Habeas Corpus

Crowley v. Bannister

When a party is unrepresented by counsel, a court abuses its discretion when it fails to apply Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a) liberally in favor of the pro se party.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Civil Procedure

Diaz v. First American

A party’s refusal to accept a Rule 68 Offer of Judgment, that would fully satisfy the party’s claim, is not sufficient to make the claim moot.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Civil Procedure

Phillips v. Herndon

Under some circumstances it is reasonable for a court to exclude a third-party confession where the declarant has made prior conflicting statements.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Evidence

Blaisdell v. Frappiea

The act of serving a complaint filed by another prisoner on a prison official is not a constitutionally or statutorily protected activity.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Constitutional Law

United States v. Cohen

Adding the charitable sentencing enhancement provision of U.S. Sentencing Guidelines § 2.B1.1(b)(9)(A) to a criminal sentence is permitted when an individual misrepresents themselves to an organization in order to obtain money for charitable purposes from the organization.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Sentencing

Carpenters Pension Trust Fund v. Moxley

Pension fund “withdrawal liability” owed after a collective bargaining agreement has expired is dischargeable in a bankruptcy proceeding, and withdrawal liability, as a statutory obligation, is different from any unpaid obligations that arise from obligations created by a collective bargaining agreement.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Bankruptcy Law

Al Ramahi v. Holder

When seeking asylum, a delay of more than fifteen months after changed or extraordinary circumstances is not a “reasonable period” where the delay was due to being unable to file an application after being issued a Notice to Appear and the inability to retain counsel.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Immigration

Oracle America, Inc. v. Myriad Group A.G.

Incorporating the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law arbitration rules into the arbitration provision of a commercial contract constitutes “clear and unmistakable evidence” that the parties intended to delegate questions of arbitrability to the arbitrator.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Arbitration

Mortensen v. Bresnan Communications, LLC

AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion further limits the Federal Arbitration Act savings clause and therefore preempts Montana reasonable expectations/fundamental rights rules.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Arbitration

M.J. v. United States

An injured party will fail to hold a city vicariously liable for an immune independent contractors' negligent conduct if the party seeks relief under the "non-delegable duty" theory of vicarious liability.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Tort Law

Jones v. McDaniel

If a party enters into a settlement agreement which was executed "in full satisfaction of the final judgment" it “resolves all facets of their dispute,” that party cannot later appeal one of the claims resolved in the agreement, as the settlement agreement renders the claim moot.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Appellate Procedure

Righthaven LLC v. Hoehn

The transfer of the base right to sue for copyright infringement without the transfer of exclusive property rights, is not sufficient for standing to sue for copyright infringement.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Copyright

Blandino-Medina v. Holder

The Immigration and Nationality Act requires that crimes not listed as a “‘particularly serious crime’ per se,” be analyzed by the Board of Immigration Appeals on a case-by-case analysis in accordance with the factors established in Matter of Frentescu.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Immigration

Tanedo v. East Baton Rouge Parish Sch. Bd.

Under the Noerr-Pennington doctrine a denial of a motion for immunity from liability cannot be instantly appealed.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Appellate Procedure

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