US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Opinions
Christiana Trust v. Riddle

Docket: 17-11429
Opinion Date: December 21, 2018
Judge: Jennifer Walker Elrod
Areas of Law: Banking, Real Estate & Property Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's claim that the bank was vicariously liable for the failure of the bank's loan servicer to comply with the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). The court held that plaintiff did not plead an agency relationship between the bank and the loan servicer, an essential element of a vicarious liability claim. Furthermore, even if the bank had an agency relationship with the loan servicer, the bank cannot be held vicariously liable, as a matter of law, for the servicer's alleged RESPA violations.

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​Moore v. Tangipahoa Parish School Board

Docket: 18-30114
Opinion Date: December 21, 2018
Judge: Stephen Andrew Higginson
Areas of Law: Legal Ethics

In this school desegregation case, at issue was the reimbursement of expenses for a court-appointed oversight official. After the district court ordered an increase in the official’s compensation, the school board appealed and the official prevailed. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's reimbursement of the official's appellate expenses, as well as the timing and quantity of the reimbursement, holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion.

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US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Opinions
Randle v. Crosby Tugs, LLC

Docket: 17-30963
Opinion Date: December 19, 2018
Judge: Per Curiam
Areas of Law: Admiralty & Maritime Law, Personal Injury

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment for the vessel owner in an action alleging that the vessel owner breached its duties under the Jones Act to provide plaintiff with prompt and adequate medical care after he suffered a stroke while working aboard the vessel. The court held that plaintiff failed to show that there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the vessel owner acted negligently by calling 911. Furthermore, there was no genuine issue of material fact as to whether the vessel owner was vicariously liable for the Teche Regional Medical Center physicians' alleged malpractice.

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US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Opinions
Meador v. Apple, Inc.

Docket: 17-40968
Opinion Date: December 18, 2018
Judge: Stephen Andrew Higginson
Areas of Law: Personal Injury

Under Texas law, a driver's neurobiological response to a smartphone notification cannot be a cause in fact of a car crash. Plaintiffs filed suit against Apple, alleging that a tragic car accident was caused by Apple's failure to implement the patent on the iPhone 5 covering lock-out mechanisms for driver handheld computing devices and by Apple's failure to warn iPhone 5 users about the risks of distracted driving. In this case, a driver looked down at her text message after she heard a notification and then caused an accident killing two adults and rendering a child a paraplegic. Because the court declined to consider "neurobiological compulsion" a substantial factor under Texas law, the court held that the iPhone 5 could not be a cause in fact of the injuries in this case. Therefore, the court affirmed the dismissal of plaintiffs' claims and denial of their motion for leave to amend.

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US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Opinions
Halprin v. Davis

Docket: 17-70026
Opinion Date: December 17, 2018
Judge: Per Curiam
Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of petitioner's request for an evidentiary hearing and denial of his application for a certificate of appealability (COA). Petitioner was a member of the "Texas Seven," a group that escaped from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and violently took hostages and stole guns and ammunition. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying an evidentiary hearing where an evidentiary hearing would not enable petitioner to establish a right to federal habeas relief. The court also denied a COA on petitioner's claim that the state trial court violated his constitutional rights by preventing him from offering the Ranking Document as mitigating evidence, Brady violation claim, ineffective assistance of counsel claim, Enmund/Tison culpability claim, and ineffective assistance of appellate counsel claim.

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US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Opinions
Jenkins v. Hall

Docket: 17-60043
Opinion Date: December 13, 2018
Judge: Stephen Andrew Higginson
Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of petitioner's 28 U.S.C. 2254 petition for habeas corpus relief, holding that the Mississippi Supreme Court's decision was not contrary to or an unreasonable application of clearly established law. The court held that Grim v. Fisher, 816 F.3d 296 (5th Cir. 2016), barred petitioner from habeas relief. Grim applied Bullcoming v. New Mexico, 564 U.S. 647 (2011), to a case in which a crime laboratory supervisor -- rather than an analyst, as in the case here -- testified at trial, and held that such testimony did not violate clearly established law.

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​Louisiana Supreme Court Opinions

​Louisiana v. Wilson

Docket: 2017-K-0908
Opinion Date: December 5, 2018
Judge: Per Curiam
Areas of Law: Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

The sheriff discovered two bodies burned beyond recognition from a residential fire. The victims were later identified as the occupants, Donald Wayne Demille Williams (“Demille”) and Kimberly Sims. Autopsies revealed both were fatally shot in the head before being burned. A grand jury indicted defendant, Jeremy Wilson, and co-defendant, Erick Townsend, with two counts of first degree murder. The trial court severed the matters. Townsend pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter in exchange for his agreement to testify at Wilson's trial. A jury ultimately convicted Wilson of two counts of second degree murder, and the trial court imposed consecutive life sentences. The Louisiana Supreme Court reversed the convictions, however, finding the trial court’s evidentiary rulings, when combined with its failure to properly address the attendant privilege invocations, violated defendant’s right to present a defense.

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Louisiana Supreme Court Opinions
Webb v. Webb

Docket: 2018-C-0320
Opinion Date: December 5, 2018
Judge: John L. Weimer
Areas of Law: Civil Procedure, Family Law

At issue in this case was a post-divorce community property partition. The former husband, Daniel Webb, filed a claim for reimbursement and for the classification of a promissory note of $250,000 as a community obligation. The promissory note corresponded to a loan secured by a mortgage on the family home. Mr. Webb contended that Mrs. Webb owed reimbursement for loan payments and that the loan should be considered a community obligation because he borrowed the money to pay community debts. Mr. Webb admitted that he caused a forged signature for Mrs. Webb to be placed on the loan documents and that he concealed the existence of the loan and the mortgage on the family home from her. The forgery was eventually discovered, and formal attorney disciplinary charges were brought against him, a Louisiana-licensed attorney. In the ensuing disciplinary proceedings, Mr. Webb admitted his misconduct, but represented to this court that he was taking “sole financial responsibility” and“full responsibility” for the loan and was otherwise committed to “making right” what he had done. Shortly after the disciplinary order was issued, Mr. Webb returned to the district court where the community property partition was pending. There, Mr. Webb claimed that, although he personally incurred the $250,000 debt, responsibility for the loan should be an obligation shared by both Mr. and Mrs. Webb, rather than solely by Mr. Webb. The district court rejected Mr. Webb’s claim, finding that Mr. Webb’s representations in his attorney discipline case amounted to a judicial confession that he alone was responsible for the debt. Mr. Webb appealed, and the appellate court ruled in his favor by classifying the loan as a community obligation and ordering Mrs. Webb to personally reimburse Mr. Webb for loan payments he made after the community property regime was terminated. Mrs. Webb sought review by the Louisiana Supreme Court, arguing Mr. Webb's admission in his disciplinary hearing precluded him from making her partly responsible for his loan. Applying the doctrine of judicial estoppel, the Supreme Court held that in the community property litigation, Mr. Webb could not shift responsibility for his fraudulent loan to Mrs. Webb.

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US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Opinions
United States v. Reyes-Contreras

Docket: 16-41218
Opinion Date: November 30, 2018
Judge: Per Curiam
Areas of Law: Criminal Law

Reyes-Contreras pleaded guilty of illegal reentry. Because he had been convicted of voluntary manslaughter in Missouri, the district court applied a 16-level USSG 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii) sentencing enhancement for a crime of violence. The Fifth Circuit vacated and remanded, finding that Missouri's manslaughter statute was non-generic. Although the court found that the statute was divisible and could warrant an enhancement under the modified categorical approach, the documents of conviction did not indicate the subsection of conviction. On rehearing, en banc, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the application of the enhancement, overruling its own precedent. Defense counsel acknowledged that the crime was a killing by baseball bat; there was no need to dissect the details of the crime. The statute is divisible. Subdivision (1) is generic manslaughter and formed the basis of Reyes-Contreras’s conviction. It is a crime of violence on which the sentencing enhancement was properly based. Even if the statute were indivisible, Subdivision (2) has as an element the use of force under a proper understanding of Supreme Court precedent, so that the enhancement is legally correct for an independent reason.

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