Ninth Circuit Tag

A Case to Watch: City of San Jose v. Office of Commissioner

Posted 08 May 2014 in Case Notes

If you spend your time following baseball, local governments, and appellate litigation (as I do),

the Ninth Circuit case of City of San Jose v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, No. 14-15139, is one to watch. The issues are simple: the City of San Jose would like the Oakland A's to relocate there, but MLB has refused to permit it. Why? According to the City, another team, the San Francisco Giants, "owns" the exclusive rights to San Jose. The City explained that MLB teams have an "exclusive territorial rights agreement,"one that the City claims "constitutes a blatant market allocation scheme that is illegal under the American antitrust laws in all other professional sports." The district court found that

Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted 04 May 2014 in Monday Morning Review

Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:

First Circuit

Bellone v. Southwick-Tolland Reg. Sch. Dist., No. 13-1341 (May 2, 2014) (affirming grant of summary judgment for school district in case brought by former employee alleging violations of Family and Medical Leave Act).

Second Circuit

Betts v. Shearman, No. 13-619 (May, 2, 2014) (affirming dismissal of complaint alleging false arrest, false imprisonment, abuse of process, malicious prosecution, and denial of right to fair trial).

Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted 07 Apr 2014 in Monday Morning Review

Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:

Second Circuit

The Bronx Household of Faith v. Bd. of Educ. of the City of New York, No. 12-2730 (Apr. 3, 2014) (reversing district court's decision and ruling that school may refuse to allow its facilities to be used for religious worship). See this post from Evan Seeman and Dwight Merriam at the RLUIPA Defense blog.
T.M. v. Cornwall Central School District, No. 12-4301 (Apr. 2, 2014) (finding that district court erred as a matter of law in concluding that the school district was not required under the Individuals with Disabilties Education Act to offer student a mainstream extended school year program simply because it does not offer such a program.).

Fourth Circuit

EEOC v. Baltimore County, No. 13-1106 (Mar. 31, 2014) (finding that county retirement plan unlawfully

Newport Beach To Seek Supreme Court Review in Group-Home Case

Posted 31 Mar 2014 in Case Notes

We have tracked the Ninth Circuit case of Pacific Shore Properties, LLC v. City of Newport Beach, No. 11-55460 -- see previous posts here and here.

The City has now announced that it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case:

"In our opinion, the panel came up with a new theory of liability under the anti-discrimination laws that has never been recognized before,

Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted 31 Mar 2014 in Monday Morning Review

Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:

First Circuit

Garayalde-Rijos v. Municipality of Carlinia, No. 13-1487 (Mar. 28, 2014) (finding that district court erred in dismissing firefighter's suit for sex discrimination and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1994).

Fifth Circuit

Cooley v. Housing Authority of the City of Slidell, No. 13-30797 (Mar. 26, 2014) (affirming that

Ninth Circuit: Local Governments May Regulate Handgun Storage and Hollow-Point Bullets

Posted 28 Mar 2014 in Case Notes

The Second Amendment confers an individual right to keep and bear arms.

We know that now—after decades of uncertainty—because the Supreme Court said so in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008). But how far does the Second Amendment extend? Does it prevent a City from regulating the storage of handguns in homes or the sale of ammunition that expands upon impact, referrred to as hollow-point bullets? In a case decided this week, Jackson v. City and County of San Francisco, No. 12-17803 (Mar. 25, 2014), the Ninth Circuit ruled that those bringing a Second-Amendment challenge to the City and County of San Francisco's handgun and ammunition regulations were not likely to succeed on the merits. What exactly was at issue and how did the court reach its conclusions?

Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted 24 Mar 2014 in Monday Morning Review

Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:

Third Circuit

Delaware County v. Federal Housing Finance Agency, No. 13-2163 (Mar. 18, 2014) (finding that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are exempt from paying real estate transfer taxes). The decision is consistent with recent decisions from the Fourth, Seventh, and Eighth Circuits.

Seventh Circuit

Mulholland v. Marion County Election Bd., No. 13-3027 (Mar. 20, 2014) (finding that federal-court abstention is not appropriate in case challening local election restrictions).

Ninth Circuit

Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted 17 Mar 2014 in Monday Morning Review

Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:

First Circuit

Macdonald v. Town of Eastham, No. 13-1779 (Mar. 12, 2014) (finding officers are entitled to qualified immunity because question whether officers may enter home with open door by relying on their community-caretaking function is uncertain).

Second Circuit

C.L. v. Scarsdale Union Free Sch. Dist., No. 12-1610 (Mar. 11, 2014) (finding that when a public school denies a student

Ninth Circuit Denies En Banc Review in Newport Beach Case

Posted 07 Mar 2014 in Case Notes

The Ninth Circuit has denied the sua sponte call for en banc review in Pacific Shore Properties, LLC v. City of Newport Beach, No. 11-55460, a case that we have written about previously here.

Judge O'Scannlain, joined by Judges Tallman, Callahan, Bea, and Ikuta, filed a dissental, that is, a dissent from the denial of en banc review. It appears to be telegraphing that the Supreme Court should consider the case:

The panel’s opinion in these consolidated cases invents an entirely unprecedented theory of actionable government discrimination: sinister intent in the enactment of facially neutral legislation can generate civil liability without evidence of discriminatory effect. Such unwarranted expansion

Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted 03 Mar 2014 in Monday Morning Review

Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:

Sixth Circuit

Rorrer v. City of Stow, No. 13-3272 (Feb. 26, 2014) (reversing grant of summary judgment to City and against plaintiff, a terminated firefighter with a non-work-related injury, on ADA claim; affirming grant of summary judgment for City on First Amendment and ADA retaliation claims).

Seventh Circuit

Bryant v. City of Chicago, No. 13-1142 (Feb. 28, 2014) (in appeal of dismissal of civil-rights suit as untimely, finding that district court abused its discretion by disregarding plaintiff's timely discovery request and that court should have equitably tolled the statute of limitations).
Hayden v. Greensburg Comm. Sch. Dist., No. 13-1757 (Feb. 24, 2014) (ruling that policy requiring boys, but not girls, playing basketball to keep their hair cut short constitutes sex discrimination

Ninth Circuit Tag

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