Where the consular officer who denied a visa application cited the statutory provisions for the denial and explained her reasoning—that she found the applicant had proffered a falsified passport and lied about her age—the doctrine of consular non-reviewability barred judicial ...
Read More »Immigration – Consular’s decision about visa application beyond judicial review
Administrative – Executive order that upsets refugee statutory scheme is enjoined 
Where an executive order gave states and localities the option of consenting before refugees would be resettled, but the Refugee Act did not provide for “approval” or “consent,” the order was enjoined because affected agencies were likely to prevail on ...
Read More »Administrative – Evidence supports IRS rejection of deduction for donated house 
Where homeowners took a deduction for donating an entire house to a charitable organization, but the charity disassembled the house, salvaged useful components and left the remainder for demolition by the homeowners’ contractor, the IRS’s disallowance of the deduction was ...
Read More »Tort/Negligence – Failure-to-warn claims about medication preempted 
Allegations that a pharmaceutical company did not sufficiently warn about certain risks of taking an anti-stroke medication were preempted by federal law because it did not have unilateral authority to change the warning label. Background Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. developed ...
Read More »Commercial – Franchisee failed to timely present evidence of alleged damage 
Where a franchisee failed to show he exercised reasonable due diligence during the three years of litigation to discover and present evidence of unpaid rent, the district court erred by awarding it damages raised for the first time on a ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Necessity of pepper spray a jury question 
A jury will decide if a prison official’s decision to pepper spray an inmate after he head-butted an officer and was lying on his back in handcuffs was “clearly necessary” to respond to a threat to officer safety or to ...
Read More »Arbitration – FINRA Rule – 1994 Contract – Nonexistent Organizations 
Assuming plaintiff was a registrant with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), FINRA Rule 13200(A) required plaintiff to submit to arbitration any business-related disputes between himself and FINRA members like defendants. Nevertheless, Rule 13200(A) is not enforced against plaintiff because ...
Read More »Criminal Practice – Murder – Cross-Examination – Witness’s Possible Sentence – Harmless Error 
Since a prosecution witness’s sentencing exposure on his pending charges affected his potential bias and motive for testifying, the trial court should have allowed defendant to cross-examine the witness about the potential sentences he faced. Nevertheless, given the other evidence ...
Read More »Workers’ Compensation – Death Benefits Claim – Causation – Shoulder Injury & Alcohol Abuse – Treatment Delay 
Even though the plaintiff-widow claims defendants’ delay in approving medical tests and treatments for her decedent-employee’s compensable shoulder injury led him to consume more alcohol, which in turn contributed to his death, since there was no medical evidence that the ...
Read More »Tort/Negligence – Civil Practice – Summary Judgment – Affidavit – Personal Knowledge – Parked Truck – Motorcycle Accident 
After being struck by another vehicle, plaintiff’s decedent’s motorcycle collided with a truck parked nearby. Plaintiff could not stave off summary judgment for the defendant-truck owner by filing an affidavit in which he relied on a generic schematic of an ...
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