Justia U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Defendant-Appellant Miguel Castro-Perez appealed the district court's judgment sentencing him to sixty-three months’ imprisonment and three years’ supervised release, arguing the court improperly applied a two-level sentencing enhancement for possession of a firearm in connection with a drug trafficking offense. Finding that the district court erred in calculating defendant's sentence, the Tenth Circuit reversed and remanded for resentencing. View "United States v. Castro-Perez" on Justia Law

J. Hoyt Stephenson incorporated National Financial Systems Management, Inc. (NFSM) in Utah. The same day, the NFSM Employee Stock Ownership Plan was created. The Plan has always owned 100% of NFSM’s stock. Stephenson was one of the Plan’s trustees. In June 2006, Stephenson, along with his wife and children, moved from Utah to Wyoming, and as a result, Stephenson became a Wyoming citizen. About a year later, Stephenson sold one of his companies, National Financial Systems, Inc. (NFS) to NFSM. Then he sold another one, Metronomics Inc. to NFSM. In June 2009, Stephenson and his family went back to Utah. The issue before the Tenth Circuit in this case centered on whether Stephenson became a Utah citizen when he moved back. Brent Middleton, the Stock Plan's trustee, and several others (all Utah citizens), brought several federal-law claims Stephenson in the federal district court. Stephenson fought back with state-law counterclaims and a third-party complaint asserting state-law claims against multiple third-party defendants. The district court dismissed those counterclaims and third-party claims, concluding that it lacked diversity jurisdiction to hear them because Stephenson also was from Utah. The Tenth Circuit concluded that the district court did not clearly err in finding that Stephenson was a Utah citizen. View "Middleton, et al v. Stephenson, et al" on Justia Law

In June 2012, the United States District Court for the District of Utah dismissed the claims of J. Hoyt Stephenson (a man the district found to be a Utah citizen), for lack of diversity jurisdiction. Less than three months later, Stephenson assigned his interests in various stock and real property to a new company of his creation, National Fitness Holdings, Inc., a Wyoming corporation of which Stephenson was the sole director, officer and shareholder. Four days later, National Fitness sued Grand View Corporate Centre, LLC in federal district court. The district court once again dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, this time finding that Stephenson had impermissibly made the assignments to manufacture diversity jurisdiction. Upon review of the appeal of that decision, the Tenth Circuit concluded the district court did not err in finding it lacked jurisdiction. Accordingly, the Court affirmed the district court's decision. View "National Fitness Holdings v. Grandview Corporate Center, et al" on Justia Law

Defendant-appellant Tina Wiseman appealed her sentence on one count of conspiring to distribute oxycodone following a guilty plea. She argued on appeal that the federal district court erred by refusing to consider the disparity between her sentence and similarly situated defendants sentenced in Utah state court. Finding no reversible error, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the sentence defendant received. View "United States v. Wiseman" on Justia Law

Judy Knight appealed the dismissal of her lawsuit against Mooring Capital Fund. “Most of [the Tenth Circuit’s] reasons for affirmance are routine.” But the Court took the opportunity of this case to comment on Knight’s federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claims based on alleged misconduct in a prior litigation. With regard to her RICO claim, Knight argued that defendants made misrepresentations to the district court through pleadings and testimony that increased the cost of litigating her prior case, and caused the district court to rule against her. She alleged that that activity violated wire-fraud and mail-fraud statutes, thereby constituting a pattern of racketeering in violation of RICO. Because Knight did not identify any arguments she would have made regarding few and costs had it not been for defendants’ fraud, because she did not offer any specific explanation if how defendants’ litigation misconduct affected her ability to litigate he issues in the prior litigation, and because Knight did not allege there was evidence of misconduct that was unavailable while that prior litigation was pending, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal on this RICO claim too. View "Knight, et al v. Mooring Capital Fund LLC, et al" on Justia Law

George Cohlmia appealed a district court's decision to award attorney’s fees to St. John Medical Center pursuant to the Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA). This case arose from two surgeries Cohlmia performed: one patient died as a result of surgery, another was permanently disfigured. After the Hospital conducted an internal review, it concluded Cohlmia failed to follow proper medical protocols, and suspended the doctor’s staff privileges. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the hospital on all of the doctor’s claims. The Hospital thereafter sought attorney’s fees under the HCQIA. Finding that the district court did not abuse it's discretion in awarding fees under the Act, the Tenth Circuit affirmed. View "Cohlmia, et al v. St. John Medical Center, et al" on Justia Law

Defendant Carl Romero was convicted by a jury of assaulting and killing Naayaitch Friday. He appealed the district court’s refusal to suppress evidence found after searches of the car he drove and his bedroom. Upon review, the Tenth Circuit concluded the search warrant for the car was supported by probable cause and that investigating officers properly relied on his stepfather’s consent to search his bedroom. View "United States v. Romero" on Justia Law

Defendant Philip Grigsby appealed his 260-year sentence imposed pursuant to the child pornography production guideline, U.S.S.G. 2G2.1. He argued the guideline was procedurally and substantively unreasonable because it was “defective.” According to Defendant, the production guideline routinely generates offense levels that result in a recommended guideline sentence in excess of the statutory maximum, and fails to distinguish between levels of culpability by establishing enhancements for conduct present in most cases and thus undeserving of punishment beyond the core offense. Finding no reversible error, the Tenth Circuit affirmed defendant's sentence: "a district court does not err by deferring to the Guidelines where the sentence imposed is justified in light of the factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. 3553(a)." View "United States v. Grigsby" on Justia Law

In August 2007, C.W. Mining, an entity operating a coal mine in Utah, deposited $362,000 with the Bank of Utah; in turn, the Bank issued a certificate of deposit to C.W. Mining for that same amount. In January 2008, creditors filed an involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition against C.W. Mining. The Chapter 11 proceeding was converted to a Chapter 7. The Bank liquidated the certificate of deposit, which then had a value of $383,099. Utilizing its common-law right of offset, it applied the proceeds to the balance owing on two of three promissory notes executed by C.W. Mining in favor of the Bank in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Although the Bank knew of the bankruptcy proceeding when it liquidated the certificate of deposit, it did not inform the Trustee. The Trustee became aware of the transfer after the Bank assigned its remaining secured interest in the promissory notes and loan agreements to a third party and the third party sought payment from the Estate. The Trustee then commenced an adversary proceeding seeking to recover $383,099 from the Bank. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment. In his motion, the Trustee argued the transfer should be avoided under 11 U.S.C. 549 as an unauthorized post-petition transfer and he should have been permitted to recover the $383,099 pursuant to 11 U.S.C. 550. In the alternative, he sought a declaration the transfer was void as a violation of the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. 362(a) and an order for turnover pursuant to 11 U.S.C. 542. After considering all of these arguments, the bankruptcy court entered summary judgment in favor of the Bank. Finding no reversible error, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the grant of summary judgment to the Bank. View "C.W. Mining Company, et al v. Bank of Utah, et al" on Justia Law

This case arose when 702 plaintiffs from 26 different states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico filed twelve nearly identical product liability actions against the defendants in the District Court of Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma. The defendants are manufacturers of transvaginal mesh medical devices. The plaintiffs were women who were implanted with the devices and their husbands, who assert loss-of-consortium claims. None of the individual actions contained 100 or more plaintiffs. Each of the actions included at least one New Jersey resident plaintiff. Each complaint specifically disclaimed federal question and federal diversity jurisdiction, and included provisions that admitted the claims had been joined for the purpose of pretrial discovery and proceedings but disclaimed joinder for trial purposes. All twelve actions were assigned to the same state court judge. The defendants, corporate residents of New Jersey, removed the actions to the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, relying on both diversity jurisdiction and Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) removal jurisdiction, arguing that complete diversity existed between the parties because in each action, the New Jersey citizen plaintiff had been fraudulently joined and should therefore be disregarded for diversity purposes. They further contended that jurisdiction was available under CAFA’s "mass action" provision because, by filing all of the suits in the same court before the same judge, plaintiffs had proposed a joint trial of claims involving more than 100 plaintiffs. Plaintiffs moved to remand eleven of the actions, involving 650 plaintiffs, to state court. The district court granted their motion. It declined to adopt the procedural misjoinder doctrine raised by the defendants, and concluded that plaintiffs had not in fact proposed a joint trial of their claims. Defendants appealed that order to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Finding no reversible error, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the remand of those cases to state court. View "Teague, et al v. Johnson & Johnson, et al" on Justia Law