9th Circuit Court

Judge’s movie night brings the court and the public closer together

More than 20 years ago, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski realized his clerks had a troubling gap in their education: They hadn't seen 12 Angry Men. Wanting to rectify the situation, Kozinski started showing classic movies in the courthouse law library.

Aug 1, 2015 7:20 AM CDT

9th Circuit rejects widow’s suit over fatal mountain goat attack in national park

Sovereign immunity protects the U.S. government from being held liable for a mountain goat’s fatal attack on an Olympic National Park visitor, a divided federal appeals court has ruled. The National Park Service had discretion under the Federal Tort Claims Act to decide how the 370-pound wild animal that was…

Jul 29, 2015 1:18 PM CDT

Informant sues feds, says they didn’t tell him when agent for whom he worked was fired

A longtime informant has sued the federal government, contending that he was repeatedly put in danger because the Department of Homeland Security fired the agent for whom he worked but didn’t tell him. As a result, alleges “John Doe,” he for years transported cash across the Mexican border for the…

Jul 22, 2015 12:30 PM CDT

Transgender defendant stole nearly $250K in SSI benefits as a man while earning income as a woman

A 70-year-old transgender woman stole nearly $250,000 in federal disability benefits by applying for them as a man while working simultaneously as a woman during much of the same period she was receiving SSI payments. Sentenced Monday by a federal judge to eight months of home confinement and three years…

Jul 21, 2015 2:10 PM CDT

Want to be a federal judge by 35? 9th Circuit’s Alex Kozinski shares some tips

What can you do to get through federal judicial appointment hearings? Try answering questions with baseball metaphors, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski tells Concurring Opinions. The post revisits a tips piece about becoming a federal judge that Kozinski wrote for National Journal in 1996 after being…

Jul 20, 2015 12:11 PM CDT

New DNA techniques entitle inmate to new testing despite deadline, 9th Circuit says

Old DNA samples that were too small for testing under old techniques can be examined using new tests, even though a three-year limit has passed, a federal appeals court has ruled. The samples are akin to “newly discovered evidence” because identification is now possible using the new tests, according to…

Jul 15, 2015 12:15 PM CDT

Federal magistrate awards nearly $46M in legal fees in NCAA athlete-pay case

After a federal district court’s ruling last year that a ban on paying college athletes for using their names and images violates antitrust law, a magistrate judge has awarded nearly $46 million in attorney fees and costs to the lawyers for the plaintiffs. The NCAA had argued that the lawyers…

Jul 14, 2015 3:00 PM CDT

Feds accuse Harvard law grad in kidnapping that police initially considered a hoax

At one point, police in Vallejo, California, suggested that a 29-year-old woman’s claim of being kidnapped in March from her boyfriend’s home and held for ransom was a hoax, and blamed her and her boyfriend for wasting law enforcement resources. However, their disbelief now appears to have been mistaken. A…

Jul 14, 2015 1:44 PM CDT

Season ticket holder sues Major League Baseball, wants netting extended to foul poles

An Oakland Athletics fan has sued Major League Baseball, saying that she cannot enjoy her family’s season tickets because she is afraid they will be hit by a foul ball or a splintered bat. Filed Monday in federal court in San Francisco, the complaint by lead plaintiff Gail Payne seeks…

Jul 13, 2015 4:55 PM CDT

Federal judge threatens to hold immigration lawyer in contempt for leaking confidential document

A New York lawyer has been ordered by a federal judge in California to show cause why he should not be held in contempt for leaking to the news media a proposed settlement (PDF) concerning mothers detained by the U.S. in an immigration case. Bryan Johnson must appear in court…

Jul 8, 2015 3:10 PM CDT

Law firm sues Vegas casino for refund of $3.4M they say partner transferred for gambling

A Georgia real estate boutique has filed a federal lawsuit against a high-end Las Vegas casino hotel, seeking a refund of some $3.4 million they say a former managing partner transferred there for gambling. Former name partner Nathan Hardwick IV was invited by the Cosmopolitan in 2012 to open an…

Jul 2, 2015 11:30 AM CDT

9th Circuit revives inmate’s pro se suit over being required to work with pork in kitchen

A federal appeals court has given a green light to a former inmate’s First Amendment complaint over being required to work with pork as part of his job assignment in an Oregon prison kitchen. Reversing a trial court’s grant of summary judgment in a pro se lawsuit by Clarence Eugene…

Jun 29, 2015 11:55 AM CDT

9th Circuit boots judge, revives news media case over late access to court civil complaint filings

For the second time, a federal appeals court has reversed a trial court judge’s decision to dismiss a news organization’s First Amendment suit over delayed access to civil complaint filings at a California courthouse. And this time the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has also assigned another U.S. District…

Jun 25, 2015 12:45 PM CDT

Feds arrest 243 in record $712M health care billing-fraud bust

The FBI announced Thursday that 243 people, including nearly 50 health-care professionals, have been arrested in a record Medicare and Medicaid billing-fraud bust. “They billed for equipment that wasn’t provided, for care that wasn’t needed, and for services that weren’t rendered,” said U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch in an FBI…

Jun 19, 2015 11:00 AM CDT

Blogging prosecutor wins dismissal of federal civil-rights claim in 9th Circuit appeal

A political activist who sued a blogging prosecutor failed to establish he acted under color of state law and cannot bring a civil rights claim under Section 1983, a federal appeals court has ruled. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals tossed the Section 1983 claim by Nadia…

Jun 17, 2015 10:24 AM CDT