Case Summaries
Immigration Law
[08/20]
US v. Djoumessi
Convictions for holding someone in involuntary servitude and for harboring an alien for private financial gain are affirmed over claims that the charges violated defendant's rights under the Double Jeopardy Clause and that the government failed to support the involuntary servitude conviction (and a related conspiracy conviction) with sufficient evidence.
[08/19]
Limani v. Mukasey
Petition for review of a denial of an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) is denied where: 1) petitioners failed to establish past persecution or clear probability of future persecution in Algeria; 2) substantial evidence supported a conclusion that the family's fear of future persecution was speculative; and 3) petitioners did not establish either that they were tortured in the past or that it was more likely than not that their family would be tortured if removed to Algeria.
[08/19]
US v. Vega-Castillo
Sentence of 70 months for reentering the United States illegally after having been deported or removed is affirmed over claims of error that prior precedent, which "does not require the district court to depart based on the availability of the [fast-track] departure", was overruled by Kimbrough.
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Property Law & Real Estate
[08/19]
In Re: Holland
A dispute in a bankruptcy case over which state's law should determine whether real property owned by debtor should be exempted from the bankruptcy estate is dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction where the district court's order ruling that Florida law applied and remanding to bankruptcy court, without deciding whether Florida law granted an exemption, was not a final order subject to appeal.
[08/18]
Jerman v. Carlisle, McNellie, Rini, Kramer & Ulrich LPA
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act's (FDCPA) bona fide error defense applies to mistakes of law, and is not limited to procedural or clerical errors. In an action claiming law firm and one of its attorneys violated the FDCPA when they used allegedly deceptive forms to notify her of a foreclosure on her home, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where: 1) although defendants violated the FDCPA by instructing plaintiff that she had to dispute the debt in writing; nevertheless, 2) defendants qualified for the FDCPA bona fide error defense.
[08/15]
County of Humboldt v. McKee
In an action by county to assess property taxes on defendants for parcels transferred to third party purchasers, decision in favor of defendants is reversed where: 1) subsequent to the adoption of the 1978 Guidelines, which set forth revised regulations governing agricultural preserves, the parties voluntarily renewed their contract numerous times; 2) the new contract created with each renewal incorporated the 1978 Guidelines; and 3) thus, the 1978 Guidelines can be applied constitutionally to a Williamson Act contract executed in 1977.
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