U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

The Third Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of the declaratory‑judgment action and its denial of the appellant's recusal and disqualification motions, finding the court acted within its discretion, the motions were moot, and the claim was moot under Younger abstention and lack of prospective relief.

The Third Circuit denied Rafael Aguilar-Ayala's petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals, affirming the immigration judge's findings that his proposed family-based particular social group was not cognizable, that the gang's motive was purely economic with no nexus to a protected ground, and that he…

The Third Circuit affirmed the district court's conviction of Emerson Pavilus, holding that the conditional admission of co‑conspirator statements under Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(2)(E) was proper. The court found sufficient evidence of a conspiracy and concluded the statements were made in furtherance of that conspiracy.

The Third Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of Crisdon's §1983 conspiracy claim and fraud upon the court claim, finding that the complaint contained no factual allegations sufficient to state either claim.

The Third Circuit summarily affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment for Walton, finding no notice and thus no relation back, and also upheld the denial of sanctions and bias allegations.

The Third Circuit denied Phillip Pella's pro se petition for a writ of mandamus directing the District Court to rule on his third amended complaints, finding he lacked a clear and indisputable right to such relief and that the district court's docket control is discretionary.

The Third Circuit affirmed the district court's order denying Kemp's motion to reopen his §1983 action, holding the order was a final, appealable judgment and that Kemp's amended Tyler claim was unripe and failed to state a claim, while also affirming the denial of his post‑judgment motion to file a second amended…

The Third Circuit affirmed Derrick Polk's conviction because his appellate waiver was enforceable and the only preserved argument—that the government exceeded the warrant's scope by opening his safe‑deposit box—was unavailing under the inventory‑search exception.

The court denied review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ denial of statutory motions to reopen and reconsider a 2011 consent removal order. It held that a change in law is not a permissible basis for statutory reopening, and that the petitioner’s statutory reconsideration motion was untimely and did not warrant…

The Court affirmed dismissal with prejudice of Norton's amended civil-rights complaint and denial of his motion for a preliminary injunction. It concluded that none of Norton's appellate arguments showed reversible error, and that the proposed claims and requested relief remained legally deficient, including because…

The Court held that New Jersey may require out-of-state physicians to obtain a New Jersey license before providing medical advice by telemedicine to patients in the state. Although the requirement regulates content-based speech, the longstanding tradition of medical licensing and the modest burdens of New Jersey's…

The Third Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Ford on Coates’s products-liability claim. It predicted that Virgin Islands law would adopt the malfunction theory under Section 3, but held that the theory is unavailable when the allegedly defective product remains available for inspection and the plaintiff has not…

The Court affirmed the denial of a preliminary injunction against Delaware's campaign-finance disclosure law. It held that a preliminary injunction remains discretionary even when a plaintiff shows some likelihood of success and irreparable First Amendment injury, and that the challengers had not shown sufficient harm…

The Third Circuit affirmed dismissal of Aristilde's complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B), concluding that he had not asserted any discernible actionable claim. The court also upheld dismissal with prejudice because the record did not suggest that amendment could produce a viable claim, and it denied Aristilde's…

The court affirmed dismissal of Aristilde's complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B), concluding that the complaint did not assert a discernible actionable civil-rights claim and was frivolous or failed to state a claim.

The Court summarily affirmed dismissal of Hatchigian’s claims arising from an earlier state-court dispute. It held that removal was proper despite the lack of consent from defendants who had not been properly served, and that the complaint failed because the judicial claims were immune, the conspiracy and tort…

The court affirmed Hodges’s convictions and life sentence. It held that officers had probable cause to arrest him and search him incident to arrest, and that excluding proposed impeachment evidence did not violate Rule 403 or the Confrontation Clause.

The Court affirmed the denial of Koehler's federal habeas petition, holding that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reasonably rejected his Brady claim concerning an alleged non-prosecution agreement with witness Kirk Schrader.

The Court upheld the finding that American HomePatient could be liable for punitive damages because sufficient evidence supported the jury’s rejection of the employer’s good-faith defense.

The Court affirmed the defendants’ convictions and the denial of their Brady-based motion for a new trial. It held that the applicable RFS and BMC requirements unambiguously required biodiesel to satisfy the technical standards when RINs were generated or before a BMC credit was claimed, so the district court did not…

The Third Circuit affirmed Luis Figueroa's convictions and 516-month sentence arising from a 2014 armed kidnapping, sexual assault, and assault spree. It held that his unconditional mid-trial guilty plea waived the statute-of-limitations challenge to the felon-in-possession count, and that the broadly worded…

The Third Circuit affirmed the District Court's denial of Timofey V's and ANO Dialog's Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(g) motion for return of the seized domain name waronfakes.com.

The Court dismissed the petition for review as moot because the petitioner had already been removed to El Salvador, so the Court could no longer defer that removal or provide other effectual relief.

The Court affirmed dismissal of the complaint because the New Jersey defendants were protected by Eleventh Amendment immunity and the federal defendants were protected by sovereign immunity.

The Court summarily affirmed the denial of Shine’s Rule 60(b) motion for relief from the dismissal of his civil-rights complaint. It held that Shine did not identify the allegedly new evidence or otherwise establish extraordinary circumstances, and that his disagreement with the underlying dismissal could not be…

In this interlocutory appeal, the Third Circuit vacated the Western District of Pennsylvania's order denying XTO Energy's motion to compel arbitration with the unnamed Rule 23(b)(3) class members whose oil and gas leases contained arbitration clauses, and remanded for further proceedings.

The court held that the defendants did not impliedly waive their reserved right to compel arbitration by litigating through discovery before moving to compel. Because the complaint did not establish arbitrability and factual development was needed to determine whether the plaintiffs knew of the arbitration provision…

The Court affirmed dismissal of Yew's federal complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction because the requested relief would effectively reverse state-court judgments, and federal district courts cannot review such judgments.

The Court summarily affirmed dismissal of Stockton’s complaint with prejudice as a sanction because the District Court reasonably balanced the governing factors and the record supported its findings of personal responsibility, prejudice, delay, bad faith, ineffective prior sanctions, and some claim merit.

The Court of Appeals denied Mohamady-Abdelghaffar’s petition for review, holding that the BIA did not abuse its discretion in denying his motions to remand and administratively close his removal proceedings.

The Court affirmed dismissal of Boyer's claims against the Fraternal Order of Police as untimely because the alleged injuries accrued no later than 2016 and suit was filed in 2023.

The Court denied the petition in part because Shonhai’s Indiana sexual-battery conviction categorically qualifies as a crime involving moral turpitude and constitutes a particularly serious crime, barring asylum, withholding of removal, and derivative asylum status.

The Court dismissed the petition for review because Funes-Coreas failed to exhaust his administrative remedies and forfeited every challenge to his removability and to the denial of a continuance.

The court held that the district court’s incorrect statement that a deadlocked jury had to reach a unanimous verdict did not make the supplemental instruction unduly coercive when read in the context of the complete jury charge.

The Third Circuit affirmed the denial of Christopher Birry's motion to suppress evidence seized during a traffic stop in which Birry was the passenger. It held the stop was not unlawfully extended because the officers' questioning of Birry was safety-related—justified by the driver's apparent outstanding arrest…

The court affirmed the two-level drug-premises enhancement because Mika’s residence was maintained for a significant or primary purpose of distributing methamphetamine. The evidence, including controlled purchases, substantial quantities of drugs, a ledger, packaging materials, and Mika’s admissions, supported the…

The court denied the petition for review of the denial of cancellation of removal. It held that Manzo forfeited his challenge to the agency's hardship determination and, alternatively, that substantial evidence supported the conclusion that his removal would not cause his children exceptional and extremely unusual…

The Court denied Lewis’s petition for a writ of mandamus seeking recusal and reassignment of the Magistrate Judge, as well as his motions to stay and expedite the proceedings. It held that Lewis had not shown either the absence of adequate alternative means or a clear and indisputable entitlement to relief, and that…

The Court denied Monte’s petition for a writ of mandamus because he had not shown a clear and indisputable right to relief and, for several requests, had other adequate avenues available.

The Court dismissed the appeal as moot because the Bankruptcy Court had reinstated the automatic stay, preventing the Bank from proceeding with the sheriff’s sale and eliminating any effective relief the Court could provide.