United States Eleventh Circuit - September 2002 Opinion Summaries

LOGGERHEAD TURTLE v. THE COUNTY COUNCIL OF VOLUSIA COUNTY

Attorney's Fees, Environmental Law
Use of the catalyst test as a basis for awarding attorney's fees and costs, under the "whenever. . .appropriate" fee-shifting provision of the...

MCIVER v. US

Criminal Law & Procedure, Habeas Corpus
A successful motion to file an out-of-time notice of appeal is not to be counted as a first petition for the purposes of subsequent collateral...

ALABAMA POWER CO. v. US DEP'T OF ENERGY

Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Public Utilities
The Department of Energy is not authorized by law to spend Nuclear Waste Fund monies on settlement agreements aimed at compensating utilities for...

RICCARD v. PRUDENTIAL INS. CO.

Attorney's Fees, Civil Rights, Dispute Resolution & Arbitration, Labor & Employment Law, Sanctions
Because an employer was a member in the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) at the time of events giving rise to a disabled former...

BRADLEY v. PRYOR

Civil Rights, Criminal Law & Procedure, Habeas Corpus, Evidence
A prisoner's 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action seeking access to evidence believed to be in the state's possession, for the purpose of DNA testing, was...

GREER v. O'DELL

Banking Law, Bankruptcy Law
A loan servicer is a "real party in interest" with standing to conduct, through licensed counsel, the legal affairs of the investor relating to the...

STRATEGIC INCOME FUND, L.L.C. v. SPEAR, LEEDS & KELLOGG CORP.

Civil Procedure, Securities Law
Neither a second amended complaint nor a proposed third amended complaint, both quintessential "shotgun" pleadings, states a claim under sections...

SHIELDS v. FORT JAMES CORP.

Civil Procedure, Civil Rights, Labor & Employment Law
An allegation that an employer allowed a hostile work environment to prosper is viewed as a single unlawful employment practice, and should be...

DAVIS v. S. ENERGY HOMES, INC.

Contracts, Dispute Resolution & Arbitration, Injury & Tort Law, Property Law & Real Estate
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (Act) permits binding arbitration, and a written warranty claim arising under the Act may be subject to a valid...

HEIMMERMANN v. FIRST UNION MORTGAGE CO.

Banking Law, Class Actions, Property Law & Real Estate
Class certification in an action under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act is vacated, where the district court applied the wrong legal standard...