United States First Circuit - May 2012 Opinion Summaries

US v. Franco-Santiago

Criminal Law & Procedure
In a prosecution of a police officer for being a member of an ongoing conspiracy that engaged in five robberies of businesses in violation of the...

Massachusetts v. Dep't of Health and Human Services

Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Family Law, Government Benefits
Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is ruled unconstitutional as a violation of equal protection, where: 1) intermediate scrutiny was not...

Escobar-Noble v. Luxury Hotels Int'l of Puerto Rico, Inc.

Civil Procedure, Dispute Resolution & Arbitration, Labor & Employment Law
In a suit alleging an unlawful retaliatory firing, in which the defendant moved to compel arbitration based on employment agreements containing an...

Gilca v. Holder

Administrative Law, Immigration Law
A petition for review of a BIA order denying relief from removal is denied, where: 1) the BIA supportably concluded that the petitioner neither...

US v. Jenkins

Criminal Law & Procedure, Sentencing, Evidence
In a prosecution for unlawfully possessing a firearm following a felony conviction, the conviction and sentence are affirmed, where: 1) the traffic...

Oxford Aviation, Inc. v. Global Aerospace, Inc.

Contracts, Insurance Law
In an action brought by an insured seeking a declaratory judgment that its insurer was required to defend it in a suit for alleged faulty repair work...

Crowther v. Consolidated Rail Corp.

Civil Procedure, Injury & Tort Law, Labor & Employment Law, Workers' Compensation
In consolidated negligence actions under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA) against two railroad defendants brought by a former employee, the...

Certain Interested Underwriters at Lloyd's, London v. Stolberg

Construction, Contracts, Injury & Tort Law, Insurance Law
In a suit by an insurer to obtain a declaration that its policy did not obligate it either to defend a personal injury suit or to indemnify the...

US v. Valdivia

Criminal Law & Procedure, Sentencing, Evidence
A conviction for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to import heroin is affirmed against contentions that the district court erred...

Alphas Co., Inc. v. Dan Tudor & Sons Sales, Inc.

Agriculture, Civil Procedure, Commercial Law
In a case in which a grower of grapes filed a successful reparation complaint against a supplier under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act of...