United States Fourth Circuit - January 2002 Opinion Summaries

HUNTER v. WILLIAMS

Civil Procedure, Ethics & Professional Responsibility
Where an attorney had a good-faith basis for asserting the legal position she propounded, and the district court had an erroneous view of the law, the...

BEAUMONT v. FED. ELECTION COMM'N

Elections
The absolute ban on contributions and expenditures in the Federal Election Campaign Act, 2 U.S.C. S 441b(a), and its implementing regulations, cannot...

BURBACH BROAD. CO. OF DELAWARE v. ELKINS RADIO CORP.

Contracts
Under West Virginia Law, it is unclear whether a Letter of Intent to purchase a company is a binding agreement but, at the very least, such a letter...

FOSTER v. ARLETTY 3 SARL

Civil Procedure, Intellectual Property
Foreign companies that negotiated, drafted, and executed a contract in France with a dual US and French citizen residing in South Carolina did not...

US v. GENERAL

Criminal Law & Procedure
Where the record did not establish any reasonable cause to question a defendant-s competency at the time of his guilty plea hearing, and his motion...

HARVEY v. HORAN

Criminal Law & Procedure
A criminal defendant who seeks access to biological evidence contending it could effectively invalidate a final state conviction, whose lawfulness has...

BROWN v. GILMORE

Civil Rights, Criminal Law & Procedure
Where police officers had probable cause to arrest and, under the circumstances, exerted reasonable force in affecting the arrest, no violation of the...

HENSLEY v. ALCON LABS., INC.

Civil Procedure
Evidence that parties agreed to settlement amount but disagreed over whether non-monetary issues were settled requires a court to conduct a plenary...

JOHNSON v. CITY OF AIKEN

Civil Rights
Under 42 USC 1988, a party that recovers only nominal damages in a civil rights action is not entitled to attorney's fees.

THOMPSON v. ALUMINUM CO. OF AM.

Labor & Employment Law
Under Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, an employer who refused to transfer an employee when it was unclear whether a health problem...