Recent Articles from All Practice Groups
|
Court Rejects Facial-Insufficiency Challenge To Overbroad Wiretap Orders
A federal judge is only authorized to issue a wiretap order for wiretaps conducted within his or her jurisdiction. In Dahda v. United States, a Kansas federal judge issued wiretap orders authorizing wiretaps in Kansas, but also contained language permitting wiretaps in Missouri. Federal investigators conducted the wiretaps in Missouri, and the evidence they gathered led to Los and ... Read More
|
Court Strikes Down Federal Law Banning Sports Betting
In a 7-2 opinion by Justice Alito, the Court reversed the Third Circuit and held that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was unconstitutional for violating the “anticommandeering rule” inherent in the Tenth Amendment, as it impermissibly sought to regulate state regulation of sports betting. The Act in question forbid states from authorizing betting schemes based on competitive sporting ... Read More
|
Sixth Amendment Permits Defendant To Insist On Not Conceding Guilt For First-Degree Murder
Robert McCoy was charged with first-degree murder for killing his estranged wife’s mother, stepfather, and son. The evidence was damning, but McCoy insisted that he was innocent. His attorney at trial, Larry English, decided that the best strategy in the face of the evidence was to admit to the jury that McCoy committed the murders, but argue that his mental ... Read More
|
Conservation Easements: Congress Giveth and the IRS & Tax Court Taketh Away
By: Nancy Ortmeyer Kuhn, Esq. Charitable conservation easements have long been controversial, and there was some concern that the new tax legislation enacted in December 2017[1] would limit the conservation easement charitable deduction. However, there were no limits placed upon conservation easements, and even the syndicated easements[2] were left alone. This particular area of the law is ... Read More
|
TOPA Update – Single-Family Homes, DC Legislation Passed
This is an update from the articles posted March 9, April 4, April 6, and April 10, 2018 relating to Single-Family Homes – DC Legislation Proposed to Exclude from TOPA. The District of Columbia Council passed legislation today, April 10, 2018, that excludes single-family homes from TOPA. Bill 22-315, was first introduced last ... Read More
TAGGED: TOPA
|
Court Strikes Portion Of Immigration and Naturalization Act as Void for Vagueness
In one of Justice Scalia’s last majority opinions before his death, the Court held that part of a federal law defining “violent crime” was unconstitutionally void for vagueness in Johnson v. United States, 576 U.S. --- (2015). The Immigration and Nationality Act similarly provided that a person could be deported for committing an “aggravated felony,” which included a “crime of ... Read More
|
DC Reduced Rate of Recordation Tax – Applies to Revocable Trust
The District recently passed legislation which reduces the Recordation Tax for most first-time homebuyers. The Recordation Tax for a “first-time District homebuyer” purchasing “eligible property” is reduced to 0.725% (transfer taxes owed by the seller of 1.1% or 1.45% are unchanged) for houses and, for transfers of economic interests in a housing cooperative unit (co-op unit), the recordation tax rate is ... Read More
|
TOPA – Proposal to eliminate Bankruptcy and Court-Order Exemptions
Earlier this month, Bill 22-0739 was introduced to the District of Columbia Council. The Bill is named the TOPA Bankruptcy Tenant Displacement Prevention Amendment Act of 2018. The Bill seeks to amend the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act to remove TOPA’s exemption of bankruptcy sales and to require owners of property acquired via court order to submit to TOPA ... Read More
|
Court Awards Qualified Immunity To Officer Who Shot Woman Claiming Excessive Force
In Kisela v. Hughes, officers reporting to a call of a woman acting erratically with a large knife discovered Ms. Hughes emerging from her house with a knife in her hand, heading toward another woman, Ms. Chadwick, who it turned out was Hughes’ roommate. Hughes stopped six feet from Chadwick, and the officers drew their firearms and told Hughes ... Read More
TAGGED: scotus, Excessive Force, Kisela v. Hughes, qualified immunity
|
Service Advisors Are Exempt From Fair Labor Standards Act Overtime-Pay Requirement
The Fair Labor Standards Act exempted “any salesman, partsman, or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles” from overtime-pay requirements under the Act. In Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, a group of service advisors sued for overtime pay under the Act when the Department of Labor decided in 2011 that they were excluded from the exemption. The Court ... Read More
|
Art Burger To Teach Class: Grappling with Conflicts
Arthur D. Burger, Chair of Jackson & Campbell’s Professional Responsibility Practice Group, will be teaching a DC Bar CLE Course. The course, Grappling with Conflicts : How to Spot Them and What To Do About Them will be taught by Webinar on May 8, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. His co-panelist will be Julia Porter, Esq., Senior Assistant ... Read More
|
Court Rejects Fifth Circuit’s “Substantial Need” Test For Funding Under 18 U.S.C. sec. 3599(f)
Under 18 U.S.C. sec. 3599(f), a defendant charged with a crime punishable by death can petition the trial court for funds that would be “reasonably necessary” for investigative, expert, or other services needed for the defense. In Ayestas v. Davis, a man sentenced to death made such a petition to support his federal habeas claim for ineffective assistance of ... Read More
|
Government Must Prove Specific Interference With Targeted Tax-Related Proceedings For Tax Obstruction Charge
IRS code makes it a crime under 26 U.S.C. sec. 7212(a) to “obstruct or impede, or endeavor to obstruct or impede, the due administration of” the Internal Revenue Code, either “corruptly or by force or threats of force.” The IRS investigated Carlo Marinello, and ultimately charged him with several violations of the tax code, including for tax obstruction under Section ... Read More
|
Court Permits State Court Jurisdiction Over Securities Class Actions
In Cyan, Inc. v. Beaver County Employees Retirement Fund, the Fund purchased shares in Cyan which then declined in value, prompting the Fund and others to file a class action suit against Cyan in state court under the Securities Act of 1933. Cyan argued that the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998, as it amended the 1933 Act, ... Read More
|
DC Super-Priority Lien on a Condo Cannot Foreclose Subject to First Priority Mortgage
Following from its decision in Chase Plaza Condominium Assoc. v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, 98 A.3d 166 (DC 2014), in which the DC Court of Appeals held that a DC condominium foreclosing on its statutory six-month super-priority lien could by law extinguish an otherwise first-priority mortgage when the proceeds of the sale were insufficient to satisfy that mortgage, the Court was ... Read More
|
Art Burger to Participate on Panel, Ethics in a Changing World
On April 24 at 6:00 p.m. Arthur D. Burger, Chair of Jackson & Campbell’s Professional Responsibility Practice Group, will participate on a panel before the Federal Communications Bar Association for a CLE course entitled: Ethics in a Changing World. Mr. Burger and the other panelists will discuss ethical issues attorneys should consider when changing firms, or when hiring lateral ... Read More
|
Collective Bargaining Agreements Must Be Interpreted Under Ordinary Principles of Contract Law
In a per curiam opinion in CNH Industrial N.V. v. Reese, the Court reversed the Sixth Circuit’s decision to apply its precedent to render a collective bargaining agreement ambiguous as a matter of law. In a previous case, M&G Polymers USA, LLC v. Tackett, 574 U.S. ___ (2015), the Court required the Sixth Circuit to interpret such agreements using ... Read More
|
Prisoner’s Attorneys’ Fee Award Must First Come From The Judgment
Murphy v. Smith Under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1997e(d)(2), a prisoner who prevails in a civil rights suit, and receives an attorneys’ fee award, has a portion of his judgment, not to exceed 25 percent, applied to that award. When Charles Murphy won his suit against two prison guards, the district court ordered that Murphy pay ten percent of his attorney’s ... Read More
|
Court Restricts Collections Efforts Under Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
In Rubin v. Islamic Republic of Iran, certain parties obtained a judgment against Iran under the state sponsors of terrorism exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. They then sought to enforce that judgment against Iranian historical artifacts housed at the University of Chicago. The district court declined to permit the attachment, and the Seventh Circuit affirmed. The Court, ... Read More
|
Guilty Plea Does Not Bar A Constitutional Challenge To Conviction
Class v. United States When Rodney Class was indicted for possessing firearms in his locked vehicle parked at the U.S. Capitol, he moved to dismiss on the basis that the law violated his Second Amendment and Due Process rights under the Constitution. The district court declined Class’ motion, and he entered into a written plea agreement, which did not expressly ... Read More
|
Court Reads Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Law Narrowly, Excludes Internal Whistleblower
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v. Somers In 2014, Paul Somers, a vice president for a real estate investment trust, reported to senior management several suspected securities-law violations by the trust. He was subsequently terminated. He brought suit claiming protection as a whistleblower as defined under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which defines whistleblowers as ... Read More
|
United States Permitted To Intervene In Water Dispute Between States
In an original action concerning water rights agreed to between several states under the Rio Grande Compact, Texas argued that New Mexico was permitting its users to siphon off more water than the Compact permitted. The United States sought to intervene, making the same claims as Texas, in part because New Mexico’s actions depleted a reservoir through which the Government ... Read More
|
Insider Status In Bankruptcy Reviewed For Clear Error, Not De Novo
In U.S. Bank, N.A. v. Village at Lakeridge, LLC, the Village petitioned for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with two primary creditors, U.S. Bank and an insider owner. It needed consent to enter into a “cramdown” reorganization plan, but U.S. Bank refused to consent, and the insider was statutorily unable to provide consent. To fix the problem, the insider owner transferred ... Read More
|
Immigrants Detained By The Government Not Entitled To Bond Hearings
Under immigration law, applicants for admission to the United States may be detained by the Government until certain proceedings have concluded. Nothing in the applicable statutes limit the duration of detention, nor mention bond hearings. In Jennings v. Rodriguez, an immigrant filed a habeas corpus suit arguing that he should be entitled to a bond hearing once his detention ... Read More
|
Fractured Court Acknowledges Congress’ Power To Abridge Court Jurisdiction Mid-Case
While a case was pending in federal district court regarding a taking of land into trust on behalf of an Indian Tribe, Congress passed the Gun Lake Trust Land Reaffirmation Act, which provided that suits relating to the land “shall not be filed or maintained in a Federal court and shall be promptly dismissed.” The plaintiff argued that the law ... Read More
|
Court Narrows Bankruptcy Safe Harbor Provision
In Merit Management Group, LP v. FTI Consulting, Inc., the Court addressed 11 U.S.C. sec. 548(e), which allows bankruptcy trustees to set aside and recover certain transfers for the benefit of the bankruptcy estate, but not a “settlement payment . . . made by or to (or for the benefit of) a . . . financial institution . ... Read More
|
Key Provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts
By: Nancy Ortmeyer Kuhn, Esq. The “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” or “TCJA” is the new tax law effective for tax years beginning January 1, 2018 or later. TCJA has many interconnected parts and it is not yet completely clear how some of these parts will co-exist to impact certain taxpayers. Already, many questions have arisen regarding interpretation of terms and ... Read More
|
DC Circuit Reverses Attempt At Currency Conversion Through Rule 59(e)
The case of Leidos, Inc. v. Hellenic Republic is a study in “be careful what you wish for.” After requesting an arbitration award in euros, and obtaining a judgment from the federal district court confirming that award in euros, Leidos, Inc. moved under Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e) to convert that award to U.S. dollars, nunc pro tunc to ... Read More
|
Southern District Heightens Lawyers’ Duties in Preventing Spoliation of Evidence by Clients
In Industrial Quick Search, Inc. et al. v. Miller, Rosado & Algois, LLP et al., January 2, 2018, the Southern District of New York issued a decision underscoring the importance of lawyers paying early attention to the need for imposing “litigation holds,” being proactive in ensuring compliance with such holds, and making a clear record of steps taken with ... Read More
|
Art Burger to Moderate Panel at ABA National Conference
Arthur D. Burger, Chair of Jackson & Campbell’s Professional Responsibility Practice Group, will be the moderator on a Panel at the 44th ABA National Conference on Professional Responsibility. The panel will be on Friday, June 1 during the Conference in Louisville, KY from May 30-June 1 of 2018. Art’s Panel, When Clients Go Rogue will feature speakers Carol ... Read More