Portal:United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

“ In reviewing whether an officer’s reliance is reasonable under the good faith exception, we ask “whether a reasonably well-trained officer would have known that the search was illegal” despite the magistrate’s approval. United States v. Gant, 759 F.2d 484, 487–88 (5th Cir. 1985) .
The Supreme Court has observed: “ [M] any situations which confront officers in the course of executing their duties are more or less ambiguous, [and] room must be allowed for some mistakes on their part. ”

“ The Board’s credibility determination as to Ramirez’s testimony that he only sought to obtain his own payroll records is also not inherently unreasonable or self-contradictory. On review, Cordúa argues that Ramirez’s testimony is not credible because he “demonstrated his dishonesty and willingness to commit perjury multiple times.” In support, Cordúa invokes Ramirez’s testimony that he told Espinoza “truthful answers” concerning his texts with Reichman compared to his later admission that he texted Reichman about non-scheduling matters when he sent her his start date with Cordúa. ”

“ A company man’s observing and failing to object to the independent contractor’s unsafe work practices is insufficient evidence of authorization to defeat a motion for summary judgment. Graham, 21 F.3d at 646–47. The fact that only an independent contractor participated in the decision to use the negligent procedure weighs heavily against finding that the principal authorized the unsafe work practice. ”

“ Fear of COVID doesn’t automatically entitle a prisoner to release. Thompson can point to no case in which a court, on account of the pandemic, has granted compassionate release to an otherwise healthy defendant with two, well-controlled, chronic medical conditions and who had completed less than half of his sentence. ”

“ The district court stated that Taylor was not “seeking to recover any sum of money for an alleged breach of the alleged arbitration clause.” The district court reiterated that the arbitration issue should only be considered with regards to the Title VII and Title IX claims, which the jury rejected. Further, the district court explained precisely how the jury could reach a verdict for Taylor on the breach of contract claim—by finding that Jackson State did not have cause to fire her. Any error was harmless and does not justify ordering a new trial. ”

“ In this appeal, we are asked to determine whether the good faith exception to the Fourth Amendment’s exclusionary rule allows officers to search the photographs on a defendant’s cellphones for evidence of drug possession, when the affidavits supporting the search warrants were based only on evidence of personal drug possession and an officer’s generalized allegations about the behavior of drug traffickers—not drug users. We hold that the officers’ affidavits do not provide probable cause to search the photographs stored on the defendant’s cellphones ”

“ If the Board finds that an employee’s protected activity was a motivating factor in an employer’s termination decision, the employer may only avoid a finding of Section 8 (a) (1) violation by proving, as an affirmative defense, that the employer would have fired the employee even if the employee had not engaged in the protected activities. ”

“ As we shall explain, Lindsley may not use these pay comparators from other Omni locations to establish a prima facie case under the Equal Pay Act. But she may do so under both Title VII and the Texas Labor Code.
Under the Equal Pay Act, a plaintiff must show that the pay violation occurred within a single “establishment.” 29 U.S.C. § 206 (d) (1) . The governing regulations explain that the term “establishment” “refers to a distinct physical place of business rather than to an entire business or ‘enterprise’ which may include several separate places of business. ”

“ Before the dismissal of his § 2255 motion, Hernandez-Zavala never moved for leave to amend the motion. But he now avers that the district court erred in summarily dismissing his motion, contending that he should have been permitted to state his claims with greater specificity. The government counters that district courts do not have a duty sua sponte to give § 2255 movants a chance to amend their motions.
We agree. A district court does not err in declining to offer sua sponte a § 2255 movant an opportunity to amend. ”

“ We acknowledge that Thompson’s chronic illnesses place him at a higher risk of severe symptoms, should he contract COVID, is true for a person without these illnesses. [5] Nonetheless, as the district court noted, it is uncertain that he is at a significantly higher risk than is the general inmate population. In fact, nearly half of the adult population in the United States suffers from hypertension. [6] And roughly 12% of Americans suffer from high cholesterol. ”

“ The Casino argues the district court abused its discretion by admitting evidence of AWR’s “F” rating by the BBB. At trial, the evidence showed that the BBB relies entirely on complaints about a business and any supporting evidence provided in those complaints for its ratings. Depending on the business size, a company can be automatically rated “F” after two complaints are made against it without a response from the business. The BBB does not investigate the safety of work practices of a business beyond publicly information. ”

“ The syllogism that Trooper Blue offers to gain access to Morton’s photographs does not provide adequate grounds for the extensive search. In short, the syllogism is (1) Morton was found with personal-use quantities of drugs; and (2) drug dealers often take photos of drugs, cash, and co-conspirators; it therefore follows that (3) the photographs on Morton’s phones will provide evidence of Morton’s relationship to drug trafficking. The fallacy of this syllogism is that it relies on a premise that cannot be established, namely that Morton was dealing drugs. ”

“ Petitioner Cordúa Restaurants asks us to review a decision and order of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) which found Cordúa to have violated the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or “Act”) by firing an employee for engaging in activities protected by the NLRA. The Board opposes Cordúa’s petition on this finding, and it also cross-petitions for summary enforcement of its finding that Cordúa violated the NLRA by maintaining an impermissibly broad employee no-solicitation rule. ”

“ The district court sentenced her to ten months’ imprisonment and restitution payable to the U.S. Department of Education. The only issue on appeal is the amount of restitution. Tanner asserts that, at sentencing, the court orally pronounced restitution of $63,221. ”

“ Jackson State contends that the district court did not act with neutrality when interacting with two witnesses. First, the court questioned Marchetta Parker, a member of Taylor’s team, who accused Taylor of sexual harassment. The court questioned Parker about what Taylor did, if anything, that Parker believed amounted to sexual harassment. Jackson State claimed that it had cause to fire Taylor because she sexually harassed her players. Asking a player to clarify how she was harassed when the question of harassment was before the jury does not constitute plain error. ”

“ Generally, each Omni hotel location functions separately. It is undisputed that the general manager at each Omni property is the primary force behind all new hires, even if corporate must be on board. Unlike the school district in Marshall, which hired janitors on a district-wide basis subject to a wage agreement, Omni hires on a property-by-property basis and has no wage agreement. And the job duties of each food and beverage director differ by location. ”

“ There was evidence that the flagman did not alert Echeverry, and indeed just walked past her despite the imminent passage of the manlift. Jurors had sufficient evidence to support the conclusion that the particular manner in which the manlift was moved was unsafe.
There was an unsafe work practice, but there must also be evidence that the Casino expressly or impliedly authorized that unsafe practice. Again, according to Louisiana law, a company man’s presence and knowledge of an unsafe condition is insufficient to make the company liable under the implied-authorization exception. ”

“ In Hoffman, the Mississippi Supreme Court stated that the issue before the court was whether Hoffman breached his contract, not “whether [Hoffman’s] employer has failed to act upon similar past deficiencies.” [10] But here, unlike in Hoffman, [11] the question of breach implicates Jackson State’s past handling of similar situations because the jury had to decide whether Taylor performed her duties in good faith and whether any violations she committed were deliberate, serious, and willful. ”

“ The record indicates that after learning of Ramirez’s involvement in the collective action lawsuit, Ambroa singled out a text conversation between Ramirez and Reichman in which they appeared to be discussing wage-related issues, photographed the exchange, and sent the photographs to Cordúa’s chief operating officer. We have previously found that illicit surveillance of protected conduct “indicates an employer’s opposition to [that conduct] , and the furtive nature of the snooping tends to demonstrate spectacularly the state of the employer’s anxiety.” ”

“ Here, this observation means that the facts as alleged in Trooper Blue’s affidavits must raise a “fair probability” or a “substantial chance” that evidence relevant to Morton’s crime—that is, simple drug possession—will be found in each place to be searched: his contacts, his call logs, his text messages, and his photographs. There must be a specific factual basis in the affidavit that connects each cellphone feature to be searched to the drug possession crimes with which Morton was initially charged. ”

“ The BBB rating may reflect more on the Casino’s failure to investigate adequately before hiring AWR than it reflects on the competency of AWR. The jury, however, is permitted to make inferences from the evidence. Regardless, the BBB rating is not the only evidence Echeverry presented for the negligent-hiring theory.
Other evidence was that AWR’s certificate of insurance showed an expired insurance policy. The Casino’s internal policies required that it hire only contractors who were insured. ”

“ We affirm. I. Cordúa operates food services businesses in the metropolitan Houston, Texas, area, including nine restaurants with the brand names “Churrascos”; “Américas”; “Amazón Grill”; and “Artista.” Churrascos has five locations, including Churrascos River Oaks and Churrascos Sugar Land. Cordúa employs several hundred servers, kitchen staff, and bartenders at its nine restaurants.
A. The collective action lawsuit against Cordúa Employee Steven Ramirez began working for Cordúa as a server at Churrascos River Oaks in September 2012. ”

“ Accordingly, the statement that Taylor can only prevail if she was terminated “solely as a consequence of complaints alleging noncompliance with the substantive provisions of Title IX” should be read as distinguishing complaints about noncompliance with Title IX from “complaints related to [Taylor’s] own individual employment,” not as establishing a causation standard. ”

“ Casino employee Stuart attended safety meetings with AWR to discuss the practices that would be used, including using a flagman. The Casino provided AWR with the manlift. The Casino was also trying to expedite the project so that it could be completed before Mardi Gras and the NBA All-Star game, designating the purchase order as “urgency: emergency.” The evidence was sufficient for a reasonable jury to conclude that the Casino had authorized unsafe work practices.
There is sufficient evidence under each theory of negligence. ”

“ There’s not a single case, based just on training and experience, plus cellphones, plus user-quantity drugs, that you get to get to everything in the phone.”) . And a Tenth Circuit decision similarly addresses the issues here: after arresting a defendant for drug crimes, officers applied for and received a warrant to search his computers for files containing “names, telephone numbers, ledger receipts, addresses, and other documentary evidence” of drug offenses. United States v. Carey, 172 F.3d 1268, 1270 (10th Cir. 1999) . ”

“ A principal retains operational control if it has “direct supervision over the step-by-step process of accomplishing the work such that the contractor is not entirely free to do the work in his own way.” Id. Whether a principal retains operational control turns on the principal’s control over the independent contractor and its employees, not on the principal’s control over its own premises. ”

“ Accordingly, Lowrey did not announce a sole causation standard for Title IX retaliation claims; it suggested that the causation standard for Title IX claims should be the same as the causation standard for Title VII claims while clarifying that complaints about conduct barred by Title VII could not form the basis of a Title IX claim.
Regardless, a new trial is not warranted because the district court’s instruction “substantially covered” [42] the correct standard: that there must be a “causal connection” between the Title IX complaint and the adverse employment action. ”