DISCLAIMER:  The following unofficial case summaries are prepared by the clerk's office
                        as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.
153885P.pdf   07/24/2017  Nathan C. McGuire  v.  ISD No. 833
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  15-3885
   U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota - Minneapolis   
[PUBLISHED] [Kelly, Author, with Loken and Colloton, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Civil rights. A 2013 amendment to Minn. Stat. Section 122A.33 did not give plaintiff a protected property interest in the renewal of his coaching contract because it did not sufficiently limit the School Board's discretion; as a result, plaintiff's procedural due process claims were properly dismissed. Judge Colloton, concurring in the judgment. 161554U.pdf 07/24/2017 Joaquin Cervantes v. United States U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 16-1554 U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska - Lincoln
[UNPUBLISHED] [Per Curiam - Before Wollman, Arnold and Gruender, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law. The residual clause of Guidelines Sec. 4B1.2(a) is constitutional under Beckles and encompasses defendant's predicate convictions; Beckles thus precludes defendant's constitutional challenge to his sentence and the district court did not err in denying his motion to vacate his sentence. 161576P.pdf 07/24/2017 American Chemicals & Equipment v. Principal Management Corp. U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 16-1576 and No: 16-1580 and No: 16-1712 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Des Moines
[PUBLISHED] [Loken, Author, with Riley and Benton, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Investment Company Act of 1940. In action against the investment adviser retained by the mutual funds in which plaintiff had invested, alleging the adviser had breached its statutory fiduciary duty to the funds by charging excessive adviser fees to the funds, thereby indirectly reducing the net asset values of the funds, plaintiff lacked a cause of action under Section 36(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940. 162153U.pdf 07/24/2017 Dennis Lagares, Jr. v. Aaron Koeppen U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 16-2153 U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Springfield
[UNPUBLISHED] [Per Curiam - Before Wollman, Colloton and Gruender, Circuit Judges] Civil case. Dismissal of complaint seeking to overturn a state court child custody order affirmed without comment. 162196U.pdf 07/24/2017 Gregory Lewis v. United States U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 16-2196 U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas - Texarkana
[UNPUBLISHED] [Per Curiam - Before Gruender, Arnold and Kelly, Circuit Judges] Prisoner case - Habeas. Anders case. The district court granted a certificate of appealability on the question of whether counsel was ineffective for failing to assert that Lewis's 2006 Arkansas conviction for engaging in a continuing criminal gang did not qualify as a crime of violence; the crime qualified as a crime of violence under Guidelines Sec. 4B1.2(a)(2), and counsel was not ineffective for failing to raise the argument. 162229P.pdf 07/24/2017 Michele Donaldson v. National Union Fire Insurance U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 16-2229 U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas - Batesville
[PUBLISHED] [Kelly, Author, with Colloton and Gruender, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Insurance. While the provisions of the coverage exclusion provision in question were susceptible to multiple interpretations, the plan administrator's interpretation of the provision to deny coverage was not unreasonable or an abuse of discretion. 162436P.pdf 07/24/2017 United States v. Ryan William McMillan U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 16-2436 U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota - St. Paul
[PUBLISHED] [Murphy, Author, with Gruender and Kelly, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Sentencing. The district court erred in finding defendant's conviction for third degree riot for the benefit of a gang in violation of Minn. Stat. Sec. 609.71, Subd. 3 (2009) was a crime of violence for sentencing purposes because the offense does not automatically qualify as a crime of violence under the force clause of Guidelines Sec. 4B1.2(a)(1) as the statute encompasses crimes against property; the offense may, however, qualify under the 2015 version of the residual clause of Guidelines Sec. 4B1.2(a) which was in effect at the time of sentencing; the matter is remanded, therefore, to permit the district court to determine whether the conviction qualified under the residual clause and, if so, whether the district court should consider the proposed amendment to the section which was pending at the time. Judge Gruender, dissenting. 162538P.pdf 07/24/2017 Gloria Bunch v. University of AR Board etc. U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 16-2538 U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas - Little Rock
[PUBLISHED] [Riley, Author, with Loken and Benton, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Employment discrimination. Plaintiff's ADA, ADEA, Section 1981 and Section 1983 claims were barred under the doctrine of sovereign immunity; assuming plaintiff can meet her burden of establishing a prima face case of race and gender discrimination under Title VII, defendant established a legitimate, nondiscriminatory ground for terminating her - failure to report for work and the need to fill her position - which plaintiff failed to show was a pretext for discrimination; the district court did not err in rejecting plaintiff's retaliation claim. 163094U.pdf 07/24/2017 United States v. Kelly James Rayson U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 16-3094 U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota - Sioux Falls
[UNPUBLISHED] [Per Curiam - Before Wollman and Loken, Circuit Judges, and Rossiter, District Judge] Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. The district court did not err in revoking defendant's supervised release based on his admission that he had violated the provisions of his supervision; sentence imposed upon the revocation of defendant's supervised release was not an abuse of the district court's discretion. 163670U.pdf 07/24/2017 United States v. Michael Knight U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 16-3670 U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City
[UNPUBLISHED] [Per Curiam - Before Wollman, Loken and Benton, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Sentencing. Anders case. Defendant knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to appeal his sentence, and the appeal is dismissed. 163976P.pdf 07/24/2017 United States v. Steven Horton U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 16-3976 and No: 16-3982 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Council Bluffs
[PUBLISHED] [Smith, Author, with Shepherd, Circuit Judge, and Fenner, District Judge] Criminal case - Criminal law. The district court erred in granting defendants' motion to suppress evidence obtained through a warrant authorizing a search of their computers through the use of a Network Investigative Technique (NIT); the NIT warrant issued in this case was issued in violation of Fed. R. Crim. P. 41 and exceeded the magistrate judge's jurisdiction because a magistrate judge in one jurisdiction (here, the Eastern District of Virginia) cannot authorize the search of the content of a computer in another jurisdiction (here, the Southern District of Iowa) and none of the exceptions to Fed. R. Crim. P. Rule 41 suggested by the government, including the tracking-device exception in Rule 41(b)(4), apply here; while the warrant was void ab initio, the Leon exception can apply to such situations and Leon should be applied here as there was no bad faith or reckless disregard for the truth; further the marginal benefit of deterring such warrants would be outweighed by the heavy costs to the justice system of such a ruling. Judge Fenner, concurring in part and dissenting in part. 164507U.pdf 07/24/2017 United States v. Gary Sanders U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 16-4507 U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas - Little Rock
[UNPUBLISHED] [Per Curiam - Before Wollman, Loken and Benton, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Sentencing. Anders case. The government did not breach the plea agreement in the matter; the plea agreement contained a valid and enforceable appeal waiver; as defendant's issue falls within the scope of the waiver, the appeal is dismissed.