Plaintiff-Appellant Joan Heffington, appearing pro se, appeals the district court’s judgment dismissing her action with prejudice. In essence, Ms. Heffington alleges various constitutional and state law claims against several governmental and private defendants, including the President of the United States and the Department of Homeland Security. Ms. Heffington claims that the various Defendants

¶1 On December 29, 2008, this case was assigned to this office. This is a negligent maintenance and construction action initiated by a tenant against her landlord and a contractor after the tenant fell from her second story balcony due to a defectively installed balcony railing. The district court granted the landlord's and contractor's motions for summary judgment based on the traditional common

¶1 One question is presented in this appeal: Is the state district court a court of competent jurisdiction as used in the gaming compact between the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the State of Oklahoma such that the district court may exercise jurisdiction over this Indian-country arising negligence action filed by a casino patron against the Choctaw tribe and its casino? We answer in the affirma

¶1 One question is presented in this appeal: Is the state district court a court of competent jurisdiction as used in the gaming compact between the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the State of Oklahoma such that the district court may exercise jurisdiction over this Indian-country arising negligence action filed by a casino patron against the Choctaw tribe and its casino? We answer in the affirma

We granted the defendants' application for further appellate review to consider whether a Superior Court judge erred in denying the defendants' special motion to dismiss, pursuant to G.L. c. 231, § 59H (anti-SLAPP statute). [FN2] Because we conclude that the defendants are entitled to interlocutory appellate review, and that the motion judge erred in denying their special motion to dismiss, we re

We decide in this case whether a statutory right to participate in class action lawsuits can permissibly be foreclosed by a provision in a consumer contract compelling individual arbitration. The plaintiffs, John A. Feeney and Dedham Health and Athletic Complex (Dedham Health), appeal from an order of a judge in the Superior Court compelling arbitration of their claims--brought as a putative class

Sergeant J. A. Wood appeals the district court’s denial of qualified immunity in this civil suit arising out of Wood’s warrantless entry into the plaintiffs’ home. Because the objective circumstances confronted by defendant on the night in question suggested that plaintiffs’ home was being vandalized and that a missing teenage girl was in the house and in need of assistance, the search was

The present civil action stems from the capsizing in the Baltimore Harbor of a double-pontoon vessel called the "Lady D," resulting in the death of five persons thrown overboard and numerous injuries to others on board (the Accident). Prior to the Accident, the United States Coast Guard (the Coast Guard) had certified the Lady D to carry no more than twenty-five persons, based upon the results of

In this case, we consider whether Virginia’s "Partial Birth Infanticide" Act, Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-71.1 (the "Virginia Act"), is facially unconstitutional. After the Commonwealth of Virginia enacted the Virginia Act in April 2003, but before its July 1, 2003 effective date, Richmond Medical Center and its owner and medical director, Dr. William Fitzhugh (collectively, "Dr. Fitzhugh"), commenced

In 2002, then-Boston Police Commissioner Paul Evans terminated William Broderick as a police captain in the Boston Police Department. Broderick sued and in the district court a jury returned a verdict against Evans under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2006) and against the City of Boston under the Massachusetts whistle blower statute, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, § 185 (2009). The defendants now appeal and Brode

We are asked here to determine whether plaintiff‟s suit alleging the negligence of a public-entity health-care provider must comply with the statutes of limitations in both the Government Claims Act (Gov. Code, § 945.6) involving actions against public entities, and the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) (Code Civ. Proc., § 340.5) governing medical negligence suits. Patricia Ann Ro

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Detective Dolphus Boucher, with the approval of Clark County Deputy District Attorney Elissa Luzaich, forcefully extracted a DNA sample from Kenneth Friedman. The officer did not have a warrant or a court order authorizing the taking of the sample, nor was Friedman under any suspicion of a crime for which a DNA sample might be justified. The extraction occurred simply

We must decide whether a distributor of Internet security software is entitled to immunity under the safe harbor provision of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. § 230, from a suit claiming that its software interfered with the use of downloadable programs by customers of an online media company.

Zango, Inc. (Zango) is an Internet company that provides access to a catalog of

This appeal concerns whether a defendant is entitled to attorney’s fees as a prevailing party under § 505 of the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 505, when a plaintiff voluntarily dismisses without prejudice a lawsuit containing copyright claims. In Corcoran v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., 121 F.2d 575, 576 (9th Cir. 1941), we held a defendant in a copyright suit was a prevailing party and wa

In 1997, John Lonberg (“Lonberg�), a paraplegic, initiated a lawsuit against the City of Riverside (“City�), alleging vio- lations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA�) and its accompanying regulations. The district court divided the lawsuit into three phases. Phase one, the only phase at issue in this appeal, concerns Lonberg’s claim that the City’s plan to achieve ADA co

A police officer who has been suspended from duty has a right to appeal that action to either a civil service commission or to an independent, third-party hearing examiner. If the officer appeals to a hearing examiner, his ability to seek further review in a district court is severely limited. The suspended police officer in this case elected to appeal to a hearing examiner, but the City failed to

The Inter-American Investment Corporation (“IIC�) appeals the denial of its motion to dismiss an independent consultant’s unjust enrichment claim on grounds of immunity and untimeliness. Applying the well-settled test in this circuit, we affirm the denial of immunity. By waiving immunity from unjust enrichment claims of independent consultants whom the IIC solicits to help negotiate the comm

The United States and the State of Missouri filed this enforcement action against the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (District) under the Clean Water Act (Act), 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq. (2009). They seek federal civil penalties and injunctive relief to limit discharges of untreated wastewater and sewage by the District. The District raised several affirmative defenses claiming financial in

Defendants, the Sheriff of Rapides Parish and four deputy sheriffs, appeal the district court’s denial of qualified immunity for their involvement in “Operation Retro-Fit,� a preplanned, violent S.W.A.T. team raid of a nightclub, Club Retro, on February 5, 2006. As a result of events that occurred during that raid, plaintiffs, owners and select employees of Club Retro, bring 42 U.S.C. § 198

This civil suit arises from the fatal shooting of Michael Goodman (“Michael�) by Harris County, Texas, Deputy Constable Terry Ashabranner (“Ashabranner�). Jeanette Goodman (“Goodman�), Michael’s mother, appeals from the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Harris County and Constable Ron Hickman (“Hickman�) on her Texas Tort Claims Act (“TTCA�) causes of a

A state agency known as the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy, or "VOPA," brought this action in federal court against three Virginia officials in their official capacities. VOPA claims that the defendant state officials are violating federal law and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief. We hold that sovereign immunity bars VOPA’s suit. While Congress could seek to provide a federal

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 (“Act� or “1996 Act�), Pub. L. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56 (codified in part at 47 U.S.C. §§ 251-261, 271), created a complex federal scheme to encourage competition in local telephone service markets previously dominated by state-sanctioned local exchange carrier monopolies. AT&T Corp. v. Iowa Utils. Bd., 525 U.S. 366, 371-72, 377-80 (1999). Sections 251 and

This appeal is about whether the plaintiff, Coalition for ICANN Transparency, Inc., using antitrust statutes drafted in the late 19th century, has successfully stated claims in connection with the administration of the Internet domain name system, so essential to the operation of our sophisticated 21st century communications network. The district court ruled that the plaintiff failed. With the ben

The issue in this case is jurisdiction. Christi Turpin, a former graduate student of Southern Illinois University (SIU), sued two deans and a professor in

We freely admit 1 to having absolutely no clue as to what her dissertation was all about. Its title—The Link Between Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors Who Utilize Performance Technologies Competencies and the Resulting Impact Upon Th

This case comes before us on an interlocutory transfer without ruling from the Superior Court (Mangones, J.). See Sup. Ct. R. 9. The question is whether the plaintiffs, Helen Martin and her husband Michael Martin, may maintain negligence and loss of consortium claims against the defendant, Pat’s Peak, Inc. (Pat’s Peak), for injuries Helen Martin sustained while snow tubing at the Pat’s Peakâ