Swear on the Stand

A federal appeals court affirmed the dismissal of a habeas corpus petition filed by prisoner Dennis Michael Hogan, who sought First Step Act time credits for the period between his sentencing and his arrival at his designated Bureau of Prisons facility. Hogan argued that he was entitled to accrue these credits during his pre-transfer detention, contending that Bureau of Prisons regulations imprope...

In Bill Word v. U.S. Department of Energy , appliance consumers appealed a lower court's dismissal of their lawsuit challenging federal energy and water-consumption rules for dishwashers and clothes washers. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals first determined that the plaintiffs possessed proper standing because regulatory market compression restricted their product choices and constituted a c...

In a legal battle concerning a natural gas supply contract, MIECO, L.L.C. appealed a district court decision favoring producer Pioneer Natural Resources USA, Inc. after Winter Storm Uri disrupted deliveries. Following an earlier appellate remand, the lower court conducted a bench trial and concluded that the severe weather constituted a force majeure event that legitimately prevented performance w...

Debbie Navejas filed a lawsuit as the representative of her deceased father, Armando Navejas , against Officer Steven Jaso and the City of El Paso following a tragic domestic-violence response where Armando was tased and subsequently died. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reviewed the district court's decision to grant summary judgment in favor of both defendants. The a...

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reviewed the federal sentence of David Daniel Koan , who was convicted of producing child pornography after serving nearly forty months in Texas state custody for a related sexual assault. During his federal sentencing, defense counsel requested a sentence adjustment to account for the time already served in state prison, but the district court mistakenly believe...

In Frankfort v. Metropolis Technologies , the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reviewed a lower court's dismissal of a class-action lawsuit filed by drivers Curtis Goodban and Todd Frankfort against parking technology company Metropolis Technologies . The plaintiffs claimed that Metropolis violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) through an alleged scheme of issuing exorbitant Vio...

In these consolidated appeals , the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reviewed two related Texas products liability cases arising from a patient's tragic death following colon surgery involving a surgical stapler and staples. The plaintiffs, consisting of the decedent's widow and four children , initially sued certain corporate entities for breach of warranty and defecti...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a ruling in an intellectual property dispute between Pittsburgh Logistics Systems and Glen Rose Transportation Management . The appellate court affirmed the lower court's judgment that dismissed the plaintiff's trade secret and unjust enrichment claims following a jury verdict for the defense. Additionally, the panel upheld th...

In United States v. Luis Andres Serna , the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's decision denying the defendant a jury instruction regarding the age of his victim. Serna had argued that under 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) , the government was required to prove he knew the victim was a minor because he operated as a non-commercial producer of child pornography. However, the appellate...

The Fifth Circuit considered an appeal regarding whether a faith-based auto-repair franchise that exclusively partners with professing Christians unlawfully discriminated against Evan Domanic, an ethnic and religious Jew , by denying him a franchise. Domanic sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 , arguing that prejudice against Jewish individuals constitutes inseparable racial discrimination, but the appell...

This episode discusses a formal opinion from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit regarding the capital murder case of Gerald Marshall . After Marshall was sentenced to death for a 2003 robbery and shooting, he sought a certificate of appealability to challenge several constitutional and procedural issues. The court systematically reviews his allegations, which include claims o...

In Elite Precision Customs L.L.C. v. ATF , the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals invalidated federal laws that prohibit the interstate sale and delivery of handguns to nonresidents. The court determined that because the Second Amendment protects the right to acquire firearms, any categorical ban on such purchases is presumptively unconstitutional . Applying the legal framework established in Bruen ,...

In this judicial opinion, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirms the dismissal of Devin Chaney's appeal regarding his sentencing as a career offender . Following a remand from the Supreme Court , the court examined whether a new "miscarriage of justice" exception could invalidate Chaney’s original appeal waiver . The judges determined that the alleged sentencing errors regardin...

This episode details a retaliation lawsuit filed by Nathan Crawford, a former police officer at West Texas A&M University . The case centers on Crawford’s claim that he was disciplined and forced out of his job after corroborating sexual misconduct allegations against a fellow officer. While a lower court initially dismissed the suit, the appellate judges reversed that decision , finding signi...

This episode outlines a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit regarding a dispute over the use of public courthouse grounds for artistic expression. The case involves John Rash , a university professor who was denied a permit to host a nighttime art exhibition based on Lafayette County’s restrictive facility use policies. The court upheld a permanent injunction against...

This episode discusses a judicial opinion from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit regarding the regulation of methylene chloride . The court vacated a strict rule by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that sought to nearly eliminate the chemical's market under the Toxic Substances Control Act . According to the ruling, the EPA committed legal errors by adopting a &...

This episode outlines the denial of a certificate of appealability for Juan Raul Navarro Ramirez , a Texas inmate sentenced to death for capital murder. The majority opinion concludes that Ramirez failed to meet the procedural and substantive requirements to appeal his claims regarding ineffective assistance of counsel and the voluntariness of his confession . Specifically, the court found that hi...

This episode details a jurisdictional conflict between property owners and the City of Austin regarding shoreline land along Lake Austin. The dispute centers on a 2019 ordinance that reclassified these properties into the city's full-purpose jurisdiction , thereby subjecting residents to higher taxes without a corresponding increase in municipal services. While the district court previously pa...

This episode details a dispute between Megalomedia , the production company behind My 600-lb Life , and its insurer, Philadelphia Indemnity . The insurer denied coverage for lawsuits filed by show participants, citing a policy provision that excludes "reality shows" from liability protection. While the production company argued on appeal that the term is ambiguous , the court found this...

In the legal case Sahs v. Loyola University New Orleans , the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit addressed whether a Louisiana anti-SLAPP statute applies in federal diversity cases. The dispute began after Luke Sahs sued the university for defamation following his arrest for stalking, an incident involving allegations of chemical threats that were later dismissed. Loyola attempte...

This legal opinion from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals addresses a dispute over the endangered species listing of the lesser prairie-chicken . Following a shift in presidential administrations in 2025, the Fish and Wildlife Service stopped defending the bird's protected status to settle with state and industry plaintiffs . Two conservation groups attempted to intervene to defend the protec...

This episode discusses a  Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion  regarding a lawsuit filed by  Ehiremen Bennard Eriakha  against the  University of Mississippi  and its faculty. The case originated from  academic disputes  involving mandatory progress assessments and changes to doctoral mentorship structures, which the plaintiff claimed were  retaliatory and discriminatory . The court determined...

This episode discusses the  vacatur of a $125 million judgment  due to an undisclosed relationship between a  magistrate judge and a trial attorney . The majority opinion affirms the decision to void the original trial because the judge failed to reveal a  forty-year personal friendship  with the plaintiff's lead counsel, preventing the defendant from giving  knowing and intelligent consent  t...

This episode addresses whether a defendant can bypass an  appeal waiver  following a  Supreme Court remand . The defendant, Kenleone Joe Nyandoro, sought to challenge his conviction for  firearm possession  by an unlawful drug user, arguing the underlying statute was  unconstitutional . Under the "miscarriage of justice" exception established in  Hunter I , the court evaluated whether th...

In this legal opinion, the  United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit  denies a petition for review filed by  Wilberforce Okene , a Nigerian citizen facing deportation. The court examines whether the  Board of Immigration Appeals  correctly affirmed a lower ruling that denied Okene  cancellation of removal  and special relief under the  Violence Against Women Act . While the petitioner...