DIFTCL: Federal Narrative Summaries

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Federal Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Cecil Avery’s appeal from the United States Court of Federal Claims, which had dismissed his complaint seeking an Airman’s Medal and increased retirement pay. The court held that the doctrine of res judicata (claim preclusion) bars the suit because the claim inv...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Sixth Circuit reversed the district court’s dismissal of Jennifer Byrum’s municipal liability claim against Knox County for failure to train, while affirming the dismissal of her remaining claims regarding inadequate medical screening, overcrowding, and underfunding. The court held that Byrum plausibly al...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The seventh-circuit affirmed Michael Abramson’s convictions for tax fraud, witness tampering, and contempt of court. The court held that the district court committed no plain error in its jury instructions regarding the elements of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1) (tax fraud), 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(1) (witness tampering), and t...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The federal-circuit affirmed the Merit Systems Protection Board’s final decision denying Michael Thorogood’s petition for review and upholding an initial decision dismissing his administrative appeal as moot. The court held that the Board did not err in concluding that the agency’s rescission of Thoro...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Federal Circuit affirmed the Veterans Court’s decision upholding the Board of Veterans’ Appeals’ denial of additional dependency compensation for the claimant’s children. The court held that under 38 U.S.C. § 3562, a veteran is permanently barred from receiving “additional compensation...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Eighth Circuit affirmed the conviction and sentence of David Negrete for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The court held that the district court properly denied Negrete’s motion to suppress evidence seized from his person and vehicle, and correctly applied a four-level sentencing enhancement under U.S...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The federal-circuit dismissed the appeal pursuant to Fed. R. App. P. 42(b) based on the agreement of the parties. The court further ordered that each side shall bear its own costs. As a result of this dismissal, the proceedings before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit are terminated without a d...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The seventh-circuit denied Tajinder Preet Singh’s petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order affirming the immigration judge’s denial of his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. The court applied the substantial evide...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The federal-circuit affirmed the decision of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Patent Trial and Appeal Board regarding application No. 16/108,860 pursuant to Federal Circuit Rule 36. The court issued a per curiam order without providing specific legal reasoning or analysis in this nonprecedential dispositi...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of David Marrowbone’s motion to dismiss an indictment for failure to register as a sex offender under 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a). The court held that Marrowbone’s 1982 federal conviction for assault with intent to commit rape qualifies as a “sex of...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Eighth Circuit denied the petition for review filed by Maria Lily Alvarenga and her son, challenging the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order affirming an immigration judge’s decision to remove them to Honduras and denying their claims for asylum, statutory withholding of removal, and protection under the...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The eighth-circuit affirmed the defendant’s 180-month sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm under 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(8). The court held that any potential error by the district court in calculating the Sentencing Guidelines range—specifically regarding the two-level enhancement for r...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The eighth-circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Remington Arms Company, Inc., dismissing Canary Reed’s claims of race and gender discrimination, hostile work environment, and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Arkansas Civil Rights Act. The cour...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The eighth-circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of Calvin Williams’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis under the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s three-strikes rule. The court held that a prior dismissal based on *Heck v. Humphrey*—which bars § 1983 claims challenging the validity of a convicti...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Eighth Circuit affirmed Christopher Jermaine Grays’s 120-month sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The court applied an abuse of discretion standard to review the substantive reasonableness of the district court’s upward variance from the advisory Sentencing...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Eighth Circuit affirmed the denial of James Colquhoun’s motion to suppress evidence obtained from a traffic stop, holding that the officers did not unconstitutionally prolong the seizure under the Fourth Amendment. The court applied the standard that a traffic stop becomes unlawful only when its duration excee...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Sixth Circuit affirmed Charles Mixon’s convictions and sentence, rejecting his challenges to the Commerce Clause validity of his carjacking and firearm possession charges, the classification of his Texas burglary convictions as ACCA predicates, and the district court’s admission of evidence regarding a pr...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment for violating supervised release, holding that the defendant was correctly sentenced using his original criminal history category rather than a reduced category resulting from a subsequent Guidelines amendment. The court appli...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Fifth Circuit denied the petition for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) order dismissing an asylum seeker’s appeal from an immigration judge’s finding that he had abandoned his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. The court held...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Fourth Circuit dismissed in part and affirmed in part the appeal of Lloyd Eugene Rhodes, II, following a per curiam opinion that enforced his valid plea agreement’s appellate waiver while finding no meritorious claims falling outside its scope. The court held that the waiver was knowing and intelligent based o...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of FedEx Office & Print Services and its managers on Plaintiff Ivana Sanders’s retaliation claims under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act. The court held that there was no genuine dis...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The fifth-circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment in this civil contract dispute involving a motor carrier and logistics companies. The court reviewed the parties’ briefs and the record, finding no reversible error pursuant to Fifth Circuit Rule 47.6. As a result of this affirmation, the lower court&#8...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Third Circuit affirmed the District Court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of prison officials and a private carrier in a civil rights action brought by a Pennsylvania state prisoner under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The court held that the plaintiff failed to exhaust administrative remedies regarding his retaliation...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Fifth Circuit affirmed the conviction but vacated and remanded the case to the Southern District of Texas to amend the written judgment to conform with the district court’s oral pronouncement of sentence. The court held that a conflict exists between the oral sentence and the written judgment because the judgme...

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Filed: 2026-10-08 The Third Circuit affirmed the District Court’s order denying Dellisa Richardson’s motion for relief from judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). The court held that the District Court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing the motion because it was untimely and failed to establish grounds f...