Plaintiffs Glynn Ley and Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi (collectively, "Plaintiffs") appeal a district court's grant of Defendants' Visteon Corporation, Peter Pestillo, Michael Johnston, Daniel R. Coulson, James Palmer, and Pricewaterhousecooper, L.L.P., ("PwC") (collectively, "Defendants") motions to dismiss Plaintiffs' class action securities violation claims. Upon review of the record and the applicable law, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district...  

Petitioner Ricky Dale Railey appeals the district court's order denying his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for writ of habeas corpus. Railey argues that judicial bias, ineffective assistance of trial counsel, and his invalid plea of guilty warrant reversal of the district court's decision. We disagree and affirm the judgment of the district court... ... ... I. BACKGROUND... The following background facts are taken from the Kentucky Court of Appeals' opinion that affirmed the state trial court's...  

This case requires us to determine whether 11 U.S.C. § 524(a) makes a state-court judgment void ab initio when entered against a debtor whose dischargeable debts had been discharged, or whether the Rooker-Feldman doctrine compels federal courts to respect the state-court judgment. We conclude that § 524(a) prevails and state court judgments that modify a discharge order are void ab initio... Defendant-Appellant Alicia Hamilton Herr ("Herr") appeals a district-court order...  

The United States appeals the sentence imposed by the district court on Christopher Brattain after he pled guilty to aggravated sexual abuse of a minor. The district court refused to apply a five-level enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 4B1.5(b), stating that the enhancement applied only to offenders who had abused multiple victims, and Brattain had abused a single victim over a period of seven years. The government argues that the district court's refusal to apply the enhancement was...  

This case poses a series of intriguing questions: first, to enter a residence to execute an arrest warrant, must a police officer have probable cause or only "reason to believe" that the suspect is inside the residence, and did the officers' knowledge in this case satisfy either standard? Second, does an apartment manager become an agent of the government when officers request that the manager enter an apartment to verify the presence of a suspect? Because we hold that the officers'...  

As the district court succinctly summarized, this case turns on whether the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (the "EFTA") permits an automated teller machine's on-screen notice to read that a fee "may" be charged when a fee "will" be charged. Clemmer v. Key Bank, N.A., No. 06-2654, 2007 WL 5303533, at *2 (N.D. Ohio June 20, 2007). Michael Clemmer, a consumer of ATM services, argues that the notice must explicitly state that a consumer "is" or "will be" (or...  

In late 2005, Defendant Chronimed Holdings bought Northland Pharmacy from Plaintiff James P. DiCello. Chronimed paid DiCello twelve million dollars up front and promised additional cash if Northland's earnings over the next year hit a benchmark. The parties agreed to arbitrate any dispute over the "calculation" of Northland's earnings and "all issues having a bearing on such dispute."... When Chronimed later informed DiCello that it would not pay the added cash because...  

This Social Security disability appeal presents a single procedural issue regarding whether the agency adequately explained its decision. At least on the particular facts of this case, it was procedurally acceptable for the ALJ not to address in his opinion that Bowie was "borderline" between age groups under 20 C.F.R. § 404.1563(b). The district court therefore properly upheld the Commissioner's denial of benefits... Suffering from hypertension, aortic stenosis, and recurrent...  

This case involves a facial challenge to a provision of Ohio Rev. Code § 3767.30 ("Funeral Protest Provision"), which prohibits "picketing" or "other protest activities," within 300 feet of the funeral or burial service, from one hour before until one hour after the funeral or burial service. We hold that the Funeral Protest Provision is a reasonable, content-neutral regulation of the time, place, and manner of speech... ... ... I. BACKGROUND... A. Ohio Rev. Code...  

On February 1, 2002, the Oakwood Deposit Bank Company (Oakwood) failed. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was immediately appointed as receiver. On the following day, the FDIC signed a Purchase and Assumption Agreement (P&A Agreement) with State Bank and Trust Company (State Bank) that caused the insured deposits of Oakwood to be transferred to State Bank. A group of partially uninsured depositors (collectively referred to as the Uninsured Depositors) filed a complaint in state...  

This case arises out of a state court debt collection action brought by defendants-appellants Keith D. Weiner, Keith D. Weiner & Associates Co., L.P.A., and Scott W. Paris (collectively, "defendants") against plaintiff-appellant Michelle K. Barany-Snyder. Barany-Snyder alleges that defendants engaged in improper debt collection in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ("FDCPA"), 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., and seeks to represent a class of similarly situated...  

State Farm Bank, a federal savings association and a wholly owned subsidiary of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., offers mortgage products and banking services to individuals throughout the United States. State Farm Bank does not maintain any "brick and mortar" branch offices that are open to the public; rather, it solicits and markets its mortgage products and banking services through its existing network of independent and exclusive insurance agents who have been specially...  

ORDER... Robert L. Poole, Jr., appeals his convictions, following a jury trial, of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, cocaine base, and marijuana (Count 1), in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846, and possession of cocaine base with intent to distribute (Count 12), in Violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). He also appeals his concurrent 151-month prison sentences and five-year supervised-release terms. The parties have waived oral argument, and this...  

Defendant James Peoples appeals his conviction as a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), alleging that he was deprived of his Fifth Amendment rights when the prosecution introduced evidence demonstrating that he possessed firearms during multiple armed robberies, that insufficient evidence exists to support his conviction, and that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to confront a witness. Defendant Shawn Mayberry appeals his 110-month sentence on...  

Derek Barr, Roger Craig White, and Chris Nicole White ("Plaintiffs-Appellants"), students at William Blount High School ("the school") in Blount County, Tennessee, would like to express their southern heritage by wearing clothing depicting the Confederate flag at school. They appeal the district court's grant of summary judgment to the principal of their school, Steven Lafon ("Lafon"), the director of the Blount County schools, Alvin Hord ("Hord"), and the Blount...  

The federal government successfully prosecuted Joseph Djoumessi for violating one (happily) obscure statute—holding someone in involuntary servitude—and for violating another less obscure statute—harboring an alien for private financial gain. Djoumessi claims that the charges violated his rights under the Double Jeopardy Clause and that the government failed to support the involuntary-servitude conviction (and a related conspiracy conviction) with sufficient evidence. We...  

Carl Gaeth was employed as a sales manager at Oracle Corp. from 1986 until 1989. As a result of serious medical conditions, he began receiving long-term disability payments in 1989. Oracle subsequently discovered that Gaeth was operating an antique-lamp restoration business, and surveillance video showed him moving about without apparent difficulty. The plan administrator, Hartford Life Insurance Co., determined that Gaeth was no longer totally disabled and terminated his benefits in 1997......  

Defendant-Appellant, Michael Mastromatteo ("Mastromatteo"), appeals the district court's denial of a motion for a hearing under Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154 (1978), and he challenges the reasonableness of his sentence. Mastromatteo pleaded guilty to four methamphetamine-related counts, and he did so without the benefit of a written plea agreement. Despite the absence of a written plea agreement, Mastromatteo asserts that he entered a conditional plea nonetheless and may challenge...  

Defendant Harold Simpson appeals the sentence and order of restitution imposed for his crime of mail fraud. For several years, Simpson underreported payroll information for his businesses to his workers' compensation insurance carriers. The district court concluded that the "loss" caused by this conduct was the amount of additional premiums that the insurance carriers would have charged had they been given accurate information. The court then used those figures to calculate Simpson's...  

Defendant Damon Alexander, Jr. appeals from the district court's decision not to suppress the key evidence underlying his plea of guilty to charges of conspiring to possess cocaine and possessing cocaine and cocaine base. Alexander also appeals the district court's denial of his motion to compel discovery of materials produced during an investigation of his alleged beating by a police officer. For the reasons stated below, we affirm... ... ... I... A... On April 5, 2006, Detective Gene Cook of...