In 1976, a lawsuit brought by the United States and by the Firefighters Institute for Racial Equality (FIRE) alleging racially discriminatory hiring and promotion by the St. Louis Fire Department (SLFD) was resolved by entry of a complex consent decree providing, in relevant part, that the City would hire qualified black applicants "for least fifty percent (50%) of the vacancies for the entry level of Firefighter personnel." United States v. City of St. Louis, 418 F. Supp. 383, 384...  

Appellant Montel Theopolis Jones pleaded guilty to a charge of distributing cocaine base (crack cocaine) within 1000 feet of a protected location and now appeals his sentence. He argues the district court1 erred in its drug-quantity determination and in its denial of a reduction for acceptance of responsibility. We affirm... ... ... The United States charged Jones with two counts of distributing crack cocaine within 1000 feet of a protected location, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§...  

At the close of his jury trial, Paul Herron was convicted of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 7(3), 113(a)(3). The district court1 sentenced Herron to 48 months imprisonment. Herron appeals his conviction and sentence. We affirm... ... ... I... In August of 2006, Herron was a veteran participating in an alcohol detoxification program at the Veteran's Affairs ("VA") hospital in Hot Springs, South Dakota. Prior to entering the detoxification program, Herron was...  

JCB, Inc. brought this action against Union Planters Bank, N.A. (Bank) seeking a declaratory judgment and damages for trespass and conversion for unilateral removal and sale of equipment which had been purchased by their debtor, Machinery, Inc. and was subject to their competing security interests. The district court referred some of the issues in dispute to the bankruptcy court which determined that JCB had the senior security interest in the equipment and granted it partial summary...  

Appellants were each either customers of the Exchange Bank of Gibbon (Bank) or have been sued by the Bank. The appellants brought this action as a class action against the Bank, its holding company, and various shareholders, officers, and employees of the Bank, following the criminal indictment of Scott Hobson, the Bank's president, for defrauding the bank of nearly one million dollars. The appellants brought federal usury and antitying claims against the Bank based on Hobson's actions, relying...  

Michael Allen Porter filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code. Holly Sells filed an adversary complaint against Porter, seeking to bar the discharge of a judgment debt that she had obtained against him in an employment retaliation case. The bankruptcy court gave collateral estoppel effect to the judgment, finding that the jury in the retaliation case necessarily found that Porter willfully and maliciously injured Sells. Accordingly, the bankruptcy court excepted the judgment...  

Swift & Co. ("Swift"), appeals an adverse grant of summary judgment on its breach of contract claim against Elias Farms, Inc., Stan Turbes, and William H. Johnson (collectively, "hog producers"). The hog producers cross-appeal adverse summary judgment rulings on their counterclaims for breach of contract and violations of the Minnesota Consumer Fraud Act (MCFA). We affirm the grant of summary judgment on the hog producers' counterclaims, but reverse the grant of summary judgment...  

Pursuant to a search warrant, law enforcement officers searched Arthur Crissler's residence and recovered a supply of methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and a firearm. Based on this evidence, the government indicted Crissler on two counts of possession of a controlled substance1 with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(B), and one count of possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §...  

Darnell Brown, Jr., pled guilty to a conspiracy drug offense involving distribution of marijuana and possession with intent to distribute and distribution of 5 grams or more of cocaine base after being convicted of a felony drug offense. The district court1 sentenced Brown to 360 months and he appeals, arguing that there were several sentencing errors and that his sixth amendment right to effective assistance of counsel was violated. We affirm... ... ... Brown was part of a conspiracy to sell...  

Green Tree Servicing, LLC appeals the bankruptcy court's1 order of April 22, 2008, confirming Tony W. and Stephanie A. Coleman's chapter 13 plan. Because we agree with the bankruptcy court that the debtor could cram down Green Tree's secured claim, we affirm... BACKGROUND... Green Tree holds a secured claim in a 1996 Chandaleur 16 x 80 manufactured home which is owned by Stephanie A. Coleman. She and Tony use the home as their residence, located on 30-36 acres in Jasper County, Missouri... The...  

In this diversity case, Dr. Martin Hinz and Neuroresearch Clinics, Inc. (collectively "Hinz") sued Neuroscience, Inc. and Gottfried Kellermann (collectively "Kellermann") for breach of contract. A jury returned a verdict for Hinz, awarding... ... ... $1,989,373 in damages. The district court2 reversed the damage award on Kellermann's motion for judgment as a matter of law. The court denied Hinz's motions for permanent injunction, pre- and post-judgment interest, and attorney's...  

Richard Henning contends that the mortgage he granted to Mainstreet Bank on his home as collateral for business loans should be released under the terms of their agreement. The district court1 affirmed the bankruptcy court's2 grant of summary judgment to Mainstreet, and Henning now appeals. We affirm... ... ... I... Henning was a principal and officer in several businesses that borrowed money from Mainstreet. In July 2003, Henning, those businesses, and Mainstreet consolidated and restructured...  

Kathy Van Vickle appeals the judgment of the district court1 upholding the final decision of the Commissioner of Social Security to deny her application for disability insurance benefits. We affirm... ... ... I... On October 23, 2003, Van Vickle filed an application for disability insurance benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act. Van Vickle claimed that she could not work because she suffered from seronegative rheumatoid arthritis (adult Still's disease), fibromyalgia, cervicalgia...  

Alternate Fuels, Inc. (AFI) and its President, Larry W. Pommier, sued two officials of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) — Thomas M. Cabanas and Richard A. Hall — for denial of equal protection, tortious interference with contract, and First Amendment retaliation. Summary judgment was granted to Cabanas and Hall on all claims except part of AFI's tortious-interference-with-contract... ... ... claim against Cabanas, who appealed. AFI and Pommier cross-appealed the...  

Pamela Gail Shy and Tina Lynn Burton pled guilty under plea agreements with the government to possession of pseudoephedrine with the knowledge it would be used to manufacture methamphetamine. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(c)(2). After the district court granted each defendant a safety valve reduction, the applicable Guidelines range for each defendant was 37-46 months. For each defendant, the district court varied under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) and sentenced the defendant to three years of...  

David Riehm was a high school student who wrote an essay detailing a fantasy murder-suicide inspired by the school shooting that took place at Columbine High... ... ... School in Littleton, Colorado. He left the essay with his teacher, who read it and reported it to law enforcement. He was taken from his home in Cook County, Minnesota, by court order, underwent a psychiatric evaluation and was released after seventy-two hours. He and his mother, Colleen Riehm, brought this lawsuit against Cook...  

Federal parolee Arnold Mitchell appeals the district court's1 dismissal of his 28 U.S.C. § 2241 petition challenging the revocation of his parole. For the reasons stated below, we affirm... ... ... I... Mitchell was convicted of federal drug offenses in 1988 and sentenced to three concurrent 240-month terms of imprisonment and 3 years of supervised release. After serving 102 months, he was released on parole2 on March 27, 1997, with a sentence-completion date in 2008. In February 2004,...  

St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company brought this declaratory judgment action for a ruling that it had no duty to defend its insured, Compaq Computer Corporation (Compaq), in a case brought against it in Texas by Hal LaPray (LaPray litigation). Compaq counterclaimed for a declaratory judgment that St. Paul had such a duty and for breach of contract damages and then moved for statutory damages under Texas law. The district court1 ruled in deciding the motions before it that St. Paul had a...  

Glenn Delph was found disabled as of April 11, 1988, by the Social Security Administration (SSA). SSA found that Delph's degenerative disk disease of the cervical and lumbar spine, back injury, mood disorder, and schizoaffective disorder precluded work and rendered him disabled. He was awarded disability insurance... ... ... benefits (DIB) and supplemental security income (SSI) payments. On December 10, 1998, SSA notified Delph that a records review revealed his condition had improved and he...  

Rebecca Adams sued her employer, O'Reilly Automotive, Inc., because of the sexual harassment that she suffered at the hands of Harold Schroeder, a store manager who was her supervisor. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). The district court1 granted summary judgment in favor of O'Reilly, holding that O'Reilly had made out the so-called Ellerth-Faragher affirmative defense as a matter of law. Ms. Adams appeals from that order and we affirm... ... ... Ms. Adams's cause of action arises under Title...