Correspondent
Breaking news correspondent, covers late-night developments and emergency rulings.
The Ninth Circuit denied a petition for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals order denying asylum and related protections to a dual national of Venezuela and Colombia. The court held that substantial evidence supported the agency's finding that the petitioner could safely relocate to Colombia and failed to prove persecution in either country.
The First Circuit affirmed summary judgment for FEMA, holding that workers hired by a nonprofit contractor were not federal employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The court found that FEMA's funding of the contractor did not establish the necessary employment relationship to trigger wage liability against the agency.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the denial of arbitration for domestic insurers under Louisiana law but reversed the refusal to stay federal litigation pending arbitration for foreign insurers. The court held that the district court abused its discretion by failing to enforce the policy's arbitration clause for the foreign defendants while allowing the domestic claims to proceed in court.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a Federal Tort Claims Act suit filed eighteen years after an unauthorized VA surgery. The court held that Mississippi's seven-year statute of repose creates an absolute time bar that cannot be tolled by the discovery rule.
The Federal Circuit reversed the Merit Systems Protection Board's denial of disability retirement, holding that the Office of Personnel Management cannot rebut the Bruner presumption of disability merely by asserting a lack of objective medical evidence. The court clarified that subjective medical testimony from a treating physician regarding functional limitations is sufficient to establish entitlement under 5 U.S.C. § 8337(d) without independent objective corroboration.
The Ninth Circuit denied Paramjeet Singh's petition for review of his asylum and removal relief applications, upholding the Board of Immigration Appeals' adverse credibility determination. The court found the agency's findings conclusive because Singh's testimony regarding past persecution contained material inconsistencies with his prior statements and medical records.
The Ninth Circuit denied a petition for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals order rejecting asylum and Convention Against Torture claims. The court affirmed that the petitioners failed to prove their proposed social group is socially distinct in Guatemala and did not meet the high legal bar for torture relief.
The Tenth Circuit denied a petition for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals order rejecting asylum and Convention Against Torture claims based on forced abortion allegations. The court upheld the agency's adverse credibility finding and exclusion of medical evidence due to inconsistencies in the petitioners' testimony and lack of authentication.
The Fifth Circuit dismissed a petition for review challenging the Board of Immigration Appeals' denial of a waiver of inadmissibility and adjustment of status. The court held that the petitioner's challenge to the weighing of her criminal history against her positive equities was an impermissible attack on discretionary judgment, which is stripped from judicial review under federal statute.
The Federal Circuit affirmed the Veterans Court's denial of a writ of mandamus, holding that extraordinary relief is unavailable when the Board has already issued a final decision on remand. The court reasoned that because the Board adjudicated the claim and resolved the underlying dispute, there was no longer a duty to compel action or a jurisdictional frustration warranting such intervention.
