Every decision we've summarized from United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
The Tenth Circuit dismissed the appeal as moot regarding injunctive relief and affirmed the dismissal of other claims against state judges and legal aid attorneys. The court held that federal law bars prospective relief against judicial officers and that the legal aid defendants were not state actors subject to civil rights liability.
The Tenth Circuit denied Frontier Airlines' petition for review of a TSA order requiring the carrier to remit unpaid security service fees on cancelled tickets. The court held that the Aviation and Transportation Security Act obligates airlines to collect and remit fees regardless of whether passengers ultimately travel, and that expired travel credits do not constitute valid refunds.
The Tenth Circuit affirmed the revocation of Thompson Mandrell's supervised release, ruling that clear and convincing evidence supported the finding that he violated a condition requiring compliance with halfway house policies. The court held that a probation officer's testimony regarding monitoring software was sufficient to prove Mandrell possessed sexually explicit images, rejecting arguments about evidentiary gaps.
The Tenth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for State Farm, holding that Colorado law requires an uninsured motorist's vehicle to be directly involved in an accident to trigger coverage. The court found that a pedestrian's independent decision to leave a broken-down vehicle and walk into a travel lane severed the causal chain between the vehicle's use and the resulting crash.
The Tenth Circuit affirmed the conviction for possession of child pornography, holding that officers did not violate the Fourth Amendment when seizing a suspect's phone during a roadside stop. The court ruled that the stop was lawful under Terry v. Ohio, independent of the search warrant's execution.
The Tenth Circuit affirmed an upward variance sentence for illegal reentry, ruling that a defendant's ambiguous statements during allocution do not constitute a proper objection to presentence report facts under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32. Because the defendant failed to explicitly contest the alleged belligerent conduct, the district court was permitted to rely on those unchallenged facts to justify the sentence.
The Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of a hearing on ineffective assistance of counsel because the rejected plea offer lacked a firm expiration date. The court dismissed the ineffective assistance claim without prejudice, directing the defendant to pursue such constitutional challenges through a 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion rather than on direct appeal.
The Tenth Circuit denied a certificate of appealability and dismissed the appeal because the petitioner failed to demonstrate that jurists of reason would find the district court's ruling debatable. The court held that the petitioner lacked the required state custody to maintain a habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254.
The Tenth Circuit enforced Megan Dees's appeal waiver, dismissing her challenge to a 183-month sentence for methamphetamine distribution. The court found the waiver was entered knowingly and voluntarily and that enforcing it would not result in a miscarriage of justice.
The Tenth Circuit affirmed summary judgment on a prisoner's retaliation claim regarding a threat to fire him from a kitchen job due to a lack of specific evidence about the job's value. However, the court reversed summary judgment on a separate retaliation claim involving a disciplinary charge, ruling that a finding of guilt does not preclude liability when the prisoner relies on suspicious timing and departures from prior practice.