Unsubstantiated. The Second Circuit remanded a case to the district court for resentencing because it was unclear to what extent the district court had impermissibly based its sentencing enhancement on unsubstantiated charged conduct.

The decision in United States v. Juwa can be found here.

Terror. The government's search and detention of certain American citizens of the Islamic faith upon their return to the US from Canada where they were attending an Islamic convention that the government believed that terrorists would be attending was held not to violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act or the First and the Fourth Amendments to the Constitution.

The decision in Tabaa v. Chertoff can be found here.

Punitive. The Second Circuit has affirmed an award of $1 billion in punitive damages.

The damage award was based on the district court's finding that the appellants "engaged in a coordingated campaign of lies and misrepresentation in order to swindle Motorola of more than $2 billion" and that, "threatened with exposure, [appellants] resorted not only to further lies and corporate manipulations, but even to obstruction of justice and, ultimately, misrepresentations to this court."

I think it was the misrepresentation to the court that really did it.

The decision in Motorola Credit Corp. v. Uzan can be found here.

Answered certified question. In a case involving an alleged molestation of a child by a pastor, the Second Circuit had certified a question to the Vermont Supreme Court. The question was whether under Vermont Law a church is subject to vicarious liability for tortious acts of its pastor under the Restatement (Second) of Agency sec. 219(2)(d) if the pastor was allegedly aided in accomplishing the tort by the existence of the agency relation with the church. The Vermont Supreme Court answered the question in the negative and the Second Circuit affirmed the District Court's grant of summary judgment.

The decision in Doe v. Newbury Bible Church can be found here.

Full Court Press. Interesting article in the New York Law Journal entitled "Addition of Livingston Gives Circuit a Full Bench." Check it out.

Dancing. Well, the Town of Henrietta has found out that you have to be careful when you attempt to close down a teen dance club. You should follow your own rules for taking away a special use permit and you should definitely not make statements that can be seen as racially discriminatory. The Second Circuit granted a partial summary judgment to the plaintiffs in this case, reinstating their substantive due process claims, while upholding the dismissal of the equal protection and conspiracy claims.

Cine SK8, Inc. v. Town of Henrietta was remanded to the district court so that the immunity defenses, which were not addressed by the Distict Court could be dealt with. The decision can be found here. (Thanks to Wait A Second!)

Withdrawn. The opinion in Salamon v. Our Lady of Victory Hospital, which had been posted on October 29, 2007, has been withdrawn without explanation. An amended decision will be posted. If you must know what this case is about (and, of course, if you read this blog, you probably must), go to Wait A Second! for a description of the case. Sorry, but that's the best I can do.