8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Digest: Nov. 7, 2019.

Byline: Minnesota Lawyer

Civil Opinions

Administrative

Medicaid Payments; Limit; Disproportionate Share Hospitals

Where a hospital association challenged a rule in a dispute arising from the agency's definition of "costs incurred" for supplemental Medicaid payments, and the District Court granted summary judgment in favor of the association, the rule was a reasonable exercise of the agency's expressly delegated discretion to interpret the relevant statutory provision, so the judgment is reversed. Judgment is reversed.

18-1778 Missouri Hospital Association v. Azar, appealed from the Western District of Missouri, Loken, J.

Civil Practice

Class Action; Certification; Deceptive Advertising

Where a vacuum manufacturer challenged an order certifying a nationwide class of plaintiffs in a case involving allegedly deceptive advertising practices and concluding that Missouri law applied to all claims, the only action that took place in Missouri was the design of the advertisement, so the consumer protection laws of each class member's home state governed each claim and class certification was not appropriate for those claims. Judgment is reversed and remanded.

18-1585Hale v. Emerson Electric Company, appealed from the Eastern District of Missouri, per curiam.

Civil Rights

Qualified Immunity; Excessive Force; Taser Use

Where officers challenged the denial of qualified immunity on a plaintiff's claims including retaliatory arrest and excessive force, the officers had arguable probable cause to arrest the plaintiff for trespassing, and the officers were entitled to qualified immunity on the claims of false arrest, retaliatory arrest and due process, and they were also entitled to qualified immunity on an excessive-force claim involving pushing and the use of pepper spray, but they were not entitled to qualified immunity for the use of Tasers because it was unreasonable to apply a Taser to a nonviolent person suspected of a misdemeanor who was not fleeing arrest and who did not pose a safety threat to anyone. Judgment is affirmed in part; reversed in part.

18-1148 Johnson v. McCarver, appealed from the District of Minnesota, Colloton, J.

Constitutional Law

First Amendment; Lobbyist Registration Law; Uncompensated Individual

Where an appellant, who frequently contacts Missouri legislators to discuss political issues, often in connection with his work with a nonprofit corporation, challenged a law requiring him to register as a legislative lobbyist, the state failed to show that applying the law to the appellant was substantially related to the state's anti-corruption interest because the appellant does not spend or receive money in connection with his activities, and the state's interest in transparency did not reflect the seriousness of the actual burden on the appellant's First Amendment rights, so...