Utah Law Developments, 0816 UTBJ, Vol. 29, No. 4. 44
| Author | Rodney R. Parker, Dani N. Cepernich, Nathanael J. Mitchell, Adam M. Pace, and Taymour B. Semnani, J. |
July, 2016
Appellate Highlights
Rodney R. Parker, Dani N. Cepernich, Nathanael J. Mitchell, Adam M. Pace, and Taymour B. Semnani, J.
Editor’s Note: The following appellate cases of interest were recently decided by the Utah Supreme Court, Utah Court of Appeals, and United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.
McCormick v. Parker
__ F.3d __, 2016 WL 1743388 (10th Cir. May 3, 2016)
In this appeal from the denial of a petition for postconviction relief, the court held that a sexual assault nurse examiner was a member of the prosecution team for Brady purposes because she acted at the request of law enforcement in the pre-arrest investigation of a crime when she examined the victim.
Tooele Cnty. v. United States
__ F.3d __, 2016 WL 1743427 (10th Cir. May 3, 2016)
The court considered whether the Anti-Injunction Act prohibits enjoining parties from pursuing a state-court action challenging state officials’ authority to pursue a federal quiet-title action. The court limited the statutory exception for cases where an injunction is “‘necessary in aid of [the federal district court’s] jurisdiction’” to cases where both the federal and state are in rem or quasi in rem.
Id. at *3 (alteration in original) (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2283). Because the parties in the state case sought an adjudication of state officials’ legal authority, as opposed to an adjudication of property interests, the exception did not apply.
Deherrera v. Decker Truck Line, Inc.
__ F.3d __, 2016 WL 1593691 (10th Cir. Apr. 21, 2016)
The plaintiffs in the wage dispute underlying this appeal are commercial truck drivers who claimed that their employer failed to pay them overtime wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Colorado Minimum Wage Order. The court held that drivers who transported materials on an intrastate route that was the final leg of an interstate journey were moving goods in interstate commerce, subject to the power of the Secretary of Transportation, and thus exempt from the FLSA’s overtime provisions.
Walton v. Powell
__ F.3d __, 2016 WL 1566692 (10th Cir. Apr. 19, 2016)
A state employee claimed her former employer violated her right to free political association under the First Amendment. Among other things, the court held the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework does not apply to First Amendment retaliation claims.
Brown v. Buhman
__ F.3d __, 2016 WL 1399358 (10th Cir. Apr. 11, 2016), opinion amended and superseded by 2016 WL 2848510 (10th Cir. May 13, 2016)
This case involves a challenge to Utah’s bigamy statute. The Utah County Attorney appealed the district court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs. The court held that because the Utah County Attorney’s Office had closed its file on the plaintiffs and adopted a policy under which it would only pursue...
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