Williams v. UCBR — Incarcerated claimant’s late appeals must reach merits
In a published opinion, the Commonwealth Court reversed dismissal of UC appeals where incarceration prevented timely receipt of agency determinations.
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Administrative Law
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Coello v. Blanche — Crime and Gang Violence Without Protected-Ground Nexus Do Not Establish Asylum
Coello v. Blanche: The Ninth Circuit denied the petition in a nonprecedential memorandum.
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Beltran Rizo v. Blanche — Immigration Court Abused Its Discretion by Treating Biometrics Delay as Abandonment
Beltran Rizo v. Blanche: A divided Ninth Circuit granted the petition and returned the matter to the agency.
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Comite Civico del Valle v. County of Imperial — Lithium project EIR lacked support for long-term water supply
Imperial County’s lithium-project EIR lacked evidence of a 50-year water supply and failed to analyze related mitigation and air-quality risks.
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Urias-Gaxiola v. Blanche — Noncitizen must be allowed to prove counsel’s factual admission was wrong
The Ninth Circuit required an immigration judge to hear evidence that counsel’s written admission about a noncitizen’s entry was factually wrong.
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Allen v. Pennsylvania Parole Board — Medical marijuana law does not shield drug-related DUI
The Commonwealth Court held that Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana Act did not prevent the Parole Board from denying street-time credit after a parolee’s third drug-related DUI.
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E.R.R. v. Bisignano — Social Security Denial Stands Despite Claimed Fibromyalgia
E.R.R. v. Bisignano: The court affirmed the agency.
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Zheng v. Warden — Bond Challenge Must Go to the BIA Before Federal Habeas Review
Zheng v. Warden: The court denied the amended petition.
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Connelly v. Keystone Home Health — Commonwealth Court rejects constitutional attacks on Act 111
The Commonwealth Court upheld Act 111’s impairment-rating framework against retroactivity, nondelegation, and legislative-procedure challenges and affirmed modification to partial disability.
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Fields v. Upper Uwchlan Township ZHB — Commonwealth Court remands steep-slope variance
The Commonwealth Court required the zoning board to decide whether the property itself created unnecessary hardship or whether the developer’s chosen 64-home plan created the need for steep-slope relief.
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Parsons v. City of Indian Wells — City may let common-interest communities opt out of short-term-rental limits
Indian Wells may let qualifying common-interest communities opt out of its short-term-rental minimum because the program neither amends HOA documents nor delegates core lawmaking power.
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Garcia Morales v. Blanche — Ninth Circuit rejects entry-based asylum restriction and requires full mixed-motive analysis
The Ninth Circuit invalidated an entry-based asylum restriction in an individual case and required the agency to apply the complete mixed-motive persecution test.
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Wilson — Southern District Orders Release When Immigration Removal Is Not Reasonably Foreseeable
The Southern District ordered a Cuban national released because the government showed no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.
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Illing v. PennDOT — Commonwealth Court voids inactive-case dismissal without notice
The Commonwealth Court held that a trial court’s termination of a dormant license appeal was void because the docket contained no Rule 230.2 notice of intent to terminate, and ordered a prompt merits decision.
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Donkel — Alaska Supreme Court upholds oil-lease rent rule and unitization denial
The Alaska Supreme Court upheld DNR’s rule requiring rent on expired oil leases during an appeal and affirmed the agency’s refusal to add the remaining lease to the Badami Unit.
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Miller v. Pennsylvania Parole Board — Commonwealth Court upholds post-federal-sentence revocation hearing
The Commonwealth Court held that the Parole Board timely conducted a revocation hearing after a federal prisoner returned to Pennsylvania custody and had no duty to seek an earlier interstate transfer.
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City of Los Angeles v. AFSCME — Labor board could order make-whole relief for failure to bargain over pension changes
A Los Angeles labor board could compensate employees for losses caused by the City’s failure to bargain over the effects of a pension change.
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Karol v. Smithfield Township — Commonwealth Court rejects late procedural attack on zoning amendment
The Commonwealth Court held that minor wording changes to an advertised zoning amendment did not require a new hearing and could not support a challenge filed almost four years after enactment.
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Commonwealth v. Green — Commonwealth Court defines provocation under Pennsylvania’s dangerous-dog law
The Commonwealth Court held that a dog attack is without provocation when, under all surrounding circumstances, the victim could not reasonably foresee that her conduct would trigger the attack.
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Richards v. Newsom — Ninth Circuit Upholds Recording Rules for California Firearms Dealers
The Ninth Circuit upheld dismissal of First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment challenges to California’s audiovisual-recording mandate for firearms dealers.
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Rocky Patel Premium Cigars v. Bonta — California Unflavored Tobacco List Survives Injunction Challenge
The Ninth Circuit held California’s tobacco-list requirement is saved from federal preemption and presently imposes only a minimal commercial-speech burden on premium cigar makers.
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Lemke v. UCBR — Commonwealth Court rejects unemployment claim after voluntary transfer refusal
In a published opinion, the Commonwealth Court held that a Home Depot employee who refused a transfer she regarded as beneath her did not prove necessitous and compelling cause to quit.
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County of King v. Turner — Agencies Could Not Add Sweeping Conditions to Previously Awarded Grants
The Ninth Circuit largely blocked HUD and DOT from imposing sweeping new policy conditions on previously awarded grants because the agencies lacked congressional authorization.
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Ordo v. UCBR — Commonwealth Court enforces issue preservation in unemployment appeal
In a published opinion, the Commonwealth Court affirmed denial of unemployment benefits and held that issues not raised in the claimant’s appeal from the referee were waived.