The Ninth Circuit holds that abandonment recognized by a Mexican court constitutes a ‘legal separation’ for derivative citizenship under former 8 U.S.C. section 1432, granting a petition for review and finding the petitioner derived U.S. citizenship from his naturalized mother.
The Ninth Circuit reverses an ERISA denial of a disc replacement surgery, holding that Cigna abused its discretion by relying on its own internal policy rather than the governing plan document, and that the district court improperly affirmed using rationales never raised during the administrative pr
The Ninth Circuit denies qualified immunity to two former SFPD inspectors accused of fabricating evidence that led to Joaquin Ciria’s 32-year wrongful imprisonment, holding that the right not to be charged based on deliberately fabricated evidence was clearly established by 1990.
In a companion to the published Ciria v. Gerrans opinion, the Ninth Circuit grants qualified immunity on the wrongfully imprisoned man’s son’s familial association claim, finding the specific right was not clearly established in 1990 — even though the father’s own fabrication-of-ev
The Ninth Circuit denied California’s petition for review of the FMCSA’s determination that California’s meal and rest break rules are preempted as applied to drivers of passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicles, extending the preemption previously upheld for property-carrying v
The Ninth Circuit reversed dismissal of a TCPA class action, holding that unsolicited calls asking homeowners if they want to sell their property qualify as telephone solicitations because the caller’s underlying purpose was to encourage the purchase of real estate brokerage services.
The Ninth Circuit reversed dismissal of a civil RICO action against tribal officials, holding that officials sued in their individual capacities for money damages are not protected by tribal sovereign immunity and the tribe was not a required party.
Ninth Circuit affirms firearms convictions, holding that silencers are optional accessories outside the Second Amendment’s plain text and that the NFA’s registration requirements are a constitutional shall-issue licensing regime.
Ninth Circuit holds that a court must rule on the merits of a pending anti-SLAPP motion—and the defendant’s right to statutory fees—even after the plaintiff voluntarily dismisses the lawsuit.
Ninth Circuit revives a Section 1983 deliberate fabrication claim against a Garden Grove detective whose police report significantly mischaracterized recorded witness statements on a critical issue in the case.
The Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, reverses a district court that ended a $1.1 million civil forfeiture case as a discovery sanction, holding that the claimant established standing and gave the government enough information to investigate his ownership claim.
The Ninth Circuit reverses the denial of qualified immunity for a Gardena jail officer whose detainee committed suicide, finding that inconsistent information about the detainee’s suicide risk did not put the officer on clear constitutional notice—over a vigorous dissent.
The Ninth Circuit revived an asthma-based ADA accommodation claim that a California federal court had dismissed as time-barred, holding that the district court erred by failing to consider whether California’s worksharing agreement with the EEOC extended the charge-filing deadline to 300 days.
The Ninth Circuit held that a California conviction for assault with a firearm under Penal Code § 245(a)(2) is not a deportable aggravated felony, vacating a removal order and signaling that thousands of similarly situated non-citizens may have grounds for relief.
The Ninth Circuit reverses summary judgment for prison officials who denied a California prisoner prescription transitional lenses based on a blanket policy rather than individualized medical judgment, finding triable Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference issues.
The Ninth Circuit dismisses Chiquita Canyon landfill’s appeal of a preliminary injunction order, holding that an order finding injunction factors satisfied but directing further meet-and-confer on remedy terms is not an appealable injunction.
The Ninth Circuit held that federal agencies likely violated the First Amendment by terminating University of California research grants based on recipients’ perceived viewpoints on DEI and environmental justice, while ruling that a separate class of grant termination challenges falls outside
The Ninth Circuit held that hash-value matches between a suspect’s files and known child pornography can establish probable cause for a search warrant without agents first downloading and visually confirming the files.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of motel owners’ constitutional challenge to Los Angeles’s revocation of their use permit after the city declared the property a public nuisance linked to prostitution and criminal activity.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed denial of “Shrimp Boy” Chow’s habeas petition, finding his defense team’s strategic decisions did not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel despite acknowledged shortcomings in trial performance.
Ninth Circuit affirms denial of Section 2255 habeas petition by former CEO convicted of wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction, finding overwhelming trial evidence defeated ineffective assistance and right-to-maintain-innocence claims.
The Ninth Circuit holds that under its binding precedent in Filice, California state claim preclusion law—not federal law—governs the preclusive effect of FTCA judgments, and a statute-of-limitations dismissal has no preclusive effect under California law.
The Ninth Circuit affirms a preliminary injunction against a trademark licensee who claimed priority rights, holding that a licensee’s use of marks inures to the licensor under the Lanham Act and that later rescission of the licensing agreement does not retroactively change trademark priority.
In a split decision, the Ninth Circuit remands an asylum case to the BIA after finding it failed to address substantial evidence that a Mexican woman’s family membership was a central reason for persecution by cartel-linked neighbors.