Valerie Baker Fairbank

The case involves a federal habeas corpus petition filed by Alan Leonard Brown challenging his California state convictions for second-degree murder, driving under the influence causing injury, and related offenses arising from a 2005 drunk-driving collision that killed one passenger and injured others. Brown contended that his statements to police at the accident scene were obtained in violation of Miranda because he was allegedly in custody during questioning without warnings. The district court adopted the magistrate judge's report and recommendation after de novo review, denied the petition on the merits, and dismissed the action with prejudice, concluding that Brown was not in custody under the circumstances surrounding the interrogation and thus no constitutional violation occurred. The court also denied a certificate of appealability, finding no substantial showing of a denied constitutional right.

criminal lawcivil rightsprocedure

Vitality Rehab, Inc., a provider of outpatient therapy services under Medicare Part B, challenged the Secretary of Health and Human Services' denial of reimbursement for bad debts consisting of unpaid deductibles and coinsurance amounts from dually eligible Medicare and Medicaid patients in fiscal year 1999. The court upheld the Secretary's final administrative decision. The decision was based on the 1997 Balanced Budget Act changing reimbursement from reasonable costs to a fixed physician fee schedule, under which such bad debts were no longer reimbursable in the same manner, and the Secretary's interpretation of the applicable regulations was entitled to deference as it was reasonable and supported by substantial evidence.

healthcarebusiness & regulatoryfederal power

In Davis v. Felker, a state prisoner filed a federal habeas corpus petition challenging his California convictions for being a felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of premeditated attempted murder arising from a gang-related shooting incident. The district court adopted the magistrate judge's report and recommendation after reviewing the petition, state court records, and procedural history, which included a mistrial on the attempted murder counts followed by a retrial resulting in a sentence of life plus 45 years to life. The court dismissed the petition with prejudice, finding that the petitioner's claims—such as challenges to the admission of gang evidence and jury instructions—lacked merit under the applicable standards for federal habeas review of state convictions. The decision followed the California Court of Appeal's affirmation of the convictions and the state supreme court's denial of review.

criminal lawprocedureguns

In Curry v. Baca, the plaintiff filed a federal civil rights suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and related claims against a sheriff and deputies, alleging unlawful entry, excessive force, and a cover-up during a November 2004 incident; the plaintiff had been convicted in state court of assault on officers and firearm possession arising from the same events. The court ruled on defendants' motion for judgment on the pleadings, denying it without prejudice as to the Section 1983 search-and-seizure, excessive-force, and conspiracy claims because the pleadings did not show that success on those claims would necessarily imply the invalidity of the conviction under Heck v. Humphrey. It granted the motion with leave to amend the RICO claims for failure to allege the required predicate acts of racketeering and granted dismissal without leave to amend the official-capacity RICO claim against the sheriff; the alternative request to stay the federal case pending the state appeal was denied.

criminal lawcivil rightsprocedure

In this case, state inmate Leonard Moreno sued prison industry supervisor Mike Thomas under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that Thomas was deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment by failing to replace defective safety equipment at a prison soap factory, which allegedly caused Moreno to develop black lung disease. The district court adopted the magistrate judge's report and recommendation in full. It dismissed sua sponte the claim against Thomas in his official capacity and denied Thomas's motion for summary judgment on the individual-capacity claim. The court reasoned that California's two-year statute of limitations for personal-injury claims was tolled for an additional two years under C.C.P. § 352.1 because Moreno was imprisoned when the claim accrued, rendering the February 2006 complaint timely even if the claim accrued as early as September 2002.

criminal lawcivil rightsprocedure