Summaries of Opinions of U.S. Court of Appeals 2d Circuit
From: Findlaw Opinion Summaries March 27, 2008.
ADMIRALTY, INJURY AND TORT LAW, TRANSPORTATION
In Re City of New York, No. 07-1251
"In a tort action arising out of a ferry crash into a maintenance pier, a bench trial judgment which found the city negligent and denied limitations of liability is affirmed where the city did not act with reasonable care when it allowed a single pilot to operate the Staten Island Ferry without at least one other person in or near the pilothouse, aware of the navigational circumstances, and ready to render or summon assistance in the event of an emergency."
CIVIL PROCEDURE, COPYRIGHT, ENTERTAINMENT LAW, INSURANCE LAW,
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Employers Ins. Of Wausau v. Fox Entm't Group, Inc., No. 06-4652
"In an action by insurers seeking declaratory judgment that they had no coverage obligations relating to an underlying copyright infringment suit, the "special circumstances" exception to the first-filed rule does not apply to a declaratory judgment filed in the absence of a direct threat of litigation in a forum with at least some ties to the litigation."
Employers Insurance of Wausau v. Fox Enertainment Group
CIVIL PROCEDURE, PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE
Boykin v. KeyCorp, No. 05-2158
"In an action arising from claims under the Fair Housing Act, dismissal of all of plaintiff's claims is vacated and remanded where: 1) district court erred in dismissing plaintiff's claims as untimely as it considered plaintiff's administrative proceeding no longer "pending", and the two-year filing period no longer tolled, as of the date of a case-closed letter from the N.Y. Division of Human Rights, rather than the final letter from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development notifying her that investigation of her complaint was complete; and 2) plaintiff's disparate treatment claim satisfied the pleading standard of Fed. Rules of Civ. Proc. 8(a)."
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, IMMIGRATION LAW
Arriaga v. Mukasey , No. 07-1148
"Petition for review of BIA's final order of removal on the basis of petitioner's conviction for the offense of stalking is denied where the stalking provision of the removal statute is not unconstitutionally vague on its face or as applied to the petitioner."
IMMIGRATION LAW
Poole v. Mukasey , No. 06-4069
"A petition for review of BIA's dismissal of an untimely appeal from an order of removal is dismissed in part and remanded in part where: 1) court lacks jurisdiction to consider all of petitioner's claims except his claim for derivative citizenship; and 2) petitioner appears to have met the requirements for derivative citizenship as provided in the section 321 of the INA in 1984 (the law in effect when petitioner fulfilled the last requirement for derivative citizenship) to warrant reconsideration.".
IMMIGRATION LAW, PER CURIAM
Jiang v. Mukasey , No. 06-5213
"Petition for review of a BIA decision denying petitioner's motion to reopen based on ineffective assistance of counsel is denied where petitioner's decision to withdraw his application for asylum and withholding of removal and to accept a grant of voluntary departure was a reasonable strategic decision which undermines claims of counsel's ineffective assistance."
