Justia Government & Administrative Law Opinion Summaries

AdSurfDaily, Inc., an internet marketing company incorporated and controlled by appellant, appealed a default judgment and final order of forfeiture after they withdrew their claims in this civil forfeiture action where federal agents seized $80 million of the company's bank account funds as part of an investigation of the company for wire fraud and money laundering. The government filed a complaint for forfeiture in rem against the funds and two pieces of real property that had been purchased with AdSurfDaily money. At issue was whether the district court violated appellants' due process rights when it failed to stay the forfeiture action pending the outcome of a parallel criminal proceeding and when the district court denied them an opportunity to challenge the forfeiture on the merits when it refused to reinstate their withdrawn claims. The court held that the district court did not violate appellants' due process rights when they never asked for a stay and where due process did not require the government to provide a person with the opportunity to challenge the seizure of property he had voluntarily forfeited. The court also held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying a motion to reinstate withdrawn claims when the withdrawal was the product of a free, deliberate choice.

Petitioners sought administrative review of the Chief of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act ("PACA"), 7 U.S.C. 499, and Vegetable Division of the Agricultural Marketing Service's ("Judicial Officer") determination that petitioners, who were officers of national produce wholesalers, Fresh America, had been responsibly connected to Fresh America during the violations period at issue and were subject to the statute's employment restrictions. At issue was whether petitioners were merely nominal officers to Fresh America and whether Fresh America was the alter ego of its chairman of the board. The court granted the petition for review where the Judicial Officer's decision was devoid of any analysis of the actual power exercised by petitioners at Fresh America. The court also held that Fresh America was dominated by the board and its chairman, not just by the chairman.

Appellant filed suit against the United States Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard, and the Assistant Commandant of the Coast Guard (collectively "the Government") challenging the Coast Guard's determination to terminate his appointment as an unaffiliated, independent pilot. At issue was whether the Government's action violated the Administrative Procedures Act ("APA"), 5 U.S.C. 706(2)(A), as well as appellant's First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights. The court held that the Coast Guard's interpretation of the term "voluntary association" in the Great Lakes Pilotage Act ("GLPA"), 46 U.S.C. 9304(a), easily survived review under Chevron. The court also held that appellant's First Amendment claim appeared to be precluded by the Second Circuit's judgment and failed on the merits. The court further held that the Coast Guard did not act arbitrarily and capriciously in determining that appellant's dispatch as an independent pilot expired after the 2003 navigation season. The court also rejected appellant's Fifth Amendment due process claim where he had no constitutionally protected entitlement to continued dispatch by the Coast Guard. Finally, the court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying appellant's request for extra-record discovery.

Appellant brought a suit under the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), 5 U.S.C. 500, seeking an injunction requiring the United States State Department ("State Department") to disclose the Hearing Officer's Findings of Fact and Recommendation when the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Passport Services granted her children limited validity passports after a hearing. After the district court granted the State Department's motion to dismiss appellant's suit, she timely appealed the decision and then filed a second, separate complaint against the State Department alleging that the State Department's decision on the merits was arbitrary and capricious in violation of the APA. The State Department filed a second motion to dismiss which was pending. The court vacated the district court's grant of the State Department's motion to dismiss and instructed the district court to reevaluate appellant's claims upon consolidation of both her cases against the State Department.

Petitioners sought review of an order of the Surface Transportation Board ("STB") granting BNSF Railway Co. ("BNSF") an exemption from the procedures in the Interstate Commerce Act ("ICA"), 49 U.S.C. 10903-10904, for abandoning a rail line. At issue was whether the STB's decision to exempt the middle segment of the Chickasha Line from the procedures set out in section 10904 was arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion and whether the STB's decision was inconsistent with the agency's own regulations under 49 C.F.R. 1152.50(d)(3). The court held that it was not arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion for the STB to exempt the middle segment from section 10904 where there was no shipper in the middle segment and abandonment of that section could adversely affect only shippers located in the eastern and western segments. The court also held that it would give deference to the STB's interpretation of its own regulation.

Petitioners sought review of an order of the Surface Transportation Board ("STB") denying them preliminary injunctive relief where one petitioner leased a locomotive from the other petitioner and contracted with BNSF Railway Co. ("BNSF") to deliver the locomotive care of a third party. At issue was whether the STB properly denied injunctive relief where the petition was moot and where petitioner failed to exhaust his administrative remedies. The court dismissed the petition where it lacked jurisdiction to decide all but one of the claims presented and held that the petitioners failed to exhaust their administrative remedies as to that claim when petitioners voluntarily dismissed motions pending before the STB to pursue relief in court.

FG Hemisphere Associates, LLC ("FG Hemisphere") brought a suit against the Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC") under the provision of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act ("FSIA"), 28 U.S.C. 1604, permitting a plaintiff to confirm an arbitration award secured against a foreign sovereign. At issue was whether the district court could sanction DRC for failing to respond to a court-ordered discovery under the FSIA. The court held that the FSIA did not abrogate a court's inherit power to impose contempt sanctions on a foreign sovereign and therefore, the district court did not abuse its discretion when it sanctioned the DRC.

Appellees filed a suit challenging the Federal Trade Commission's ("Commission") Extended Enforcement Policy claiming that the Commission had intruded upon an area of traditional regulation when it authorized the Fair Trade Reporting Act ("FACT"), 15 U.S.C. 1681, and that the policy was unlawful absent a clear statement from Congress authorizing federal regulation over the practice of law. Shortly after oral arguments, Congress passed the Red Flag Program Clarification Act of 2010 which expressly amended the FACT Act by changing the definition of "creditor." Therefore, the court vacated the district court's opinion holding that legislation had clearly altered the posture of the case such that there was no longer a live "case or controversy" before the court.

Plaintiff filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") seeking disclosure of a classified international trade agreement. At issue was whether plaintiff was entitled to recovery of attorney fees for his lawsuit when the United States Trade Representative declassified and released the agreement at issue to the public while plaintiff's suit was pending. The court held that plaintiff was not entitled to recover attorney fees where the government was justified in withholding the document as a matter of law.

Plaintiffs filed suit seeking certain information in Cultural Property Advisory Committee reports from the State Department ("State") related to import restrictions imposed on cultural artifacts from China, Italy, and Cyprus under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"). At issue was whether the district court properly granted summary judgment to the State where the State withheld certain documents pursuant to FOIA Exemptions 1, 3, and 5. Also at issue was whether the State made an adequate search in response to the FOIA requests. The court held that the State's invocation of Exemptions 1 and 5 was proper, as was part of its withholding under Exemption 3. However, the court reversed and remanded the district court's dismissal of plaintiffs' claims as to one document withheld under Exemption 3. Therefore, the court reversed summary judgment as to the sufficiency of the State's search for responsive emails and as to its withholding of parts of a document under 19 U.S.C. 2605(i)(1) and remanded for further clarification about backups and about the seeming gaps in the State's discussion of archived materials.