Weekly Roundup: 10/23-10/27
By: Hanna Monson and Sarah Spangenburg
United States v. Julian Zuk
In this criminal case, the Government appealed the district court’s sentencing of defendant Julian Zuk as being “substantively unreasonable” after he had pled guilty to possessing child pornography as part of a plea agreement. The Fourth Circuit vacated the sentence and remanded for resentencing, reasoning that the 26 month time served sentence was not sufficient “to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the law, and to provide just punishment.” 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(2)(A).
Campbell McCormick, Inc. v. Clifford Oliver
In this civil case, Campbell McCormick, Inc appealed an order of a federal district court that severed and remanded Oliver’s asbestos exposure claims against it. The Fourth Circuit dismissed the appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction and also held that the elements for jurisdiction under the collateral order doctrine were not met.
SAS Institute, Inc. v. World Programming Limited
In this copyright case, SAS alleged that WPL breached a license agreement for SAS software and violated copyrights on that software. The Fourth Circuit agreed with the district court that the contractual terms at issue were ambiguous and that SAS had shown that WPL violated the terms. However, on the copyright claim, the Fourth Circuit vacated the district court’s judgment and remanded with instructions to dismiss as moot.
United States v. Shawntanna Lemarus Thompson
In this criminal case, Thompson pled guilty to a drug offense and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Thompson appealed his sentence after the district court increased his sentence when it found that Thompson’s previous state conviction for assault inflicting serious bodily harm constituted a “crime of violence” under § 4B1.2 of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. The Fourth Circuit affirmed the sentence because the residual clause of § 4B1.2 authorized the district court’s increased sentence.
