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Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Sep 11, 2020

BOGGS, Circuit Judge. The House of Blues music studio in Memphis suffered a burglary and arson in November 2015. Chris Brown owned the House of Blues through Tattooed Millionaire Enterprises (TME). He and two tenants, John Falls and Daniel Mott, submitted insurance claims for the loss. But Brown submitted fraudulent documents in connection with this claim. That led to an insurance-fraud lawsuit and, eventually, this trio of appeals.

Two of the appeals are straightforward to resolve. Brown was found liable by a jury after admitting on the stand that he had forged documents submitted in his insurance claim. He now makes three weak arguments about the judge’s management of the trial and the admission of evidence. Mott lodges a two-line pro se brief that raises no issues on which relief can be granted. In each of these cases, we affirm the court below.

Falls’s case is different. Falls prevailed before the jury, only to have the judge set aside the verdict and direct a judgment for the insurance company under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(b). Rule 50 is structured in two parts: (a) provides for the making of a motion for judgment as a matter of law at trial, and (b) provides for “Renewing the [50(a)] Motion after Trial.” But Hanover had failed to make a motion at trial for a directed verdict as to Falls under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(a). Somewhat surprisingly, we have not expressly decided whether a party can make a Rule 50(b) motion if it has not previously made a Rule 50(a) motion. For the reasons discussed below, we now hold that this is impermissible. Therefore, Hanover forfeited its ability to “renew” a motion for a directed verdict after trial under Rule 50(b). We thus reverse the district court and remand with orders to reinstate the jury verdict as to Falls.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Sep 11, 2020
NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judge. Robert Frost once wrote, with a great deal of irony, that good fences make good neighbors. His point being that fences often create, and do not mend, divisions. But he likely didn’t have neighbors like Adam Gerics in mind. That Gerics did not get along with his neighbor Timothy Monahan is an understatement. But Gerics took those poor neighborly relations to another level by continuously and publicly shouting expletives and insults at Monahan over the course of three to five months before getting arrested for doing so. After the state court quashed the criminal charges against him, Gerics sued the arresting officer and others for damages in federal court. Gerics and Defendants cross-moved for summary judgment—arguing, as relevant here, about whether there was probable cause for Gerics’s arrest. The trial court denied both motions and set the case for trial. The jury eventually found in Defendants’ favor. Gerics now appeals the district court’s denial of summary judgment. Although we think that the probable-cause issue was not one for the jury, we DISMISS the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Sep 11, 2020

This is an action for breach of contract and unjust enrichment that arises from an alleged breach of confidentiality during a Request for Proposals (“RFP”) process. The RFP contained a confidentiality provision stating that the defendant would “maintain strict confidentiality of all information provided in response to this RFP.” The plaintiff submitted the lowest bid, but after two requests for revised proposals, which the plaintiff declined to provide, the defendant awarded the contract to another business. In its complaint, the plaintiff claimed that the defendant revealed information about the plaintiff’s proposal to the other bidders in violation of the confidentiality provision to encourage them to lower their bids and, as a consequence, the plaintiff sustained damages. Specifically, the plaintiff alleged the defendant disclosed to the other bidders that they were not the lowest bidder and the percentage by which their bids exceeded the average bid. Following discovery, the trial court summarily dismissed all claims. This appeal followed. We affirm the trial court’s dismissal of the unjust enrichment claim on the ground that there was a valid contract. We also affirm the dismissal of the breach of contract claim on the ground that there was no evidence to support the plaintiff’s contention that the defendant breached the agreement or that the alleged breach caused the plaintiff to sustain damages.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Sep 10, 2020

CHAD A. READLER, Circuit Judge. Eric Flores, a federal inmate, was convicted for his role in the brutal stabbing of a fellow inmate. In calculating Flores’s Sentencing Guidelines range, the district court increased the base offense level by five pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2A2.2(b)(3)(B) because the victim suffered “serious bodily injury.” Seeing no error in that conclusion, we AFFIRM.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Sep 10, 2020

Father appeals the trial court’s decision to allow grandparent visitation. We vacate and remand the trial court’s order because the trial court failed to make sufficient findings of fact for us to review its decision regarding its subject matter jurisdiction.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Sep 10, 2020

This case involves a petition to terminate the parental rights of a mother and father. The petitioners alleged four grounds for termination against both parents: (1) abandonment by failure to visit; (2) abandonment by failure to support; (3) persistence of conditions; and (4) failure to manifest an ability and willingness to parent. The trial court found all four grounds were proven by clear and convincing evidence. The trial court also found that it was in the best interest of the child to terminate both of the parents’ rights. The mother and father appealed separately. We reverse in part, affirm in part, and remand.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Sep 9, 2020

CHAD A. READLER, Circuit Judge. Following the abrupt resignation of two employees, Royal Truck & Trailer discovered that the employees, prior to resigning, had accessed confidential company information from their company-issued computers and cell phones and then utilized the information in violation of company policy. Royal responded by filing suit against the employees, alleging violations of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) as well as Michigan law.

The conduct at issue might violate company policy, state law, perhaps even another federal law. But because Royal concedes that the employees were authorized to access the information in question, it has failed to satisfy the statutory requirements for stating a claim under the CFAA. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the district court’s judgment.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Sep 9, 2020

A Davidson County jury convicted the Petitioner, William Rolandus Keel, of two counts of rape of a child, and the trial court ordered consecutive thirty-year sentences for each conviction, for an effective sentence of sixty years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, this court affirmed the judgments. State v. William Rolandus Keel, No. M2016-00354-CCA-R3-CD, 2017 WL 111312 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Nashville, Jan. 11, 2017), perm. app. denied (Tenn. April 13, 2017). The Petitioner timely filed a pro se post-conviction petition and an amended petition through appointed counsel. After hearings on the petition, the post-conviction court denied relief. On appeal, the Petitioner asserts that the post-conviction court failed to provide him a full and fair post-conviction hearing. He further maintains that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance of counsel. After review, we affirm the post-conviction court on the Petitioner’s various motions, but conclude that the post-conviction court improperly limited the Petitioner’s right to testify at the third part of the post-conviction hearing. Accordingly, we remand the case for a hearing to allow the Petitioner the opportunity to provide testimony concerning the allegations in his petition.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Sep 9, 2020

This is a dependency and neglect case. Appellee Tennessee Department of Children’s Services received a referral of possible child abuse. Following Appellee’s investigation, the children were placed in foster care. Both parents were arrested on child abuse charges. Thereafter, Appellee initiated a dependency and neglect action in the juvenile court. In her criminal case, Appellant/Mother entered a best interest/Alford plea to the charge of child endangerment. Subsequently, the juvenile court found the children dependent and neglected. On de novo review, the trial court found that: (1) Mother’s Alford plea was dispositive of her guilt on the child endangerment charge; (2) Mother committed severe child abuse under Tennessee Code Annotated section 37-1-102 (b)(27)(C);1 and (3) the children were dependent and neglected. Mother appeals. Discerning no error, we affirm.

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Sep 9, 2020

In this premises liability case, the plaintiff appeals the trial court’s dismissal of her claims against a hotel based on her failure to satisfy the notice requirements of Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 15.03 for amending her complaint to add a new party. We affirm.


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