Published opinions from 2008. The case name opens the case page.
August 22, 2008539 F.3d 1169
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment upholding the denial of Louanna Stubbs-Danielson's 2002 application for disability insurance benefits. The panel held that no presumption of continuing disability applies where prior SSI benefits were terminated for the non-medical reason of incarceration…
July 28, 2008534 F.3d 1106
The Ninth Circuit vacated the district court's $428,053 attorneys' fee award under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 — roughly 40 percent below the $704,858 requested — because the court's substantial cuts for supposedly duplicative research, trial-preparation, appellate, and investigative work lacked explanations sufficient for…
July 28, 2008534 F.3d 1116
In this superseding opinion issued after the panel granted rehearing and withdrew its prior disposition at 516 F.3d 759, the Ninth Circuit reversed in part and affirmed in part the district court's Rule 12(b)(6) dismissals of a physician's discrimination claims against a hospital, its medical staff chief, and the…
July 24, 2008533 F.3d 1155
The court affirmed the rejection of some of Carmickle’s testimony and the ALJ’s treatment of several medical opinions, but held that the ALJ omitted a tendonitis-related limitation from the residual functional capacity assessment and incorrectly evaluated Carmickle’s past work at step four.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of disability benefits. It upheld the ALJ’s credibility determination and limited rejection of the treating physician’s opinion, found the step-four past-work finding erroneous, but concluded that error was harmless because substantial evidence supported the alternative step-five…
July 14, 2008533 F.3d 1010
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the jury's special verdict and the denial of the City's renewed Rule 50(b) motion, holding that substantial evidence supported the findings that former LAPD officers Harper, Liddy, and Ortiz were arrested without probable cause in violation of the Fourth Amendment, that the violations…
June 18, 2008528 F.3d 1194
The panel reversed the district court's summary judgment upholding the ALJ's denial of Title II disability benefits to Karen Ryan, holding that substantial evidence did not support the ALJ's rejection of the opinions of examining psychologists Dr. Randhawa and Dr. Crisp.
The Ninth Circuit vacated and remanded the district court's $77,069.36 award of merits fees, costs, and fees-on-fees to Camacho under the FDCPA's mandatory fee provision. The panel held the district court erred by failing to identify the relevant community (the Northern District of California) and relying almost…
March 17, 2008519 F.3d 909
The Ninth Circuit held that the sentencing judge did not plainly err by declining to recuse himself sua sponte after receiving threatening messages from Holland. It set out a two-part inquiry under 28 U.S.C.
January 2, 2008512 F.3d 522
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal without leave to amend of karaoke manufacturer Leadsinger's declaratory judgment complaint against music publishers BMG and Zomba. The panel held that Leadsinger's microphone-style karaoke device is an 'audiovisual work' under 17 U.S.C.