U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 2000

The court held that the prisoner’s access-to-courts and First Amendment retaliation claims are not barred merely because they arise from administrative segregation. Because the complaint alleged denial of meaningful legal access and conditions that could deter a person of ordinary firmness from exercising First…

The court held that the Commissioner’s finding that Morales could perform his past work was unsupported by substantial evidence because the ALJ rejected significant treating and examining medical evidence based on personal impressions and speculation, and relied on an incomplete nonexamining assessment and vocational…

The court affirmed summary judgment for Oto’s estate, concluding that the evidence established the beneficiary-change form was forged and that Beverley raised no genuine issue of material fact.

The court vacated the District Court’s order affirming the denial of disability benefits and remanded for further proceedings. It held that the ALJ’s step-three explanation was too conclusory for meaningful review, and that the residual-functional-capacity and past-work findings failed to address pertinent evidence…

The court held that, in a non-in-forma-pauperis case where defendants move to dismiss, the PLRA does not displace the court’s established procedure requiring an opportunity to amend a curable complaint.

The court held that New Jersey’s affidavit-of-merit statute applies in federal diversity actions and reaches the informed-consent claim, and that the plaintiff showed no extraordinary circumstances excusing her failure to file the affidavit.

The court reversed summary judgment on Farrell’s Title VII retaliation and quid pro quo sexual-harassment claims because the district court applied too narrow a view of the circumstantial evidence that could support causation.