| OOGC America, LLC v. Chesapeake Exploration, LLC |
| Dockets: 19-20002, 19-20003 Opinion Date: September 14, 2020 Judge: Jennifer Walker Elrod Areas of Law: Arbitration & Mediation |
| OOGC filed suit to vacate two arbitration awards favoring Chesapeake on the basis of an arbitrator's failure to disclose connections with certain non-parties. The Fifth Circuit vacated the district court's decision to vacate the awards and remanded with instructions to confirm the arbitration awards within thirty days of the issuance of the mandate. The court held that the district court erred by vacating the arbitration awards for "evident partiality" under 9 U.S.C. 10(a)(2). Furthermore, resolving all doubts or uncertainties in favor of upholding the awards, the court held that OOGC has not shown an adequate basis for vacatur under 9 U.S.C. 10(a)(4) and rejected OOGC's argument that the arbitrator exceeded his powers here. The court affirmed the district court's denial of the arbitrator's motion to intervene because the district court was without jurisdiction to rule upon the intervention motion once the plaintiff had filed his notice of appeal. Because the court vacated the district court's decision, the court denied the arbitrator's motion to intervene as moot. |
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| United States v. Kendrick |
| Docket: 19-30375 Opinion Date: September 14, 2020 Judge: Carl E. Stewart Areas of Law: Criminal Law |
| The Fifth Circuit denied the petition for panel rehearing and withdrew its prior panel opinion, substituting the following opinion. Defendant was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine base and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The court held that defendant was not entitled to an evidentiary Franks hearing and the district court correctly denied defendant's motion to suppress. In this case, even excising the alleged falsehoods and omissions, the Article III wiretap affidavit still included many other facts that incriminated defendant, giving rise to probable cause. The court also held that the evidence was sufficient to support defendant's drug conspiracy conviction. Finally, the court upheld the district court's imposition of two sentencing enhancements for possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug distribution and defining defendant as a career offender under the Armed Career Criminal Act. |
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| Changsheng Du v. Barr |
| Docket: 18-60792 Opinion Date: September 14, 2020 Judge: Leslie Southwick Areas of Law: Immigration Law |
| The Fifth Circuit denied petitions for review of the BIA's dismissal of petitioner's appeal of the IJ's denial of asylum. The court held that the evidence does not compel a reasonable factfinder to conclude that petitioner has demonstrated he was persecuted in the People's Republic of China because of his political opinion. The court held that it has no authority to review the Board's decision declining to address the IJ's determinations of a lack of credibility and of corroborative evidence. The court also held that a reasonable factfinder would not be compelled to conclude that petitioner was persecuted for political rather than personal reasons, and thus he has not met his burden for his asylum petition. |
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