Daily eBriefs 102518

Thursday, October 25, 2018

LACBA.ORG | EBRIEFS ARCHIVE | CALENDAR | MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS

The following caselaw summaries are provided as a courtesy to Los Angeles County Bar Association members by the Metropolitan News-Enterprise www.metnews.com. Summaries from the past 90 days are archived and searchable on the LACBA Web site at www.lacba.org/news-and-publications/daily-ebriefs.

NINTH U.S. CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

Criminal Law and Procedure
In instructing the jury on the elements of attempted robbery under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2112, a district court was correct not to instruct the jury that the defendant must have formed the specific intent to steal by the time he used force, but plainly erred by omitting an instruction on specific intent altogether. The obvious instructional error affected the defendant's substantial rights and seriously undermined the fairness and integrity of the proceedings. The issuance of the general self-defense instruction given at trial adequately covered a defense theory that a law enforcement officer's alleged use of excessive force justified the defendant's attempt to grab for a gun. An instruction that an officer is engaged in the performance of his official duties if his actions fall within his agency's overall mission was an appropriate instruction. A judge did not commit an abuse of discretion by excluding expert testimony the defendant belatedly sought to introduce at trial.

United States v. Ornelas - filed Oct. 25, 2018
Cite as 2018 S.O.S. 15-10510
Full text click here >

Environmental Law
A decision by the U.S. Forest Service finding a company had a valid existing right to mine public land was a final agency action subject to judicial review. The resumed operation of a mine after a temporary closure did not require a new environmental impact statement. The Forest Service's acknowledgement of the continued vitality of a company's mining rights is not a "major federal action" under the National Environmental Policy Act. The National Historical Preservation Act did not require the Forest Service to take a mining site into consideration before the site was designated a historic property. The act's definition of "undertaking" does not encompass a continuing obligation to evaluate previously approved projects. A claim that a mine should not be exempt from the withdrawal of mining claims from public lands remains a potentially viable claim under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act even though the claim was based on the Forest Service's use of standards from the General Mining Act to make the determination that there was a valid existing right to operate the mine.

Havasupai Tribe v. Provencio - filed Oct. 25, 2018
Cite as 2018 S.O.S. 15-15754
Full text click here >

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Loyola Partners with Distinguished Congressman to Launch The Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy & Innovation
Loyola Law School, Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) will launch The Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy & Innovation with the symposium, “Disability Impact: Breaking Through Barriers to Civic Leadership,” on Monday, Nov. 5, 2018 from 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. at LMU’s Playa Vista campus. Founded by former U.S. House Majority Whip Tony Coelho (LMU ’64), architect of the Americans with Disabilities Act, The Coelho Center’s inaugural event will examine disability as a driver of innovation. The keynote address, “The Disability Community, the Election and the Next Congress,” will outline a Coelho Center poll on the electoral habits of people with disabilities. Afterward, experts will anchor two panels: “Disabled Makers & Inventors: Agency in the Advancement of Disability Rights in Technology” and “Conquering Stigma: Representations of Disability in Media and Entertainment.” A Gala at the LMU main campus will follow. More information is available at www.lls.edu/coelhocenter.

LACBA Counsel for Justice and the Domestic Violence Legal Services Project would like to thank Noga Boothby Court Reporters for supporting #LACBA_DVP #31DaysofAwareness campaign to raise funds to support the DVP’s ongoing efforts to help #domesticviolence victims obtain Temporary Restraining Orders and other legal remedies to protect them from their abusers. To learn more or donate to DVP, CLICK HERE.

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