Fourth Circuit -- Jerome Williams v. Jon Ozmint

S1983 -- qualified immunity to prison officials, as there is no constitutional right to inmate visitation.

Not exempt from mootness considerations as capable of repetition & evading review as further invocation of the policy can only happen from inmate misconduct.

Jerome Williams v. Jon Ozmint

Ninth Circuit -- PERRY MCCULLOUGH V. CONRAD GRABER

Habeas challenge arguing that petitioner should have been included in presently defunct pilot alternative sentence program is properly dismissed as moot where court can deny eligibility on the merits using plain language of statute.

PERRY MCCULLOUGH V. CONRAD GRABER

Eighth Circuit -- Jane Doe I v. Jeremiah J. Nixon

Winning a preliminary injunction does not suffice to get fees under S1988 even where subsequent adverse holdings were the result of abstention.

Voluntary cessation of threat of prosecution resulting in a finding that the claim was moot is not a victory that would shift costs under S1988.

District court correctly held that fears of future prosecution were speculative.

Jane Doe I  v.  Jeremiah J. Nixon

Sixth Circuit -- Appalachian Reg'l Healthcare v. Coventry Health & Life Ins.

Challenge to expired injunction is moot.

Appalachian Reg'l Healthcare v. Coventry Health & Life Ins. 

Ninth Circuit -- JANET BELL V. CITY OF BOISE

Homeless S1983 plaintiffs challenging enforcement of camping regulations against them are not barred from Federal review under Rooker-Feldman, as they are not challenging the legal conclusions of the relevant state court holdings.

Special Police Order limiting  implementation of local ordinance does not make the controversy moot.

JANET BELL V. CITY OF BOISE

Fourth Circuit -- Henry Pashby v. Albert Delia

Challenge to state rules for Federal relief.

Not moot, as the pending changes in state procedure will still leave petitioners with an interest, and the situation is capable of repetition, despite pendite lite reversals by arbitrators.

No need to exhaust APA remedy, as courts have held the policy to violate federal law.  No need to exhaust administrative remedies generally, as the challenge is to the policy change, not the individual denial of benefits.

Class certification not reviewed, as not sufficiently intertwined.

Where a preliminary injunction preserves the status quo (bars the implementation of a policy), it is prohibitory, not mandatory.  (Slightly lower standard of review.)

Requirements for preliminary injunction met.

Remand without vacatur to allow correction of Rule 65 defects in injunction.



Henry Pashby v. Albert Delia

Seventh Circuit -- Milwaukee Police Ass v. Board

Where a plaintiff settles a procedural Due Process claim, the plaintiff's union's challenge to the same action becomes moot.

Milwaukee Police Ass v. Board 

Third Circuit (1/14) -- CMR DN CORP and Marina Towers v. City of Philadelphia

Change in zoning ordinance moots claim based on arbitrariness of ordinance.

No error in denying leave to amend, as the gravamen of the suit was spot-on with the change.

CMR DN CORP and Marina Towers v. City of Philadelphia

First Circuit -- American Civil Liberties Union v. United States Conference

Establishment Clause challenge to HHS funds to sectarian relief group.

Moot, as contract is up, new contract made, and no relief is possible.

Not voluntary cessation, as there was a reason unrelated to the litigation.

Not capable/evading, as the exception is too narrow to capture this case.


American Civil Liberties Union v. United States Conference 

Seventh Circuit -- Neil Aslin v. Financial Industry

As agency designation of broker as being from a restricted firm  is no longer in force, the claim is moot.

No reasonable expectation that this plaintiff will be subject to the same designation, so the situation is not capable of repetition yet evading review.

Neil Aslin v. Financial Industry