Dennis Jacobs

How Judge Jacobs rules, drawn from 44 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Position
circuit
Appointed by
George H. W. Bush (Republican)
Commissioned
1992-10-02
Education
Queens College, City University of New York (B.A., 1964); New York University (M.A., English literature, 1965); New York University School of Law (J.D., 1973; Law Review; Pomeroy Scholar)
Signed orders read
44

How Judge Jacobs decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

He requires affirmative treaty language before recognizing a private right of action and does not infer one merely because the agreement binds the United States.

“No wording in the ITRs creates a private right of action, and KATEL cites none.”

For federal securities claims, he examines the transaction's practical features and will reject an application that remains predominantly foreign despite a domestic transactional step.

“For even if a transaction occurs in the United States, the features and incidents of the transaction may nevertheless be so foreign that it is not regulated by § 10(b).”

He distinguishes the continuing proceeds of a completed conspiracy from new acts that actually advance an ongoing agreement.

“the advantageous interest payment is the result of a completed conspiracy, and is not in furtherance of one that is ongoing.”

For FINRA arbitrability, he uses a bright-line customer definition tied to a purchase of goods or services or an account with the member.

“We hold that a ‘customer’ under FINRA Rule 12200 is one who, while not a broker or dealer, either (1) purchases a good or service from a FINRA member, or (2) has an account with a FINRA member.”

Procedural preferences

A probation officer may implement a supervised-release condition when the court supplies a decision standard that constrains discretion and prevents arbitrary enforcement; the court itself must still impose the condition.

“In essence, we ask whether the probation officer ‘is equipped with a standard of decision that constrains its discretion and avoids arbitrary use of its delegated authority.’”

Cautions

Even under deferential habeas review, he will reject a state-court credibility finding when the record supplies strong reasons for crediting a recantation and no plausible reason for discrediting it.

“The state court's decision contains sound reasons to credit Canela's recantation, and no plausible reason to discredit it.”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Katel Ltd. Liability Co. v. AT&T Corp.
08-4104-cv · 2010-05-27
Appeal (appellant (plaintiff KATEL Limited Liability Company)) Denied

“For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of the district court.”

Pepe v. Newspaper & Mail Deliverers'-Publishers' Pension Fund
07-4293-cv · 2009-03-12
Appeal (appellant (plaintiff Carmine J. Pepe)) Granted

“We conclude that the plan administrator's interpretation of one of the eligibility requirements for a Disability Retirement Pension was arbitrary and capricious. We therefore reverse the district court's dismissal and remand with instructions to return the case to the Fund for reconsideration in light of this opinion.”

Cavello Bay Reinsurance Ltd. v. Shubin Stein
20-1371-cv · 2021-01-25
Appeal (appellant (plaintiff Cavello Bay Reinsurance Ltd.)) Denied

“For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.”

Behrens v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
21-2603-cv · 2024-03-13
Appeal (appellants (plaintiffs Bruce Behrens and other former Peregrine customers)) Denied

“We hold that a party may forfeit subject-matter jurisdiction by failing to invoke it timely. We accordingly AFFIRM.”

Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System v. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.
20-3716-cv · 2022-03-11
Appeal (appellants (plaintiff investors led by Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System)) Denied

“For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the district court's grant of Bristol-Myers's motion to dismiss.”

Gorman v. Rensselaer County
17-1120-cv · 2018-12-06
Appeal (appellant (plaintiff John Gorman)) Denied

“The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.”

United States v. Houtar
19-3627-cr · 2020-11-13
Appeal (appellant (defendant Mahyoub Molhi Mohamed Houtar)) Denied

“We conclude that the IPKCA is not vague as applied to Houtar and that both sentencing enhancements were applied properly. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the conviction and the sentence.”

Barikyan v. Barr
18-354 · 2019-03-04
Petition for review (petitioner (Aleksandr Eduardovich Barikyan)) Denied

“For the foregoing reasons, the petition for review is DENIED.”

Fernandez v. Capra
15-2313 · 2019-02-22
Appeal (appellant (petitioner Pablo Fernandez)) Granted

“Accordingly, the state court's rejection of Canela's recantation was an 'unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented,' 28 U.S.C. 2254(d); therefore, the state court unreasonably denied Fernandez's second motion for a new trial. ... we REVERSE and REMAND to the district court, with instruction to comply with our February 5, 2019 Order, directing the district court to issue a writ of habeas corpus to Fernandez.”

Scrimo v. Lee
18-2954 · 2019-08-20
Appeal (appellant (petitioner Paul Scrimo)) Granted

“We conclude that the State trial court's exclusion of evidence violated Scrimo's constitutional right to present a complete defense. Accordingly, we reverse without reaching Scrimo's ineffective assistance of counsel claim.”

Nappi v. Yelich
14-1188 · 2015-07-15
Appeal (appellant (petitioner Donato Nappi)) Granted

“For the foregoing reasons, we reverse and remand the case to the district court. The court shall issue a writ of habeas corpus to Nappi by the thirtieth calendar day after the issuance of our mandate unless the state has, by that time, taken concrete and substantial steps to retry Nappi.”

Linares-Urrutia v. Sessions
14-4419 · 2017-03-07
Petition for review (petitioner (Jose Linares-Urrutia)) Granted in part

“Accordingly, we grant the petition in part and remand the case to the BIA to determine whether Linares-Urrutia's asylum claim was timely. We dismiss the petition as to the remaining claims.”

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