Alice M. Batchelder
How Judge Batchelder rules, drawn from 44 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
How Judge Batchelder decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In an arbitration appeal, enforced the party-presentation principle when the trial court raised waiver on its own without giving the parties a chance to develop the relevant evidence. The ruling returned the dispute for adversarial presentation rather than approving a sua sponte affirmative defense.
“we REVERSE the decision of the district court and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
Batchelder treated an on-premises sign exception as content based because officials had to understand a sign's message before deciding whether the exception applied.
“There is no way to make those decisions without understanding the content of the message.”
On federal habeas review, Batchelder evaluated the state court's actual rationale rather than an alternative ground proposed later by the warden.
“AEDPA requires this court to review the actual grounds on which the state court relied”
Procedural preferences
On interlocutory qualified-immunity review, focuses on whether the plaintiff's account violates law that was clearly established at the time. In the reviewed school-search appeal, the absence of clearly established law required reversal even under the plaintiff's version of the facts.
“we REVERSE the decision of the district court and remand with instructions to dismiss the Fourth Amendment claims against Russell.”
Batchelder confined an earlier sentencing decision to the issue it actually resolved and declined to extend broader language to different circumstances.
“We therefore decline to apply the cited Shabazz language to the present case or circumstances.”
Cautions
Treats appellate waivers and litigation concessions as potentially dispositive. In the reviewed sentencing appeal, the majority did not reach the claimed statutory error because the defendant had waived appellate review.
“Because we find that Jackson waived any appellate challenge to his sentence, we AFFIRM.”
In reviewing a motion to reopen immigration proceedings, Batchelder required the agency to indicate adequately why it found new evidence inherently unbelievable, without demanding particular wording.
“So long as the BIA adequately indicates its finding that new evidence was inherently unbelievable, we will find no abuse of discretion.”
Batchelder cautioned sentencing courts that reading a protected cooperation proffer can create prejudice when the court possesses information it may not use.
“we urge any district court confronting such circumstances to proceed carefully to ensure that the defendant is not prejudiced by the court’s review of the proffer.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Because we find that Bilstein is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court in part, but because the parties' agreement provides for a remedy different from that provided by the district court, we REVERSE that part of the decision and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
“Finding no error in the district court's conclusion that the state courts' adjudication of Worden's claims did not result in a judgment that was contrary to or involved an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law, we AFFIRM the district court's judgment.”
“We find no abuse of discretion in the district court's denial of Moore's Rule 60(b) motion. ... neither case applies because Moore raised his claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel on direct appeal, and that claim was adjudicated and denied on the merits by the state court. ... We therefore AFFIRM the decision of the district court.”
“This appeal is late, and this court has no jurisdiction to hear this case. We therefore grant Ohio's motion to dismiss and deny the Party's pending motions as moot.”
“Appellants are precluded by the Full Faith and Credit Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1738, from litigating these claims in federal court. We AFFIRM.”
“Because we conclude that the type of notice required in these situations was not clearly established, we REVERSE the decision of the district court, and REMAND the case for proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
“Because Jane Doe did not plead any further actionable sexual harassment after UK took remedial action in the post-actual-knowledge period, she failed to state a Title IX deliberate indifference claim under Davis. She also failed to state material facts that would raise genuine disputes as to whether UK's response was objectively unreasonable or caused any further harassment. We therefore AFFIRM the district court's grant of summary judgment to UK.”
“For all of the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the district court's grant of summary judgment, albeit on different grounds from those relied upon by the district court.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.”
“We therefore DENY the plaintiff's motion to dismiss for lack of appellate jurisdiction as to the issues of law raised by Officers McKinley and McDannald, and we AFFIRM the district court's denial of summary judgment as to those issues.”
“ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge. In this interlocutory appeal from the denial of the defendants' motion for summary judgment, the defendants appeal several rulings, one of which concerns qualified immunity. We AFFIRM in part and DISMISS in part.”
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