Danny Julian Boggs
How Judge Boggs rules, drawn from 35 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
How Judge Boggs decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
For COBRA notice claims, requires a qualifying event that changes the terms or conditions of coverage; a change in the method of premium payment alone does not suffice.
“we now reverse because the terms and conditions of Mrs. Morehouse’s insurance coverage did not change upon her taking a leave of absence and therefore no ‘qualifying event’ occurred that would have obligated SNS to send her a COBRA notification.”
When classifying insurance agents under ERISA's common-law agency test, gives particular weight to the financial structure of the company-agent relationship.
“Because ERISA cases focus on the financial benefits that a company should have provided, the financial structure of the company-agent relationship guides the inquiry.”
Treats fiduciary claims under ERISA section 502(a)(2) as belonging to the plan, so individual employment arbitration agreements do not bind the plan without its consent.
“The weight of authority and the nature of § 502(a)(2) claims suggest that these claims belong to the plan, not to individual plaintiffs.”
A privately paid physician working for a public prison was not entitled to qualified immunity where common law supplied no comparable tradition of immunity and the policy rationales were insufficient.
“There does not seem to be a history of immunity from suit at common law for a privately paid physician working for the public, and the policy rationales that support qualified immunity are not so strong as to justify our ignoring this history, or lack of history.”
The ADA and ADEA filing periods are substantive, non-waivable rights, so an employment agreement could not prospectively shorten those federal deadlines.
“Based on these considerations, we hold that the limitations periods in the ADA and ADEA give rise to substantive, non-waivable rights.”
For federal-officer removal, Boggs focuses on the conduct actually challenged rather than other federal work that may have contributed to the same injury; an express disclaimer can eliminate the claimed federal nexus.
“The federal-officer-removal statute requires ‘an association, connection, or tie between the challenged conduct and the defendant’s acts under color of federal office’—not the plaintiff’s injury.”
Procedural preferences
At securities-class certification, requires rigorous analysis of both the asserted reliance presumption and whether damages can be measured across the class.
“we hold that the class certification was defective on both grounds, though perhaps not fatally so, and remand for further consideration under the standards set out in this opinion.”
An appellate court may affirm a dismissal on a different ground when the complaint independently fails to state the required supervisory-liability claim.
“We affirm, but on different grounds than the district court. The district court properly granted the motion to dismiss because the plaintiffs fail to state a claim of supervisory liability.”
When a state-law claim falls outside supplemental jurisdiction, dismissal must be without prejudice for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction even if the federal claim fails on the merits.
“We therefore vacate the district court's dismissal of Kubala's state-law claim and direct the district court to dismiss that claim without prejudice for want of subject-matter jurisdiction.”
Cautions
Treats vigorous or blasphemous political speech at a chaired public meeting as protected unless the presiding official has determined the speaker is out of order.
“We therefore hold that no reasonable officer would find that probable cause exists to arrest a recognized speaker at a chaired public assembly based solely on the content of his speech (albeit vigorous or blasphemous) unless and until the speaker is determined to be out of order by the individual chairing the assembly.”
AEDPA’s limitations clock is not tolled merely because a state prisoner could have sought reconsideration; tolling requires an application actually to be filed and pending.
“We hold that the statute ran during those periods when Scarber had the opportunity to, but did not, move for reconsideration, and we therefore affirm.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“We affirm the district court in holding that Williams's dismissal did not violate the first amendment but we reverse its grant of summary judgment to defendants on the contract claims and remand for dismissal of those claims without prejudice.”
“Bucio-Cabrales has shown no error in the warrant that authorized the search of his residence. Similarly, he has not shown that the district court improperly applied two two-level sentence enhancements. For these reasons, we find no infirmity in Bucio-Cabrales's convictions or sentence and AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.”
“Therefore, we REVERSE the decision of the district court and DISMISS the plaintiffs' case against the defendants-appellants.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the dismissal of Scarber's untimely habeas petition.”
“For these reasons, we VACATE the district court's order for want of jurisdiction, and DENY Franklin's request for authorization to file a second or successive habeas petition.”
“For this reason, we AFFIRM the decision of the district court and DENY Kelly's petition for habeas corpus.”
“Accordingly, we REVERSE the district court's decision in its entirety, including the awards of damages, statutory penalties, and attorney's fees, and direct the district court to GRANT Defendant SNS's motion for summary judgment.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the district court's grant of summary judgment to Flagstar.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we REVERSE the district court's grant of summary judgment for Allied Construction, and direct the district court to enter judgment in favor of the City of Cincinnati.”
“Accordingly, we REVERSE and REMAND for further proceedings in accordance with this holding.”
“For the foregoing reasons, and for the reasons stated in our unpublished appendix to this opinion, we AFFIRM Ashrafkhan's conviction and sentence.”
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