Appeals in Criminal and Employment Discrimination Cases Decided
The Eighth Circuit decided one criminal matter and one involving alleged employment discrimination based on race.
In Lake v. Yellow Transp., Inc., No. 09-1392, the Eighth Circuit reversed a grant of summary judgment for defendant-employer in a race discrimination matter. The court held that 1) plaintiff was not required to disprove defendant's reason for firing him at the stage of the analysis where plaintiff needed to show that he met his employer's legitimate expectations; and 2) there were material factual disputes over plaintiff's attendance and availability record, and whether defendant applied its policies equally.
In US v. Newell, No. 09-1957, the court of appeals affirmed defendant's crack cocaine conviction and sentence, on the grounds that 1) the district court did not err in concluding that officers who stopped defendant's vehicle did not exceed the bounds of a Terry stop; and 2) defendant contended that the district court presumed the Career Offender Guidelines set a reasonable sentencing range, but the sentencing record showed no such presumption.