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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
JOHN S. BROWN,
Defendant-Appellant.


No. 07-5465

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Kentucky at Louisville.
No. 06-00065—John G. Heyburn II, Chief District Judge.
Submitted: October 28, 2008
Decided and Filed: March 5, 2009
Before: MARTIN and GILMAN, Circuit Judges; DOWD, District Judge.

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SECOND AMENDED OPINION
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BOYCE F. MARTIN, JR., Circuit Judge. Our prior opinion in this case is withdrawn. John S. Brown appeals his 144 month sentence for possession of crack and powder cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. On appeal, he argues that his sentence should be vacated because it was imposed without a presentence report. We find that the district court properly exercised its discretion to impose a sentence without a presentence report under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(c)(1)(A)(ii) and U.S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL § 6A1.1(a)(2). Finding Brown’s sentence to have been imposed in a procedurally reasonable manner, we AFFIRM.


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ERICA BETTS et al.,
Plaintiffs-Appellees/
Cross-Appellants,
v.
COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION,
Defendant-Appellant/
Cross-Appellee.


Nos. 07-2103/2217

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit.
No. 02-73435—Julian A. Cook, Jr., District Judge.
Argued: January 15, 2009
Decided and Filed: March 5, 2009
Before: KENNEDY, COLE, and GILMAN, Circuit Judges.

_________________________
OPINION
_________________________

RONALD LEE GILMAN, Circuit Judge. Six former employees sued Costco Wholesale Corporation, alleging that (1) they were terminated because they are black, and (2) that they were subjected to a racially hostile work environment in violation of Michigan law. (No claim was premised on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or other federal cause of action.) After the district court denied Costco’s motion for summary judgment, the case proceeded to trial. A deadlocked jury led to an initial mistrial, but a second jury unanimously found in favor of three of the six employees—Darrell Amour, Stephanie Lewis, and LaVearn Thomas—with respect to their hostile-work-environment claims. None of the six employees, however, prevailed on their claims of discriminatory termination. The second jury awarded lost wages to Amour, Lewis, and Thomas. Lewis and Thomas also received damages as compensation for their emotional distress.

Costco subsequently filed motions for judgment as a matter of law and to amend the jury’s verdict. The district court denied the motion for judgment as a matter of law, which requested the court to vacate both the jury’s finding of liability and the employees’ emotional-distress awards. But the court granted Costco’s motion to amend the jury’s verdict by vacating the awards for lost wages.

Costco appeals the denial of its motion for judgment as a matter of law. Amour, Lewis, and Thomas cross-appeal the order vacating the lost-wages awards. For the reasons set forth below, we REVERSE the award of damages for emotional distress to Lewis and Thomas, AFFIRM the judgment of the district court in all other respects, and REMAND the case with instructions to award nominal damages to Amour, Lewis, and Thomas on their hostile-work-environment claims.