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JEFFREY MICHAEL MOLDOWAN, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CITY OF WARREN, DONALD INGLES,MICHAEL SCHULTZ (07-2115); ALAN WARNICK (07-2116); MAUREEN FOURNIER (07-2117), Defendants-Appellants. |
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit.
No. 05-70331—Anna Diggs Taylor, District Judge.
Argued: January 20, 2009
Decided and Filed: July 1, 2009
Before: MOORE, CLAY, and KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judges.
CLAY, Circuit Judge. In this action, Plaintiff Jeffrey Moldowan (“Moldowan”) asserts a number of claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging violations of his rights under the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as claims under Michigan state law. Moldowan’s claims arise out of his arrest, criminal prosecution, conviction, and retrial for the 1990 abduction and brutal sexual assault of Maureen Fournier (“Fournier”). After new evidence came to light and a key prosecution witness recanted her testimony, the Michigan Supreme Court reversed Moldowan’s conviction in 2002. People v. Moldowan, 643 N.W.2d 570 (Mich. 2002). On retrial, in February 2003, Moldowan was acquitted of all charges and released, having served nearly twelve years in prison.
After his release, Moldowan filed the instant civil action asserting various claims against the City of Warren, the Warren Police Department, Macomb County, the Macomb County Prosecutor in his official capacity, Dr. Alan Warwick, Warren Police Detective Donald Ingles, Warren Police Officer Mark Christian, and Fournier. Moldowan subsequently amended his complaint to assert claims against Warren Police Officer Michael Schultz. Broadly speaking, Moldowan alleges that the Defendants—both acting separately and conspiring together—violated his civil rights by fabricating evidence against him, failing to disclose exculpatory evidence, and pursuing his prosecution and retrial without probable cause.
After discovery, the Defendants moved for summary judgment on all thirty-six counts asserted in Moldowan’s Third Amended Complaint raising various immunity defenses. After dismissing certain counts against Detective Ingles, the City of Warren, and the Warren Police Department, and dismissing all counts against Officer Christian, the district court denied Defendants’ motions for summary judgment in all other respects. These three interlocutory appeals followed. For the reasons set forth herein, we AFFIRM IN PART and REVERSE IN PART the judgment of the district court.
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KELLY W. HANCE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY, Defendant-Appellant. |
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville.
No. 04-00160—Thomas W. Phillips, District Judge.
Argued: June 5, 2008
Decided and Filed: July 1, 2009
Before: DAUGHTREY, CLAY, and McKEAGUE, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM. The defendant, Norfolk Southern Railway Company, appeals the judgment of the district court in favor of plaintiff Kelly Wayne Hance, who prevailed on his claim under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA), 38 U.S.C. §§ 4301-4333. Hance, a former Norfolk Southern employee and member of the Tennessee Army National Guard, sued Norfolk Southern, claiming that the company discharged him because of his military service. Following a bench trial, the district court rendered judgment for the plaintiff, ordering Norfolk Southern to reinstate Hance to his prior position and awarding him back pay, lost benefits, and interest in the amount of $352,845.93. Norfolk Southern appeals from this judgment, arguing that Hance was discharged for insubordination, that Hance’s military service obligations were not a motivating factor in his discharge, and that the district court abused its discretion in awarding and in calculating Hance’s damages. Because we conclude that the district court did not err in finding Norfolk Southern liable for discrimination under USERRA, we affirm the district court’s determination on liability in Hance’s favor. However, because of error in some aspects of the damages award, we reverse the judgment in part and remand the case for further fact-finding and an award of damages consistent with this opinion.
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HOFIT JENKINS, Petitioner-Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. AVRAHAM JENKINS and KLARIS JENKINS, Respondents-Appellees/Cross-Appellants. |
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Ohio at Dayton.
No. 08-00037—Thomas M. Rose, District Judge.
Argued: December 11, 2008
Decided and Filed: July 1, 2009
Before: KENNEDY, BATCHELDER, and DAUGHTREY, Circuit Judges.
MARTHA CRAIG DAUGHTREY, Circuit Judge. The petitioner, Hofit Jenkins, appeals from the district court’s denial of her petition filed pursuant to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, seeking the “return” of her now-four year-old son, Orin, to her custody in Israel. Under the Abduction Convention, as implemented by Congress through the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (ICARA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 11601-11611, return is the remedy for a child’s “wrongful removal to or retention” in another country in violation of the rights of custody of the petitioning parent under the law of the state in which the child was “habitually resident” immediately before the removal. See Hague Abduction Convention, Article 3. In this case, Orin and his parents, Hofit and Avraham Jenkins, were living in Dayton, Ohio, after relocating to the United States from their native Israel because of Avraham Jenkins’s job. The district court noted that Orin was allegedly wrongfully retained in this country by his father on the date that his mother, the petitioner here, voluntarily returned to Israel, leaving the child behind with his father and his paternal grandparents. The district court concluded, however, that both parents had been exercising their mutual rights of custody at that time, “under the law of the State [Ohio] in which the child was habitually resident,” that Orin’s father was therefore not “in breach of [Hofit’s] rights of custody,” and that her petition for the child’s “return” should be denied.
We conclude that the petitioner failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence, as required by 42 U.S.C. § 11603(e)(1)(A), that there was an actual “removal or retention” by Orin’s father or that the alleged retention was “wrongful.” It therefore follows that the Abduction Convention cannot be successfully invoked in this case and that the petition filed by Orin’s mother should have been dismissed rather than denied. Because the result is, practically speaking, the same, we affirm the judgment of the district court.