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STARLINK LOGISTICS, INC.,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
ACC, LLC fka Associated Commodities Corporation,
Defendant-Appellee. |
No. 22-6118 |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee at Columbia.
No. 1:12-cv-00011—Eli J. Richardson, District Judge.
Argued: January 31, 2024
Decided and Filed: May 7, 2024
Before: BATCHELDER, CLAY, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
CLAY, Circuit Judge. Plaintiff StarLink Logistics, Inc. (“StarLink”) appeals the district
court’s dismissal of some of its claims for lack of jurisdiction and the district court’s grant of
summary judgment to Defendant ACC, LLC (“ACC”) as to its remaining claims. In January
2012, StarLink sued ACC for civil penalties, injunctive relief, and declaratory relief under the
citizen suit provisions of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1365, and the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C. § 6972, alleging that ACC’s improperly closed landfill was
polluting StarLink’s land. After StarLink initiated its suit, ACC and the Tennessee Department
of Environment and Conservation (“Department”) finalized a consent order requiring ACC to
abate the landfill’s pollution. The overarching issue on appeal is what effect this consent order
and ACC’s subsequent compliance efforts have on StarLink’s citizen suit.
In light of the consent order, the district court disposed of StarLink’s claims. With
respect to ACC’s alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act occurring prior to the consent order, the district court dismissed StarLink’s claims
for injunctive and declaratory relief as moot and granted summary judgment to ACC as to
StarLink’s claims for civil penalties. In the alternative to its mootness and civil penalties rulings,
the district court concluded that it would have granted summary judgment to ACC as to all
violations occurring prior to the consent order on the basis of claim preclusion. With respect to
violations occurring after the consent order, the district court dismissed StarLink’s claims for
failure to meet the Clean Water Act’s and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act’s
jurisdictional notice requirements.
For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM IN PART and REVERSE IN PART the
district court’s judgment and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. |
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
CALVIN CAVER,
Defendant-Appellant. |
No. 21-3753 |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland.
No. 1:03-cr-00486-4—John R. Adams, District Judge.
Decided and Filed: May 7, 2024
Before: BOGGS, KETHLEDGE, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
MURPHY, Circuit Judge. At the time of Calvin Caver’s sentencing, the federal drug
laws subjected Caver to a mandatory term of life imprisonment because he conspired to
distribute more than 50 grams of “crack” cocaine and had committed three prior “felony drug
offenses.” Later, however, the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 increased the amount of crack
cocaine required to trigger this life sentence to 280 grams. The First Step Act of 2018 then
allowed defendants like Caver to seek retroactive relief “as if” they had committed their crimes
after the Fair Sentencing Act. Caver sought a reduced sentence under the First Step Act. But the
district court held that this Act gave it no discretion to grant him relief. It reasoned that Caver’s
jury had found that his drug crime involved at least 500 grams of crack cocaine—an amount that
still exceeded the 280 grams required to trigger a mandatory life sentence after the Fair
Sentencing Act. We agree and affirm. |
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