The Oprah Interview as a Truth Commission

LESLEY WEXLER

Illinois Law professor Lesley Wexler explains how Oprah’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle might illuminate how a formal truth commission to deal with legacies of racism and colonialism might function in the British empire. Professor Wexler describes the purpose and function of state-operated truth commissions and notes the similarities and differences between those and the interview.

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Edwards Family Partnership, LP v. Johnson

Docket: 20-60718

Opinion Date: March 8, 2021

Judge: Jennifer Walker Elrod

Areas of Law: Bankruptcy

After the bankruptcy court awarded fees to the bankruptcy debtor's counsel for work performed prior to the appointment of a trustee, creditors appealed the fee award to the district court. The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court's vacatur of the fee award, concluding that the district court improperly assessed the benefit of counsel's services to the estate from hindsight, rather than assessing the reasonableness and likely benefit from the time the services were rendered. Accordingly, the court remanded for the district court to reinstate the bankruptcy court's fee award; denied the motion to dismiss the trustee from the appeal for lack of standing; denied the motion to dismiss as moot; and denied as moot the alternative motion to vacate the district court's judgment.

St. Charles Surgical Hospital, LLC v. Louisiana Health Service & Indemnity Co.

Docket: 20-30093

Opinion Date: March 8, 2021

Judge: Cory T. Wilson

Areas of Law: Civil Procedure

After St. Charles filed suit against BCBS in Louisiana state court for state law fraud and abuse-of-right claims, BCBS removed the action to federal court. St. Charles had filed its third-amended petition and produced documents listing claims that involved patients insured under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Act (FEHBA). The Fifth Circuit concluded that the appropriate course is for the district court to determine on remand whether St. Charles's waivers defeat federal officer jurisdiction, because the issue was neither a basis for the district court's decision nor extensively briefed by either party, and because the record was not fully developed in the district court. If St. Charles's waiver of FEHBA-governed claims does not settle the matter, the district court's jurisdiction hinges on a proper analysis of federal officer removal. Weighing the district court's remand order against the clarified test for federal officer removal in Latiolais v. Huntington Ingalls, Inc., 951 F.3d 286, 290 (5th Cir. 2020) (en banc), the court concluded that the district court erred in its analysis. First, the district court applied St. Charles I too narrowly in determining that BCBS was not "acting under" OPM merely because St. Charles's claims "do not arise out of procedures dictated by OPM." Furthermore, even though the district court stated that the "causal nexus" element "ha[d] no bearing on the [c]ourt's decision in this case," the court concluded that this issue should be revisited on remand. Accordingly, the court vacated the district court's remand order and remanded for further proceedings.

Wright v. Union Pacific Railroad Co.

Docket: 20-20334

Opinion Date: March 8, 2021

Judge: Cory T. Wilson

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Labor & Employment Law

Plaintiff filed suit against her former employer, Union Pacific, alleging that Union Pacific violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by suspending her, and later terminating her, in retaliation for her 2016 lawsuit against the company and her 2018 internal complaint. Plaintiff also alleged that Union Pacific violated the Railway Labor Act (RLA) and the Texas Labor Code (TLC) by retaliating against her because of her requests for union representation. The district court granted Union Pacific's motion to dismiss. The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court's Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) dismissal of plaintiff's Title VII claim, concluding that she plausibly alleged a causal link between her 2018 internal EEO complaint and her subsequent suspension and termination. However, the court concluded that the district court properly dismissed the RLA claim for lack of jurisdiction, and that plaintiff's RLA claim is preempted by plaintiff's TLC claim. The court affirmed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's remaining claims.

Binh Hoa Le v. Exeter Finance Corp.

Docket: 20-10377

Opinion Date: March 8, 2021

Judge: Don R. Willett

Areas of Law: Contracts, Labor & Employment Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment in favor of Exeter and Exeter's parent company, Enzo, in an action brought by plaintiff, a former employee, for breach of contract, fraud, and quantum meruit. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying a continuance and plaintiff abandoned his remaining arguments challenging the exclusion of his evidence. The court also concluded that the district court correctly concluded that plaintiff's contract claim, based on the Profits Interest Units Agreement, failed as a matter of law; the district court correctly concluded that, absent evidence of a valid severance agreement, plaintiff's breach of contract claim fails as a matter of law; the district court properly adjudicated plaintiff's fraud claims as a matter of law; and the district court correctly determined that plaintiff's conduct in connection with the transactions before the district court was inequitable, precluding any equitable remedy. The court noted that three-quarters of the record in this case was sealed from the public and that the public's right of access to judicial proceedings is fundamental. The court urged litigants and the court's judicial colleagues to zealously guard the public's right of access to judicial records.

United States v. Masha

Docket: 19-20673

Opinion Date: March 8, 2021

Judge: Edith Hollan Jones

Areas of Law: Criminal Law, White Collar Crime

Defendant was indicted in a second superseding indictment on eight charges of false use of a passport in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1543, and eight charges of misuse of a passport in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1544. The Government now agrees that the convictions under section 1544 must be vacated based on insufficient evidence. The Fifth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for false use of a passport and held that there was ample evidence, both direct and circumstantial, to conclude that defendant used fraudulent passports to open accounts at various banks in the Houston area. Because the court has determined that there is insufficient evidence to support defendant's section 1544 convictions for misuse of a passport, the court need not address defendant's argument that the district court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the indictment as to those charges. Finally, the court also held that defendant failed to show that the district court plainly erred in allowing certain lay opinion testimony and failed to demonstrate that the district court clearly erred in its loss calculation. Accordingly, the court vacated the section 1544 convictions and affirmed the section 1543 convictions.