affirmative-defense

59 cases — ← All topics

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Flags Tags Question Presented
25A586 Jonathan Harrelson v. Mississippi Mississippi 2025-11-18 Application affirmative-defense age-of-consent criminal-intent minor-victim prosecutorial-misconduct statutory-rape Whether a defendant can be convicted of statutory rape when he claims to have been misled about the victim's age and believed the minor was over the a…
25-439 Karl Tobien v. Nationwide General Insurance Company Sixth Circuit 2025-10-10 Denied affirmative-defense burden-of-proof civil-procedure legal-standard non-patent-case venue Whether a defendant who raises the affirmative defense of improper venue in a non-patent case bears the burden of proving that venue is improper.
25-352 Jasmine Younge v. Fulton Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, Georgia Eleventh Circuit 2025-09-24 Pending Response Requested affirmative-defense civil-procedure federal-rules judicial-discretion pleading-rules summary-judgment Whether a defendant may assert an affirmative defense in a summary judgment motion without previously pleading it in an answer, despite Rule 8(c)(1) a…
25-5710 Philip Alejandro Powers, III v. United States Ninth Circuit 2025-09-23 Denied Response WaivedIFP affirmative-defense criminal-act criminal-law greater-evil justification-doctrine necessity-defense Whether a person compelled to commit a criminal act to avert a greater evil can be denied the necessity defense if an alternative 'safer' method exist…
25-271 United States, ex rel. Mark J. O'Connor, et al. v. USCC Wireless Investment, Inc., et al. District of Columbia 2025-09-09 Denied Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) affirmative-defense civil-procedure false-claims-act materiality public-disclosure qui-tam Whether the D.C. Circuit erred by requiring plaintiffs to anticipate and negate in their complaint a False Claims Act affirmative defense, in direct c…
25-5429 Anthony Brian Walker v. United States Tenth Circuit 2025-08-21 Denied Response WaivedIFP affirmative-defense criminal-procedure jury-instructions self-defense sua-sponte substantial-evidence In a criminal prosecution, when an affirmative defense such as imperfect self-defense is supported by substantial evidence, does the trial court have …
25-5385 Eric Deon Rollins v. Texas Texas 2025-08-15 Denied IFP affirmative-defense constitutional-rights criminal-defendant due-process jury-instruction state-trial-court Whether a criminal defendant is deprived of constitutional rights when a state trial court refuses to instruct the jury on the affirmative defenses of…
25A162 Paul W. Parker, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Curtis John Rookaird v. BNSF Railway Company, a Delaware Corporation Ninth Circuit 2025-08-06 Presumed Complete affirmative-defense burden-shifting clear-and-convincing-evidence de-novo-review federal-railroad-safety-act protected-activity Whether a district court's determination of an employer's affirmative defense under the Federal Railroad Safety Act involves a mixed question of law a…
25A155 Jasmine Younge v. Fulton Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, Georgia Eleventh Circuit 2025-08-06 Presumed Complete affirmative-defense civil-procedure federal-rules pleading-amendment scheduling-order summary-judgment Whether a defendant may raise an affirmative defense by motion for summary judgment without first amending a pleading that did not originally include …
25-103 BofI Federal Bank, nka Axos Bank v. Charles Matthew Erhart Ninth Circuit 2025-07-28 Denied Response Waived affirmative-defense burden-shifting employment-law personnel-action sarbanes-oxley whistleblower-protection Under AIR-21's two-step framework, can evidence showing an employee's protected activity was a contributing factor in the unfavorable personnel action…
25-5067 Kira Kristina Zielinski v. United States Eighth Circuit 2025-07-09 GVR Amici (1)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP affirmative-defense child-protection criminal-law domestic-violence parental-kidnapping statutory-interpretation Whether a defendant is 'fleeing an incidence or pattern of domestic violence' under § 1204(c)(2) if she is fleeing domestic violence against her child
24-1117 Petroquímica de Venezuela, S.A. v. Isaac Industries, Inc. Eleventh Circuit 2025-04-28 Denied Response Waived affirmative-defense foreign-sovereign-immunities-act responsive-pleading sovereign-immunity subject-matter-jurisdiction waiver-of-immunity Whether a plaintiff suing a foreign state bears the burden of proving an exception to sovereign immunity or if the foreign-state defendant must dispro…
24-463 Marta Sanchez, et al. v. Anthony Guzman, et al. Tenth Circuit 2024-10-24 Denied affirmative-defense burden-of-proof civil-rights governmental-defendants legal-standard qualified-immunity Whether a civil rights plaintiff bears the burden of disproving the affirmative defense of qualified immunity for governmental defendants or whether g…
24-5748 LaVanzel Kerr v. United States Fifth Circuit 2024-10-11 Denied Response WaivedIFP affirmative-defense constitutional-challenge criminal-procedure firearms-statute sentencing-guidelines statutory-interpretation May a district court apply a U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(6) enhancement without resolving a defendant's affirmative defense claim, and is 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) u…
24-117 Todd Berman v. Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, dba Fedloan Servicing Fourth Circuit 2024-08-02 Denied Response Waived affirmative-defense circuit-conflict federal-contractor federal-contractor-liability government-instructions merits-trial qualified-immunity sovereign-immunity Derivative-sovereign-immunity
24-5075 DeTron L. Perry v. Jacob L. Streittmatter Nebraska 2024-07-16 Denied IFP affirmative-defense civil-procedure contradictory-testimony due-process evidence fair-trial Question not identified
23-1144 John Anthony Castro v. United States Fifth Circuit 2024-04-22 Denied Response Waived affirmative-defense burden-of-proof estoppel good-faith good-faith-erroneous-interpretation judicial-admission standard-of-review If the government raises an affirmative defense, does it bear the burden of proof?
23-6331 Hannibal Moore v. United States Eleventh Circuit 2023-12-22 Denied Response WaivedIFP affirmative-defense burden-of-proof criminal-conduct criminal-law disqualifying-element imminent-threat justification-defense legal-alternative proximate-cause Whether the courts should take a narrow view in considering the disqualifying element of the justification defense, and only disqualify the defendant …
23-408 AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP v. Suzanne Ivie Ninth Circuit 2023-10-18 Denied Response WaivedRelisted (2) affirmative-defense burden-of-proof civil-procedure claim evidentiary-standard final-pretrial-order judicial-process litigation-procedure pretrial-order rule-16 Whether a party may generally contest the opposing party's burden of proof on a claim or affirmative defense in a final pretrial order under Rule 16, …
22-7811 Trent S. Griffin, Sr. v. American Zurich Insurance Company, et al. Fifth Circuit 2023-06-16 Denied Response WaivedIFP 60b-motion abuse-of-discretion affirmative-defense appellate-review full-faith-and-credit jurisdiction motion-to-dismiss plea-to-the-jurisdiction res-judicata Whether an unauthenticated judgment has res judicata effects as an affirmative defense
22-7588 Eric Lee Coleman v. United States Eighth Circuit 2023-05-18 Denied Response WaivedIFP affirmative-defense categorical-approach criminal-law due-process judicial-interpretation sentencing sentencing-guidelines statutory-analysis statutory-interpretation Whether a court must consider the availability (or non-availability) of an affirmative defense in the categorical approach
22-840 K. M., Individually and on Behalf of M. M. and S. M., et al. v. Eric L. Adams, Mayor of the City of New York, et al. Second Circuit 2023-03-03 Denied Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) administrative-exhaustion administrative-remedies affirmative-defense claim-processing-rule disability-education idea-statute individuals-with-disabilities-education-act judicial-challenge jurisdiction jurisdictional-requirement waiver Whether IDEA exhaustion requirement is jurisdictional or a claim-processing rule
22-6859 Eddie Turner v. U.S. Bank National Association, et al. California 2023-02-24 Denied IFP affirmative-defense civil-procedure claim-preclusion deed-of-trust demurrer final-judgment judicial-ruling operation-of-law privity void-deed void-deed-of-trust Whether the defendants have satisfied all three factors of the doctrine of claim preclusion
22-660 Trevor Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC, et al. Second Circuit 2023-01-18 Judgment Issued Amici (14)Relisted (2) affirmative-defense burden-shifting employment-law intent personnel-action retaliation retaliatory-intent sarbanes-oxley whistleblower whistleblower-protection Under the burden-shifting framework that governs Sarbanes-Oxley cases, must a whistleblower prove his employer acted with a 'retaliatory intent' as pa…
22-5804 In Re David Kevin Lewis 2022-10-11 Denied Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP acquittal-standard affirmative-defense civil-procedure due-process jurisdiction jurisdictional-issue legal-procedure motion-for-acquittal statute-of-limitations trial-motion Is the Law of the United States for Statute of Limitations a matter of jurisdiction and by Lewis raising the issue in trial as well as filing the tria…
22-5530 Joseph Ray Jordan v. United States Second Circuit 2022-09-08 Denied Response WaivedIFP affirmative-defense brady-rule constitutional-rights criminal-procedure ineffective-assistance-of-counsel post-conviction-relief right-to-testify section-2255 strickland-standard witness-tampering Where the defendant made the undisputed claim that trial counsel failed to inform him of an affirmative defense before his right to testify was waived…
21-1105 Jana Garcia v. Wyoming Department of Health and Social Services Tenth Circuit 2022-02-10 Denied Response Waived ada affirmative-defense americans-with-disabilities-act civil-rights eleventh-amendment eleventh-amendment-immunity federal-funding federal-funds rehabilitation-act subject-matter-jurisdiction waiver-of-defense Whether a state is immune from suit under the Eleventh Amendment in an action under the Rehabilitation Act when the cause of action is based on the st…
21-937 Christopher Lee Holloway v. Minnesota Eighth Circuit 2021-12-23 Denied Response Waived based solely on the relative age of the actor violates the constitutional right to equal-protec while permitting it to another affirmative-defense age-discrimination constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process equal-protection federal-law legislative-intent rational-basis Whether the denial of an affirmative defense to one class of offenders in a criminal case
21-6662 Bryant Christopher Watts v. Texas Texas 2021-12-17 Denied IFP affirmative-defense appellate-procedure appellate-review constitutional-review criminal-procedure due-process reasonable-doubt self-defense standard-of-review sufficiency-of-evidence trial-court Did the court of appeals err in affirming the trial court where evidence is insufficient to rebut the affirmative defense of self-defense beyond a rea…
21-6044 Kenneth Jay Still v. United States Eighth Circuit 2021-10-25 Denied Response WaivedIFP affirmative-defense criminal-law due-process eighth-circuit firearm-possession firearms justification justification-defense police-contact prohibited-person self-defense Whether the Eighth Circuit erred by holding that a defendant prohibited from possessing a firearm may not present a justification defense if he or she…
21-550 Tyrone Christopher Thompson v. Alabama Alabama 2021-10-14 Denied Response Waived 14th-amendment affirmative-defense complete-defense due-process expert-testimony fourteenth-amendment meaningful-opportunity-to-present-defense mental-disease mental-disease-or-defect pre-trial-hearing Does precluding a defendant from presenting any evidence of an affirmative defense of mental disease or defect to a jury based solely on conflicting e…
21-516 Justin Haggerty v. United States Fifth Circuit 2021-10-07 Denied 18-usc-1152 affirmative-defense criminal-procedure element federal-jurisdiction indian-country interracial interracial-offense statutory-interpretation subject-matter-jurisdiction Whether the 'interracial' nature of a minor offense in Indian Country is an element of 18 U.S.C. § 1152, rather than an affirmative defense
20-8402 Daniel Chica-Gutierrez v. United States Fifth Circuit 2021-06-23 Denied Response WaivedIFP affirmative-defense collateral-attack criminal-procedure custis-rule federal-statutory-provision sentencing sentencing-commission sentencing-guidelines state-court-conviction statutory-interpretation Whether a federal court is permitted to consider an argument that a prior state-court conviction does not satisfy a relevant federal statutory provisi…
20-7934 John Patrick Couch v. United States Eleventh Circuit 2021-05-05 GVR Relisted (6)IFP affirmative-defense controlled-substances criminal-procedure jury-instructions medical-practice standard-of-care Did the trial court err by conflating the valid defense of a crime as an element of that crime in its jury instructions?
20-1017 Lawrence Johnson v. United States Second Circuit 2021-01-28 Denied Relisted (2) 2nd-amendment affirmative-defense circuit-split civil-rights common-law criminal-law criminal-statute due-process firearm-possession law-enforcement statutory-interpretation Whether innocent transitory possession is an affirmative defense to illegal possession of a firearm under 18 U.S.C. 922(g)
20-6791 Alvin Christopher Penn v. United States Fifth Circuit 2021-01-08 Denied IFP affirmative-defense commerce-clause constitutional-law criminal-law felon-in-possession interstate-commerce minimal-nexus united-states-v-bailey united-states-v-lopez united-states-v-scarborough Whether United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995), compels overruling Scarborough v. United States, 431 U.S. 563 (1977)
20-6770 Lelis Ezequiel Treminio-Tobar v. United States Fourth Circuit 2021-01-04 Denied Response WaivedIFP 5th-amendment affirmative-defense criminal-procedure due-process fifth-amendment jury-instruction jury-instructions trial-court Whether the Fifth Amendment Due Process right to present a defense requires the trial court to instruct the jury that it has a duty to acquit any defe…
20-6190 Bradley R. Freeman v. New Mexico New Mexico 2020-11-02 Denied Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP affirmative-defense brady-v-maryland constitutional-requirement criminal-procedure due-process plea-agreement plea-bargaining prosecutorial-disclosure prosecutorial-misconduct Does the Constitution require the prosecution to disclose favorable, material evidence of an affirmative defense before entering a plea agreement?
20-266 Bradley Bieganski v. Arizona Arizona 2020-09-02 Denied Response Waived affirmative-defense burden-of-proof child-molestation constitutional-limits criminal-statute due-process presumption-of-innocence sexual-intent Whether Arizona's molestation statute violates the Due Process Clause
20-5341 Erik Becerra v. United States Eighth Circuit 2020-08-13 Denied IFP affirmative-defense criminal-justice criminal-prosecution federal-law firearm-possession judicial-development lower-court-conflict statutory-interpretation Does federal law permit the judicial development of an innocent-transitory possession (ITP) affirmative defense in a criminal prosecution for unlawful…
20-5082 Robert Deane Schwartz v. Raymond Madden, Warden Ninth Circuit 2020-07-15 Denied IFP affirmative-defense certificate-of-appealability due-process fourteenth-amendment habeas habeas-corpus jury-instruction jury-instructions Did the Ninth Circuit err for failing to grant a certificate of appealability pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2) on petitioner's claim that the state …
19-1448 Excel Modular Scaffold & Leasing Company, dba Excel Scaffold & Leasing v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, et al. Fifth Circuit 2020-07-01 Denied Response Waived administrative-law affirmative-defense civil-procedure due-process impossibility-doctrine judicial-review occupational-safety osha regulatory-compliance standard-of-review waiver Did the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) err in ruling that Excel Modular Scaffold & Leasin…
19-1291 Charles Hamner v. Danny Burls, Warden, et al. Eighth Circuit 2020-05-14 Denied Amici (7) affirmative-defense circuit-split civil-procedure civil-rights constitutional-law constitutional-prong due-process federal-appellate-courts qualified-immunity standing state-actors sua-sponte Is qualified immunity an affirmative defense that state actors must assert, as nine circuits hold, or may federal appellate courts raise the defense s…
19-7084 Andrew Haley Morcombe v. United States Eleventh Circuit 2019-12-30 Denied Response WaivedIFP affirmative-defense criminal-procedure domestic-violence due-process fair-trial international-kidnapping international-parental-kidnapping jury-instructions state-law state-law-definitions statutory-interpretation Whether the failure of 18 U.S.C. § 1204 to define 'domestic violence' violates due process and deprives defendants of a fair trial
19-6475 Burton Maurice Kahn v. Robert Ripley Fifth Circuit 2019-11-01 Denied Response WaivedIFP affirmative-defense civil-procedure collateral-estoppel due-process federal-rules-of-civil-procedure merits res-judicata standing Whether res judicata or collateral estoppel should apply when the initial trial did not have a full and fair opportunity to litigate the merits
19-6249 Michael Terrill Faircloth v. United States Eleventh Circuit 2019-10-10 Denied IFP 18-usc-922g1 affirmative-defense circuit-split criminal-statute felon-in-possession firearm-possession innocent-possession safe-streets-act transitory-possession Whether a felon may assert an affirmative defense of innocent, transitory possession when charged as a felon-in-possession of a firearm under § 922(g)…
19-381 Rainbow Ridge Resort, LLC, et al. v. Branch Banking and Trust Company Tennessee 2019-09-20 Denied Response Waived affirmative-defense civil-procedure civil-rights constitutional-challenge due-process examination-limitations first-amendment petition petition-rights pleading standing statutory-interpretation takings Is Tennessee Code Annotated Sec. 35-5-118 unconstitutional as applied?
19-246 Massood Jallali v. Florida Florida 2019-08-26 Denied Response Waived affirmative-defense brady-rule brady-violation-claim criminal-procedure discovery due-process evidence theory-of-innocence Whether the trial court's discovery rulings deprived petitioner of evidence under Brady that would support an affirmative defense and petitioner's the…
19-192 Matthew Herrick v. Grindr LLC, et al. Second Circuit 2019-08-14 Denied Response Waived affirmative-defense communications-decency-act failure-to-warn fraud interactive-computer-services motion-to-dismiss negligence non-publication-torts product-liability publication-torts section-230 Does the Communications Decency Act § 230(c)(1) prevent well pleaded causes of action for non-publication torts?
18-1292 Craig Roth v. Nassau County, New York Second Circuit 2019-04-11 Denied Response Waived ada affirmative-defense americans-with-disabilities-act civil-procedure civil-rights collateral-estoppel disability due-process employment federal-claims judicial-procedure Are lower courts correctly applying the affirmative defense of collateral estoppel to bar federal claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act?
18-7936 Jaquan Henderson v. Greg Skipper, Warden Sixth Circuit 2019-02-13 Denied Response WaivedIFP affirmative-defense constitutional-law criminal-law criminal-procedure duress legal-justification murder statutory-interpretation WHETHER DURESS IS AN AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE PRIOR TO AN OCCURRENCE OF MURDER?
18-7745 Alrick A. Evans v. Connecticut Connecticut 2019-02-04 Denied Response WaivedIFP affirmative-defense alleyne-precedent criminal-statute element jury-determination mandatory-minimum sixth-amendment united-states-v-alleyne Whether a state court may interpret a criminal statute so that a fact that triggers a mandatory minimum is termed an 'affirmative defenses' rather tha…
18-7496 Nemiah Allan v. Connecticut Connecticut 2019-01-18 Denied Response WaivedIFP affirmative-defense alleyne-precedent criminal-statute element jury-determination mandatory-minimum sixth-amendment united-states-v-alleyne Whether a state court may interpret a criminal statute so that a fact that triggers a mandatory minimum is termed an 'affirmative defenses' rather tha…
18-7451 Shane Cox v. United States Tenth Circuit 2019-01-16 Denied Relisted (2)IFP affirmative-defense criminal-procedure due-process due-process-right-to-present-defense federal-preemption federal-prosecution firearms-regulation kansas-law second-amendment short-barreled-rifles silencers state-rights Did the district court deny Mr. Cox his due process right to present a defense when it precluded Mr. Cox from arguing to the jury that his reliance on…
18-901 Kaylen DeWayne Simmons v. Texas Texas 2019-01-11 Denied affirmative-defense affirmative-defenses constitutional-review court-of-appeals due-process due-process,civil-procedure,affirmative-defenses,i factual-sufficiency factual-sufficiency-review impossibility indigency precedent-conflict Whether the Court of Appeals erred in affirming in part the judgments of the trial court by not performing the constitutionally mandated factual suffi…
18-6911 Adrian Pineda-Orozco v. United States Fifth Circuit 2018-12-04 Denied Response WaivedIFP acceptance-of-responsibility affirmative-defense criminal-conviction criminal-law criminal-law-procedure duress-defense family-member fifth-circuit miscarriage-of-justice sentencing Whether the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion permitting Pineda-Orasco's conviction to stand resulted in a miscarriage of justice given the longs…
18-500 The First Presbyterian Church U. S. A. of Tulsa, Oklahoma, et al. v. John Doe Oklahoma 2018-10-18 Denied Amici (3) affirmative-defense church-discipline church-doctrine church-government church-member-disputes consent consent-based first-amendment jurisdiction jurisdictional-doctrine membership membership-dispute religious-autonomy Whether the religious autonomy doctrine derives from the First Amendment or is a consent-based doctrine applicable only to disputes between a church a…
18-207 George Duggan v. Department of Defense Ninth Circuit 2018-08-16 Denied Response Waived affirmative-defense agency-burden clear-and-convincing-evidence federal-circuit personnel-actions prima-facie prima-facie-retaliation protected-disclosures retaliation whistleblower-protection whistleblower-protection-enhancement-act Whether after a prima facie retaliation for whistleblowing has been found under the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012, does the Agency'…
18-206 Craig Cunningham v. General Dynamics Information Technology, Inc. Fourth Circuit 2018-08-16 Denied affirmative-defense civil-procedure federal-agency-authority federal-contractor-liability federal-preemption federal-statutes government-contractor-defense jurisdictional-defense separation-of-powers sovereign-immunity statutory-interpretation yearsley-defense yearsley-v-w-a-ross Whether the Yearsley defense is a jurisdictional defense or an affirmative defense, and whether it applies to violations of federal law or only state …