Greetings, Court fans!

In today’s order list, the Court granted cert in five cases — we’ll summarize them quickly since we expect opinions to be released Tuesday and Wednesday.

Domino’s Pizza, Inc. v. McDonald, No. 04-593, presents the following question: “In the absence of a contractual relationship with the defendant, are allegations of personal injuries alone sufficient to confer standing on the plaintiff pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1981?”

In Dolan v. United States Postal Service, No. 04-848, the Court will consider the portion of the Federal Tort Claims Act that allows suits based on claims “arising out of loss, miscarriage, or negligent transmission of letters or postal matters.” Dolan concerns whether this provision allows a district court to hear a personal injury claim based on negligent placement of mail by the USPS.

Lockhart v. United States, No. 04-881, presents the issue of whether, under the Social Security Act and Debt Collection Improvement Act, the United States may withhold social security benefits in order to collect a student loan debt that has been outstanding for more than 10 years.

In Martin v. Franklin Capital Corp., No. 04-1140, the Court will determine what legal standard governs the decision to award fees and expenses under 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c) upon the remanding of a removed case to state court.

Oregon v. Guzek, No. 04-928, presents the question of whether a capital defendant has the right under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to offer evidence and argument in support of a claim of residual doubt — that is, that the jury in a penalty phase proceeding should consider any lingering doubt about defendant’s guilt in deciding whether to impose a death sentence.

Finally, the Court invited the Solicitor General to weigh in on whether cert should be granted in Ministry of Defense & Support for Armed Forces of Islamic Republic of Iran v. Elahi, No. 04-1095, a case raising several issues under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

That’s all for today. Thanks, as always, for reading!

Kim & Ken

From the Appellate Practice Group at Wiggin and Dana. For more information, contact Kim Rinehart, Ken Heath, Aaron Bayer, or Jeff Babbin at 203-498-4400