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Wheeler K. Neff v. United States

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, No. 18-2282 · judgment September 6, 2019


Certiorari denied · April 20, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

The questions presented are:

  1. Does a misrepresentation about the true identity of the owner of a business during settlement negotiations to resolve a civil lawsuit constitute a scheme to defraud the litigant of money or property in violation of the mail and wire fraud statutes?

  2. Is the doctrine of tribal sovereign immunity wholly inapplicable in a circumstance where payday loans are made by a Native American tribe in affiliation with an entity acting as an “arm of the tribe” where such loans are made at interest rates in excess of state regulations, thus rendering the loans ipso facto unlawful debts in violation of the RICO statute?

  3. Does the government have to prove willfulness to establish a RICO conspiracy to collect an unlawful debt?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Adam Byron Cogan
Law Offices of Adam B. Cogan

For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Linked docket
19A780

Proceedings

  1. Jun 15 2020
    Rehearing DENIED.
  2. May 26 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/11/2020.
  3. May 15 2020
    Petition for Rehearing filed.
  4. Apr 20 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  5. Mar 25 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/17/2020.
  6. Mar 18 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
  7. Mar 13 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 13, 2020)
  8. Jan 10 2020
    Application (19A780) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until April 1, 2020.
  9. Jan 07 2020
    Application (19A780) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from February 3, 2020 to April 1, 2020, submitted to Justice Alito.