Opinion ID: 152376
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Change in Law Exception

Text: The Ginters primary argument is that the district court should have decided the jurisdictional question anew even if the elements of collateral estoppel are met. [C]ollateral estoppel extends only to contexts in which the controlling facts and applicable legal rules remain unchanged. Montana, 440 U.S. at 158, 99 S.Ct. 970 (quotation marks omitted). The controlling facts of this case are clearly the same since both I-130 petitions were based on the Ginters's current marriage and both denials were based on Viktors's previous marriage to Denise Harris. However, an exception to collateral estoppel is also triggered when controlling principles of law have changed, Montana, 440 U.S. at 161-62, 99 S.Ct. 970, and the Ginters argue such a change has occurred since Ginters I. They base this contention in part on the Supreme Court's recent decision of Kucana v. Holder, ___ U.S. ___, 130 S.Ct. 827, ___ L.Ed.2d ___ (2010). The Supreme Court, in Kucana v. Holder , clarified the analysis for determining when a review of a decision is barred under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii). Section 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) bars review of a decision or action of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security the authority for which is specified under this subchapter to be in the discretion of the of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security. The Court in Kucana determined the discretionary nature of the decision must be set forth in the statute itself to trigger the bar and that review of a decision is not barred under the statute where discretion is granted by the Attorney General's regulations alone. Kucana, 130 S.Ct. at 836-37. The district court in Ginters I, using the Eighth Circuit approach now abrogated by Kucana, relied on several regulations to find that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) barred review of the Ginters's I-130 petition. See Ginters, 419 F.Supp.2d at 1130. The Supreme Court, after Kucana, disallows consideration of the regulations when analyzing whether a decision is barred from review as discretionary for the purposes of 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii). This constitutes a significant change in controlling legal principles under the change in law exception to the doctrine of collateral estoppel. Although Kucana had not been decided at the time the district court determined whether the Ginters should be collaterally estopped from raising this issue, we find it would not be in the interest of judicial economy to force the Ginters to file a new I-130 and begin this process anew in order to have this court consider the recent change in controlling principles of law. We therefore proceed to the merits of the question of jurisdiction.