Food Contamination Was Single, Continuous Accident, Panel Rules In Coverage Dispute
CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 1 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of The J.M. Smucker Co. in its breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking coverage for bodily injuries resulting from the alleged bacterial contamination of Smucker’s Jif-brand peanut butter, holding that the alleged salmonella outbreak is the lone occurrence and the policy’s Lot Endorsement does not convert one occurrence into many.
Federal Judge Invalidates FLRA Rule Centralizing Union Representation Cases
BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled, in granting summary judgment to eight federal sector labor organizations, that an interim final rule (IFR) that would have stripped U.S. Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) regional directors of all union representation responsibilities and required all cases to be handled directly by the authority was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and ordered vacatur of the rule.
Judge: Investors’ Amended Complaint Against Visa Fails To Allege Loss Causation
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge in California dismissed investors’ putative class action against Visa Inc. and certain executives for alleged false and misleading statements regarding Visa’s debit practices in violation of federal securities laws, finding that the investors failed to allege loss causation.
Judge Finds No Error In Discovery Ruling In Benicar MDL Attorney Fees Dispute
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge found no legal basis to reverse a magistrate judge’s ruling on a discovery issue in a lawsuit stemming from claims that an improper amount of attorney fees was awarded to a law firm for its work in the Benicar multidistrict litigation.
5th Circuit Partly Reverses Protective Order Ruling Involving Foreign Discovery
NEW ORLEANS — Resolving a dispute involving patent licensing agreements, foreign discovery and German and Indian law, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued an unpublished opinion concluding that a lower court erred by ordering disclosure to in-house counsel for a nonparty’s competitor because the lower court wrongly overrode one clause in the agreements’ confidentiality protections.
Settlement Reported Before Bench Trial In ERISA Class Lawsuit Over Severance
OAKLAND, Calif. — In a June 30 joint notice that was filed just over a week before a bench trial was scheduled to begin, parties in a long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over severance benefits told a California federal court “that they have reached agreement on all terms of their proposed class action settlement and expect to have a fully executed Memorandum of Understanding within the next few days.”
Louisiana High Court Says Fraud Claims Against Worker Correctly Dismissed
NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana Supreme Court reinstated a workers’ compensation judge’s (WCJ) decisions granting an exception of res judicata and striking an amended petition by a workers’ compensation insurer alleging that a woman fraudulently misrepresented her injuries, finding that the fraud claims were correctly dismissed because the insurer failed to amend its petition before the deadline set by the WCJ.
Split 5th Circuit Panel Says Vape Seller’s Fine Violated 7th Amendment
NEW ORLEANS — A divided Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on June 30 granted an e-liquid maker’s petition for review and vacated an approximately $19,000 fine issued against it by the Department of Health and Human Services for selling unauthorized vapes, finding that the administrative proceeding violated the petitioner’s Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial under SEC v. Jarkesy.
U.S. Supreme Court Vacates And Remands 2 Geofence Warrant Rulings
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Granting two separate certiorari petitions concerning geofence warrants, the U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 vacated decisions from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and remanded for further consideration in light of the high court’s one-day-old Chatrie v. United States ruling that accessing cellphone location evidence from Google under a geofence warrant constituted a search under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
U.S. High Court Grants Cert In 3 Roundup Injury Cases, Remands In Light Of Durnell
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 granted petitions for a writ of certiorari in three cases alleging injuries related to the herbicide Roundup and remanded all three for further consideration in light of the recent ruling in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell.
Verizon Seeks Limited High Court Rehearing Of FCC Forfeiture Order Affirmance
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In consolidated cases in the U.S. Supreme Court in which Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. assert constitutional challenges to the Federal Communications Commission’s enforcement of monetary forfeitures under the Communications Act, Verizon filed a petition for rehearing seeking to modify the court’s disposition from affirmance to affirmance with a remand in the court’s holding that the FCC’s forfeiture orders do not violate the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because forfeiture proceedings do not resolve the parties’ legal obligations.