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.
No Coverage Owed For Legal Malpractice Suit, 6th Circuit Affirms
CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s dismissal of a breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit brought by the assignee of health provider insured, agreeing with the lower court that two insurance policies’ plain language unambiguously bars coverage for an underlying legal malpractice lawsuit.
Judge Tosses FCA Suit Against Fiscal Agent Over Alleged Hospital Medicaid Fraud
BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge on June 29 dismissed with prejudice relators’ qui tam suit alleging that a fiscal agent for Rhode Island’s Medicaid program violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by facilitating a scheme by a Rhode Island state hospital to submit false and inflated Medicaid bills for reimbursement, finding that the relators did not adequately plead scienter and failed to allege that the agent “knowingly” caused the submission of the hospital’s false claims.
4th Circuit OKs Quick Appeal On Class Cert Ruling After Trauernicht
RICHMOND, Va. — In a June 29 order without substantive explanation, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed to allow an interlocutory appeal concerning certification of an opt-out class in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case where the initial certification of a mandatory class was vacated under the appellate court’s recent Trauernicht v. Genworth Fin. Inc. ruling.
High Court Limits Review In Epic, Apple Antitrust Row To Civil Contempt Holding
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 granted certiorari but limited its review to one question in the petition in which Apple Inc. argued that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals incorrectly affirmed a lower court’s injunctive relief ruling and finding of contempt against Apple over anticompetitive practices on its app store in an antitrust dispute with Epic Games Inc.
Divided Supreme Court Denies Fired Workers’ Challenge To Repealed N.Y. COVID Rule
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court on June 29 denied a petition for writ of certiorari filed by a group of health care workers seeking review of whether a now-repealed New York COVID-19 vaccine regulation violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the U.S. Constitution, with Justice Neil Gorsuch offering a dissent stating that it would have been “well worth” the court’s time to address the case and that correcting the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ interpretation of Title VII “should have been an easy business.”