BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts on Sept. 17 ruled that a federal group that allegedly formed in “secret” at the beginning of the year to reject the “science-based assessment of the causes of climate change and the harms that it is already inflicting on the American people” is an advisory committee subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) but that its actions did not cause irreparable injury in partially granting a summary judgment motion and denying a motion for preliminary injunction filed by two environmental nonprofits.

PHILADELPHIA — Resolving a direct appeal that involved “the novel issue” of whether two Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) regulations are valid, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge’s ruling upholding the regulations in a multibillion-dollar withdrawal liability dispute regarding federal special financial assistance (SFA) that was awarded to multiemployer pension plans.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge dismissed without prejudice a former employee’s suit alleging that the nonprofit where she worked violated the retaliation provisions of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) by allegedly terminating her employment in retaliation for her complaints about the organization’s purported inaccurate backdating documents to obtain payments from federal health insurers, finding that the woman failed to establish that her former employer knew that she was engaged in protected activity.

SAN FRANCISCO — Issuing a per curiam opinion in a dispute over a contract that greatly reduced withdrawal liability to a multiemployer pension fund, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the challenged ruling on a different ground than the lower court had, holding “that the contract is a financial accommodation, without reaching whether it is executory”; the appellant, which signed the contract before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, unsuccessfully sought a ruling that would let it assign the agreement to its acquirer.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump on Sept. 16 issued a fourth executive order pausing enforcement of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act as to TikTok until Dec. 16, requiring the Department of Justice (DOJ) not to enforce the act, which would have resulted in a ban on the popular social network absent a corporate ownership change.

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed an Ohio federal judge’s order granting summary judgment motions filed by a university and two faculty members regarding a transgender professor’s Title VII, First Amendment and perceived disability claims after a promotion was rescinded following the professor’s “weeks-long, profanity-laden Twitter tirade insulting colleagues and the university.”

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 16 denied an aircraft facility operator’s petition for reconsideration of its opinion affirming in part and reversing in part a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in an insurer’s subrogation lawsuit arising from property damage incurred by the insured’s privately owned noncommercial aircraft while it was parked and stored at the petitioner’s facility, standing by its finding that there is a genuine dispute of material fact regarding whether it was reasonable for the petitioner to conclude that the pilot had the apparent authority to bind the aircraft owner to the limitation of liability provision of the landing card.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed Walmart Inc.’s appeal of an Arkansas federal jury award of more than $100 million to a nitrile glove supplier for Walmart’s broken promise to purchase millions of boxes of gloves during the COVID-19 pandemic and the supplier’s cross-appeal after the parties stipulated to the dismissal.