Judge Dismisses In Part Suit Seeking Refund Related To COVID Business Suspension
GREENVILLE, Miss. — A Mississippi federal judge granted in part the U.S. government’s motion to dismiss a nonprofit’s suit seeking a tax refund pursuant to the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) because of government orders that partially suspended its business operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that the claim for declaratory judgment should be dismissed as barred by the Declaratory Judgment Act and the Anti-Injunction Act.
Split Maryland High Court Reverses $25,000 MPIA Attorney Fee Award
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A split Maryland Supreme Court reversed lower courts’ decisions awarding a nonprofit organization half of its initially requested attorney fees in its Maryland Public Information Act case against Frederick County, finding that the initial trial court order did not follow the established standard for determining attorney fee awards.
Federal Judge Won’t Reconsider Arbitration Denial In NFL Race Bias Suit
NEW YORK — Racial discrimination claims against three teams and the National Football League (NFL) brought in a putative class complaint by three current and former NFL coaches must proceed in court, a federal judge in New York ruled, denying reconsideration of a February ruling that denied in full arbitration based on “[t]he NFL’s unilateral control over the dispute resolution process.”
Judge Awards $1.3M In Fees And Costs After ‘Abusive’ School Trademark Row
ORLANDO, Fla. — After what a Florida federal judge called “five-and-a-half years of abusive litigation” in a trademark row over virtual schooling trademarks, the judge awarded more than $1.3 million in Rule 11 sanctions to the defendant school entity after the plaintiff school entity continued to pursue nationwide trademark damages for several months in 2023 after discovery failed to produce supporting evidence.
Federal Circuit Affirms PTAB Invalidation Of Chip Patent Claims
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a pair of July 16 opinions, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) finding that claims of multiple patents describing a chip for use in printers were unpatentable as obvious, seeing no error in PTAB’s construction of certain claims, its motivation-to-combine analysis or other challenged elements of its decision.
2nd Circuit Won’t Order Changes To MS Drug Patent License Arbitration Award
NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 15 affirmed a New York federal judge’s denial of a plaintiff-appellant biopharmaceutical company’s motion to vacate or modify a $16.5 million arbitral award in a licensing dispute over an expired patent covering a multiple sclerosis drug; the panel said the plaintiff-appellant “slept on its right” by voluntarily making postexpiration payments to the patent holder.
Lessor Is Additional Insured Under Lessee’s Policy, New Jersey Panel Affirms
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey appeals panel on July 15 affirmed a lower court’s ruling that a commercial building owner was an additional insured under an insurance policy that was issued to the lessee of the building and that the insurer had a duty to defend and indemnify the building owner against underlying claims arising from an elevator shaft injury, rejecting the insurer’s argument that the policy’s workers’ compensation and employers’ liability exclusions barred coverage.
Judge Tosses Doctor’s Suit Alleging FCA Retaliation Related To ‘Under-Coding’
BANGOR, Maine — A Maine federal judge on July 15 dismissed without prejudice a physician’s suit alleging breach of contract and retaliation in violation of the False Claims Act (FCA) and Maine law against a hospital and its parent company for allegedly retaliating against her by terminating her employment when she refused to participate in an alleged “under-coding scheme” purportedly urged by hospital officials, finding that the physician failed to allege that the government incurred “economic injury.”
Biometric Patent Invalidity Arguments Rightly Rejected By PTAB, Appeals Court Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 15 affirmed a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) determination that a technology company failed to show that patent claims describing a biometric technology device were unpatentable as obvious; the panel rejected the appellant company’s contention that PTAB wrongly construed claim phrase “biometric signal.”
4th Circuit Reverses Confirmation Of Dutch Arbitral Award To Insolvent Insurer
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 14 reversed and remanded a lower court’s confirmation of a $166,797,838 arbitral award issued in favor of insolvency practitioners for a Dutch insurer in liquidation, finding that the petition was filed in the lower court after the statute of limitations expired under the Federal Arbitration Act but that the award is a foreign judgment enforceable on remand under North Carolina law.
3rd Circuit Revives RICO Claims, Some ERISA Claims In Suit Against Carriers
PHILADELPHIA — Partly reviving a suit that New Jersey health care practices filed against health insurance carriers over reimbursement for out-of-network elective and emergency claims, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a nonprecedential opinion vacating dismissal of the practices’ Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claims and some of the practices’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims.