Ill. Federal Judge Won’t Transfer Medtronic Spinal Stimulator Suit To Minnesota
PEORIA, Ill. — A federal judge in Illinois denied a motion to transfer a lawsuit involving an allegedly defective Medtronic Inc. spinal cord stimulator to a Minnesota federal court, finding that the plaintiff’s surgery, alleged injuries and device-related marketing in Illinois outweighed the manufacturer’s arguments favoring transfer.
5th Circuit Revives Union Pacific Worker’s ADA Suit, Finds Class Tolling Applies
NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed and remanded a Texas federal judge’s ruling rejecting a former Union Pacific Railroad Co. conductor’s assertion that he was entitled to American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah tolling in an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) suit filed over denial of a follow-up vision test needed to remove work restrictions, finding that the company did “not prevail” because the employee “was not unambiguously excluded from” a previously filed class action’s revised class definition.
U.S. Supreme Court Requests Responses To Cape Receivership Petitions
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 27 asked asbestos plaintiffs and a receiver, who previously waived their right to respond, to file responses by Nov. 27 to two certiorari petitions challenging a South Carolina court’s ruling condoning appointment of the receiver over the assets of an English company.
Panel Affirms Ruling For Sign Company In Conversion Dispute Over COVID-Era Loan
DETROIT — A Michigan appellate court affirmed a lower court’s judgment in favor of a sign company and its owner in their suit against a former business partner alleging conversion, unjust enrichment, fraudulent representation, defamation, retaliatory eviction and assault regarding the parties’ dispute over business bank account funds, some of which were obtained through a COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), finding in part that the issue of who had authority to withdraw the funds was not preserved for appeal.
Federal Judge Grants Final Approval Of $2.5M Data Breach Class Action Settlement
SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge granted final approval of a $2.5 million class action settlement resolving claims against a legal services firm arising from a 2024 data breach that allegedly compromised the personal information of tens of thousands of individuals, finding the settlement fair, reasonable and adequate and dismissing the action with prejudice.
Panel: Failure To Submit New Proof Of Loss Dooms Claim For Additional Damages
ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a Florida federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a Write-Your-Own insurer in a coverage dispute over Hurricane Ian damage, holding that the condominium association insured failed to submit a signed and sworn proof of loss for its alleged additional flood damage as required by Standard Flood Insurance Policy (SFIP).
1st Circuit Finds Investment Firm Unduly Delayed Bid To Amend Complaint
BOSTON — A First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s denial of an investment firm’s motion for leave to amend its complaint stemming from a biopharmaceutical company’s rights agreement because the firm waited for the outcome of related litigation before asserting a theory that could have been pleaded earlier.
Panel Affirms Order Denying Anti-SLAPP Motion To Strike In Insurance Fraud Dispute
LOS ANGELES — A California appeals court affirmed a lower court order denying a motion to strike by chiropractors and their practices in insurers’ suit accusing them of submitting more than 500 allegedly fraudulent claims in violation of the state’s unfair competition law, finding that the defendants failed to show that the state’s anti-SLAPP statute is applicable to their alleged activities of submitting fraudulent bills.
11th Circuit Partly Vacates Ruling In Coverage Dispute Over Rain Events
ATLANTA — Under Georgia law, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that an insurer’s conduct waived its right to apply the insurance policy’s $2.5 million flood deductible after previously applying the $100,000 water damage deductible to its insureds’ claim for three rain events that damaged a construction project but that there is a genuine dispute regarding whether the insurer waived the flood deductible for two other rain events, affirming in part and vacating in part a lower federal court’s partial summary judgment ruling.
DHS To High Court: Courts’ Review Of 3rd-Country Removals Limited
WASHINGTON, D.C. — No federal court has jurisdiction to review “‘questions of law and fact’” that arise from the removal of noncitizens “except through a petition for review of a final removal order,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other parties argue in a petitioner brief filed Oct. 23 in the U.S. Supreme Court in an appeal challenging a February ruling by a federal court in Massachusetts that declared the DHS’s March 2025 third-country removals policy “unlawful.”
Panel Upholds Ruling In Favor Of Property Insurer In Fire Damage Suit
PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a property insurer on an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith claims, agreeing with the lower court that the claims cannot proceed because the insured failed to cooperate with the insurer’s requests during the investigation of the insured’s fire damage claim.