Mealey Publications™
TOP STORIES
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 25 reversed a lower federal court’s ruling that a plaintiff lacked standing to sue an insurer for breach of contract and bad faith in a coverage dispute over property damage that was caused by Hurricane Ida, finding that the plaintiff might be able to plead plausible facts to support her third-party beneficiary status.
CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois was wrong to deny a request by Dyson Technology Ltd. for damages based on e-commerce profits from sales of counterfeited goods, a panel in the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held March 25, saying the judge’s order conflicts with the statutory guidelines under the Lanham Act.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals largely affirmed an Ohio federal judge’s finding that a patent describing a floor-marking tape product was anticipated by a prior art reference and the judge’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of defendant entities on false advertising claims.
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded that because insureds have recovered their insurance policy benefits in full through the insurer’s payment of the appraisal award and statutory interest, they cannot recover bad faith damages in their lawsuit arising from damage caused by winter storm Uri.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court on March 26 reversed a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling invalidating a rule promulgated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), effectively broadening the Gun Control Act’s (GCA) definition of “firearm” to include parts of “ghost guns,” which can readily be assembled into weapons but, before the rule, were considered by some manufacturers to not require serial numbers or a firearms background check before sale.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — During oral arguments in two consolidated cases heard March 25 by the U.S. Supreme Court, an attorney representing Oklahoma and Utah contended that according to a specific part of the Clean Air Act (CAA), challenges to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s disapproval of state implementation plans for new air quality standards are “locally or regionally applicable,” but the EPA argued that the statute says otherwise.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 25 heard competing arguments as to whether the venue for several small oil refineries' challenges to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s denial of requests for exemption from the Clean Air Act’s (CAA’s) Renewable Fuels Standards (RFS) program lies exclusively in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals because the agency's denial actions are “nationally applicable” or “based on a determination of nationwide scope or effect.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on March 24 a patent holder’s petition for a writ of certiorari, leaving in place a finding from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the initiation of an evaluation under the Amazon Patent Evaluation Express (APEX) system — which triggers the potential removal of an allegedly infringing product listing from Amazon.com if a seller fails to respond — constitutes a purposeful direction of activities at the seller’s forum state sufficient to confer specific personal jurisdiction.
MINNEAPOLIS — Ruling that the plaintiffs lack standing because they “are unable to show concrete individual harm, causation, and redressability,” a Minnesota federal judge on March 24 dismissed the initial complaint without prejudice in a putative Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over alleged mismanagement of prescription drug benefits.
JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi federal judge on March 24 denied an insured’s motion for relief from final judgment after determining that a recent jury verdict in a criminal case related to illegally discharged wastewater by the insured does not change the fact that the underlying suit filed against the insured alleged intentional acts, which are excluded under the pollution liability policy at issue.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Primary and excess insurers have no duty to defend their insured against two underlying lawsuits arising out of a Freon leak that caused the death of an underlying claimant and required the evacuation of an events arena because the policies’ pollution exclusions clearly bar coverage for the Freon leak, a Georgia federal judge said March 24.