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SHERMAN, Texas — A Texas federal judge on Feb. 12 denied summary judgment sought by small e-liquid makers and a vaping industry association that claimed that the Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of vaping is so “burdensome” that it effectively bars small companies from entering the market and granted the FDA’s cross-motion for summary judgment.
LONDON — A panel of the English Court of Appeal on Feb. 12 affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the doctrine of issue estoppel bars the Russian Federation from arguing it is immune from an action to enforce an arbitral award against it worth more than $50 billion because it never agreed to arbitrate, writing that the previous rejection of that argument by an appellate court in the jurisdiction where the award was issued has preclusive effect.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) applied an incorrect, overly narrow claim construction in an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding brought by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and its American counterpart against the holder of a patent related to interactive device screens, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Feb. 12.
CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 12 briefly denied a petition for rehearing en banc that six amicus curiae entities supported in a combined brief; the 2-1 decision at issue revived an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over a retirement plan’s retention of the passively managed Northern Trust Focus Funds suite of target date funds (TDFs) and choice of share classes.
BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts on Feb. 12 dissolved a temporary restraining order (TRO) previously entered in a case brought by unions representing federal workers and challenging the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) “deferred resignation” program, finding the unions lack standing and the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the claims brought under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Five unions representing employees in dozens of federal agencies and departments filed a lawsuit Feb. 12 in a federal court in the District of Columbia seeking to protect their members “from the Executive Branch’s attempts to dismantle the federal government through the mass firings of hundreds of thousands of employees . . . and a pressure campaign on federal workers to quit their jobs through a ‘deferred resignation program.’”
PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 11 affirmed a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of insurers in their insureds’ breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for a mother’s intentional infliction of emotional distress action arising from her son’s murder, finding that there was no coverage because the underlying claims did not result from an accident.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Eight inspectors general (IGs) who allege that they were removed from office four days after President Donald J. Trump’s inauguration via two-sentence emails from individuals at the Office of Presidential Personnel filed a complaint Feb. 12 in a federal court in the District of Columbia alleging that their “purported terminations” were in violation of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (IG Act).
MIAMI — The Florida federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation over a 2023 software app data breach granted final approval to the settlement of one of the MDL’s tracks on Feb. 11, while staying proceedings for the remaining parties while details of an announced global settlement are finalized.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 11 affirmed a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision to reject a man’s patent application regarding blockchain technology, agreeing with the PTAB that his claims were indefinite and directed at unpatentable material.
OAKLAND, Calif. — An asbestos defendant may perform genetic testing in an asbestos case, but because expert testimony suggests that science has shown that only a BAP1 mutation can independently cause mesothelioma, the testing will be limited to that single issue, a judge in California said in partially granting a motion to compel production of a sample for testing.