Mealey Publications™
TOP STORIES
CINCINNATI — A district court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting a motion to exclude a fingerprint expert from testifying during a criminal trial, nor was there an error in its answer to a jury’s question, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said.
SAN FRANCISCO — The California federal judge overseeing a multidistrict litigation involving claims against genetic testing company 23andMe Inc. for failing to protecting users’ data from hackers granted preliminary approval on Dec. 4 to a $30 million settlement of the claims on the condition that the plaintiffs amend their definition of the settlement class to exclude parties who are pursuing arbitration and despite “serious concerns” with the plaintiffs’ $7.5 million attorney fees request.
ATLANTA —The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 4 held that a general liability insurance policy unambiguously relieves the insurer of its duty to defend or indemnify its insured for an underlying wrongful death lawsuit, affirming a lower federal court’s dismissal of a direct action brought against the insurer by the daughter of a man who died in a holding cell at a Georgia jail.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 4 said the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was correct to hold that many of claims in a series of patents owned by a biopharmaceutical company related to the process of separating components from a mixture are unpatentable as obvious, but the panel reversed the PTAB’s findings that some of the claims were not unpatentable.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 4 issued a letter stating that “consistent with the Code of Conduct for Justices of the Supreme Court, Justice Neil Gorsuch has determined that he will not continue to participate in” a case in which petitioners seek reversal of a ruling finding that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) failed to adequately examine the risk of wildfires and the impact on groundwater posed by the construction of a rail line in Utah that would carry products related to hydraulic fracturing to and from the shale formation in the Uinta Basin. Oral argument is scheduled for Dec. 10.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An Indian satellite company and its shareholders and subsidiary in separate merits briefs filed Dec. 4 urged the U.S. Supreme Court to find that the reversal on jurisdictional grounds of a $1.3 billion arbitral award in their favor against an Indian state-owned company was incorrect based on “outlier” Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals precedent regarding the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).
PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 3 affirmed a district court’s ruling dismissing a qui tam plaintiff’s suit against a vascular surgeon and his medical practice, alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) for submitting purported false claims for reimbursement to Medicare and Medicaid regarding lack of patient consent for arteriograms performed in an office rather than an ambulatory surgery center (ASC), finding that the district court correctly held that the claims were “precluded by the public disclosure bar.”
NEW YORK — A New York justice on Dec. 3 issued an order scheduling a show-cause hearing on a motion seeking to hold an asbestos expert and her employer in contempt of court for “brazenly” ignoring court rulings after the state’s high court denied leave to appeal a decision compelling production of the identities of participants in expert Jacqueline Moline’s asbestos-talc studies.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission on Dec. 3 announced agency actions it has taken against data brokers that bought and sold individuals’ precise location data in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act, simultaneously filing complaints and decisions in both actions.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was correct to hold that a telecommunications company’s patent on a system that manages telecommunication networks is anticipated by prior art and is thus invalid, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, despite a defendant entity settling with the plaintiff company while the case was before the appellate panel.
CHICAGO — An Illinois appeals panel held that insurers have no duty to defend their insured against an underlying class action lawsuit alleging that the insured violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) because the policies’ “Recording and Distribution” exclusion barred coverage, reversing a lower court’s judgment in favor of the insured and remanding.