SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel largely affirmed the dismissal of a sprawling pro se complaint brought by the subject of a documentary titled “The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker,” agreeing with a California federal judge’s finding that the man’s copyright claims failed but also finding that he narrowly established a defamation claim against one defendant-appellee for potentially fabricated claims made in the documentary.

BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed in part a New Hampshire federal court’s ruling dismissing for lack of personal jurisdiction a former police officer and his wife’s negligence suit against a company that operates an online marketplace for firearms, finding “no basis for disturbing the District Court's purposeful-availment ruling insofar as it does not relate to” additional evidence provided by the couple.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee federal judge on Feb. 9 dismissed a commercial lines liability insurer’s suit seeking a declaration that no coverage is owed for an underlying suit filed against an insured and stemming from mold exposure because the insurer failed to show that the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000, the federal jurisdictional minimum amount necessary to establish diversity jurisdiction.

NEW ORLEANS — In a per curiam order denying panel rehearing issued without explanation, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals let stand its reversal of an award of more than $1.25 million in attorney fees to a former National Football League player who sued for a higher level of disability benefits than he was awarded, prevailed after a bench trial and then saw that favorable ruling reversed in a previous appeal.

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana appeals panel held that a commercial general liability insurance policy’s assault and battery exclusion unambiguously bars coverage for a wrongful death lawsuit arising from a fatal shooting that occurred at an apartment that was owned by the insured, affirming a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the insurer.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles PC’s knowing collaboration on talc litigation with a former Johnson & Johnson attorney who worked on the same litigation warrants disqualifying the firm from New Jersey’s asbestos-talc multicounty litigation, a state appeals court held in a Feb. 6 opinion reversing a trial court.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Minnesota federal judge’s decision to grant summary judgment of noninfringement in favor of a company accused by Little Giant Ladder Systems LLC; the panel agreed that the accused product did not meet the court’s construction of a claim limitation requiring a “cavity” in a locking mechanism.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Noting that the adage “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” does not apply to lawsuits, the Appellate Court of Maryland affirmed both the Maryland Insurance Administration’s (MIA) finding that the appellant was collaterally estopped from relitigating his insurers’ duty to defend him against an underlying land dispute filed against him and his wife by their neighbors and a lower court’s ruling to strike his second amended complaint when he attempted to add civil claims to his petition for judicial review of the MIA’s conclusion.