Split 4th Circuit Revives Driver’s Retaliatory Discharge Claim In Racial Bias Suit
RICHMOND, Va. — A Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel, in vacating and remanding a South Carolina federal judge’s award of summary judgment, held that an African-American man who was fired from his job as a driver for a recycling company after complaining about racial discrimination provided enough evidence to show genuine issues of material fact about his employer’s characterization of its stated reason for firing him as “belligerent and insubordinate conduct” to support a finding of pretext on a retaliation claim.
Supreme Court Denies Verizon’s Limited Rehearing Petition In FCC Forfeiture Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 17 denied Verizon Communications Inc.’s petition for rehearing seeking to modify the court’s disposition from affirmance to affirmance with a remand as to Verizon only following the court’s holding that the Federal Communications Commission’s forfeiture orders do not violate the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in consolidated cases in which Verizon and AT&T Inc. asserted constitutional challenges to the FCC’s enforcement of monetary forfeitures under the Communications Act.
Judge In Baby Formula MDL Warns No More Bellwethers Without Live Testimony
CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge issued a warning that no more bellwether trials in multidistrict litigation filed against the manufacturers of infant formula that allegedly caused preterm infants to develop necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) will be held “absent assurances that the majority of fact witnesses will appear for live, in-person testimony” after learning just days before the first trial was set to commence that most of the witnesses would be “testifying via pre-recorded deposition designations.”
After Temporary Stay Expired, High Court Denies Stay In Apple, Epic Antitrust Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — After granting Apple Inc. an administrative stay that expired at 5 p.m. on Aug. 13, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan that same day denied Apple’s application for a stay of the proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which granted injunctive relief and issued a contempt finding against Apple over anticompetitive practices on its App Store in an antitrust dispute with Epic Games Inc.
Committee Upholds $23M Award, Orders Argentina To Pay $1.2M More In Fees And Costs
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Aug. 13 published an ad hoc committee’s decision denying in full the Argentine Republic’s application to annul a split tribunal’s award against it worth more than $23 million in favor of Austrian investment entities whose gaming license investment was expropriated and ordering Argentina to pay more than $1.2 million in attorney fees, expenses and arbitration costs because it raised “duplicative” arguments “which could never have been sustainable.”
Judge Stays $1.3M In Sanctions While School Appeals In Fraught Trademark Fight
ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida federal judge agreed to stay the enforcement of more than $1.3 million in Rule 11 sanctions while attorneys that represented a plaintiff school entity and the school itself appeal the order; sanctions were entered after the plaintiff school continued to pursue nationwide trademark damages for several months in 2023 after discovery failed to produce supporting evidence and engaged in what the judge previously called “five-and-a-half years of abusive litigation” in a dispute over virtual schooling trademarks while some of the attorneys appeal the sanctions.
Fla. Panel Reverses Order Requiring FIGA To Pay Attorney Fees In Coverage Dispute
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida appellate court panel reversed and remanded a lower court’s order denying a motion by the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) to enforce a settlement agreement and granting the insureds’ motion to enforce a settlement agreement in a dispute over coverage for purported water damage, finding that the lower court erred in requiring that FIGA “pay the entire settlement amount,” which included the attorney fee portion.
11th Circuit Affirms Award Of Fees Out Of Undisbursed Bankruptcy Funds
ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s award of attorney fees to a debtor’s lawyer, finding the debtor failed to show the bankruptcy court erred in allowing attorney fees to be paid from undisbursed funds held by the bankruptcy trustee after the debtor’s Chapter 13 bankruptcy case was dismissed.
9th Circuit Remands Indian Satellite Row, Bars Forum Non Conveniens Challenge
SAN FRANCISCO — On remand after reversal by the U.S. Supreme Court, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in two Aug. 12 rulings affirmed the confirmation of an arbitration award worth more than $1.2 billion against an Indian state-owned company, ruled on an issue of first impression that forum non conveniens challenges do not apply to petitions to confirm under the New York Convention, vacated a ruling allowing intervenors to register the judgment and remanded the issue of whether the award’s set-aside in India “warrants relief from judgment.”
Supreme Court Orders Lower Court To Stay Proceedings In Epic, Apple Antitrust Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on Aug. 12 granted an application by Apple Inc. and issued an administrative stay of the proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which granted injunctive relief and issued a contempt finding against Apple over anticompetitive practices on its App Store in an antitrust dispute with Epic Games Inc.
En Banc 5th Circuit Nixes Part Of Agencies’ No Surprises Act Rule
NEW ORLEANS — In an en banc ruling to which some judges partially dissented, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed universal vacatur of two challenged provisions of an agency rule implementing the No Surprises Act (NSA) that concerned qualifying payment amount (QPA) issues; however, the appellate court also reversed universal vacatur of a third provision.