3rd Circuit OKs Interlocutory Appeal Of Class Certification In Severance Case
PHILADELPHIA — Without explanation for why it granted permission for an interlocutory appeal, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed to consider a challenge to certification of a mandatory class in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case concerning severance benefits.
Alaska High Court Allows Opioid Public Nuisance Claim Against Retail Pharmacies
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alaska Supreme Court on Nov. 6 revived the state’s public nuisance claim against retail pharmacies over their alleged role in fueling the opioid epidemic, holding that Alaska sufficiently alleged that the pharmacies’ failure to fulfill their legal duties when dispensing opioids unreasonably interfered with public rights.
U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Hear COVID Vaccine Mandate Dispute With Corporation
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 9 denied a petition for certiorari by the employees in their individual capacities seeking review of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmance of a lower court’s dismissal of the employees’ suit alleging wrongful termination by a company related to former employees’ refusal to comply with masking and testing policies after they were exempted from the requirement to receive the COVID-19 vaccine; the Supreme Court previously denied a similar petition for certiorari in a putative class suit.
Majority Says Issues Of Fact Exist As To Whether Auto Insurer Acted In Bad Faith
ATLANTA — An auto insurer was not entitled to summary judgment on a bad faith claim for failure to negotiate a settlement on behalf of its insured because a reasonable jury could conclude that the insurer’s failure to settle the claim against its insured resulted in the entry of an excess judgment award against the insured, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority said in vacating and remanding the lower court’s judgment.
10th Circuit Vacates Injunction In Athletes’ NCAA 5th-Year Rule Case
DENVER — A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 6 reversed a trial court’s order granting a preliminary injunction in an antitrust class action by Division I student-athletes suing over the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s refusal to apply a new fifth-year eligibility rule retroactively and vacated the injunction, opining that the trial court “clearly erred” in accepting the student-athletes’ proposed labor market definition of “all Division I athletics in the United States” as that “is not plausible.”
Colorado High Court Remands DNA Subpoena Issue To Trial Court
DENVER — In an en banc decision concerning denial of a motion to quash “a wide-ranging subpoena” focused on DNA analysis, the Colorado Supreme Court remanded for further proceedings upon concluding that the “subpoena exceeds the bounds of the governing rule of criminal procedure” and “the district court’s reliance on the Colorado Forensic Science Integrity Act (‘FSIA’) . . . fares no better.”
Meta Seeks Injunction To Stop Enforcement Of Law Curbing Minors’ Social Media Use
SAN FRANCISCO — Meta Platforms Inc. on Nov. 5 moved for a preliminary injunction in California federal court, seeking to stop the enforcement of a California law with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2027, that Meta says prohibits it “from considering minor users’ personal interests when organizing billions of posts across its Facebook, Instagram, and Threads services.”
11th Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment For Health System In Long COVID ADA Suit
ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment for a health system in a suit filed by its former physician, alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and related Florida law, retaliation and workers’ compensation interference related to the health system’s purported failure to grant her accommodations for long COVID, finding in part that testimony and evidence established that she was not a qualified individual under the ADA when the health system terminated her employment.
Washington Judge Orders Albertsons To Pay $900M For Role In State’s Opioid Crisis
SEATTLE — A Washington state judge on Nov. 5 ordered Albertsons Companies Inc. and Safeway Inc. (collectively, Albertsons) to pay $800 million for opioid abatement and $100 million in civil penalties after finding that their opioid distribution and dispensing practices created a public nuisance and violated the state’s consumer protection law.
Judgment Granted For Insurer In Dispute Over Whether Car Was Stolen Or Abandoned
SPOKANE, Wash. — A Washington federal judge granted summary judgment to an auto insurer in an insured’s breach of contract, bad faith and statutory law violations suit accusing the insurer of failure to cover a claim for a vehicle the insured said was stolen but the insurer said was abandoned, finding that the evidence establishes that the insured misrepresented where he left his car and where the alleged theft occurred.
2nd Circuit Finds Securities Fraud Bar Defeats RICO Claims
NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed dismissal of an entrepreneur’s civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claims against his securities broker, holding that the alleged conduct would have been actionable as securities fraud and therefore was barred from serving as the basis for civil RICO claims under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA).