Attorney Says Simple Error, Not AI, Responsible For Citation Mistakes
JACKSON, Miss. — An attorney in a veteran’s First Amendment case took responsibility for errors in a brief and pointed to steps he has taken to prevent future mistakes, saying in a May 15 declaration in response to an order to show cause that incorrect citations were likely the result of switching between legal research tools, tight deadlines and simple error and not the use of artificial intelligence.
5th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of Indictment Over Midtrial Disclosures
NEW ORLEANS — Concluding that the record showed that it was an abuse of discretion to dismiss an indictment without prejudice for the government’s late disclosure of two pieces of evidence, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 15 reversed the dismissal order and remanded with instructions to reinstate the indictment in the case concerning charges of disaster relief fraud and wire fraud.
High Court Grants Fired Public University Workers’ Title IX Sex Bias Suit Petition
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 18 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by two former employees of the University System of Georgia asking the court to determine whether they can privately sue their public employer for sex discrimination under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
Clothing, Footwear Companies Named In Latest Class Suits Seeking Tariff Refunds
NEW YORK — Ralph Lauren Corp. owes consumers more than $5 million the company collected “based on or attributed to . . . unlawful tariffs,” a Florida woman alleges in a putative class complaint filed May 14 in a federal court in New York; the complaint is one of several tariff-related class complaints filed in the last week against clothing and shoe companies and one of several dozen filed in the last few months against various companies that collected tariffs pursuant to executive orders issued by President Donald J. Trump.
Judge Reinstates Verdict Of Over $25M In Software Companies’ Trade Secrets Row
SAN JOSE, Calif. — In a case on remand from the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a California federal judge on May 14 reinstated a jury verdict awarding an employee feedback software company more than $25 million in its trade secret dispute with an employee survey software and analytics company, finding that the original judgment that implemented the jury verdict awarding “$11.7 million in compensatory damages and $14 million in exemplary damages” for trade secret misappropriation is correct.
High Court Grants Stay Of Order Requiring In-Person Visits For Mifepristone
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Supreme Court on May 14 left in place nationwide access to mail-order mifepristone, one of two drugs used to induce early termination of pregnancy, granting a stay of a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision that granted Louisiana’s motion to stay the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2023 decision that removed the in-person dispensing requirement for the drug.
Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint Moots Gore’s Bid To Dismiss PFAS Case, Judge Says
WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware on May 14 denied as moot a motion to dismiss filed by W.L. Gore & Associates Inc. in a lawsuit over the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in its outdoor clothing, ruling that the plaintiffs’ second amended putative class action complaint supersedes the one Gore moved to dismiss.
Federal Circuit Affirms Another Win For Roku In Dispute Before PTAB
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) finding that patent claims describing universal remote-control systems were unpatentable as obvious in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings initiated by Roku Inc. against a rival it has met on appeal at the Federal Circuit in recent months.
Judge Says Creditor May Seek To Enforce $47.6M Award Against Spain
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge granted an award-creditor’s motion for relief allowing it to begin enforcing an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral award against the Kingdom of Spain worth more than $47.6 million and to register the judgment in other districts, and deferred ruling on Spain’s motion to quash or modify the creditor’s postjudgment subpoenas.
High Court: Common-Law Suits Against Freight Brokers Not Preempted By Federal Law
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Reasoning that common-law standards and duties of care are part of a state’s authority to regulate motor vehicle safety, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court on May 14 held that the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA), which preempts state laws related to the services of a broker with respect to the transportation of property but does not restrict the safety regulatory authority of states with respect to motor vehicles, does not preempt common-law actions for negligent hiring of a motor carrier or driver by a freight broker.
3rd Circuit Panel Affirms Dismissal Of BIPA Voiceprint Class Action
PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Delaware federal judge’s dismissal of a biometric privacy putative class action that alleged that Illinois callers’ voiceprints were unlawfully collected, holding that a Georgia-based voice-authentication vendor was exempt under a financial-institution exemption in the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) and that claims against Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS) failed because the alleged conduct did not occur in Illinois.