AppellateRSS

  • August 11, 2009

    7th Circ. Affirms Arbitration Award In Insurers' Spat

    A federal appeals court has overruled John Hancock Life Insurance Co.'s argument that a panel of arbitrators was constituted improperly in a dispute over payments related to WellPoint Inc.'s purchase of some of Hancock's group business operations, affirming a $26.4 million arbitration award for Hancock.

  • August 11, 2009

    Merck Swaps Lead Attorney For Vioxx Appeal

    Months after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Merck & Co. Inc.’s appeal of a decision that reinstated a securities class action alleging it concealed the health risks of its recalled painkiller Vioxx, the pharmaceutical giant has reportedly switched up its lead counsel, making its longtime attorney from Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP take a backseat.

  • August 11, 2009

    Fed. Circ. Affirms Rejection Of Tire Patent Application

    A federal appeals court has upheld the rejection of a patent application covering the interior design of pneumatic tires on obviousness grounds.

  • August 11, 2009

    DC Circ. Remands Airlines' LAX Rent Dispute To DOT

    A circuit court has ordered the U.S. Department of Transportation to reconsider antitrust allegations by Southwest Airlines Co., US Airways Group Inc. and other airlines that the Los Angeles International Airport and the city of Los Angeles unfairly discriminated in hiking the maintenance fees and rents at two terminals while leaving the same costs untouched for airlines with longer leases.

  • August 11, 2009

    SEC Asks 5th Circ. To Block Stanford Clawback Bid

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has asked a federal appeals court to block a court-appointed receiver's bid to seek $400 million in clawbacks from individual investors in the fraud case against Texas billionaire Robert Allen Stanford, saying that such an action would be inequitable.

  • August 11, 2009

    4th Circ. Orders Cert. In Nucor Workers' Race Bias Suit

    A group of steelworkers has convinced a federal appeals court to overturn a lower court's denial of class certification in a suit alleging Nucor Corp. created a hostile work environment and discriminated against black workers at a steel manufacturing plant in South Carolina.

  • August 11, 2009

    GGP Asks Judge To Toss Ch. 11 Appeal

    Bankrupt mall owner General Growth Properties Inc. has urged a district judge to reject A&K Endowment Inc.'s appeal of its debtor-in-possession financing, saying the bankruptcy court did not err in approving the deal.

  • August 10, 2009

    Ex-Westar Execs Must Face 3rd Trial: 10th Circ.

    An appellate court has denied two former Westar Energy Inc. executives' bid to dismiss the federal government's case alleging that they tried to loot the Kansas public utility on double jeopardy grounds, affirming a decision by a district court last year.

  • August 10, 2009

    Texas Court Reverses Ruling On Oil Cos.' Covenant

    A Texas appeals court has thrown out a covenant not to compete that two drillers entered into in the wake of a $34 million rig sale, overturning a lower court decision.

  • August 10, 2009

    DOE To Revisit Transformer Efficiency Standards

    A federal appeals court has signed off on a settlement between several environmental groups — including Earthjustice, the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council — and the U.S. Department of Energy in which the agency has agreed to review efficiency standards for power distribution transformers.

  • August 10, 2009

    Pool Defect Claims Contractual, Not Tort: 5th Circ.

    Ruling that the claims in an underlying fight over defects at a Texas swimming pool construction project constitute breach of contract rather than tort, a federal appeals court has affirmed a district court's decision that Century Surety Co. is not required to defend or indemnify a Fort Worth-based contractor.

  • August 7, 2009

    8th Circ. Hands Contractor Win In Insurance Spat

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has reversed a lower court's decision in favor of a group of insurers, including Lloyd's of London, in a breach of contract and bad faith denial of an insurance claim suit related to water damage sustained at a Florida retirement community.

  • August 7, 2009

    Mixed Ruling In 6th Circ. McDonald's FLSA Appeal

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has weighed in on two long-running suits between teenage workers and the McDonald's Corp. franchisee they claim shorted them on pay, giving neither side a clear-cut victory.

  • August 7, 2009

    HVB, Sidley Austin, LeBoeuf Escape Ga. RICO Claims

    A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of state fraud claims in a suit brought by Curtis Investment Co. LLC alleging that Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG, Sidley Austin LLP and the former LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & McRae LLP, along with several other defendants, fraudulently marketed a tax shelter that turned out to be illegal.

  • August 7, 2009

    News Giants Back Publication Of 'Catcher' Spinoff

    The New York Times Co., Gannett Co. Inc., the Associated Press and Tribune Co. have weighed in on the side of an author fighting a preliminary injunction blocking the U.S. publication of his novel based on J.D. Salinger’s classic 1951 book “The Catcher in the Rye.”

  • August 7, 2009

    Bilski Test Stifles Innovation Across Industries: Briefs

    The Bilski test may have been crafted to limit patent eligibility for business methods, but the standard set by a federal appeals court in October 2008 is likely to exclude unforeseen innovations in the financial services, biotechnology, technology and other sectors, according to the latest set of amicus briefs filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • August 7, 2009

    Power Transmission Cost-Sharing Plan Unfair: 7th Circ.

    A federal appeals court has granted a petition for review of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of a financing scheme for the construction of new high-voltage power transmission facilities serving the Mid-Atlantic region, finding that Midwestern utilities are being asked to shoulder too much of the burden.

  • August 7, 2009

    Honeywell Appeals Judgment In LCD Patent Case

    Honeywell International Inc. has filed notice that it is appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit its suit alleging infringement by a slew of technology companies of a patent related to flat-panel liquid crystal displays.

  • August 7, 2009

    AT&T Option Coverage Suit Rightly Tossed: Court

    A New Jersey appeals court has affirmed motions to dismiss in AT&T Corp.'s coverage suit against two separate fiduciary insurance programs over litigation stemming from adjustments to a stock option plan issued to former MediaOne Group Inc. executives following the AT&T-MediaOne merger.

  • August 7, 2009

    Enviros Take Idaho Mine Expansion Suit To 9th Circ.

    The Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups have appealed a ruling that their claims lack merit, in a suit seeking to block the U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies from allowing an Idaho phosphate mine to expand further into a national forest.