AppellateRSS

  • February 13, 2009

    4th Circ. Nixes Ruling For Ohio Casualty In Mold Suit

    Reversing a lower court ruling, a federal appeals court has found Ohio Casualty Co. responsible for indemnifying homebuilder Stanley Martin Cos. Inc. for the cost of repairing mold damage caused by a subcontractor.

  • February 13, 2009

    4th Circ. Blasts Away W.Va. Coal Mining Injunctions

    A federal appeals court on Friday overturned a West Virginia district court's ruling requiring the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct more thorough environmental scrutiny prior to issuing Clean Water Act permits for mountaintop coal mines.

  • February 13, 2009

    4th Circ. Revives DII Trade Secrets Case V. Sentia

    A federal appeals court has revived many of Decision Insights Inc.’s claims alleging that Sentia Group Inc. and several of DII’s former employees misappropriated trade secrets related to software technology and breached nondisclosure agreements.

  • February 13, 2009

    5th Circ. Won't Review Ex-Enron CEO Appeal

    A federal appeals court has rejected Jeffrey Skilling's bid for an en banc rehearing, but the former Enron Corp. CEO aims to take his challenge to his 2006 convictions stemming from the fraud that led to the energy giant’s collapse to the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • February 12, 2009

    Judge Accuses Stryker Of Warped Riegel Reading

    A judge has denied a motion by Stryker Orthopaedics to toss a product liability case over its Trident hip implant, saying the company was trying to stretch last year's U.S. Supreme Court medical device preemption ruling “beyond recognition.”

  • March 10, 2009

    Medical Cos.' Success With Riegel May Be Short-Lived

    While the U.S. Supreme Court's recent preemption decision in Wyeth v. Levine was a blow to drugmakers, medical device makers have had great success in the year since the high court made a pro-preemption ruling in the high-stakes Riegel v. Medtronic — but Congress could put an end to that success.

  • February 12, 2009

    CSX Units Must Pay For NJ River Cleanup: 3rd Circ.

    Two CSX Corp. subsidiaries must indemnify Pharmacia Corp. for the costs of investigating river contamination possibly stemming from a former chemical manufacturing site in Kearny, N.J., a federal appeals court has ruled.

  • February 12, 2009

    Injunction Barring Worldcom Claims V. UBS Affirmed

    A federal appeals court has rejected two WorldCom Inc. shareholders' challenge to a permanent injunction that blocked them from bringing arbitration claims against UBS Financial Services Inc. over investments in securities issued by WorldCom.

  • February 12, 2009

    Landlords Call Circuit City Bid Procedures Unfair

    Landlords holding leases on Circuit City Stores Inc. outlets have filed a raft of objections to the liquidation plan the company filed in January, arguing that several of the plan's provisions set the bar for the landlords' participation in the auction process too high and do not allow them to reject unwanted tenants.

  • February 12, 2009

    9th Circ. Sets Terms For SLUSA Del. Carve-Out

    A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that shareholders of a company can sue their financial advisers over bad advice provided during mergers and other special situations under the Delaware carve-out of the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act, reversing a lower court ruling.

  • February 12, 2009

    Wal-Mart Worker Life Insurance Claims Can Proceed

    Reversing a lower court’s finding over a statute of limitations, a federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a group of families of deceased Louisiana Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employees, on whom the retailer allegedly took out life insurance policies for its own benefit.

  • March 2, 2009

    Courts Get Tough On Willfulness Claims After Seagate

    Federal judges are more likely to shoot down a patent owner’s claim that an invention has been willfully infringed, and more likely to make that determination earlier in the case, following the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s decision in In re: Seagate Technology LLC.

  • February 12, 2009

    7th Circ. Upholds Evidence Limits In Effexor Suit

    A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that “black box” warnings of increased dangers of suicide among children and adolescents taking antidepressants did not have to be allowed as evidence in a lawsuit over the 2002 suicide of an Illinois man who took Wyeth Inc.'s antidepressant Effexor.

  • February 12, 2009

    Law Experts Call For Overhaul Of Supreme Court

    A group of law experts is asking Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice to consider key reforms at the Supreme Court out of a concern that the justices have gained too much power without enough accountability.

  • February 12, 2009

    H2B Workers Not Entitled To Reimbursement: 5th Circ.

    A federal appeals court has ruled that the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require employers to reimburse guest workers on H-2B visas for recruitment, visa and travel expenses they incur before relocating to the U.S.

  • February 12, 2009

    4th Circ. Reverses Rulings On National Gas Contracts

    An appeals court has rejected a bankruptcy court's conclusion that natural gas supply contracts between National Gas Distributors LLC and parties including Smithfield Packing Co. Inc. were not swap agreements, reversing a finding that BP Energy Co. called a threat to the integrity of the natural gas market.

  • February 12, 2009

    AT&T Workers Invoke Ledbetter In High Court Fight

    A group of women in a U.S. Supreme Court battle with AT&T Corp. over claims the company shortchanged them on service credit for maternity leave taken before the enactment of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 has urged the high court to weigh the effect of a recently enacted workplace law that relaxes the statute of limitations on wage bias claims.

  • February 12, 2009

    Miners Union Gets Partial Win Over MSHA Rule

    The United Mine Workers of America has partially won a challenge to a final rule issued by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit finding some of the provisions concerning mine rescue teams at odds with the underlying legislation.

  • February 10, 2009

    Fed. Circ. Nixes $2M Ruling V. Bath & Body Works

    A federal appeals court has overturned a $2.8 million patent infringement ruling against the owner of Bath & Body Works in a dispute over a patent for a type of candle container with a lid that doubles as a base.

  • February 10, 2009

    1st Circ. Sets Criteria For SOX Whistleblower Claims

    In its first interpretation of the requirements for an action under the whistleblower protection provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has upheld a ruling in favor of Staples Inc. in a suit by a former product returns analyst who accused the company of shareholder fraud.