Practice Areas
Industries
Southeast
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May 25, 2012
6th Circ. Loosens Causation Standard For ADA Suits
The Sixth Circuit on Friday joined the nation's other appeals courts in determining that the Americans with Disabilities Act does not require a worker suing for discrimination to demonstrate she was fired solely for her disability, reversing a trial court's ruling to the contrary.
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May 25, 2012
6th Circ. Nixes KeyCorp ERISA Case Over Lack Of Injury
A KeyCorp 401(k) plan participant who sold company stock while its price was allegedly artificially inflated suffered no out-of-pocket loss and has no standing to sue, the Sixth Circuit said Friday, declining to revive a putative class action.
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May 25, 2012
AT&T, Motorola, Qualcomm Say Conspiracy Claims Lack Legs
AT&T Inc., Motorola Mobility Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. on Wednesday asked a Mississippi federal court to dismiss allegations that the companies are conspiring to box smaller wireless carriers out of the market, saying a local provider has not shown evidence of a conspiracy.
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May 25, 2012
Top Banks Look To Take Raser's Short-Selling Suit Federal
A group of major investment banks — including Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co. LP — are seeking to duke it out with Raser Technologies Inc. in Georgia federal court over allegations that naked short selling led to the energy company's stint in bankruptcy.
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May 25, 2012
6th Circ. Says Citizens Can't Sue States Over CAA Enforcement
The Sixth Circuit has reversed a lower court decision that private citizens can bring suits against state regulatory agencies that fail to enforce the Clean Air Act, ruling Friday that the Sierra Club's case against the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency must be dismissed.
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May 25, 2012
6th Circ. Burns 'Texas Toast' Crouton Mark As Generic
The Sixth Circuit ruled Friday that the term “Texas toast” could not be trademarked for use on crouton packaging because it was a generic term for oversized bread products, and not for a specific company's goods.
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May 25, 2012
Reach Of High Court's GPS Ruling Expanded In Ky. Drug Bust
A Kentucky federal judge overseeing a criminal drug case recently excluded critical evidence that police collected after attaching a GPS device to the defendant's vehicle without a warrant, extending the reach of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision deeming such surveillance unconstitutional.
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May 25, 2012
McGuireWoods Adds Toxic Tort Pro From Bowman And Brooke
McGuireWoods LLP has expanded its environmental product liability practice by adding a former Bowman and Brooke LLP partner to its Richmond, Va., office, the firm said.
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May 25, 2012
Weil Reps Lehman On $1.6B Archstone Stake Buy
Bankrupt New York investment banking giant Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. has acquired the remaining 26.5 percent stake in Colorado-based residential real estate investment trust Archstone from Barclays PLC and Bank of America Corp. for $1.6 billion, Lehman said Friday.
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May 25, 2012
Dental Center Manager Gets Green Light For Sale To Lenders
A Tennessee bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved a credit bid to sell dental center manager Church Street Health Management LLC to a group of its lenders for $25 million plus their debt, just a few months after fallout from Medicaid fraud claims pushed the company into bankruptcy.
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May 24, 2012
EEOC Loses Bid For Broad Genetic Bias Probe Of Nestle
A Kentucky federal judge on Wednesday nixed the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s bid to investigate Nestle SA for alleged companywide policies of genetic discrimination, finding one discrimination complaint did not give the agency “free rein” to launch a broad probe.
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May 24, 2012
Developers Win Lease For $1B Miami Mixed-Use Project
After being shot down a few months ago, developers Swerdlow Development Co. LLC and Lefrak Organization Inc. on Wednesday night won a lease agreement from the North Miami city council to build more than $1 billion worth of commercial, retail and residential space on a former Superfund site.
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May 24, 2012
Massey Case On Brink Of Trial After Failed Mediation
Claims by hundreds of West Virginia residents against Massey Energy Co. for health problems tied to alleged water contamination could be headed to trial next month after the mining giant failed to reach a settlement in a consolidated class action earlier this week.
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May 24, 2012
Edwards Jury Takes Another Look At Trial Exhibits
The jury in former Sen. John Edwards' campaign corruption trial, still locked in deliberations, asked Thursday for another look at all of the roughly 300 introduced exhibits from the trial, as media outlets continued pushing for the release of the jurors' identities.
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May 24, 2012
Fla. City Sues Again To Ground $810M Airport Expansion
A Florida town on Tuesday extended an 18-year court battle to kill an $810 million runway expansion at Fort Lauderdale's airport, suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for failing to consider noise levels and ignoring a cheaper alternative when it approved a land use permit.
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May 23, 2012
High Court Asked To Nix FTC Protest To Ga. Hospital Merger
Phoebe Putney Health System Inc. fired back Friday at the Federal Trade Commission's bid to have the U.S. Supreme Court hear a dispute over its $195 million merger with Palmyra Park Hospital Inc., arguing that circuit courts aren't split over how to apply the exemption that shielded the deal from antitrust scrutiny.
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May 23, 2012
Investment Club Founder Gets 12 Years For Fraud
The operator of Michigan-based investment club Cash Flow Financial LLC was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay roughly $36 million in restitution Wednesday, after being found guilty of scamming the other participants.
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May 23, 2012
Judge Kills R&B Singer's 'Soul Men' Suit Against MGM, Others
A Tennessee federal judge on Wednesday threw out singer Sam Moore's trademark suit against Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., The Weinstein Co. and others over Moore's 1967 hit song "Soul Man," saying the First Amendment protects the filmmakers behind the 2008 comedy film "Soul Men."
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May 23, 2012
Zee Wants 2nd Shot At Williams Mullen IP Malpractice Suit
Arguing it wasn’t given enough time to submit new evidence, Zee Co. Inc. asked a Virginia federal court Tuesday to reconsider the dismissal of a malpractice case alleging Williams Mullen Clark & Dobbins PC failed to disclose a possible settlement opportunity in a trade secrets suit involving employees.
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May 23, 2012
Enviro Group Disputes 25 Omissions From Endangered List
An environmental advocacy group said Tuesday it plans to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to designate 25 species of amphibians and reptiles found in the Southeast as endangered.
Expert Analysis
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Facing Greater Fraudulent Transfer Liability
A recent Eleventh Circuit decision in the bankruptcy case of homebuilder Tousa Inc. and its affiliates undermines the enforceability of upstream guarantees given by subsidiaries for the benefit of a parent borrower. To protect against its effects, lenders will need to ensure that subsidiary guarantors are solvent or will tangibly benefit from loans to the parent corporations, say Hugh McCullough and Bradley Duncan of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.
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Upholding CWA Negligence Standard In The 5th Circuit
In U.S. v. Pruett, the Fifth Circuit has distinguished, but not overruled, Ahmad, in holding that an offense of the Clean Water Act explicitly requires negligence. This will be important in the Fifth Circuit to the extent a future defendant in that jurisdiction must defend against a knowing violation of the CWA, says Kimberly Bick of Irell & Manella LLP.
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Expanding False Claims Liability In Ga.
The recently enacted Georgia Taxpayer Protection False Claims Act broadens liability for state false claims in order to reach non-Medicaid claims. In several substantive areas, Georgia’s Medicaid and non-Medicaid FCAs differ on key elements related to a state false claims civil action, say attorneys with King & Spalding LLP.
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Case Study: Rosetta Stone V. Google
The Fourth Circuit's highly anticipated ruling in Rosetta Stone Ltd. v. Google Inc. implicitly acknowledges that keyword advertising programs are being used by some advertisers for deceptive purpose, and could renew interest in search engines as potential targets for trademark enforcement actions, say Sheldon Klein and Ashley Ewald of Gray Plant Mooty.
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Va.'s Steadfast Ruling On What Is (Not) An 'Occurrence'
The law of unintended consequences looms large in the global warming debate — and the Virginia Supreme Court's decision in Steadfast v. AES is no exception. The declaratory judgment case is considered a bellwether with respect to insurance companies’ duty to defend climate-change lawsuits, says John Nevius of Anderson Kill & Olick PC.
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Implications Of Sterling Chemicals V. Evans
The Fifth Circuit recently held in Sterling Chemicals V. Evans that a paragraph in an asset purchase agreement qualified as an amendment to an employee benefit plan, highlighting a split between circuits of the U.S. Courts of Appeal, say Paul Compernolle, Michael Graham and Maggie McTigue of McDermott Will & Emery LLP.
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Case Study: SEC V. Morgan Keegan
The Eleventh Circuit's decision in Morgan Keegan follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Matrixx Initiatives Inc. v. Siracusano, which declined to establish a bright-line test for evaluating materiality and instead reaffirmed that whether an alleged misstatement or omission is material is a fact-specific inquiry, say Kenneth Hausman and Arthur Luk of Arnold & Porter LLP.
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Fla.'s 'Captive'-ating New Insurance Legislation
The Florida Legislature has passed an omnibus insurance bill that contains many provisions relating to various types of insurance, one of the most important of which is captive insurance. The new law allows the state of Florida to become a major player in the industry — enabling the formation of new captive insurers in the state, competing with the 30-plus other states for such business, says Beth Vecchioli of Carlton Fields PA.
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Circuit Split? Mirant Vs. Adelphia
The Fifth Circuit decision in In re Mirant Corp. appears to be in direct conflict with Adelphia Recovery Trust v. Bank of America NA, but a closer analysis reveals that the two decisions are reconcilable. Unfortunately, the court in Mirant adopted legal conclusions without much analysis — or any mention of the analysis provided by Adelphia — making the status of this area of law unclear, says Vincent Roldan of Vandenberg & Feliu LLP.
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Where Rubber Hits Road: Examples Of Alternative Fees
Creating new approaches to fee agreements is something to embrace rather than fear — and when structured and managed correctly, it can be financially advantageous. Take, for example, fixed-fee arrangements, result-based billing and portfolio billing, say Bill Rudnick and Keith Maziarek of DLA Piper.