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Southeast
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August 31, 2012
USPTO Defends AIA's First-To-File System As Constitutional
The first-inventor-to-file system championed by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act will neither stifle innovation nor violate the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said Thursday in an attempt to prevent an injunction stopping the system from going into effect.
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August 31, 2012
Janssen Loses La. Appeal Of $258M Risperdal Verdict
A Louisiana appeals court on Friday rejected an attempt by the pharmaceuticals unit of consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson to vacate a jury award of $258 million over its marketing of the antipsychotic drug Risperdal, saying the trial court rightly followed due process.
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August 31, 2012
Starwood Wants Piece Of $131M Margaritaville Resort Project
Private equity firm Starwood Capital Group wants to finance a chunk of a $131 million resort project in Hollywood Beach, Fla., in return for a spot on the development group, paving the way for the project's final approvals, a city spokeswoman said Friday.
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August 31, 2012
Energy Cos. Ask FERC To Deny $32M Gulf Gas Facilities Sale
A host of energy heavyweights on Wednesday asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to deny Kinetica Energy Express LLC’s $32 million bid to buy Gulf of Mexico natural gas processing and transportation infrastructure from Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., saying the deal threatens long-term Gulf gas production.
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August 31, 2012
SEC Ducks Sanctions Over Evidence In $23M Radius MBS Suit
A Florida federal judge refused Thursday to sanction the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly destroying evidence in its suit alleging Radius Capital Corp.'s CEO tricked Ginnie Mae into guaranteeing $23 million in mortgage-backed securities.
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August 30, 2012
Northrop Keeps $2M Suit Over Army Software In Fed. Court
A Virginia federal judge on Tuesday refused to remand a $2.4 million lawsuit against Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., saying Northrop was directed by a federal officer when it ended a subcontractor's software licensing agreement, meaning the matter belongs in federal court.
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August 30, 2012
SC City Appeals $26B Duke-Progress Merger Approval
The City of Orangeburg, S.C., on Wednesday notified the North Carolina Utilities Commission that it planned to appeal the agency's June 29 approval of the $26 billion merger of Duke Energy Corp. and Progress Energy Inc., saying it had overstepped its authority.
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August 30, 2012
8th Circ. Backs Broad Reading Of Executory Contracts
A contract between companies that have fulfilled most but not all of their obligations to one another is executory, or able to be rejected in bankruptcy court, the Eighth Circuit said Thursday in a published decision involving a trademark licensing deal.
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August 30, 2012
FTC Sues To Get Patient Data Spreadsheet From LabMD
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission asked a federal judge on Wednesday to force medical testing provider LabMD Inc. to comply with the agency’s requests for data in an investigation into whether patients’ private information is properly protected.
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August 30, 2012
REIT Pays $103M For Senior Care, Medical Office Properties
A real estate investment trust co-sponsored by American Healthcare Investors and Griffin Capital Corp. has bought a 20-property portfolio of senior care communities and medical office buildings from Regency Pacific Management LLC affiliates for about $103 million, the companies announced Wednesday.
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August 30, 2012
Hitachi Unit Accused Of Breaching Blade Server Tech Patent
In its latest lawsuit over patented blade server devices, Acceleron LLC sued a unit of Hitachi Ltd. on Tuesday in Georgia federal court for allegedly unauthorized use of technology that prevents disruptions to large computer networks.
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August 30, 2012
Chevron Faces Indemnity Claim In Navy Subcontractor Suit
Chubb Corp. unit Federal Insurance Co. lodged a third-party complaint on Thursday against Chevron Energy Solutions Co. in a $1.4 million insurance dispute over work performed by contracting firm Piedmont Mechanical Inc. on a Navy power plant project, arguing that Chevron is obligated to indemnify FIC.
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August 30, 2012
Kolon Banned From Making Body Armor Fiber For 20 Years
A Virginia federal judge on Thursday banned Kolon Industries Inc. from producing a body-armor material for 20 years, marking a win for DuPont Co. in a trade secret battle that saw Kolon slapped with a $920 million jury verdict last year.
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August 30, 2012
BP, Shell Say Pipeline Co. Tricked FERC In Gas Facilities Buy
BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC shipping units on Monday asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider a private equity-backed company's takeover of several Louisiana gas-gathering sites after what they call a bait-and-switch that flies in the face of the public interest.
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August 30, 2012
Fla. Appeals Court Kills $400M Resort Development
Florida's Second District Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday that a lower court did not exceed its jurisdiction by reversing a town council's approval of a $400 million resort expansion in Florida, according to a published opinion.
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August 30, 2012
Toyota Hits Ex-Programmer With Trade Secrets Suit
A Toyota Motor Corp. unit lodged an amended complaint against a recently fired computer programming contractor in Kentucky federal court on Tuesday, accusing him of sabotaging the company's computer network and accessing confidential trade secrets such as pricing data and proprietary design information.
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August 30, 2012
Pfizer Units Triumph In Latest Hormone Therapy Suit
An Arkansas federal jury on Wednesday granted a verdict to Pfizer Inc. units Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc. in a suit by a woman claiming Premarin and the companies' other menopause hormone therapy drugs gave her breast cancer, the companies' ninth win in the last 11 such suits decided at trial.
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August 30, 2012
J&J To Pay States $181M Over Deceptive Risperdal Marketing
Johnson & Johnson agreed Thursday to pay $181 million to 36 states and Washington, D.C., to resolve claims that it deceptively marketed its antipsychotic drugs Risperdal and Invega in what the states are calling the largest-ever multistate consumer protection settlement with a pharmaceutical company.
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August 30, 2012
6th Circ. Sides With Atlantic In Insurance Stacking Suit
The Sixth Circuit on Wednesday affirmed a lower court's finding that Atlantic Mutual Insurance Co. did not have to provide additional uninsured motorist coverage to a Kentucky resident who brought suit seeking to stack coverage in his master insurance policy for injuries from a car accident.
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August 30, 2012
Gentiva Clinicians Denied Class Cert. In OT Lawsuit
A Georgia federal judge on Wednesday refused to certify a class of clinicians who claim that Gentiva Health Services Inc. violated North Carolina labor laws by failing to pay overtime wages, saying that their claims were too individualized.
Expert Analysis
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The Costs Of A Potential Blue Cross Conspiracy
Two recent lawsuits allege that Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association entities in North Carolina and Alabama have violated federal and state antitrust laws by engaging in concerted action with other BCBS plans nationwide. If the plaintiffs’ allegations of market allocation are true, the cases may have significant implications for providers, say attorneys with King & Spalding LLP.
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Predictive Coding — Putting The Cart Before The Horse
Many providers and pundits may focus on the Kleen Products LLC v. Packaging Corporation of America case currently pending in Illinois as proof of either judicial acceptance or rejection of predictive coding. But the need for parties to act reasonably in litigation and e-discovery trumps any debate over the use of new technologies, says Christina Zachariason of Navigant Consulting Inc.
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The Uncertain Fate Of Learned Intermediary Doctrine
No consensus exists between and among the states as to the source, the scope or, in a few jurisdictions, even the availability of the learned intermediary doctrine as a defense. A review of case law in five states shows just how disparately the learned intermediary doctrine is treated, says Carol Smith of Frost Brown Todd LLC.
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9th Circ. Firsts: Equitable Mootness And Arbitration
2012 is shaping up as a year of bankruptcy first impressions for the Ninth Circuit. The court has sailed into uncharted bankruptcy waters twice already this year in the same Chapter 11 case — In re Thorpe Insulation Co., say attorneys with Jones Day.
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A Lesson For Insurance Cos.: Be (Due) Diligent
In PHL Variable Life Insurance Co. v. Faye Keith Jolly Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust, the Eleventh Circuit has affirmed the clear proposition that a life insurance company cannot blithely ignore "red flags" of insurance application fraud or misrepresentations during the underwriting/application process and then later attempt to keep the premiums paid on a rescinded policy, say Brian Casey and Thomas Sherman of Locke Lord LLP.
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Statutory Noncompliance Doesn't Always Violate The FCA
The Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Drakeford v. Tuomey Healthcare System Inc. highlights the fact that proving a False Claims Act violation requires not only the submission of a claim that is false, but also that the false claim was submitted “knowingly," says Daniel Donohue of Husch Blackwell LLP.
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Filling In The Gaps For Excess Insurance Coverage
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has issued a significant ruling in Maximus Inc. v. Twin City Fire Ins. Co. The decision underscores the policyholder’s right to settle claims with one party without jeopardizing its contractual rights as to others, say Michael Levine and Christine Terrell of Hunton & Williams LLP.
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Harnessing Wind And Sun To Reduce Taxes
As with other Louisiana industries targeted by tax credits, the solar and wind energy sectors are starting to see increased economic development activity. Unlike many of the state’s other tax incentives, however, a positive byproduct of this credit is the preservation of the state’s natural resources, says Robert Wollfarth of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC.
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Takeaways From Rosetta Stone V. Google
The Fourth Circuit's recent Rosetta Stone Ltd. v. Google decision revives Rosetta Stone’s claim of trademark infringement and dilution against Google based on the use of trademarked keywords that generate online advertisements. Brand owners and Internet advertisers — take note, says William Schultz of Merchant & Gould.
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A Failure Of Logic In Va. Supreme Court GHG Case
The Virginia Supreme Court has issued its opinion on rehearing in the greenhouse-gas case of AES Corp. v. Steadfast Ins. Co., noting that “occurrence" and "accident" are terms that "... refer to an incident that was unexpected from the viewpoint of the insured” — but the court went awry by adopting the converse of this premise as being the logical equivalent, says Marc Mayerson of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.