WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer who requires ongoing treatment from medical providers in California was unable to convince the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) that his case should not be transferred to the multidistrict litigation involving the recall of approximately 10.8 million continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea devices pending in a Pennsylvania federal court.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on April 7 granted three Exxon Mobil entities’ motion for summary affirmance of the confirmation of an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award worth roughly $1 billion against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for expropriating oil investments, writing that identical issues to those in the appeal were addressed and resolved by existing precedent.

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal judge on April 7 dismissed without prejudice a negligent investigation claim against the Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS) in a suit filed against it and a DFS law enforcement officer by a roofing salesman alleging that the salesman was wrongfully prosecuted for insurance fraud in a case that was later nolle prossed, finding that the plaintiff failed to assert facts that DFS owed a special tort duty to him and that the allegation related to failure to conduct a diligent investigation “is conclusory.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 7 affirmed a federal judge’s ruling granting confirmation of an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award against the United Mexican States and in favor of a Canadian real estate investor worth $47 million for breaches of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), writing that the tribunal properly found that NAFTA applied to the investor’s real estate investments.

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A federal judge in Vermont on April 7 denied Monsanto Co.’s motion to exclude the opinions of two experts for the Burlington School District (BSD) in its lawsuit alleging contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), saying that he found no reason to exclude their opinions because they are based on Monsanto’s own statements about its responsibilities to protect consumers and the planet. He also said the opinions in question “appear to be supported by a substantial documentary record.”

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A district court did not err in finding that a pollution exclusion bars coverage for an underlying bodily injury claim stemming from carbon monoxide exposure because carbon monoxide qualifies as a pollutant and the carbon monoxide was dispersed, as required by the pollution exclusion, from a portable heater, the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said April 7 in affirming the lower court’s ruling in favor of an insurer.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) correctly denied relief to an air conditioning patent holder that claimed that certain products imported into the United States infringed its patents; the panel affirmed findings that certain claims of the patent were invalid as anticipated, while the remaining claims required elements that the accused products lacked.

CINCINNATI — Affirming that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act expressly preempts parts of Tennessee pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) laws, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 7 called Pharm. Care Mgmt. Ass’n v. Mulready “instructive” and concluded that the laws’ any-willing-provider (AWP) and incentive provisions that apply to self-funded health plans are impermissibly connected with ERISA.