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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on March 25 about whether workers who locally deliver goods without crossing state borders are characterized as “transportation workers” who are “engaged in foreign or interstate commerce” and therefore exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) in a dispute regarding the classification of an employee of a national bakery products corporation.

Maryland Supreme Court Holds Opioid Claims Do Not Constitute Public Nuisance

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The Maryland Supreme Court, in answering a certified question from a district court, held “that the licensed dispensing of, or administration of benefit plans for, a controlled substance does not constitute an actionable public nuisance.”

2nd Circuit Stands By Ruling That Exclusion Bars Professional Liability Coverage

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 24 refused to reconsider its holding that a professional liability insurance policy’s fee exclusion bars coverage for a financial services company insured’s liability in two underlying class actions alleging that certain mortgage loan fees were unlawful and that the insured was derivatively liable under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act.

Federal Circuit Rejects Bid To Rethink Claims Nintendo Infringed Handheld Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected a gaming company’s petition for rehearing en banc or panel rehearing, leaving in place a panel’s January opinion that held that Nintendo Co. Ltd. does not infringe the plaintiff-appellant’s patent.

Supreme Court Reverses Finding That ISP Is Liable For Users’ Infringement

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 25 held that an internet service provider (ISP) could not be found contributorily liable for users’ piracy of material from a group of record labels and music publishers without a showing of intent through inducement of infringement or providing of a service designed for infringement, reversing a finding by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that drew warnings from the U.S. government of potential negative impacts to widely available internet access.

U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arguments In Asylum Rights Class Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Only someone who “arrives in the United States” may seek asylum, and that phrase, as used in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), only refers to someone in the United States and not someone at the border standing in Mexico, Assistant to the Solicitor General Vivek Suri argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on March 24 in a case in which the federal government is challenging a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that partially upheld a permanent injunction in a class case over a now-rescinded border metering policy.

Supreme Court Won’t Consider Revival Of Antitrust Claims To Copyright Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a real estate entity’s petition for a writ of certiorari, declining to hear arguments that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly revived antitrust counterclaims filed against the entity in response to copyright claims it brought against another real estate entity; the petitioner had also argued that the Ninth Circuit wrongly created a novel theory of exclusive dealing based on customer misunderstanding.

Coverage Suit Arising From Tubbs Fire Was Not Timely Filed, 9th Circuit Affirms

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 23 held that an insured failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact regarding whether she timely filed her lawsuit seeking coverage for her alleged loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal belongings that were destroyed by the Tubbs Fire in October 2017, affirming a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the insurers in her five-year-old pro se lawsuit alleging claims for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, misrepresentation, emotional distress and violations of the Unruh Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and California Business and Professions Code Section 17200.

5th Circuit Grants Petition, Vacates FTC Cease-And-Desist Order Over Intuit Ads

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a petition filed by Intuit Inc., the seller of online tax preparation product TurboTax, and vacated a 20-year cease-and-desist order issued by the Federal Trade Commission preventing Intuit from advertising any services as free, finding that the administrative law judge proceeding resulting in the order violated the separation of powers under Article III of the U.S. Constitution because deceptive advertising suits involve private rights requiring adjudication in federal court.

6th Circuit OKs Injunction Denial In Pet Service Row For Unclean Hands

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that a Michigan federal judge did not abuse his discretion in largely denying a pet care services company’s request for a preliminary injunction against former franchisees the company said misappropriated proprietary methods, client data and trademarks; the panel saw no error in the district court’s application of the unclean hands doctrine.

Kentucky Supreme Court Affirms Duty To Prevent Take-Home Asbestos Exposures

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A duty exists under Kentucky negligence and product liability law to prevent foreseeable household exposures to asbestos that are “regular and repeated,” the Kentucky Supreme Court said in affirming a ruling reversing summary judgment for two defendants in an asbestos case and in finding that a summer job didn’t trigger workers’ compensation system exclusivity.