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WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Ohio correctly granted judgment as a matter of law to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. because no reasonable jury could have found that the plaintiffs/appellants should have been added as inventors to one of Goodyear’s patents on a self-inflating tire, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Dec. 8.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A trial court’s dismissal of a putative class claim that a movie theater chain violated the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) was affirmed by an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 8, which concluded that although the chain shares certain consumer information with Meta Platforms Inc., it does not qualify as a video tape service provider (VTSP) under the statute.
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 8, applying a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling on certified questions of law regarding the arbitrability of insurance disputes, affirmed a lower court’s denial of domestic insurers’ motion to compel arbitration of a Louisiana town’s claims for damages, breach of contract and bad faith after finding that the participation of foreign insurers in the policy does not require the court to apply the New York Convention.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 8 asked the U.S. solicitor general to weigh in on a case brought by two former employees of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia asking the high court to determine if they can privately sue their public employer for sex discrimination under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
PHILADELPHIA — Agreeing with the conclusions of a New Jersey federal court, a panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 8 affirmed the lower court judgment that the claims of federal employees and contractors challenging presidential executive orders implementing a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy were moot and that exceptions to mootness that might preserve their viability did not apply.
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge on Dec. 8 granted preliminary approval of a settlement under which Wells Fargo & Co. would pay $84 million to resolve a class action against it and two other defendants; the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit challenges how Wells Fargo used dividends of its preferred stock held in its 401(k)’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) fund.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A split Ohio Supreme Court adopted the state Board of Professional Conduct’s misconduct findings related to an attorney convicted of insurance fraud but rejected the board’s recommended one-year suspension sanction, finding that the attorney’s “fraudulent scheme of falsely inflating $859,464.44 worth of clients’ medical bills to increase the amount he received in bonuses warrants an indefinite suspension from the practice of law.”
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 8 entered an order dismissing a consumer’s appeal of the dismissal of her putative class action accusing a butter alternative maker of deceiving consumers by manufacturing a watery and oily product that allegedly led to consumer complaints regarding the sale of “rancid” products after the parties filed a joint stipulation of dismissal.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 8 invited the solicitor general to file a brief expressing the views of the United States regarding questions presented by health care workers challenging a now-repealed New York COVID-19 vaccine law that they say violated federal law.
NEW YORK — Ruling against the appellant on all points except the one regarding which the U.S. government conceded that it had erred, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed that a five-month discovery stay in a civil forfeiture action did not constitute a violation of the appellant’s due process rights and that his request for attorney fees and costs under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 (CAFRA) was properly denied.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Dec. 8 per curiam opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the petition for writ of certiorari of a man who claims that physical therapy providers who refused to treat his severe back pain because of his HIV status discriminated against him in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (RA) and reversed the judgment of a Louisiana state appeals court that found that physical therapy providers were immune from liability pursuant to COVID-19 pandemic health care declarations and the Louisiana Health Emergency Powers Act (LHEPA).