OAKLAND, Calif. — After upholding denial of the long-term disability (LTD) the claim of an account executive who argued that conditions including tinnitus and anxiety rendered him disabled, a California federal judge entered judgment against the claimant on Sept. 16; reviewing the denial de novo, the judge said in part that it rested on the claimant’s “failure to demonstrate that the diagnoses resulted in a disability that prevented him from working in his Own Occupation.”

PASADENA, Calif.— The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer in an insured’s breach of contract, bad faith, unfair competition and declaratory relief lawsuit, holding that the insurer has no duty to defend against an underlying negligence lawsuit arising from sexual assault and harassment because it was brought after the policy’s coverage and extended reporting periods expired.

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge rejected a manufacturer’s argument that federal law preempts claims that its product, used in skin resurfacing and body contouring procedures, caused a woman severe burns and scarring but dismissed the claims with leave to amend because the woman failed to sufficiently allege a product defect.

PHILADELPHIA — Any promise a Pennsylvania university made for in-person education was discharged in March 2020 when the state’s governor issued an executive order temporarily closing schools in the state due to the coronavirus pandemic, a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled, granting summary judgment to Villanova University in a student’s putative class action seeking damages for breach of contract and unjust enrichment.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Finding that a coding technology company still held a valid exclusive license to a series of patents and copyrights when it shifted its business to enforcement of intellectual property, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed a Delaware federal court’s dismissal of the company’s suit against Broadcom Inc. and other defendant-appellees because the university that owned the intellectual property was not an otherwise necessary party and because the plaintiff-appellant’s license was not terminated as a result of the shift in business.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court in a split decision late Sept. 14 denied the government’s application to stay a Massachusetts federal judge’s injunction barring mandatory enforcement of the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) mail-in ballot rule for elections occurring on or before the Nov. 3 midterm elections pending appeal, blocking the government’s attempt to restore requirements that states submit voter-linked information through a federal portal for ballot verification that the government said was necessary for election integrity but drew privacy challenges over disclosure of confidential voter data, among other issues.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its petitioner’s brief filed Sept. 14 in the U.S. Supreme Court, Apple Inc. urges the court to reverse a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling upholding a district court’s contempt finding against Apple over anticompetitive practices on its App Store in an antitrust dispute with Epic Games Inc., arguing that the Ninth Circuit erred in affirming contempt based on an injunction’s “spirit” rather than its text.

NEW ORLEANS — A majority of a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Sept. 14 that a television production company insured forfeited its argument that an insurance policy’s “reality show” exclusion is ambiguous and, therefore, must be construed in its favor, affirming a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the insurer in a coverage dispute arising from underlying injury claims brought against the insured by participants of the reality television show “My 600-lb Life.”