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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by two trade associations that advocate for the expansion of the use of ethanol and other biofuels that challenged whether the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is the proper venue to review exemptions from the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) Renewable Fuels Standards (RFS) program that mandates the amount of fuel to be blended annually into the national supply of gasoline and diesel fuel, with the high court also vacating and remanding the Fifth Circuit’s ruling in light of a decision in EPA v. Calumet Shreveport Refining, LLC, et al.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a pair of June 30 opinions, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a set of mixed findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that held that most, but not all, claims valid in patents describing a method for improving computer processor power for autonomous actions, despite arguments from Amazon.com Inc. and other entities that prior art rendered all claims unpatentable as obvious.
RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge on June 30 granted a boat insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings, construing it as a summary judgment motion in a coverage dispute, finding that the insurer is entitled to summary judgment due to a policy exclusion and is not bound by the terms of the policy due to the insured’s “material misrepresentation” regarding his driving record.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled that the April executive order (EO) “targeting” Susman Godfrey LLP “violates the U.S. Constitution and must be permanently enjoined.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari seeking consideration of a question concerning a high school teacher’s social media posts and whether they were preemployment speech; Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with the denial but filed a statement “to raise serious concerns about the First Circuit’s approach,” calling the appellate panel’s analysis under the framework of Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205, Will Cty. and Garcetti v. Ceballos “deeply flawed.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 denied the petition for writ of certiorari of rental property owners seeking review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel decision affirming a California federal court ruling that a COVID-era eviction moratorium was not an uncompensated taking of property in violation of the Fifth Amendment.
CHICAGO — A $16.75 million settlement by California Institute of Technology (Caltech), one of more than a dozen schools accused in a class case of “participating in a price-fixing cartel that is designed to reduce or eliminate financial aid as a locus of competition” was granted final approval by a federal judge in Illinois.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 granted petitions for writ of certiorari to a global energy technology company and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and vacated and remanded for further consideration their challenges to an appellate decision that an exception to the Hobbs Act and the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) stripped the federal agency’s authority to issue a license to store spent nuclear fuel at a proposed facility in New Mexico in light of a decision in a similar case.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari from an internet service provider (ISP) that told the court that the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to find it liable for contributory infringement for the actions of internet users who infringed on copyrights held by a group of record labels and music publishers; the high court also denied the labels’ cross-petition challenging the Fourth Circuit’s decision to vacate a $1 billion award in their favor for vicarious infringement.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 granted certiorari to a petition filed by closed-end funds (CEFs) regarding whether a section of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (ICA) includes a private right of action.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court in a June 30 orders list invited the U.S. solicitor general to provide the federal government’s perspective on a petition to review a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals 2-1 revival of a putative class action over a passively managed Northern Trust Focus Funds suite of target date funds (TDFs); the decision concerns the role benchmarks play in pleading Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims.