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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 6 granted an internet service provider’s (ISP) petition for a writ of certiorari and then immediately vacated a ruling by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that held that the ISP was vicariously liable for copyright infringement through its internet customers’ behavior. The high court pointed to its recent opinion that reversed a similar ruling by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals against a different ISP.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Granting the FBI’s petition for a writ of certiorari in a state secrets privilege case about governmental surveillance and religious discrimination, the U.S. Supreme Court in its April 6 orders list vacated the challenged judgment and instructed that the case be remanded “to the district court for reconsideration in light of recent factual developments pertinent to this case and the government's motion to dismiss.”
HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut appeals panel on April 2 held that a lower court erred in ruling that a professional liability insurance policy’s intentional conduct and sexual misconduct exclusions applied to every allegation in an underlying civil negligence lawsuit brought against a reproductive endocrinologist insured, reversing a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the insurer in a coverage dispute arising from underlying allegations that the insured used his own sperm to impregnate two of his patients without their knowledge or consent.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict was not required to preserve a challenge to a workers’ compensation exclusivity defense in an asbestos case, and the court’s reliance on precedent to reach a contrary conclusion warrants reconsideration or transfer to the Missouri Supreme Court, a woman whose case has already been to the state’s top court once argues.
SEATTLE — A commercial automobile insurer on April 2 voluntarily dismissed DoorDash Inc. from the insurer’s lawsuit asking a Washington federal court to declare that it has no duty to defend or indemnify for an underlying wrongful death action alleging that its insured fatally shot a man while he was driving his vehicle as a paid delivery driver, noting that DoorDash has stipulated that it is not a covered entity under the Allstate policy.
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of a petition for a writ of certiorari and lifting of a stay, a federal judge in South Carolina denied the state’s motion to remand to state court its case against 3M Co. related to alleged contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF). Applying instructions in a March 2025 Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling, the judge said 3M has plausibly alleged a colorable federal defense and acted under a federal officer based on its production of a specific kind of AFFF for the U.S. government.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As oral argument approaches in a U.S. Supreme Court case where the petitioner was convicted of armed robbery through cell phone location evidence obtained through a geofence warrant that he argues was unconstitutional, the U.S. government filed a merits brief contending in part that the petitioner’s “dramatic expansion of the Fourth Amendment would stifle developments in . . . evolving areas of law and handicap the investigation of major crimes,” and amici curiae including local government organizations made similar arguments.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Investors have filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether an accountant is liable under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 for a company’s financial statements; the investors had brought a case against a fuel-cell server manufacturer’s outside accountant, alleging the accountant was liable under the statute.
DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan has granted the U.S. government permission to file an interlocutory appeal to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of the lower court’s denial of the government’s motion to dismiss the Flint water crisisFederal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) lawsuit pursuant to the discretionary function exception (DFE) related to sovereign immunity. The judge also gave the government permission to appeal a separate ruling denying its bid to dismiss the case under the FTCA’s private liability requirement related to what is called the Good Samaritan doctrine, saying that immediate appellate court review is appropriate.
SAN FRANCISCO — An artificial intelligence agent directed to shop at the Amazon.com store isn’t illegally accessing a computer or acting any differently than when an individual uses a web browser to visit the same site, Perplexity AI Inc. told the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an April 1 opening brief in its challenge to a ruling enjoining the Perplexity AI agent Comet from accessing password-protected areas of the Amazon.com store.
ALBANY, N.Y. — Following a bench trial in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action challenging a 2011 refinancing that employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) participants alleged improperly benefited the company’s co-presidents, a Georgia federal judge entered judgment for the defendants on the grounds that “the fraud concealment exception does not apply,” so all the claims were untimely.