Objectors: $7.25B Roundup Deal ‘Extinguishes’ Claims; Case Should Be Sent To MDL
ST. LOUIS — Individuals who object to the proposed $7.25 billion nationwide Roundup settlement between a putative class and Bayer Corp., Monsanto Co.’s parent company, removed the putative class action to Missouri federal court, arguing that the proposed agreement “extinguishes” the claims of current and future plaintiffs “in exchange for pennies on the dollar.” The objectors also moved to stay all proceedings pending a ruling on their motion to transfer the case to the multidistrict litigation for Roundup litigation.
9th Circuit Reverses Water Fluoridation Ruling, Says Court Abused Discretion
SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has vacated and remanded a lower court decision on the risk of water fluoridation, ruling that the district court “abused its discretion” when it refused to rule on the record presented in the first of two bench trials and when it paused the case pending publication of an additional study on water fluoridation, despite both parties asking the court to decide the case on the existing evidentiary record.
Federal Circuit Reinstates $82M Damages Ruling Against Ford In Trade Secret Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that a Michigan federal judge wrongly barred a technology company from seeking unjust enrichment damages against Ford Motor Co. and wrongly vacated a jury’s award of breach of contract damages; the panel also affirmed a finding that Ford had misappropriated the company’s trade secrets related to software used in vehicle development.
Another Circuit Rules That ERISA Requires Reasonable Conversion Assumptions
ATLANTA — Reviving a putative class action and agreeing with a recent ruling that made a sister circuit “the only other federal court of appeals to have decided the issue,” an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 26 concluded that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act requires pension plans to “convert married participants’ single-life annuities to joint-and-survivor annuities using reasonable mortality and interest-rate assumptions.”
High Court Denies Rehearing In Case Over SEC’s, Court’s Authority Over Receivership
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 26 denied a petition for rehearing filed by a man subject to a civil action by the Securities and Exchange Commission asking the court to determine whether federal securities laws allow the SEC and a district court to use the commission’s general equitable authority to order a receivership that will seize every entity owned by a defendant that even slightly benefited from the defendant’s allegedly illegal acts; the Supreme Court had denied the man’s petition for certiorari on March 30.
Experts Weigh In On DOJ Use Of FCA To Enforce ‘Illegal DEI Practices’
Experts on False Claims Act (FCA) litigation, comprising a law professor, a whistleblower attorney and a former deputy assistant attorney general, who answered FCA-related questions on May 22, weighed in and spoke with Mealey Publications on efforts by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to use the FCA against entities the DOJ accuses of violating the FCA by failing to comply with antidiscrimination requirements in federal contracts or what the DOJ terms are “illegal DEI practices.”
U.S. High Court Won’t Hear NFL’s Arbitration Question In Coach’s Race Bias Suit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court on May 26 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the National Football League and three teams concerning the enforceability of arbitration agreements that designate the NFL commissioner as the default arbitrator and allow the commissioner to develop the arbitral procedures after the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s partial denial of the arbitration motion.
11th Circuit Dismisses Sex Trafficking Coverage Dispute For Lack Of Jurisdiction
ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 22 dismissed a commercial general liability insurer’s appeal of a lower federal court’s declaration that it has a duty to defend a hotel operator insured against an underlying sex trafficking lawsuit, holding that the appeals court lacks jurisdiction to hear the appeal.
Supreme Court Reverses Ruling In Immigration Judges’ Speech Policy Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a per curiam opinion issued May 26, the U.S. Supreme Court, in granting a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), reversed a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s ruling vacating dismissal of a complaint challenging a federal employee speech policy, holding that the panel “violated the principle of party presentation.”
Verizon Retirees Drop Bid To Have 2nd Circuit Revive Putative Class PRT Case
NEW YORK — Without substantive explanation, parties in a challenge to dismissal of a putative Employee Retirement Income Security Act pension risk transfer (PRT) class case on May 22 informed the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that they have stipulated to dismissing the appeal with prejudice and bearing their own “costs and fees on appeal.”
High Court Refuses To Hear Challenge To Expert Ruling In EtO Injury Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 26 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in a case brought by Union Carbide Corp. and an affiliate in which they argued that the court should review a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion pertaining to the correct legal standard for the admissibility of an expert under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 in an ethylene oxide (EtO) injury case.