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WASHINGTON, D.C. — In accordance with an agreement reached by the parties, the U.S. Supreme Court on April 16 dismissed a certiorari petition that it had requested a response to; the 2-1 appeals court panel ruling affirmed vacatur of an award that resulted from pro se arbitration over severance pay and concerned an Employee Retirement Income Security Act discrimination claim that the majority concluded the claimant never raised, and the petitioner had argued that the decision “encourages a cascade of litigation over the enforceability of arbitral awards.”
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on April 16 granted a motion to dismiss with prejudice a putative class action accusing the maker of portable audio players for children of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by concealing a defect that would cause the devices’ batteries to overheat, noting that the company voluntarily recalled and replaced customers’ batteries.
PASADENA, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on April 16 affirmed the dismissal of a putative class action against a water filter maker for allegedly misrepresenting their filter’s ability to purify water when it cannot remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), writing that “reasonable” consumers would not expect this ability and that the company was not required to disclose this as an “unreasonable safety hazard.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Oil companies’ well drilling activities in Louisiana during World War II sufficiently relate to government contracts involving the production of aviation gasoline and trigger federal jurisdiction under 2011 amendments to the federal officer removal statute, the U.S. Supreme Court said today.
MILWAUKEE — A reasonable jury could conclude that Pabst Brewing Co. owned and controlled the premises and work where a pipefitter contractor suffered exposure to asbestos for liability under state law, but punitive damages are capped by the amount actually recovered and not the total amount awarded by the jury, a majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court said in partially affirming a verdict.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge vacated all pending deadlines in a putative class action against a pet food company for allegedly falsely labeling its pet food products as containing no preservatives in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) after the parties filed a joint notice that they had reached a confidential settlement and that the plaintiff would dismiss her claims, approximately one month after the court granted in part and denied in part a defense motion to dismiss.
NEW ORLEANS — In a coverage dispute arising from underlying allegations that a Louisiana sheriff and his deputies violated constitutional and state rights by using excessive force during an arrest, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals certified a question to the Louisiana Supreme Court to determine whether an injured third party has the right to sue an insurer under Louisiana's Direct Action Statute even if the insured breached a cooperation clause in the insurance policy.
NEW YORK — A New York federal court jury on April 15 found that Ticketmaster LLC maintained monopoly control over primary concert ticketing services in a suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and more than 30 states accusing Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster, of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act and related state laws through their monopolistic control “of the live music ecosystem.”
NEW CASTLE, Del. — In a unanimous en banc reversal of the Delaware Court of Chancery, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 does not bar “advancement of litigation expenses for the defense of state-law claims brought in state court” because the facts show that the advancement “does not relieve Defendants from ERISA responsibility or liability.”
RALEIGH, N.C. — In a breach of contract dispute between insurers in liquidation or rehabilitation and their former owner, insurance mogul Greg Lindberg, and related parties, a North Carolina appellate panel on April 15 dismissed an appeal by nonparties seeking review of a trial court’s interlocutory show cause order regarding why the nonparties should not be held in civil contempt for allegedly transferring assets in violation of a temporary restraining order (TRO), finding that the nonparties failed to show that the order was immediately appealable.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Utah federal judge’s finding that certain claims of a patent describing a system of programming vehicle controllers were invalid in view of a prior art reference that was on sale before the claimed device’s “critical date”; the panel rejected the appellant’s argument that the judge relied on inadmissible evidence in reaching the decision.