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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States government on Feb. 25 filed a motion to participate in oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court when it considers arguments from a bioequivalent pharmaceutical maker that a patent holder’s complaint failed to state a claim for induced infringement because the “skinny label” generic version of the patent carved out the patented cardiovascular use of the drug; the government’s motion was filed a day after it filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the petitioner entity.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Finding a lack of evidence that airlines barred an airline passenger from flying because of a disability that prevented him from wearing a mask rather than in attempt to comply with the federal transportation mask mandate during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Kentucky federal court granted the airlines’ motion for judgment on the pleadings in the passenger’s lawsuit alleging violations of the Rehabilitation Act and the California Unruh Act.
DOVER, Del. — The Delaware Supreme Court on Feb. 25 refused to hear an interlocutory appeal filed by two law firms representing certain plaintiffs in a consolidated state court case alleging that a long-lasting injectable contraceptive caused women to develop intracranial meningiomas, a type of brain tumor, leaving stand a case management order intended to help streamline the hundreds of cases expected to be filed in the state.
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 25 denied an insured’s invitation to reconsider its rejection of pro se insureds’ “frivolous” appeal of a lower federal court’s dismissal of their lawsuit seeking coverage for flood and property damages caused by hurricanes Zeta and Ida.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A split Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a Feb. 25 opinion that it agreed with the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that Tesla Inc. failed to show that certain claims in another company’s patent on a system of charging electric vehicles were unpatentable as obvious.
PORTLAND, Ore. — The railroad company that hauled asbestos-tainted vermiculite from the world’s largest vermiculite mine in Libby, Mont., to destinations around the country under federal law is protected from strict liability claims by the “common carrier” exception to such liability, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 24 in reversing an $8 million combined judgment for the estates of two mesothelioma victims and directing the trial court to enter judgment for the railroad company on remand.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Without providing an explanation, the North Carolina Supreme Court on Feb. 24 issued orders dismissing a petition for a writ of supersedeas and motion for a temporary stay filed by former insurance mogul Greg Lindberg, now proceeding pro se, seeking a stay of trial court orders, including an order requiring him and his companies to pay $526 million in damages regarding conversion of assets in insurers’ breach of contract suit against him.
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 24 denied an insured’s petition to reconsider its ruling that affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer in a breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit, standing by its ruling that the insured failed to provide evidence suggesting that hail occurred within the relevant policy period and, as a result, did not establish a genuine dispute of material fact regarding whether covered damage occurred.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a New York federal judge’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of Amazon.com Inc. on claims brought by a technology company that accused Amazon of infringing its patent on a type of machine learning; the panel agreed in its Feb. 24 opinion that the plaintiff-appellant’s patent claims were ineligible as abstract.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Roughly 11 months after issuing a dismissal without prejudice for lack of standing, a District of Columbia federal judge on Feb. 24 declined to let Alcoa USA Corp. retirees file a second amended putative class complaint challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yearsley v. W.A. Ross Construction Co. provides federal contractors with a possible merits defense only and not immunity, and so a ruling denying a contractor protection under Yearsley is not immediately appealable, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Feb. 25 in a forced labor class case against the operator of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center.