Federal Judge Denies California’s Injunction Request, Allows Pipeline To Operate
LOS ANGELES — In a minute order addressing multiple motions in four related suits, a federal judge in California denied the state’s motion for a preliminary injunction to block an order from U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright authorizing, pursuant to the Defense Production Act (DPA), the reopening and continued operation of pipelines that had been shut down after a 2015 oil spill and denied in part the state’s motion to enforce a 2020 consent decree governing the operation of the pipelines.
Judge Grants Summary Judgment To Asbestos-Talc Study Authors On Trade Libel Claim
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The evidence shows that asbestos-talc study authors took steps to ensure their study didn’t include individuals in a previous study or those with other, more traditional asbestos exposures, a federal judge in Virginia said in denying Pecos River Talc LLC’s summary judgment motion on its trade libel claim and granting summary judgment to the authors.
6th Circuit Affirms Express Preemption Because Claims Relate To ERISA Plan
CINCINNATI — Affirming dismissal of a suit that medical providers filed against the sponsor and the administrator of a self-insured health plan, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said that under a 1991 decision that one panel member explicitly criticized, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act expressly preempts “third-party healthcare providers’ negligent-misrepresentation and promissory-estoppel claims when those claims arise out of an ERISA-plan administrator’s oral assurances about the terms of coverage or reimbursement under an ERISA-governed plan.”
Federal Circuit OKs Fees For Volkswagen For Tossed Patent Suit, Keeping Sanction
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Texas federal judge’s decision to dismiss a patent holder’s suit against Volkswagen Group of America Inc. with prejudice and to award more than $200,000 in attorney fees; the panel also dismissed counsel William P. Ramey III’s appeal of the judge’s sanctions that held him jointly and severally liable for the fee award because Ramey failed to timely appeal the sanction in his own name.
Panel Majority Says Evidence Does Not Support Bad Faith Claim Against Auto Insurer
ST. LOUIS — An auto insurer did not act in bad faith in handling an insured’s claim for the total loss of his vehicle because there is no evidence in the record showing that the appraisal company’s valuation of the vehicle was flawed or that the insurer acted in bad faith by relying on the valuation when making a settlement offer to the insured, the majority of an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in affirming a district court’s partial summary judgment ruling.
D.C. Circuit Affirms EPA’s PFAS CERCLA Designation, Denies Industry Oppositions
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “adequately considered and reasonably explained” a decision to uphold a final rule adding two widely used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of hazardous substances covered by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied five consolidated petitions filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and six trade associations seeking to overturn the designation due to various alleged errors.
Split 9th Circuit Reinstates FCA Claims As To Regeneron, Affirms Sanofi Dismissal
SAN FRANCISCO — A split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 19 found that a lower court erred in dismissing False Claims Act (FCA) claims against Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. because claims that the company violated the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) by paying physicians to prescribe its drugs were adequately pleaded; the court affirmed dismissal of the FCA conspiracy claim against Regeneron and dismissal of all claims against Sanofi Aventis US LLC.
Ga. High Court Clarifies Equitable Relief Without Opining On Medical Monitoring
ATLANTA — After considering two questions certified from a federal court in Georgia, the Georgia Supreme Court determined that exposure to a toxic substance without a present physical injury does not foreclose equitable relief, which instead turns on whether the plaintiff suffered any “legally cognizable injury” and the absence of an adequate remedy at law; however, the state high court did not rule on how this principle applied to the underlying conflict involving a toxic plume released from a chemical plant.
11th Circuit Talks Comparisons, Revives Imprudence Case Over Target Date Funds
ATLANTA — Saying in part that “some of the most objectively imprudent investments will lack an apples-to-apples comparison precisely because they are such objectively bad fiduciary decisions,” the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals revived an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action focused on target-date funds (TDFs) that are proprietary to the investment manager of the retirement plan at issue.
FDA Ordered To Reconsider Whether Braille-Free Label Meets ‘Same As’ Requirement
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a district court erred in part in rejecting Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s challenge to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of labeling for generic tasimelteon and directed the court to remand the matter to the agency without vacating the approval.
D.C. Circuit: Copyright Royalty Board Ruling Not Appealable Determination
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel determined that a music service failed to establish jurisdiction for its challenge to the Copyright Royalty Board’s interpretation of licensing requirements, leaving it up to a District of Columbia federal judge to determine “what weight, if any, to assign to the Royalty Board’s non-binding regulatory interpretation” in an underlying royalties dispute.