Jury Should Have Found Fiber Patent Anticipated, Federal Circuit Finds
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A technology company was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) in its favor in a dispute over a patent describing a biodegradable fiber implant, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in a July 27 opinion, reversing a Delaware federal jury’s findings in favor of the patent holder because a prior art patent disclosed every asserted claim of the patent at issue.
California High Court: Absence Of Coverage Exhaustion Is Not Fatal To Claims
SAN FRANCISCO —An insured may state viable declaratory relief claims under excess liability insurance policies even if all of the underlying coverage has not yet been exhausted, the California Supreme Court held on July 27, reversing an appellate court’s ruling in favor of two excess insurers in a private equity management firm insured’s declaratory relief and bad faith lawsuit and remanding the professional liability coverage dispute to the appellate court.
Dismissal Of ERISA Pension Risk Transfer Case Deepens Standing Split
PITTSBURGH — Deepening the conflicting case law in a series of putative class actions challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a Pennsylvania federal judge on July 27 dismissed one such case for lack of standing, saying in part that the retirees “haven’t plausibly alleged that there is a significant likelihood Athene would default to a degree that their pensions would be affected.”
Contempt Show-Cause Request Denied In Unaccompanied Alien Minors’ Class Suit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia on July 27 denied a request by unaccompanied alien children from Guatemala to order the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and others to show cause why they should not be held in civil contempt for allegedly violating a preliminary injunction that halted the removal of the minors from the United States.
J&J Announces Possible Resolution Of Ovarian Cancer Talc MDL
TRENTON, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson on July 27 announced an agreement in which the company would pay $5.5 billion to resolve the multidistrict ovarian cancer talc litigation and related state proceedings, saying in a press release that the agreement covers some 76,000 claims.
Va. Federal Judge Finds 2023 Mifepristone REMS Decision Arbitrary, Remands To FDA
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A Virginia federal judge held that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it instituted a 2023 risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) decision that removed the in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion drug mifepristone but added certain pharmacy certifications and other requirements, remanding the decision to the agency for further review.
Judge: Preemption Suit Over PBM Fiduciary Duty Has Standing Deficiency
LOS ANGELES — Concluding that a trade association “articulates a viable theory of injury” but lacks standing because “it fails to allege sufficient facts to show its members have suffered that injury,” a California federal judge on July 24 dismissed with leave to amend a suit in which the association argued that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempts a California state law that purports to impose fiduciary duties on the pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) of self-funded health plans.
Judge Tosses ADA Suit Alleging Website Inaccessible For Visually Impaired Persons
CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge dismissed with leave to amend a visually impaired consumer’s putative class action alleging that a website selling men’s grooming products violated the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) by failing to make the site accessible to visually impaired persons, finding that the consumer failed to establish standing to seek prospective relief under the ADA because he did not sufficiently allege an intention to return after visiting the website only once.
No Errors In PTAB’s Obviousness Finding For Rail Sensor Patent, Panel Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in a July 24 opinion affirmed a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision that held multiple claims of a patent describing a system for analyzing operational problems in trains were unpatentable as obvious.
Judge Enforces $320M ICSID Awards Against Zimbabwe In Plantation Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on July 24 granted two motions for summary judgment seeking to enforce two International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) awards collectively worth more than $320 million against the Republic of Zimbabwe, one in favor of the Swiss and German owners of Zimbabwean plantations and one in favor of the plantation companies, finding that no genuine disputes of material fact preclude enforcement.
Motions To Compel Partially Granted In X Corp. Ad Dispute Over ‘Extremist Content’
FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas federal judge on July 23 granted in part and denied in part motions to compel discovery by a nonprofit organization in X Corp.’s suit asserting that the nonprofit wrote articles “disparaging X Corp.” by accusing X Corp. of placing advertisements on its platform near “neo-Nazi or other extremist content,” finding that while X Corp. must produce formerly public posts that it deleted, it need not produce public posts that users voluntarily deleted.