2nd Circuit Won’t Order Changes To MS Drug Patent License Arbitration Award
NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 15 affirmed a New York federal judge’s denial of a plaintiff-appellant biopharmaceutical company’s motion to vacate or modify a $16.5 million arbitral award in a licensing dispute over an expired patent covering a multiple sclerosis drug; the panel said the plaintiff-appellant “slept on its right” by voluntarily making postexpiration payments to the patent holder.
Lessor Is Additional Insured Under Lessee’s Policy, New Jersey Panel Affirms
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey appeals panel on July 15 affirmed a lower court’s ruling that a commercial building owner was an additional insured under an insurance policy that was issued to the lessee of the building and that the insurer had a duty to defend and indemnify the building owner against underlying claims arising from an elevator shaft injury, rejecting the insurer’s argument that the policy’s workers’ compensation and employers’ liability exclusions barred coverage.
Judge Tosses Doctor’s Suit Alleging FCA Retaliation Related To ‘Under-Coding’
BANGOR, Maine — A Maine federal judge on July 15 dismissed without prejudice a physician’s suit alleging breach of contract and retaliation in violation of the False Claims Act (FCA) and Maine law against a hospital and its parent company for allegedly retaliating against her by terminating her employment when she refused to participate in an alleged “under-coding scheme” purportedly urged by hospital officials, finding that the physician failed to allege that the government incurred “economic injury.”
Biometric Patent Invalidity Arguments Rightly Rejected By PTAB, Appeals Court Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 15 affirmed a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) determination that a technology company failed to show that patent claims describing a biometric technology device were unpatentable as obvious; the panel rejected the appellant company’s contention that PTAB wrongly construed claim phrase “biometric signal.”
4th Circuit Reverses Confirmation Of Dutch Arbitral Award To Insolvent Insurer
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 14 reversed and remanded a lower court’s confirmation of a $166,797,838 arbitral award issued in favor of insolvency practitioners for a Dutch insurer in liquidation, finding that the petition was filed in the lower court after the statute of limitations expired under the Federal Arbitration Act but that the award is a foreign judgment enforceable on remand under North Carolina law.
3rd Circuit Revives RICO Claims, Some ERISA Claims In Suit Against Carriers
PHILADELPHIA — Partly reviving a suit that New Jersey health care practices filed against health insurance carriers over reimbursement for out-of-network elective and emergency claims, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a nonprecedential opinion vacating dismissal of the practices’ Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claims and some of the practices’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims.
10th Circuit Revives Some Lanham Act False Ad Claims In Dog Food Fight
DENVER — A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in a July 14 opinion partly reversed a Kansas federal judge’s dismissal of a putative class action Lanham Act false advertising dispute between two pet food manufacturers, holding that the plaintiff-appellant had plausibly alleged at the pleading stage that the defendant-appellee had made some statements that were commercial speech that was false.
10th Circuit Revives Walmart Worker’s Hostile Work Claims In Sex Bias Suit
DENVER — A two-judge panel of the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a New Mexico federal judge’s dismissal of a former Walmart worker’s hostile work environment claims against his employer, while also affirming the dismissal of other federal and state sex discrimination claims, finding that the worker “provided evidence that he was subjected to a significant amount of anti-gay discrimination at work, including at least two outrageous acts.”
Delaware High Court Reverses Nearly $16M Attorney Fee Award In Investment Dispute
NEW CASTLE, Del. — The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s finding that a China-based company did not prove its loyalty- and care-based fiduciary duty claims against an investment fund and its principal in a failed investment attempt and that the investment fund breached its duty of candor, but it reversed the lower court’s award of $15.83 million in attorney fees and expenses to the company because the company prevailed on only a single issue.
5th Circuit Vacates Class Victory In ERISA Conversion Suit Over Standing
HOUSTON — Ruling against a class of retirement plan participants that had prevailed following a bench trial, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued an unpublished July 14 opinion vacating the judgment and remanding for fact-finding “to evaluate Article III standing” in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over a retirement plan’s switch from a final average pay formula to a cash balance plan; in a separate concurrence, one member of the panel opined “that the type of consequences alleged constitutes an Article III injury.”
Contents Coverage Limited To $25,000 In Suit Arising From Fire Caused By Lightning
CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling in favor of an insurer in a breach of contract lawsuit seeking a homeowners insurance policy’s full $3.5 million limit for the insured’s contents that were lost in a fire sparked by a lightning strike, holding that the policy’s business property exclusion and sublimit cap the insurer’s liability for business property losses at $25,000.