First Republic Executives Fail in Attempt to Recover Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan Assets
In a significant federal jurisdiction ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit clarified the jurisdictional standards applicable to “mixed actions”—lawsuits that combine requests for both coercive relief (like...more
In 2011, a local water district in Nevada entered into a lease agreement with Paradise Canyon, LLC to provide shares of water for irrigating the Wolf Creek Golf Club. The lease agreement granted Paradise Canyon a right of...more
Plaintiff’s counsel often employ a range of strategic tactics to defeat diversity jurisdiction because they view federal court as an unfavorable forum. One such tactic is to challenge the amount in controversy—a key...more
In Erie Insurance Exchange v. Hannah Baluch, ___ A.3d ___, 2025 WL 22562 (Pa. Super. Ct., Jan. 3, 2025), the Pennsylvania Superior Court addressed whether an insured with her own automobile insurance policy is entitled to...more
SnapRays v. Lighting Defense Group, Appeal No. 2023-1184 (Fed. Cir. May 2, 2024) Our Case of the Week deals with an issue the Court has not addressed recently: the question of declaratory judgment jurisdiction....more
The Supreme Court of Delaware has held that a letter received by an insured from an attorney purporting to represent unidentified plaintiffs and forecasting future litigation did not constitute a “claim for damages” under a...more
On August 30, 2023, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) filed a “Notice of Compliance” in Ultima Services Corp. v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, et. al., Case No. 2:20-cv-00041, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District...more
Ainslie v. Cantor Fitzgerald LP, C.A. No. 9436-VCZ (Del. Ch. Apr. 5, 2023) - Delaware law provides for the interest to be awarded under 6 Del. C. § 2301 in actions seeking compensatory damages, and the rate is fixed by the...more
Several patent litigations have been filed involving mRNA pioneers such as Moderna, Inc. and BioNTech, Inc. (with Pfizer) over the past year relating to sales of the Moderna and BioNTech/Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine products...more
ROCHE DIAGNOSTICS CORPORATION v. MESO SCALE DIAGNOSTICS, LLC - Before Newman, Prost, and Taranto. Appeal from the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Summary: A finding of inducing infringement requires...more
District courts continue to issue thought-provoking decisions relating to enhanced damages in patent cases. Recently William Alsup of the Northern District of California weighed in on several issues. The focus of Judge...more
Sheckler v. Auto-Owners Insurance Company, 2021 WL 493226, 2021 Ill. App. LEXIS 593 (Oct. 23, 2021), a decision of the Appellate Court of Illinois, Third Judicial District, concluded that principles of equity justified...more
Two more federal court judges in the Northern District of Ohio have weighed in on whether insurance carriers in the cases pending before them must cover claims for damages caused by the COVID19 pandemic. In both cases, the...more
In Builders Mut. Ins. Co. v. Island Pointe, LLC, No. 27970, 2020 S.C. LEXIS 68 (May 13, 2020), the South Carolina Supreme Court clarified that insurers are not required and, absent unusual circumstances...more
Chief Judge Gilstrap of the Eastern District of Texas held that the litigation conduct of defendants Huawei Device USA, Inc. and Huawei Device (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (collectively, “Huawei”), in a patent infringement action,...more
Federal Circuit Summary - Before Newman, Hughes, and Stoll. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Summary: Reasonable royalty patent damages cannot include a royalty for...more
The U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Eighth and Tenth Circuits recently affirmed district court opinions holding that the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA) preempted state law claims that challenged prices charged by air ambulance...more
A recent court case from Missouri’s Eastern District Court of Appeals provides insight on the intersection of declaratory judgments, legal damages, and equitable relief, particularly in disputes over complicated business...more
PATENT CASE OF THE WEEK - WesternGeco LLC v. Ion Geophysical Corp., Appeal Nos. 2016-2099, -2100, -2101, -2332, -2333, -2334 (Fed. Cir. May 7, 2018) - In an appeal from an inter partes review, the Federal Circuit...more
Rapper Tyler, the Creator (“Tyler”), is facing a lawsuit for copyright infringement, which alleges he illegally sampled a 1971 soul song, “Why Can’t There Be Love,” in his 2015 hit, “Deathcamp.” ...more
Diversity jurisdiction exists when there is complete diversity of citizenship between the parties and the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000. Generally, the amount in controversy articulated in Plaintiff’s complaint is...more
Arbitration - Waymo v. Uber Technologies, 870 F.3d 1342 (Fed. Cir. 2017) - Waymo sued Uber and others for trade secret misappropriation and patent infringement. Uber contends that Waymo should be compelled to...more
To narrow issues and promote settlement in “oversized patent cases,” on July 31, 2017, Chief Judge Leonard Stark of the District of Delaware issued an order that indicates a preference for bellwether trials on all issues for...more
This paper is based on reports on precedential patent cases decided by the Federal Circuit distributed by Peter Heuser on a weekly basis. ...more