Episode 322 -- Checking in on Caremark Cases
The Sixth Circuit recently delivered a clear message to litigants pursuing claims under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA): high call volume alone is not enough. In Fluker v. Ally Financial, Inc., the court...more
This week, the Court addresses the pleading standard for a claim of false or misleading statements in connection with a tender offer under Section 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Court holds that...more
Earlier this month, a magistrate judge in the Northern District of California dealt another blow to the “kitchen sink” approach to pleading affirmative defenses. In Wesch v. Yodlee, Inc., Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim granted...more
District Court’s Pleading Standard Returns an Error Code in PS4 Battle - In Bot M8 LLC v. Sony Corporation Of America, Appeal No. 20-2218, the Federal Circuit held that the district court’s view that infringement...more
This week, we take a look at two Ninth Circuit decisions concerning the employer-employee relationship. In the first, the Court let the lawsuit against the NFL for its negligent handling of drug distribution to its injured...more
On February 26, 2020, Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed certain claims in a putative class action asserting violations of the Securities Act of...more
A New Jersey federal judge recently applied Tennessee and California law in dismissing a proposed class action concerning allegedly leaky water heater sensors/valves (valves) made by Honeywell International Inc. The decision...more
Two recent decisions in New York state’s federal courts granted defendants’ motions to dismiss based on inadequately pled allegations, highlighting the strict pleading standard of the Comprehensive Environmental Response,...more
Last week, a U.S. district court judge in the Southern District of Florida upheld a magistrate judge’s decision to dismiss False Claims Act (FCA) allegations against a compounding pharmacy, its private equity firm owner, and...more
At a time when some courts allow FCRA claims to withstand motions to dismiss based on largely conclusory assertions of the elements of a FCRA violation (particularly § 1681s-2(b) claims alleging a failure to “reasonably...more
After having its complaint for patent infringement dismissed for failure to state a claim and being denied its request to file an amended complaint in the Middle District of Georgia, Disc Disease Solutions turned to the...more
A recent opinion from Judge Shea in the District of Connecticut sheds important light on the sufficiency of pleadings in declaratory judgment patent cases. Noting that declaratory judgment actions are of particular...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) addressed the pleading standards for direct infringement, doctrine of equivalents infringement, indirect infringement and willful infringement in...more
The U.S. Supreme Court will resolve a critical question governing the scope of liability in securities fraud cases which has split the circuit courts to date. The case, Leidos Inc. v. Indiana Public Retirement System, No....more
For a number of years, contractors have been required to expend substantial sums challenging baseless legal theories initiated by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) and rubber-stamped by the Defense Contract Management...more
In Amgen v. Harris, the Supreme Court for the second time considered whether the plan participants sufficiently stated a claim against the plan fiduciaries for breach of fiduciary duty under ERISA by continuing to provide...more
In a rebuke to the Ninth Circuit, the Supreme Court granted the Amgen defendants’ petition for certiorari, reversed the Ninth Circuit’s judgment and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with its opinion in the...more
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court emphatically reversed the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in an ERISA stock-drop lawsuit. The Supreme Court concluded that the Ninth Circuit failed to properly apply the rigorous...more
This decision is an excellent primer for what must be plead to state a claim under various sections of the federal securities laws. The pleadings rules to establish a claim well enough to avoid a motion to dismiss are...more