image description

Archives

  • Supreme Court Holds That Those Who Disseminate False Statements Can Violate Federal Securities Laws Even If They Did Not “Make” The Statements

    Lorenzo v. SEC, No. 17-1077 Today, the Supreme Court held 6-2 that an individual who disseminates false or misleading statements to potential investors with fraudulent intent can be found liable for violating federal securities laws, even if that individual did not “make” the statements. Background: SEC Rule 10b-5 makes it unlawful to (a) “employ any […]

  • Supreme Court Holds That Businesses Carrying Out Nonjudicial Foreclosures Are Not “Debt Collectors”

    Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, No. 17-1307 (decided March 20, 2019) Today, the Supreme Court unanimously held that a business engaged in only nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings is not a “debt collector” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Background: In 2007, Obduskey bought a home with a loan secured by the property. About […]

  • Supreme Court Returns Class Settlement To Lower Courts To Address Article III Standing

    Frank v. Gaos, No. 17-961 (decided March 20, 2019) Today, the Supreme Court issued a short opinion declining to decide the limits of cy pres settlements and returning the case to the lower courts to address standing in the first instance. Background: Three named plaintiffs brought class-action claims against Google for alleged violations of the Stored Communications Act […]

  • Supreme Court Holds That Only Certain Costs May Be Recovered In Copyright Lawsuits

    Rimini Street Inc. v. Oracle USA Inc., No. 17-1625 Today, the Supreme Court unanimously held that Section 505 of the Copyright Act, which allows prevailing copyright litigants to recover their “full costs,” does not authorize recovery of costs beyond those specified in 28 U.S.C. § 1920, the general statute authorizing district courts to award “taxable” […]

  • Supreme Court Holds That Deadline For Seeking Interlocutory Review Of Class-Certification Rulings May Not Be Equitably Tolled

    Nutraceutical Corp. v. Lambert, No. 17-1094 Today, the Supreme Court held unanimously that the 14-day deadline for filing a petition for interlocutory review of an order granting or denying class certification cannot be extended as a matter of equity. Background: Respondent Troy Lambert filed a lawsuit against petitioner Nutraceutical Corp., alleging that Nutraceutical markets a […]

  • Supreme Court Rules for Independent Contractor in Arbitration Dispute

    New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira, No. 17-340  Today, the Supreme Court held 8-0 that the term “contracts of employment” in Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) encompasses any agreement to perform work and does not exempt independent contractors.    Background: Petitioner New Prime, Inc., is an interstate trucking company.  Respondent was a truck […]

  • Federal Arbitration Act—Delegation to Arbitrators

    Federal Arbitration Act—Delegation to Arbitrators Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer & White Sales, Inc., No. 17-1272 Under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), parties to an arbitration agreement may agree to delegate the threshold question of what disputes are arbitrable to the arbitrator. Several courts of appeals recognized an exception to this rule, holding that a […]

  • Endangered Species Act—Standards for Designating Critical Habitat

    Endangered Species Act—Standards for Designating Critical Habitat Weyerhaeuser Co. v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, No. 17-71 In Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a unanimous Supreme Court (with Justice Kavanaugh not participating because the case was argued before he joined the Court) vacated the decision of the Fifth Circuit that had […]

  • Antitrust Law—Two-Sided Markets

    Ohio v. American Express Co., No. 16-1454 In Ohio v. American Express, the Supreme Court held in a 5-4 decision that American Express’s so-called antisteering provision does not violate Section 1 of the Sherman Act. Under this antisteering provision, American Express prohibits its merchants from attempting to steer the merchants’ customers to Amex’s credit card […]

  • Appointments Clause—Administrative Law Judges

    Lucia v. SEC, No. 17-130 In Lucia v. SEC, the Court held 7-2 that administrative law judges (ALJs) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are “Officers of the United States” for purposes of the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, and accordingly must be appointed according to the methods set forth in that Clause. Justice Kagan, writing for the […]

  • Commerce Clause—Taxation of Out-of-State Business

    South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., No. 17-494 In a pair of decades-old decisions—National Bellas Hess, Inc. v. Department of Revenue, 386 U.S. 753 (1967), and Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (1992)—the Supreme Court held that, under the dormant Commerce Clause, a State could not require a business to collect its sales tax if […]

  • Federal Arbitration Act – Enforceability Of Class-Action Waivers In Employment Arbitration Agreements

    Federal Arbitration Act – Enforceability Of Class-Action Waivers In Employment Arbitration Agreements Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, No. 16-285 In 2012, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, which gives employees the right to organize, bargain collectively, and “engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of […]

  • Patent Law—Inter Partes Review

    Patent Law—Inter Partes Review Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC, No. 16-712 SAS Institute Inc. v. Iancu, No. 16-969 In Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, a seven-Justice majority confirmed the constitutionality of inter partes review and—by extension—other forms of post-grant administrative review of patent validity. The Court […]

  • Alien Tort Statute—Application to Corporations

    Alien Tort Statute—Application to Corporations Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC, No. 16-499 The Alien Tort Statute (ATS) provides that United States district courts “shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” Today, the […]

  • Bankruptcy Code—Section 546(e) Safe Harbor

    Bankruptcy Code—Section 546(e) Safe Harbor Merit Management Group, LP v. FTI Consulting, Inc., No. 16-784 A bankruptcy trustee has broad powers to avoid fraudulent transfers of a debtor’s property.  But the Bankruptcy Code constrains those powers in several important ways, including through a safe harbor for certain transfers by, to, or for the benefit of […]

  • Statutes of Repose—Availiability of American Pipe Tolling

    California Public Employees’ Retirement System v. ANZ Securities, Inc., No. 16-373 Civil actions alleging violations of the Securities Exchange Act must be filed within “three years after the security was bona fide offered to the public.” Taking a strict view of the time limitation, the Supreme Court held today that the three-year period cannot be […]

  • Trademarks—First Amendment

    Matal v. Tam The Lanham Act prohibits the registration of trademarks that “disparage … or bring … into contemp[t] or disrepute” any “persons, living or dead.” The Federal Circuit held this provision facially unconstitutional pursuant to the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause. Today, in a splintered set of opinions that all agreed with the ultimate […]

  • Due Process—Specific Personal Jurisdiction

    Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of Cal., No. 16-466 The due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments govern whether and when courts may exercise “personal jurisdiction” over a defendant by adjudicating claims against it. A defendant is always subject to personal jurisdiction in its home state, under so-called “general” jurisdiction; when general […]

  • Fair Debt Collection Practices Act—Debt Collectors

    Henson v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc., No. 16-349 The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act governs the conduct of “debt collectors,” a term that includes any person who “regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another.” Resolving a division among the lower courts, […]

  • Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act—Notice Requirement

    Sandoz Inc. v. Amgen Inc., No. 15-1039 The 2009 Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act, a component of the Affordable Care Act, created an abbreviated regulatory pathway for the FDA to license “biosimilar” products—i.e., products that are “highly similar” to approved biological products. The statute’s “Notice of commercial marketing” provision requires a biosimilar applicant to […]