Florida Lawyer News Services | Robbins Equitas

(Tampa personal injury attorney) Babcock & Wilcox Co. v. Kansas City S. Ry. Co.

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(U.S. 3d Cir., Civil Procedure, Commercial Law, Contracts, Transportation) In an action under the Carmack Amendment to the Interstate Commerce Act (ICA) against defendants-railroads to recover damages to plaintiff’s boiler, denial of defendants’ motion to dismiss and summary judgment for plaintiff are vacated and remanded with instructions where: 1) The legislative history of 49 U.S.C. section 10709, the history of the corresponding federal regulations, and recent Surface Transportation Board proceedings, indicate that a contract need not reference section 10709 in order to be section 10709 contract; 2) the terms of the contract at issue, which deviate in numerous respects from the common carrier obligations imposed by the ICA, evince the intent of the parties to enter into a section 10709 contract; and 3) thus, dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction was proper.

Alfaro v. Cmty. Hous. Improvement Sys.
&
Planning Assoc., Inc.

(Cal. App., Civil Procedure, Contracts, Government Law, Property Law & Real Estate) In an action involving deed restrictions in a housing development project, trial court’s judgment is reversed where: 1) plaintiffs’ properties were subject to a valid affordable housing deed restriction; 2) the statutes of limitations have lapsed as to claims by 22 co-plaintiffs of fraudulent and negligent nondisclosure and breach of implied contracts mostly against defendant; and 3) claims by 16 other co-plaintiffs of fraudulent and negligent nondisclosure and breach of implied contracts against co-defendant South County remain viable.

Tooley v. Napolitano

(U.S. D.C. Cir., Civil Procedure, Civil Rights) In a civil rights action alleging illegal wiretapping, summary judgment for Defendants is reversed and remanded, where the complaint, although implausible, contained a short and plain statement of the grounds for relief.

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(Aviation lawyer) United Nat’l Ins. Co. v. Spectrum Worldwide, Inc.

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(U.S. 9th Cir., Contracts, Insurance Law, Intellectual Property, Media Law, Remedies, Trademark) In a suit by an insurance company for reimbursement of its settlement contribution in a trademark infringement action, summary judgment for plaintiff is affirmed where: 1) a “first publication” exclusion found in the excess insurance policy applied to infringement claims; 2) defendant was judicially estopped from claiming that it first published infringing material after it purchased the policy; and 3) the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding two defendants jointly and severally liable for repayment of plaintiff’s contribution.

Comedy Club, Inc. v. Improv West Assocs.

(U.S. 9th Cir., Civil Procedure, Dispute Resolution & Arbitration, Intellectual Property, Trademark) In a declaratory action seeking to protect plaintiff’s interests in a trademark licensing agreement, district court order confirming an arbitration award is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) the arbitrator properly arbitrated equitable claims; 2) the arbitrator’s award is not completely irrational; 3) the arbitrator exceeded the scope of his authority by enjoining plaintiff’s non-party affiliates; and 4) the arbitrator’s award violates the California Business and Professions Code. Appeal of the district court order compelling arbitration is untimely and the court lacks jurisdiction to consider the issue.

Sud-Chemie, Inc. v. Multisorb Techs., Inc.

(U.S. Fed. Cir., Intellectual Property, Patent) In a patent infringement action, summary judgment for defendant on the ground that plaintiff’s patent was invalid for obviousness is vacated and remanded where the evidence before the district court did not support the court’s conclusion that a prior art patent disclosed the use of compatible polymeric materials described in plaintiff’s patent for desiccant containers.

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(Tampa dui attorney) Martinez v. Jones

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(U.S. 7th Cir., Civil Procedure, Habeas Corpus, Per Curiam) Denial of petition for writ of habeas corpus is affirmed where, because petitioner was denied permission to file a successive petition, his request was not a properly filed postconviction action, thus it did not toll the limitations period and his petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the district court was untimely.

Branch Consultants v. Allstate Ins. Co.

(U.S. 5th Cir., Civil Procedure, Government Law, Insurance Law) Dismissal of a False Claims Act suit arising out of Katrina-related insurance fraud is affirmed in part where the FCA’s first-to-file jurisdictional bar applied to plaintiff’s case against certain defendants despite the fact that plaintiff focused on different details, geographic locations, and other insurer defendants; but reversed in part where the previous case’s allegations and generic naming of two other insurers, by itself, did not trigger the first-to- file bar as to plaintiff’s specific allegations against other insurers that the first case did not name.

Babcock
&
Wilcox Co. v. Kansas City S. Ry. Co.

(U.S. 3d Cir., Civil Procedure, Commercial Law, Contracts, Transportation) In an action under the Carmack Amendment to the Interstate Commerce Act (ICA) against defendants-railroads to recover damages to plaintiff’s boiler, denial of defendants’ motion to dismiss and summary judgment for plaintiff are vacated and remanded with instructions where: 1) The legislative history of 49 U.S.C. section 10709, the history of the corresponding federal regulations, and recent Surface Transportation Board proceedings, indicate that a contract need not reference section 10709 in order to be section 10709 contract; 2) the terms of the contract at issue, which deviate in numerous respects from the common carrier obligations imposed by the ICA, evince the intent of the parties to enter into a section 10709 contract; and 3) thus, dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction was proper.

In the Matter of Jason B. v. Novello

(N.Y., Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Government Benefits, Health Law) In a suit to retain benefits as a developmentally disabled individual, judgment for plaintiff is reversed where an eligibility determination was not based upon a practice and procedure of an administrative tribunal that is comparable to that of a court of law, therefore res judicata did not block the agency’s revocation of benefits.

NLRB v. Jackson Hosp. Corp.

(U.S. 6th Cir., Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Labor & Employment Law) The NLRB’s application for enforcement of its order directing Respondent to provide back pay to former employees, who were fired for participating in a lawful strike, is granted. The ALJ did not abuse her discretion in quashing Respondent’s subpoena seeking employees’ private financial information.

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(Tampa divorce attorney) Meta: Obama’s New Economic Team

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Two blog commentaries from The Economist on President-elect Barack Obama’s economic team nominees– Hilda Solis for Secretary of Labor and Ron Kirk for U.S. Trade Representative–are less than enthusiastic (see here and here). Why? Both are under a heavy cloud…

Beyond Open Skies Available for Preorder
Prof. Brian Havel’s new book, Beyond Open Skies: A New Regime for International Aviation, is now available for preorder from Wolters Kluwer. A summary of the book’s contents and purchasing information is available online here.

Text of H.R. 831
A full text of Rep. James Oberstar’s controversial new bill is available from the Government Publications Office here.

Recent Articles of Note
In light of the recent slowdown in web-log postings over the last week due to pending commitments, readers may wish to spend some time perusing some recent scholarly contributions to the debate surrounding foreign ownership of U.S. airlines and the…

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