A creditor must have an enforceable claim when it files its claim in bankruptcy court. Accordingly, the bankruptcy court properly disallowed a claim filed by one company based on a mortgage and note held by an affiliated family-owned company. Bay United Holdings, LLC v. INXS 7, LLC (In re: Aegis Asset Mgmt., LLC), ___ F.4th…
Slashed Deduction for Conservation Easement Donation Upheld
The Eleventh Circuit recently affirmed a U.S. Tax Court decision that a $23 million deduction claimed for a conservation easement donation should only have been $480,000. The court also upheld the imposition of a 40% penalty for gross valuation misstatement. Savannah Shoals, LLC v. Commissioner, 2026 WL 2056291 (July 16, 2026). The case arose from…
Supreme Court Scorecard: Looking Back at the 2025 Term
The Eleventh Circuit is 0-3 in the October 2025 Supreme Court term. According to SCOTUS blog’s Circuit Scorecard, the Eleventh Circuit joins the Seventh and Eighth Circuit with a 100% reversal rate. Only the First and Tenth Circuits had a greater than 50% affirm rate. In Havana Docks Corp. v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., the…
ERISA’s “Actuarial Equivalent” Requirement Demands Reasonable Assumptions
In Drummond v. Southern Company Services, Inc., No. 24-12773 (11th Cir. May 26, 2026), the Eleventh Circuit held that a plan converting one form of annuity into its “actuarial equivalent” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) must use the kind of assumptions a reasonable actuary would actually employ. ERISA requires retirement…
“Browsewrap” Assent Not Good Enough To Enforce Arbitration Agreement
A divided Eleventh Circuit panel held that an internet-based video programming platform could not enforce an arbitration agreement against a suing customer because the agreement, inserted among the website’s hyperlinked terms and conditions, was insufficiently conspicuous to put a reasonably prudent person on notice of its existence. Tejon v. Zeus Networks, LLC,2026 WL 1194722 (May…
Who Is John Galt to Arbitrate? The Eleventh Circuit and Non-Signatory Enforcement of Arbitration Agreements
The Eleventh Circuit’s recent decision in Chemaly v. Lampert, No. 24-10797, 2026 WL 1088514 (11th Cir. Apr. 22, 2026), reinforces the arbitrability of seamen’s claims falling under the New York Convention while clarifying the circumstances under which a non-signatory to a contract may rely on equitable estoppel to enforce the contract’s terms. The plaintiff, Byron…
JV Partner’s Refusal to Terminate Unprofitable Project Did Not Breach Fiduciary Duty
In Lane Construction Corporation v. Skanska USA Civil Southeast, Inc., et al., ___ F.4th ___, 2026 WL 1018146 (11th Cir. April 15, 2026) the Eleventh Circuit rejected Lane Construction’s attempt to avoid millions in losses related to its involvement in a $2.3 billion construction project, finding that that Lane’s breach of fiduciary duty allegations were…
Streaming Service Infringed DISH copyrights
If copyright law is the meat of the court’s opinion in DISH Network L.L.C. v. Fraifer et al., ___ F.4th ___, 2026 WL 959813 (April 9, 2026), the evidence and civil procedure discussions are hearty sides. The dispute concerned the defendants’ making available to viewers Arabic-language programming in which plaintiff DISH Network claimed copyrights. A…
Punitive Damages Award for Racial Discrimination Comported with Due Process
High-level personnel at Dimerco Express USA Corp. repeatedly and overtly expressed an intention to hire only white salespeople. The company also rescinded Kenny Faulk’s employment offer after Dimerco’s president discovered that Faulk is black. Faulk has a criminal record—including a misdemeanor conviction following reduction of the charge from aggravated assault—but so does a white man…
“Effective Vindication Doctrine” Spares ERISA Plan-wide Claim from Arbitration
An arbitration provision in a defined contribution employee benefit plan that prohibited relief on behalf of the plan, allowing relief for only individual participants, is unenforceable, the court held in Williams v. Shapiro, 2025 WL 3625999 (Dec. 15, 2025). The court ruled that the “effective vindication doctrine” prohibits prospective waivers of statutory rights granted by…