In Gogel v. Kia Motors Manufacturing of Georgia, Inc., 2020 WL 4342677 (11th Cir. July 29, 2020), a divided en banc court affirmed the grant of summary judgment to an employer on retaliation claims under Title VII and § 1981, reversing the original panel opinion and producing some testy exchanges among members of the court. …
Year: 2020
Eleventh Circuit Decision Highlights Difficulty of Invoking Federal-Question Jurisdiction Over Claim for Declaratory Relief
The United States Constitution created federal courts of limited subject-matter jurisdiction. Thus, a party filing suit in federal court must assert a claim arising under federal law or demonstrate that the litigants are citizens of different states. Generally, a claim brought pursuant to the federal Declaratory Judgment Act is alone insufficient to invoke federal-question jurisdiction….
Too Late At The District Court Is Still Too Late At The Appellate Court
The Eleventh Circuit’s opinion in Corley v. Long-Lewis, Inc., 2020 WL 4006602 (11th Cir. July 16, 2020), delivered by Judge William Pryor, primarily concerned questions of appellate jurisdiction, all of which were resolved in favor of hearing the appeal. The multi-faceted procedural history set the stage for the issues of appellate jurisdiction: A case that…
Third-Party Counterclaim Defendants’ Removal Bid Foiled
“Perhaps some might think removal is not the most riveting topic,” begins Judge Robin Rosenbaum’s opinion for the court in Bowling v. U.S. Bank National Association, 2020 WL 3424928 (11th Cir. June 23, 2020). (Not so with our readers, most of whom relish a good removal.) The removal issue in Bowling stemmed from the Supreme…
Eleventh Circuit Upholds Forum-Selection Clause
In DeRoy v. Carnival Corp., 2020 WL 3525536 (11th Cir. June 30, 2020), the Eleventh Circuit upheld a forum-selection clause requiring litigation of claims in federal court. Plaintiff-Appellee Carmela DeRoy sued Defendant-Appellant Carnival Corporation after she injured her foot on a rug while onboard the Carnival Valor. The contract DeRoy entered into when she booked…
Eleventh Circuit Reverses Forum Non Conveniens Dismissal
In Otto Candies, LLC v. Citigroup, Inc., 2020 WL 3550680 (11th Cir. July 1, 2020), the Eleventh Circuit reversed the forum non conveniens dismissal of a complaint brought by two U.S. plaintiffs, and 37 foreign plaintiffs, against U.S.-based Citigroup. The plaintiffs, asserting RICO, fraud, and other state-law claims, alleged that they had contracted with or…
State Law Determines Whether Claim Brought Under Federal Statutory Law is Direct or Derivative
Federal courts should look to state law to decide whether a claim brought under a federal statute is direct or derivative, according to the Eleventh Circuit. The court addressed this issue for the first time in Freedman v. magicJack Vocaltec Ltd., 2020 WL 3467396 (11th Cir. June 25, 2020), a class action filed by a…
HVAC Heater Case Won’t Be Heating Up: Dismissal Affirmed
The Eleventh Circuit’s decision on Monday in Warren Technology, Inc. v. UL LLC, 2020 WL 3406585 (11th Cir. June 22, 2020), turned on the basic question of whether the complaint’s allegation of a misrepresentation was a fact that needed to be accepted as true or could be ignored as a mere conclusory allegation. Defendant UL…
Judge William Pryor Becomes Chief Judge of Eleventh Circuit
The Eleventh Circuit welcomed a new chief judge this week, as the Hon. William H. Pryor Jr. replaced the Hon. Ed Carnes in that role on the latter’s seventieth birthday, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 45. Judge Carnes had previously given notice of his intention to take senior status, and District Judge Andrew Brasher…
Defendant Must Prove that Copied Portion of Copyrighted Work is Unprotectable
In Compulife Software Inc. v. Newman, 2020 WL 2549505 (11th Cir. May 20, 2020), the Eleventh Circuit clarified that a plaintiff, having established that the defendant copied part of a copyrighted work, need not prove that the copied portion was legally protectable; the defendant must prove that it was not. The court also reviewed the…