Native American tribes enjoy sovereign immunity from suit under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-634. This was the holding of the Eleventh Circuit’s published opinion in Williams v. Poarch Band of Creek Indians, 2016 WL 6081345 (11th Cir. Oct. 18, 2016). This case clarifies principles of statutory interpretation and reaffirms the…
Author: Wendy Spiro
Trademark Battle SCARs Between Assault Rifle Makers
A trademark dispute between assault rifle makers turned on whether promotional activities associated with an unregistered mark having no public sales are sufficient to establish prior analogous use, and whether that mark could acquire distinctiveness through secondary meaning based at least in part on these promotional activities. FN Herstal SA v. Clyde Armory Inc., 2016…
Employees May Join FLSA Collective Action With Rule 23 Class Action in Same Proceeding
The Eleventh Circuit has joined the D.C., Second, Third, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits in holding that employees may bring a collective action against their employer under § 216(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (“FLSA”) in the same proceeding in which they seek Rule 23(b) certification of state-law claims. Calderone v. Scott, 2016…
Workplace Grooming Policy Against Dreadlocks Held Non-Discriminatory Under Title VII
Does enforcing a workplace policy against dreadlocks amount to intentional racial discrimination against a black or African American job applicant? Despite the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s endorsement of that theory, the Eleventh Circuit rejected its argument yesterday in EEOC v. Catastrophe Management Solutions (CMS), 2016 WL 4916851 (11th Cir. Sept. 15, 2016). The EEOC brought…
Civil RICO Class Action Dismissal Affirmed
A civil RICO class action challenging Spirit Airlines’ “Passenger Usage Fee” landed for a second time in the Eleventh Circuit and this time the airline fared better: the court affirmed the dismissal of the amended complaint in a major opinion on RICO pleading standards authored by Judge Stanley Marcus. Ray v. Spirit Airlines, Inc., 2016…
“Demonstrated Responsibility” under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act: A Contractual Obligation Suffices
In its second major Medicare Secondary Payer (“MSP”) Act decision in a month, the Eleventh Circuit held that an insurer’s contractual obligation, without a judgment or settlement, can provide the “demonstrated responsibility” necessary to allow a claim against the insurer for double damages under the Act. MSP Recovery, LLC v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2016 WL…
Eleventh Circuit Defers to National Park Service’s Wilderness Designation
The Eleventh Circuit has upheld a decision by the National Park Service (“NPS”) to designate certain federal lands in Florida as “wilderness.” Nat’l Parks Conservation Ass’n v. U.S. Dep’t of Interior, No. 14-15326 (11th Cir. Aug. 31, 2016). The NPS acquired approximately 112,400 acres of additional lands to add to the Big Cypress National Preserve…
Eleventh Circuit Allows Extraterritorial Discovery for Foreign and International Disputes
28 U.S.C. § 1782 provides federal-court assistance in gathering evidence for use in foreign tribunals, but how far does its reach extend? In an opinion published on August 23, 2016, Sergeeva v. Tripleton International, 2016 WL 4435616, the Eleventh Circuit addressed the use of Section 1782 to achieve discovery of documents outside U.S. territorial limits and possessed by…
“Binding” External Benefit Determinations Might Not Bind Courts Under ERISA
Does ERISA preempt rules that give “binding” effect to benefit determinations made by a plan’s external review panel? Not as long as those determinations don’t actually bind courts, the Eleventh Circuit held in Alexandra H. v. Oxford Health Insurance Inc. Freedom Access Plan, 2016 WL 4361936 (11th Cir. Aug. 16, 2016). The plaintiff in the…
The Eleventh Circuit Delves into the “Murky” Waters Surrounding the U.S. Virgin Islands
For many years, the IRS has been aggressively auditing taxpayers who have filed income tax returns with the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) Bureau of Internal Revenue (VIBIR), claiming a 90% tax credit under the USVI Economic Development Program (EDP). The IRS has long believed that individuals are falsely claiming to be “bona fide” USVI residents…