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…
Author: Wendy Spiro
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…
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…
Tax Service’s Registered Trademark’s Suggestiveness Presented Jury Question
In Engineered Tax Services, Inc. v. Scarpello Consulting, Inc., 2020 WL 2478863 (11th Cir. May 14, 2020), the Eleventh Circuit reversed and remanded the district court’s grant of summary judgment for Scarpello Consulting in a trademark dispute over the distinctiveness of the service mark “Engineered Tax Services,” citing previous rulings on substantive trademark law and its …
Supreme Court Upholds Eleventh Circuit Copyright Decision on Legislative Materials
Shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court embarked on its six-day experiment hearing oral arguments by telephone, the Court affirmed the Eleventh Circuit’s judgment in Code Revision Commission v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., 906 F.3d 1229 (11th Cir. 2018), aff’d sub nom. Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., 140 S. Ct. 1498 (2020)—a copyright case that we previously covered here and…
Existence of a Golf Course Does Not Prevent Tax Deduction for Conservation Easement
In Champions Retreat Golf Founders, LLC v. Commissioner, 2020 WL 2462534 (11th Cir. May 13, 2020), the Eleventh Circuit was asked to review whether the grant of a conservation easement over a golf course was made “exclusively for conservation purposes”—a requirement to receive a charitable contribution deduction. In an opinion by visiting Judge Robert L….