In Department of Caldas v. Diageo PLC, 2019 WL 2333910 (11th Cir. June 3, 2019), the Eleventh Circuit held that a district court evaluating a foreign court’s receptivity to judicial assistance from a U.S. Court in the context of an application for discovery under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 need not apply a rigid burden of…
Category: Civil Procedure
Monkey See, Monkey Do: Eleventh Circuit Affirms Decision that Defendant’s Gorilla Logo Infringed Plaintiff’s Trademark But Vacates Award of Defendant’s Profits
In PlayNation Play Systems, Inc. v. Velex Corp., 2019 WL 2180589 (11th Cir. May 21, 2019), the Eleventh Circuit considered whether the district court erred in determining that the defendant infringed the plaintiff’s trademark and in awarding damages in the form of the defendant’s profits and cancellation of the defendant’s trademark. Plaintiff sold children’s outdoor…
Ex-Wife Who Was Fraudulently Transferred Millions Of Dollars Can’t Get Relief From Paying Her Ex-Husband’s Creditors, But She Doesn’t Have To Pay Punitive Damages Awarded Against Him
The Eleventh Circuit published a fraudulent-transfer decision in Alliant Tax Credit 31, Inc. v. Murphy, 2019 WL 2121297 (11th Cir. May 15, 2019). With appeals from both sides, the court tediously worked its way through numerous issues on appeal. Most of these involved state law questions, but the court in an opinion by Judge Tjoflat…
Dollars from Donuts: Court Applies Georgia Civil Rule on Attorneys’ Fees
A plaintiff whose vehicle was struck by a Krispy Kreme driver appealed a $330,000 verdict in her favor and obtained a reversal, and a chance to win an even bigger verdict, in Showan v. Pressdee, 2019 WL 1891785 (11th Cir. Apr. 29, 2019). At issue primarily was a once fairly obscure provision of the Georgia…
Eleventh Circuit Affirms Judgment for Employer in Paralegal’s FLSA Overtime Action
The Eleventh Circuit clarified the standards for relief under Rule 59 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in Jenkins v. Anton, 2019 WL 1894415 (11th Cir. Apr. 29, 2019). After a paralegal sued her employer for overtime wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act and lost at a bench trial, she was denied relief…
Eleventh Circuit Holds Forum Non Conveniens Requires Consideration of Both Private and Public Interest Factors
The Eleventh Circuit held this week that district courts must consider both private and public interest factors when contemplating dismissal for forum non conveniens, a doctrine relevant when “a foreign forum is better suited to adjudicate the dispute.” Fresh Results, LLC v. ASF Holland, B.V., 2019 WL 1758863 (11th Cir. Apr. 22, 2019). Private factors…
Full Eleventh Circuit Dismisses Car Shop Antitrust Claims against Insurers
In Quality Auto Painting Center of Roselle, Inc. v. State Farm Indemnity Co., 2019 WL 1006973, on March 4, 2019, the Eleventh Circuit, sitting en banc, addressed the sufficiency of five complaints brought under the Sherman Act for price-fixing and group boycotting and state law claims for unjust enrichment, quantum meruit, and tortious interference. The…
Failure to Comply with Rule 9(b)’s Particularity Requirement Dooms Claims under the False Claims Act
Payments by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation to an employee responsible for referring HIV-positive patients to healthcare services offered by the Foundation fall within the employee exemption to the Anti-Kickback Statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(b)(3)(B), according to the Eleventh Circuit’s decision in Carrel v. AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Inc., 2018 WL 3734278 (11th Cir. Aug. 7, 2018). …
Procedural Lapses Short-Circuit Attack on Statute Aimed at Incentivizing Nuclear Plant Construction
The abandonment of the V.C. Summer nuclear project in South Carolina and the questionable status of Plant Vogtle in Georgia have garnered headlines in recent months and raised questions about the validity of state statutes authorizing utility companies to preemptively charge customers for the design and construction of new nuclear facilities using rate hikes. In…
Remediation Plans Don’t Necessarily Moot Independent Claims for Similar Injunctive Relief Under the ADA
Can a remediation plan designed to settle one lawsuit moot claims for similar injunctive relief in another case? Maybe in some contexts, but the Eleventh Circuit rejected that argument on the facts presented in Haynes v. Hooters of America, LLC, 2018 WL 3030840 (11th Cir. June 19, 2018), an ADA dispute over website accessibility for…