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…
Supreme Court Grants Review of Eleventh Circuit Case, Among Others, to Decide Title VII’s Application to LGBT Discrimination
The Supreme Court today granted certiorari in a number of cases considering whether Title VII prohibits discrimination against LGBT employees, including a case decided by the Eleventh Circuit, Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, 723 F. App’x 964 (May 10, 2018). In Bostock, a panel of Judges Tjoflat, Wilson, and Newsom affirmed, in an unpublished per…
Class-Action Plaintiff Lacks Standing to Challenge Policy Interpretation After Exhaustion of Personal Insurance Benefits
Citing a lack of standing, the Eleventh Circuit threw out an insurance class action that had been pending for several years in A&M Gerber Chiropractic LLC v. GEICO General Insurance Co., 2019 WL 1746869 (11th Cir. Apr. 19, 2019), leaving unsettled an “important issue” related to personal-injury-protection (PIP) benefits under Florida’s Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law….
Rule 23(f) Petitions to Eleventh Circuit
One question that Eleventh Circuit litigants often ask is how likely the court is to grant a Rule 23(f) petition for interlocutory review of a class certification decision. Litigants who have been on the wrong end of a class certification decision ask this question with particular urgency because an interlocutory appeal—before the trial on the…
Offer to “Resolve” Time-Barred Debt States Fair Debt Collection Claim
The Eleventh Circuit took on a circuit-splitting issue under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act in Holzman v. Malcolm S. Gerald & Associates, 2019 WL 1495642 (11th Cir. Apr. 5, 2019). The case arose from the defendants’ efforts to collect a time-barred debt. The plaintiff alleged that the collection letter he received was “false, deceptive,…
Loan Servicer’s “Obvious” Willful Violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act Warrants Revival of Plaintiffs’ Claims for Emotional-Distress and Punitive Damages
Last week, in Marchisio v. Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC, 2019 WL 1320522 (11th Cir. Mar. 25, 2019), the Eleventh Circuit, taking a somewhat exasperated tone, addressed claims against a mortgage servicer whose repeated misreporting of a consumer account—even after a history of litigation and two settlement agreements—was an “obvious” violation of the Fair Credit Reporting…
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…
Supreme Court Clarifies Law on Late-Filed Rule 23(f) Petitions
This week, the Supreme Court ruled that the 14-day deadline to file an interlocutory appeal of a district court’s class certification decision is not subject to equitable tolling. Nutraceutical Corp. v. Lambert, No. 17-1094, 2019 WL 920828 (U.S. Feb. 26, 2019). In Nutraceutical, after the district court issued a decision decertifying the class, the plaintiff…