In Larsen v. Citibank FSB, 871 F.3d 1295 (11th Cir. Sept. 26, 2017), the Eleventh Circuit reversed the Southern District of Florida’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration of a consumer debt class action. The plaintiff, David Johnson, filed a putative class action alleging that Defendant KeyBank had improperly changed the sequence of debit…
Eleventh Circuit Digs Deep to Revive SCAD Trademark Suit
In an October 3, 2017, opinion, a panel of the Eleventh Circuit reversed the Northern District of Georgia’s grant of summary judgment for the defendant in a trademark-infringement suit brought by Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). In Savannah College of Art and Design, Inc. v. Sportswear, Inc., 2017 WL 4369451, the court held…
You Can’t Have Your Cake and Eat It Too: “Midco” Transaction Exposes Sellers to Transferee Liability
Consider the following situation: You’re a major stockholder in a corporation whose assets have appreciated in value, and you want to sell. You would really like to structure the deal as a sale of stock in order to avoid capital gains tax on the corporation’s appreciated assets. When you contact potential buyers, you find that…
“This is a tax case. Fear not, keep reading.”
These are the opening words of Judge Kevin Newsom’s opinion for the court in Morrissey v. United States, 2017 WL 4229063 (11th Cir. Sept. 25, 2017). What interested the court in the case were two issues: whether the expenses that a gay man incurred to father children through in vitro fertilization are deductible medical expenses…
Government Official Entitled to Qualified Immunity—No Clearly Established First Amendment Violation in Not Promoting Employee Based on Father’s Speech
In last term’s decision in White v. Pauly, the Supreme Court observed that it has “issued a number of opinions reversing federal courts in qualified immunity cases” in recent years. 137 S. Ct. 548, 551 (2017). In other words, lower courts have been too quick to conclude that challenged conduct violates “clearly established federal statutory…
Body Shops Can Proceed with Antitrust Claims Against Auto Insurers
A divided panel of the Eleventh Circuit has reversed the dismissal of antitrust and state law claims asserted by auto body shops against automobile insurers. Quality Auto Painting Ctr. of Roselle, Inc. v. State Farm Indem. Co., 2017 WL 3910750 (11th Cir. Sept. 7, 2017). Senior Judge Lanier Anderson’s lengthy dissent and partial concurrence would…
Branch Nominated to Court
The White House today announced that the nomination of Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Elizabeth “Lisa” Branch has been sent to the Senate for confirmation. Judge Branch has served on the Georgia Court of Appeals since 2012. Posted by Tom Byrne No tags for this post.
Supreme Court Scorecard: Looking Back at the 2016 Term and Forward to October
After a tough record in 2015, the Eleventh Circuit batted .400 last term at the U.S. Supreme Court. In the Court’s five merits decisions on appeal from the Eleventh Circuit, two judgments were affirmed, two were reversed, and one was vacated. The two affirmances were both in criminal cases with majority opinions by Justice Thomas….
No Willful Violation of Fair Credit Reporting Act If Report Technically Accurate, Even If Misleading, Given Split on “Maximum Possible Accuracy”
In Pedro v. TransUnion LLC, 2017 WL 3623926 (11th Cir. Aug. 24, 2017), the Eleventh Circuit concluded that a consumer reporting agency did not adopt an “objectively unreasonable interpretation” of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) when it stated on a consumer’s credit report that she was an authorized user of her parents’ credit card…
Judge Frank M. Hull Taking Senior Status
The media are reporting that Judge Hull has informed President Trump that she intends to take senior status. She has been on the Eleventh Circuit for almost twenty years, after being elevated from the Northern District of Georgia by President Bill Clinton in 1997. This vacancy will give President Trump his second opportunity to appoint a…