Sitting en banc, the Eleventh Circuit unanimously held in SmileDirectClub, LLC v. Battle, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 21393 (11th Cir. July 20, 2021), that an interlocutory appeal may not be taken under the collateral order doctrine from the denial of the state-action antitrust immunity conferred by Parker v. Brown, 317 U.S. 341 (1943). The case…
Tag: Judge Adalberto Jordan
Derivative Jurisdiction Doctrine Does Not Apply to Personal Jurisdiction
In the category of legal doctrines that have outlived whatever usefulness that they once had falls the doctrine of “derivative jurisdiction”—that a federal district court must dismiss a removed case if the state court from which it was removed lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. The doctrine was repealed by statute for cases removed under the general removal…
Eleventh Circuit Reverses Forum Non Conveniens Dismissal
In Otto Candies, LLC v. Citigroup, Inc., 2020 WL 3550680 (11th Cir. July 1, 2020), the Eleventh Circuit reversed the forum non conveniens dismissal of a complaint brought by two U.S. plaintiffs, and 37 foreign plaintiffs, against U.S.-based Citigroup. The plaintiffs, asserting RICO, fraud, and other state-law claims, alleged that they had contracted with or…
Court Refuses Stay of COVID-19 Abortion Injunction
COVID-19 is showing its across-the-board implications and triggering quick action from courts. Though the high-profile abortion case of Robinson v. Attorney General, Alabama, 2020 WL 1952370 (11th Cir. Apr. 23, 2020), might not ordinarily be featured in this blog, the case represents the first round of COVID-19 cases to make its way up to the…
Eleventh Circuit Considers Issue of First Impression Regarding Rule 41(d) Awards of Costs
Although parties generally bear their own costs upon voluntary dismissal of a federal case, there are, as with most rules, exceptions. For example, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(d), if a plaintiff voluntarily dismisses an action and then files a second action “based on or including the same claim,” the court may: (1)…
Legal Challenge by Frustrated Supporters of 2016 Bernie Sanders Campaign Rejected
As the country approaches the next presidential election in 2020, the Eleventh Circuit closed the book on a putative class action filed by supporters of Bernie Sanders during his last bid for the Democratic Party’s nomination in 2016. Wilding v. DNC Services Corp., 2019 WL 5539021 (11th Cir. Oct. 28, 2019), “pit[ted] a political party…
Lending Agreements’ Out-of-State Forum Selection Clauses and Class Action Waivers Violate Georgia Public Policy
Lenders were barred from enforcing out-of-state forum selection clauses and class action waivers in loan agreements because such provisions violate Georgia’s public policy, the Eleventh Circuit held in Davis v. Oasis Legal Finance Operating Co., 2019 WL 4051592 (11th Cir. Aug. 28, 2019). A class of borrowers who entered into identical loan agreements sued their…
Eleventh Circuit Takes the Middle of the Road in Evaluating a Foreign Tribunal’s “Receptivity” to Judicial Assistance from U.S. Courts
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…
Split Panel Upholds Dismissal of Force-Placed Insurance Claims Under Filed-Rate Doctrine
Last week, a split panel of the Eleventh Circuit upheld the dismissal of a class action over “force-placed insurance” under the filed-rate doctrine. Patel v. Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC, 2018 WL 4559091 (11th Cir. Sept. 24, 2018). The “force-placed insurance” in question concerns the residential mortgage market. A typical mortgage contract requires the borrower to…
Court Declares Ratepayers’ Challenge to Jefferson County Bankruptcy Plan Equitably Moot
In Bennett v. Jefferson County, Alabama, 2018 WL 3892979 (11th Cir. Aug. 16, 2018), the Eleventh Circuit held that the doctrine of equitable mootness barred a challenge by ratepayers to Jefferson County’s bankruptcy plan, representing the first time the court has applied the doctrine to a Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy. Jefferson County declared bankruptcy in…