In Finnegan v. Commissioner, 2019 WL 2428109 (11th Cir. June 11, 2019), the Eleventh Circuit was asked to review whether a taxpayer may be indefinitely held responsible for the fraud of its paid tax return preparer. It is a question of special interest to small business owners that rely on an outside accountant to help…
Tag: Judge Gerald Tjoflat
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…
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…
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 In Bostock, a panel of Judges Tjoflat, Wilson, and Newsom affirmed, in an unpublished per…
A Takings Claim By Any Other Name . . . May Not Succeed
In Hillcrest Property, LLP v. Pasco County, 2019 WL 580259 (11th Cir. Feb. 13, 2019), the Eleventh Circuit confirmed that allegedly unlawful application of a land-use ordinance does not give rise to a substantive due process claim. As the court previously held in McKinney v. Pate, 20 F.3d 1550 (11th Cir. 1994), “executive action never…
Unregistered Copyright Does Not Preclude Federal Jurisdiction
Capping off an October trio of copyright decisions, the Eleventh Circuit in Fastcase, Inc. v. Lawriter, LLC, 2018 WL 5318148 (11th Cir. Oct. 29, 2018), confirmed that the failure to register a copyright does not defeat federal subject-matter jurisdiction (though it may doom an infringement claim under Rule 12(b)(6)). The court also held that a…
Court Rejects ADA Exhaustion Argument for Closed Captions
The court held this week that the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010, which creates an administrative procedure to address videos lacking closed captions before the FCC, does not create an administrative exhaustion requirement for bringing similar issues under the ADA. Sierra v. City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, (No. 18-10740 11th Cir….
Defendant Sails to Victory in Trade Secret Case
In Yellowfin Yachts, Inc. v. Barker Boatworks, LLC, 2018 WL 3734344 (11th Cir. Aug. 7, 2018), the Eleventh Circuit upheld the dismissal of trade-secret claims related to the manufacture and sale of fishing boats. Yellowfin Yachts is a manufacturer of high-end fishing boats, allegedly known in the marketplace for the “swept sheer line” of their…
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…
Eleventh Circuit Invalidates FTC Cease and Desist Order
In LabMD, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission, 2018 WL 3056794 (11th Cir. June 6, 2018), the Eleventh Circuit vacated an FTC cease and desist order, finding that the order was unenforceable because it lacked the required specificity that would enable the order to be enforced by a court. LabMD is a now-defunct medical laboratory. Given the…