Once a case is removed to federal district court on the basis of the diverse citizenship of the original parties, staying there is not guaranteed. Certain subsequent events can still deprive the court of jurisdiction. One such event, Fed. R. Civ. P. 24 intervention of a non-diverse plaintiff, led to a recent Eleventh Circuit decision…
Tag: Judge Lisa Branch
One More Time: No Standing for Injunctive Relief, No Class Settlement Approval
For the second time in less than a year, the Eleventh Circuit has vacated a district court’s approval of a class action settlement on the ground that the named plaintiffs lacked standing to seek the injunctive relief component of the settlement. In Smith v. Miorelli, 2024 WL 7700360 (11th Cir. Feb. 26, 2024), the court…
Court Rejects Former Employee’s Challenge to “Loser-Pays” Arbitration Provision
When Isaac Payne took a job at the Savannah College of Art and Design (“SCAD”), he signed an acknowledgement agreeing to comply with the school’s staff handbook, including its alternative dispute resolution policy. The arbitration policy provided, among other things, that the non-prevailing party in any arbitration would be required to pay the arbitrator’s fees,…
Insurers’ Reservation of Rights Letter Did Not Create Right to Reimbursement
Winder Laboratories and Steven Pressman were insured by Continental Casualty Company and Valley Forge Insurance Company when Winder and Pressman were sued by Concordia Pharmaceuticals Inc. for allegedly “falsely or misleadingly advertis[ing] their [products] . . . as generic equivalents to Concordia’s product.” The insureds sought coverage under the insurers’ policies, both of which included…
CFPB’s “Egregious” Conduct Provides Roadmap for How Not to Defend a 30(b)(6) Deposition
The deposition of a party’s corporate representative under Rule 30(b)(6) often presents a tension between inquiry into the party’s knowledge of facts—which is fair game—and inquiry into the party’s legal positions—which can delve into protected attorney work-product. Lawyers representing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) in a case about an allegedly fraudulent debt-collection scheme provided…
Foreign Parent Company Not Subject to Personal Jurisdiction Based Solely on Actions of Subsidiary, and Expert Testimony Properly Excluded as Unreliable in Products-Liability Case
In the absence of facts supporting piercing the corporate veil or rendering affiliated companies alter egos, the actions of a subsidiary alone cannot subject a foreign parent company to personal jurisdiction in Florida, the Eleventh Circuit recently confirmed. The court’s decision in Knepfle v. J-Tech Corp., 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 25781 (11th Cir. Sept. 14,…
Arbitration Agreement’s Delegation Clause Must Be Enforced Even If Arbitration of Underlying Claims Prohibited by Statute
In Attix v. Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC, 35 F.4th 1284 (11th Cir. May 26, 2022), the Eleventh Circuit reversed a district court’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration and enforced the parties’ agreement to delegate to the arbitrator questions of arbitrability, including whether arbitration itself was precluded by the Dodd-Frank Act. The decision not…
Restaurant’s Mandatory Service Charge is Not a “Tip” Under FLSA
Tipped employees at Miami’s Nusr-et Steakhouse sued their employer, alleging that the restaurant violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by counting payments to employees from the restaurant’s mandatory 18% “service charge” as part of the employees’ “regular rate of pay,” rather than as tips. The district court rejected the employees’ claim and granted the restaurant’s…
Dismissal of Complaint Against Universal Life Insurer Affirmed Under Georgia Law
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s order in the defendant insurer’s favor, dismissing the complaint and rejecting a claim that the plaintiff’s universal life policy was ambiguous and thus had to be construed against the insurer, in Anderson v. Wilco Life Insurance Co., 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 33846 (11th Cir. Nov. 15, 2021). Vanessa…
“Pinnacle” Trademark Dispute Offers Lessons in Trademark Trial Procedure
The court vacated a $550,000 jury verdict in a trademark dispute teeming with procedural issues, Pinnacle Advertising & Marketing Group, Inc. v. Pinnacle Advertising & Marketing Group, LLC, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 22770 (11th Cir. Aug. 2, 2021), but kept alive the possibility of injunctive relief for the plaintiff on remand. The case is a…