In Crowley Maritime Corp. v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh, 2019 WL 3294003 (11th Cir. July 23, 2019), the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a denial of insurance coverage under an executive and organization liability insurance policy. Crowley Maritime Corporation (“Crowley”) carries freight between the United States and Puerto Rico, and purchased liability insurance from…
Tag: Res judicata
Eleventh Circuit Restores $20m Punitive-Damages Verdict Against Philip Morris
The Eleventh Circuit last week reinstated a $20.76m punitive-damages verdict against tobacco giant Philip Morris, ruling that the district court had abused its discretion in ordering a new trial on the plaintiff’s intentional tort claims. Cote v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 2018 WL 6167395 (11th Cir. Nov. 26, 2018). The court also affirmed the denial…
Eleventh Circuit Upholds Constitutionality of Giving Preclusive Effect to Engle Jury Findings on Intentional Torts
Recently, in Searcy v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 2018 WL 4214594 (11th Cir. Sept. 5, 2018), the Eleventh Circuit held that giving preclusive effect to a Florida jury’s findings that tobacco companies had concealed the health impacts of smoking did not violate the Due Process Clause when the defendants had notice and an opportunity to…
Eleventh Circuit Rejects Constitutional Challenge to Brookhaven Ordinance Regulating “Sexually Oriented Businesses”
In 2013, the City of Brookhaven enacted its code to “regulate sexually oriented businesses in order to promote the health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens of the City, and to establish reasonable and uniform regulations to prevent the deleterious secondary effects of sexually oriented businesses within the City.” The new code did not…
Survey of 2017 Eleventh Circuit Decisions Published
The Mercer Law Review recently published its annual survey of noteworthy Eleventh Circuit decisions. The Class Actions article, authored by our own Tom Byrne and Stacey Mohr, analyzes the court’s 2017 decisions on CAFA jurisdiction, the impact of arbitration agreements on class actions, the preclusive effect of prior actions, class action settlements, and class certification disputes….
Preclusive Effect of Engle Findings Against Tobacco Cases Does Not Violate Due Process
In a 7-3 decision, the Eleventh Circuit sitting en banc declined to overrule Walker v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 734 F.3d 1278 (11th Cir. 2013), and held (again) that a jury’s negligence and strict liability findings in the Engle class action against tobacco companies may be given preclusive effect in follow-on individual cases without violating…