In plaintiff’s tort case against defendant-general contractors arising from an injury sustained while working on renovation of Soldier Field, district court’s failure to give a joint control instruction to the jury was a harmless error and the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is a red herring in this case as the question is not whether [...]
In plaintiff’s case against several defendants arising from a custody case in which the Illinois state court found that she suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, district court’s dismissal of her suit is affirmed where: 1) guardians ad litem and court-appointed experts, including psychiatrists, are absolutely immune from liability for damages when they act at [...]
(U.S. Fed. Cir., Civil Procedure, Drugs & Biotech, Intellectual Property, Patent) In a patent case involving claim methods for quantifying HIV in human blood samples, district court’s judgment is affirmed in part and vacated and remanded in part where: 1) district court correctly found that Roche’s counterclaim for a judgment on its ownership claim was [...]
(U.S. Fed. Cir., Banking Law, Civil Procedure, Government Law, Intellectual Property, Patent) In a patent infringement case involving a method for detecting fraudulent bank checks, district court’s dismissal of certain counts of plaintiff’s suit is affirmed as the allegedly infringing activity was for the United States and with its authorization and consent and thus could [...]
(U.S. 9th Cir., Civil Procedure, Environmental Law, Injury And Tort Law, International Law) In an action by a Philippine island claiming that an American company polluted its waters, dismissal of the action on forum non conveniens grounds is reversed where the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction under the act of state doctrine because none [...]
(U.S. 2d Cir., Civil Procedure, Drugs & Biotech, Injury And Tort Law, Manufacturing, Product Liability) In a product liability action against a drug manufacturer, dismissal of the action as untimely is affirmed where a prior dismissal of an identical action in state court for failure to appear at a court conference constituted a dismissal “for [...]
(U.S. 2d Cir., Civil Procedure, Class Actions, Ethics & Professional Responsibility, Insurance Law) In an action alleging fraud in connection with the demutualization of defendant life insurance company, disqualification of defense counsel on the ground that it represented defendant in the underlying demutualization is reversed where: (1) the firm did not have an attorney-client relationship [...]
(U.S. 9th Cir., Administrative Law, Immigration Law) In a petition for review of the BIA’s denial of petitioner’s motion to reconsider its rejection of petitioner’s appeal as being untimely filed, the petition is denied where 8 C.F.R. section 1003.38(b) is ambiguous regarding the BIA’s jurisdiction to consider late filings, and the BIA’s interpretation barring petitioner’s [...]
(U.S. 9th Cir., Administrative Law, Criminal Law & Procedure, Immigration Law, Military Law) In a petition for review of the BIA’s order dismissing petitioner’s appeal from an Immigration Judge’s order finding him removable as an alien convicted of an aggravated felony, the petition is granted where petitioner was not convicted of an aggravated felony as [...]
(U.S. 9th Cir., Administrative Law, Immigration Law) In a petition for review of the BIA’s denial of petitioner’s motion to reconsider its rejection of his appeal of an Immigration Judge’s decision as being untimely filed, the petition is dismissed where the BIA’s denial of petitioner’s motion was an exercise of routine discretion.