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BOSTON — A First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 11 denied a motion by federal government agencies and President Donald J. Trump to stay a trial court’s preliminary injunction in a case brought by nearly two dozen states that restrains the federal government from implementing an executive order (EO) “attempt[ing] to dismantle congressionally sanctioned agencies” as applied to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS).
LOS ANGELES — A California jury on Sept. 11 awarded $29 million to a man with mesothelioma, finding that joint compound and dental supply companies were liable and that the dental supplier acted with malice.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) moved in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for a 45-day stay of briefing in the government’s appeal of a preliminary injunction granted by a trial court in the union’s challenge of a March executive order (EO) that the union says eliminates collective bargaining for approximately two-thirds of the federal workforce; NTEU argues that the ruling being appealed “will imminently become moot” when summary judgment cross-motions are decided.
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California partially granted a motion to dismiss a complaint challenging an executive order (EO) and memorandum implementing the EO that resulted in widespread layoffs of federal workers only as to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) but granted the unions, groups and municipalities leave to amend and properly name U.S. DOGE Service as a defendant.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge on Sept. 11 dismissed with prejudice claims involving certain Google LLC artificial intelligence models and vicarious liability claims against parent company Alphabet Inc. but otherwise denied a motion to dismiss. Earlier a magistrate judge said she would not take up artificial intelligence copyright plaintiffs’ request to appoint a special master but would hold a hearing on a motion to compel after plaintiffs complained that discovery lacked metadata critical to identifying copyrighted material. Google LLC filed its response to the motion on Sept. 10, saying it had “gone above and beyond” what was required of it.
PHILADELPHIA — A South Carolina state court order appointing a receiver for defunct talc supplier Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. did not bar the company’s board of directors from filing a bankruptcy petition for the company, a unanimous Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in affirming a New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge’s denial of a bid by the receiver and asbestos claimants to dismiss Whittaker’s Chapter 11 case.
NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel partly granted a group of record labels’ petition to reconsider its finding that the labels failed to show that video sharing website Vimeo Inc. had “red flag” knowledge that user-uploaded videos contained copyrighted musical recordings, agreeing to remove a footnote musing on whether the labels had preserved for U.S. Supreme Court review arguments that Vimeo could not be entitled to the safe harbor defined in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a pair of amicus curiae briefs filed Sept. 11, former U.S. attorneys general and military leaders urged the U.S. Supreme Court to adopt an expanded reading of 2011 amendments to the federal officer removal statute as a means of ensuring that private companies are willing to work with the federal government without the threat of being sued decades later. The case involves whether lawsuits against oil companies for conduct related to drilling for oil during World War II belong in state or federal court.
ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals en banc majority found that an exclusion in a Georgia county sheriff’s department’s health insurance plan that denied coverage for “sex change” surgery and treatment to a transgender employee “is not facially discriminatory under Title VII” in reversing a federal judge’s judgment, vacating a permanent injunction and remanding the case for further proceedings.
NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 10 denied a petition filed by Verizon Communications Inc. seeking review of a Federal Communications Commission forfeiture order imposing a $46.9 million penalty for violating the Communications Act and related regulations regarding Verizon’s alleged failure to safeguard certain customer proprietary network information, finding that the data is protected under statute, that the finding of liability was reasonable and that the forfeiture order does not violate Verizon’s constitutional rights or the applicable statute.
SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed in a joint motion filed Sept. 10 in a federal court in California to sign a final rule making an attainment determination for the 1997 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for the San Joaquin Valley and to sign final rules approving or disapproving Smog Check Contingency Measure State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions by specified dates to avoid further federal litigation brought by a group of environmental nonprofits alleging that the agency’s failure to make the air quality determinations was causing a “public health crisis” in the area.