Federal Judiciary

COA limits implied waiver of sovereign immunity afforded by Corum v. UNC
Today, in Petroleum Traders Corp. v. State, the Court of Appeals limited the waiver of sovereign immunity afforded by Corum v. University of North Carolina to claims arising under Article I of the N...

Can States Have Their (Patent) Cake and Eat It, Too
In Biomedical Patent Management v. State Of California, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that a state?s initial waiver of Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity ? when it intervened in an earlier, related action that was dismissed for improper venue — doesn?t mean that it waived sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment [...

Supreme Court of VA Grants Writ in Sovereign Immunity Case
The Supreme Court of Virginia will revisit its sovereign immunity doctrine in the drowning case of a 16-year-old boy in a Lexington, VA park. Circuit Judge Michael Irvine found the City of Lexington was protected by sovereign immunity...

Ninth Circuit: Private Debt Collectors Under Contract With Prosecutors Are Not Shielded by Sovereign Immunity
by Deepak Gupta Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Marsha Berzon, ruled that American Corrective Counseling Services (ACCS), the nation's largest operator of "check diversion" programs, may not shield itself from...

Ninth Circuit rules Indian tribal immunity extends to profit-making businesses
[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Friday ruled that tribal sovereign immunity applies to lawsuits brought in federal court dealing with the profit-making businesses of Indian tribes...

Ninth Weighs In On Circuit Split: No Objection Required In District Court to Preserve Substantive Reasonableness Challenge
United States v. Autery, No. 07-30424 (9th Cir. Feb. 13, 2009) (Thompson, Smith; Tashima, concurring in part and dissenting in part)Remember that circuit split over reasonbleness review and plain error? Courtesy of our colleagues at the Ninth Circuit Blog (here and here), we learn that the Ninth Circuit has weighed in on that question...

Stock Splits and Reverse Stock Splits
How splits can affect stock value

Specialty Lamp International
Recalls Counterfeit Circuit Breakers

Diamond Antitrust
De Beers Diamond Company creates $295 million class action fund for anticompetitive gem prices.

Clopidogrel Marketed as Plavix FDA Issues Public Health Advisory
Clopidogrel Marketed as Plavix FDA Issues Public Health Advisory

Estate of Seth Tobias
$25 million estate to be split as part of settlement.

The Bay Presbyterian Church
$700,000 settlement reached in church split case.

Nursing Home Abuse
New Data Made Public