MVA Litigation

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE RECONSIDERS CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY: Last week, the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law held its hearing to address Bankruptcy reform - Exploring Chapter 11 Reform: Corporate and Financial Institution Insolvencies; Treatment of Derivatives.  The witness list and testimony are available here.  Posted by Tony Lathrop, Apr. 4, 2014.

In response to recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions addressing utility patent subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office issued new guidance and training materials for patent examiners tasked with determining eligibility of machine, composition, manufacture and process claims "involving laws of nature,  natural phenomena, and natural products."  The USPTO published the guidance memorandum and training slides, requesting public comment and suggestions for future examiner training.

The USPTO explained that the new guidance ...

The Eleventh Circuit in Walthour v. Chipio Windshield Repair, LLC, No. 13-11309 (11th Cir. March 21, 2014) recently joined the Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Eighth Circuits in upholding class arbitration waivers in a Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) action.  Plaintiffs in Walthour argued that the statutory right to file a collective action under the FLSA cannot be waived, as it is a substantive right.  Plaintiffs pointed to the statute’s text, legislative history and purposes to support their position that the FLSA’s right to collective action trumps the Federal ...

Defining the power of arbitration agreements has been a hot topic at the federal and state levels for the past couple of years.  In a recent post, we discussed two North Carolina Court of Appeals decisions that validated the reach of the U.S. Supreme Court’s AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, 131 S.Ct. 1740 (2011) and Italian Colors v. American Express 133 S.Ct. 2304 (2013) decisions to enforce class arbitration waivers in the State.  In one of those cases, Torrence v. Nationwide Budget Finance, et. al., No. 05- CVS 447 (N.C. Ct. App. Feb. 4, 2014), a question also was raised regarding the ...

On February 24, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in three “moldy” washing machine class actions, which presented questions regarding Fed. R. Civ. P. 23’s commonality and predominance requirements as clarified by Wal-­Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541 (2011) and Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, 133 S. Ct. 1426 (2013). In a previous post, we discussed in detail the Sixth Circuit’s rationale for upholding the trial court’s certification of a liability class in  Whirlpool Corp. v. Glazer, et al (No. 13-431), despite the fact that there were four different ...

The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently declared the enforceability of class arbitration waivers despite the North Carolina Supreme Court’s previous decision in Tillman v. Commercial Credit Loans, Inc., 362 N.C. 93, 655 S.E.2d 362 (2008), which invalidated an arbitration agreement based, in part, on a class arbitration waiver.  In companion cases, Torrence v. Nationwide Budget Finance, et. al., No. 05- CVS 447 (N.C. Ct. App. Feb. 4, 2014) and Knox v. First Southern Cash Advance, et.al., No. 05-CVS-445 (N.C. Ct. App. Feb. 4, 2014)**, plaintiffs had secured class ...

REDEFINING THE POWER OF ARBITRATION IN UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE CASES: NLRB SOLICITED BRIEFS ON THE ISSUE - In line with recent efforts in the courts to define the scope of power of the arbitral forum, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently took on the issue of whether to modify the standard it applies to determine whether to defer to an arbitrator’s decision in a matter that presents unfair labor practice issues.  NLRB General Counsel requested that the Board modify the standard to require deferral, so long as it is not repugnant to the Act, if the party seeking deferral ...

A LIBERAL SHIFT IN THE FOURTH CIRCUIT? - PART 2: In part two of this Bloomberg BNA series, MVA Litigation Associate Jason Idilbi continues analyzing whether the judges appointed during the 2010-2011 term to the historically conservative Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals have caused the court to lean towards the left.  Idilbi examines the outcomes of the Fourth Circuit’s recent en banc rehearings and whether they demonstrate that there has been an ideological shift on the court.  Idilbi Article Part 2.  If you missed Part 1, see our previous post. Posted Feb. 13, 2014

FEBRUARY 15TH DEADLINE TO COMMENT ON PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO FEDERAL RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE:  In August 2013, the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules published proposed amendments to the Fed. R. Civ. P. which address the challenges of managing the scope of discovery in the digital age and the attendant consequences for a party’s failure to meet its discovery obligations. The proposed amendments impose limitations on discovery and spoliation sanctions. Read my previous post for details.  Comments are due February 15, 2014. You may submit comments online.  Posted by Tony Lathrop ...