Conservation Easements with a Limited Reservation of Development Rights Are Potentially Deductible
Posted on Oct 28, 2020 in Taxation | Comments Off on Conservation Easements with a Limited Reservation of Development Rights Are Potentially Deductible
In Pine Mountain Preserve LLLP v. Commissioner, 2020 WL 6193897 (11th Cir. Oct. 22, 2020), the Eleventh Circuit was asked whether a grantor’s reservation of limited development rights prevents a conservation easement from satisfying the requirements to claim a charitable deduction under the qualified conservation contribution rules of section 170(h) of the Internal Revenue Code. In an...
A Sticky Situation: Epoxy Company Is Stuck With Evidence of Intent to Copy, and Evidence of Actual Confusion
Posted on Oct 28, 2020 in Intellectual Property | Comments Off on A Sticky Situation: Epoxy Company Is Stuck With Evidence of Intent to Copy, and Evidence of Actual Confusion
The interplay between circumstantial evidence under the Lanham Act’s substantive law of trade dress infringement and the rules for summary judgment was at issue in J-B Weld Co. v. Gorilla Glue Co., 2020 WL 6144561 (11th Cir. Oct. 20, 2020). In J-B Weld,all three judges agreed that the district court erred in entering summary judgment for the defendant. In an opinion authored by...
Employee Arbitration Award Stands Despite Arbitrators’ Alleged Misinterpretation of the Contract
Posted on Sep 23, 2020 in Arbitration | Comments Off on Employee Arbitration Award Stands Despite Arbitrators’ Alleged Misinterpretation of the Contract
The Eleventh Circuit refused to vacate an employee’s arbitration award for nearly $4 million for wrongful termination based on the employer’s claim that the arbitration panel misinterpreted the parties’ employment and arbitration agreements in Gherardi v. Citigroup Global Markets Inc., 2020 WL 5553255 (11th Cir. Sept. 17, 2020). The employee brought several claims in arbitration,...
Eleventh Circuit Sets the Bar for Bar Orders
Posted on Sep 8, 2020 in Civil Procedure | Comments Off on Eleventh Circuit Sets the Bar for Bar Orders
In SEC v. Quiros, 966 F.3d 1195 (July 20, 2020), the Eleventh Circuit held that the district court abused its discretion when it entered a bar order extinguishing non-parties’ claims, because entry of the order was not necessary to resolve the parties’ dispute. In 2016, the SEC filed a civil enforcement action against Ariel Quiros, and the district court appointed a receiver to take...
Herbalife Top Distributors Lose Arbitration Bid
Posted on Aug 11, 2020 in Arbitration | Comments Off on Herbalife Top Distributors Lose Arbitration Bid
Top distributors of the sometimes controversial nutrition products marketer Herbalife lost their bid to compel arbitration of RICO and related claims made by lower-level distributors in Lavigne v. Herbalife, Ltd., 2020 WL 4342671 (11th Cir. July 29, 2020), which affirmed the order of a Florida district court. The top distributors, alleged to be part of Herbalife’s “Circle of Success,”...