Can class-action plaintiffs avoid federal court by relying on general economic studies and population statistics to prove that their case should be in state court? Not in the Eleventh Circuit. In Smith v. Marcus & Millichap, Inc., 2021 WL 939184 (11th Cir. Mar. 12, 2021), the court held that “studies, surveys, and census data—which do…
Month: March 2021
Equipment Distributor Can’t Defeat Summary Judgment on Claims that Competitor Conspired with Manufacturer to Terminate Business with Distributor
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for a defendant facing claims under the Sherman Antitrust Act, concluding that the plaintiff’s evidence was “at least ‘as equally consistent with permissible competition as it is with an illegal conspiracy.’” The court’s decision in American Contractors Supply, LLC v. HD Supply Construction Supply, Ltd., 2021 WL 822194 (11th…
Derivative Jurisdiction Doctrine Does Not Apply to Personal Jurisdiction
In the category of legal doctrines that have outlived whatever usefulness that they once had falls the doctrine of “derivative jurisdiction”—that a federal district court must dismiss a removed case if the state court from which it was removed lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. The doctrine was repealed by statute for cases removed under the general removal…