The Eleventh Circuit rejected an argument from a party seeking to vacate an arbitration award that an email courtesy copy of a “notice of motion” was effective service under the Federal Arbitration Act. In O’Neal Constructors, LLC v. DRT America, LLC, 2021 WL 1220710 (11th Cir. Apr. 1, 2021), the appellant, DRT, sought to vacate…
Year: 2021
General Statistical Evidence of “Local Controversy” Held Insufficient for Jurisdiction Under Class Action Fairness Act
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…
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 The doctrine was repealed by statute for cases removed under the general removal…
Appeal on the Merits Untimely, and Costs Award to Defendant Under Rule 68 Affirmed, in FLSA Case
In a hectic end to 2020, we almost overlooked an interesting appellate procedure opinion affecting FLSA cases, Vasconcelo v. Miami Auto Max, Inc., 981 F.3d 934 (11th Cir. 2020). In Vasconcelo, the Eleventh Circuit dismissed an FLSA plaintiff’s appeal on the merits as untimely; affirmed the district court’s attorneys’ fees award, which awarded less than…
Increased Risk of Identity Theft Cannot Establish Article III Standing in Data Breach Cases
The Eleventh Circuit has now taken a stand on whether a substantial risk of identity theft, fraud, and other future harm constitutes Article III standing in data breach cases. Tsao v. Captiva MVP Rest. Partners, LLC, 2021 WL 381948 (11th Cir. Feb. 4, 2021). In an opinion authored by Senior Judge Tjoflat, the Eleventh Circuit…
Administrative Feasibility Not Separate Class Certification Requirement
The Eleventh Circuit aligned itself last week with the majority of circuits in holding that a threshold determination that identifying class members is administratively feasible is not a separate requirement for class certification. The ruling, in the closely-watched case of Cherry v. Dometic Corp., 2021 WL 346121 (11th Cir. Feb. 2, 2021), which attracted numerous…
Court Rejects Challenges to SEC Subpoenas
The Eleventh Circuit rejected jurisdictional and relevance challenges to SEC subpoenas in SEC v. Marin, 982 F.3d 1341 (11th Cir. 2020). The SEC issued subpoenas to Carla Marin and MinTrade Technologies pursuant to a formal order of investigation (“FOI”) authorizing the Commission to investigate whether a Tampa-based limited liability company called Traders Café, and its…
Court Upholds (Again) $20 Million Punitive-Damages Verdict Against Phillip Morris
In what may be one of the last Engle progeny cases to reach the Eleventh Circuit, the court again upheld an award of punitive damages against the tobacco company defendant, rejecting Phillip Morris’s argument that the award—which was over 3 times the amount of compensatory damages awarded to the individual plaintiff—was unconstitutionally excessive in violation…