A Florida statute which prohibits all businesses operating in the state from requiring customers to provide documentary proof that they are vaccinated against COVID-19 does not violate the Free Speech and Commerce Clauses of the Constitution, a sharply divided Eleventh Circuit panel held in Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. v. State Surgeon General, 2022 U.S….
Year: 2022
Full Court Will Consider Grounds for Vacatur of International Arbitration Awards
The court will rehear en banc Corporacion AIC, SA v. Hidroelectrica Santa Rita S.A., 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 27855 (11th Cir. Oct. 5, 2022), concerning the grounds for vacatur of an arbitration award falling under the New York Convention. As we reported here, a panel of the court affirmed a denial of a motion for…
Antitrust Claim Rejected: Parent Company Cannot “Conspire” with Majority-Owned and Controlled Subsidiary
A private-equity firm and its majority-owned subsidiary preserved a defense summary judgment on antitrust conspiracy and monopolization claims in OJ Commerce, LLC v. KidKraft, Inc., 34 F.4th 1232 (11th Cir. May 24, 2022). Building on the Supreme Court’s holding that a parent company cannot engage in unlawful “concerted activity” with a wholly owned subsidiary, Copperweld…
Foreign Parent Company Not Subject to Personal Jurisdiction Based Solely on Actions of Subsidiary, and Expert Testimony Properly Excluded as Unreliable in Products-Liability Case
In the absence of facts supporting piercing the corporate veil or rendering affiliated companies alter egos, the actions of a subsidiary alone cannot subject a foreign parent company to personal jurisdiction in Florida, the Eleventh Circuit recently confirmed. The court’s decision in Knepfle v. J-Tech Corp., 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 25781 (11th Cir. Sept. 14,…
No Safe Harbor in Florida If Financing Statement Misnames the Debtor
As we reported here, the Eleventh Circuit recently certified to the Florida Supreme Court a series of questions about the consequences under Florida law of a misnamed debtor in a UCC-1 financing statement. Florida law provides that a financing statement is “seriously misleading” if it does not include the debtor’s correct name, but provides a…
Certain Mortgage Communications Must Comply with Both the Truth in Lending Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
The Eleventh Circuit has held again that certain mortgage servicing communications required under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and sent to a borrower also can be subject to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Lamirand v. Fay Servicing, LLC, 38 F.4th 976 (11th Cir. 2022). The court vacated an order dismissing the complaint…
Sharing Information with Trusted Vendors Does Not Confer Article III Standing for FDCPA Claim
The en banc Eleventh Circuit has issued its third and presumably final opinion in the tortured history of Hunstein v. Preferred Collection & Management Services, Inc., 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 25233 (11th Cir. Sept. 8, 2022). The court held that the plaintiff failed to allege facts sufficient to establish Article III standing to assert a…
Tax Penalty May Be Communicated to Taxpayer Prior to Required Supervisory Approval
In Kroner v. Commissioner, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 25650 (11th Cir. Sept. 13, 2022), the court reversed a U.S. Tax Court decision to hold that the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) did not violate section 6751(b) of the Internal Revenue Code when it obtained supervisory approval prior to the assessment of a tax penalty, even though…
No Class-Action Tolling for Chiquita Terrorism Plaintiffs
The court was presented with a set of exotic facts in Garcia v. Chiquita Brands International, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 25192 (11th Cir. Sept. 8, 2022), but applied two familiar principles of civil procedure to decide the relatively narrow issues on appeal. The decision was the court’s second in the controversy arising from Chiquita’s guilty…
Declaratory Judgment Did Not Extinguish Right to Demand Prejudgment Interest Under Georgia Law
In FDIC v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 23203 (11th Cir. Aug. 19, 2022), the Eleventh Circuit held that a demand for prejudgment interest made after entry of a declaratory judgment was timely under Georgia law. The FDIC, as receiver for Omni National Bank, sued some of Omni’s former officers…