The Eleventh Circuit is 0-3 in the October 2025 Supreme Court term. According to SCOTUS blog’s Circuit Scorecard, the Eleventh Circuit joins the Seventh and Eighth Circuit with a 100% reversal rate. Only the First and Tenth Circuits had a greater than 50% affirm rate. In Havana Docks Corp. v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., the…
Author: Rebekah Whittington O'Brien
ERISA’s “Actuarial Equivalent” Requirement Demands Reasonable Assumptions
In Drummond v. Southern Company Services, Inc., No. 24-12773 (11th Cir. May 26, 2026), the Eleventh Circuit held that a plan converting one form of annuity into its “actuarial equivalent” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) must use the kind of assumptions a reasonable actuary would actually employ. ERISA requires retirement…
Eleventh Circuit Affirms Insurer’s Summary Judgment After Holding No Bad Faith in Delayed Tender Amid Coverage Investigation
In Martinez v. GEICO Casualty Insurance Co., the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of GEICO after rejecting a bad-faith claim because the insurer did not act in bad faith by investigating a legitimate coverage question before sending a full tender offer within 30 days of the notice of…
Notices of Appeal May Be Untimely Even If Filed Within 30 Days of Final Judgment
When a district court dismisses a complaint and gives the plaintiff a deadline to amend the complaint, a notice of appeal of the dismissal must be filed within 30 days of the last day set for the plaintiff to amend the complaint to be timely, according to the Eleventh Circuit in Burt v. Univ. of…
The SEC’s 2023 Funding Order for Consolidated Audit Trail is Arbitrary and Capricious
The Eleventh Circuit vacated the SEC’s 2023 Funding Order for its Consolidated Audit Trail (the “CAT”) as arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. Am. Sec. Ass’n v. SEC, No. 23-13396 (11th Cir. July 25, 2025). The court remanded the matter to the SEC for further proceedings. For over a decade, the…
Prior Employment Retaliation Action Precludes False Claims Act Qui Tam Action
A False Claims Act (“FCA”) qui tam action may be barred by res judicata because of a prior employment retaliation action, the Eleventh Circuit held in Milner v. Baptist Health Montgomery, 132 F.45h 1354 (11th Cir. 2025). A physician brought suit against his former employer-hospital, alleging that he was fired for whistleblowing on a scheme…
Federal Communications Commission’s 2023 Rule Interpreting “Prior Express Consent” Under the TCPA Violates the Administrative Procedure Act
The Eleventh Circuit vacated the Federal Communication Commission’s (“FCC”) 2023 rule interpreting the meaning of “prior express consent” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) because the rule impermissibly conflicted with the ordinary statutory meaning of “prior express consent.” Insurance Marketing Coalition Limited v. FCC, 127 F.4th 303 (11th Cir. 2025). Insurance Marketing Coalition Limited…
Rule 9(b) Particularity Requirements in False Claims Act Cases May Be Satisfied by External Audit Findings
Section 3729(a)(1)(B) of the False Claims Act requires a plaintiff to allege with particularity the actual submission of a claim to the U.S. government. The Eleventh Circuit has now held that this requirement can be satisfied by alleging that the defendant’s external audit showed that at least some false claims were submitted, even where the…
NLRB’s Severance and Retention of Remedial Issue Does Not Deprive Court of Appellate Jurisdiction Over Resolved Issues
In National Labor Relations Board v. ArrMaz Products, Inc., 2024 WL 5116732 (11th Cir. Dec. 16, 2024), the Eleventh Circuit held that it had jurisdiction to review a decision of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) that employees of a wholly owned subsidiary were not eligible to vote in a union-representation election, where the NLRB…
But-For Causation Required for Employees to Succeed on FMLA Retaliation Claims
An employee bringing a retaliation claim under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601-54 must prove that the retaliation was the but-for cause of termination. Lapham v. Walgreen Co., 2023 WL 8609244 (11th Cir. 2023). Doris Lapham, an employee of Walgreens for almost ten years, sought leave under FMLA so that…