A divided panel of the Eleventh Circuit has reversed the dismissal of antitrust and state law claims asserted by auto body shops against automobile insurers. Quality Auto Painting Ctr. of Roselle, Inc. v. State Farm Indem. Co., 2017 WL 3910750 (11th Cir. Sept. 7, 2017). Senior Judge Lanier Anderson’s lengthy dissent and partial concurrence would…
Author: Wendy Spiro
Supreme Court Scorecard: Looking Back at the 2016 Term and Forward to October
After a tough record in 2015, the Eleventh Circuit batted .400 last term at the U.S. Supreme Court. In the Court’s five merits decisions on appeal from the Eleventh Circuit, two judgments were affirmed, two were reversed, and one was vacated. The two affirmances were both in criminal cases with majority opinions by Justice Thomas….
No Willful Violation of Fair Credit Reporting Act If Report Technically Accurate, Even If Misleading, Given Split on “Maximum Possible Accuracy”
In Pedro v. TransUnion LLC, 2017 WL 3623926 (11th Cir. Aug. 24, 2017), the Eleventh Circuit concluded that a consumer reporting agency did not adopt an “objectively unreasonable interpretation” of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) when it stated on a consumer’s credit report that she was an authorized user of her parents’ credit card…
Judge Frank M. Hull Taking Senior Status
The media are reporting that Judge Hull has informed President Trump that she intends to take senior status. She has been on the Eleventh Circuit for almost twenty years, after being elevated from the Northern District of Georgia by President Bill Clinton in 1997. This vacancy will give President Trump his second opportunity to appoint a…
Don’t Call Me Maybe—TCPA Consent Can Be Partially Revoked
The Eleventh Circuit has held that the TCPA permits a consumer to partially revoke her consent to be called. Schweitzer v. Comenity Bank, 2017 WL 3429381 (11th Cir. Aug. 10, 2017). Emily Schweitzer had a past-due credit card account with Comenity Bank. The bank called her cell phone (the number which she had provided in…
Court Rejects Plaintiff’s Claims for FLSA and Rehabilitation Act Violations
This week the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the lower court’s (N.D. Ala.) decision to reject a city employee’s claims for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-219, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Rehabilitation Act”), 29 U.S.C. § 794. Boyle v. City of Pell City, 2017 WL 3429383 (11th Cir. Aug. 10,…
“Gateway” Issue Delegation to an Arbitrator is Enforceable, Without Qualifications; Circuit Split Noted
The Eleventh Circuit enforced an employment-related arbitration agreement’s provision delegating to the arbitrator “gateway” questions of arbitrability in Jones v. Waffle House, Inc., 866 F3d 1257 (11th Cir. Aug. 7, 2017). The opinion, written by Judge Marcus and joined by Judge Hull and Judge Clevenger visiting from the Federal Circuit, also rejects the notion, adopted by the…
Kevin Newsom Confirmed as Eleventh Circuit’s Newest Judge
The Senate has confirmed Kevin Newsom as the Eleventh Circuit’s newest judge. Newsom, 44, is currently the chair of Bradley Arent Boult Cummings’s appellate group. He graduated summa cum laude from Samford University and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, and clerked for Judge O’Scannlain on the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Souter. He…
Court Rules Question of Arbitral Venue Presumptively for Arbitrator to Decide
In an international arbitration dispute between an Israeli company (“Profimex”) and an American business (“OAD”) incorporated in the state of Georgia, the Eleventh Circuit ruled this week “that questions of arbitral venue, even those arising in international arbitration, are presumptively for the arbitrator to decide.” Bamberger Rosenheim, Ltd., (Israel) (“Profimex”) v. OA Development, Inc., (United…
Employee Waived Jury Trial on Formation of Arbitration Agreement
The Eleventh Circuit labored to disentangle a procedural morass in Burch v. P.J. Cheese, Inc., 2017 WL 2885095 (11th Cir. July 7, 2017), ultimately holding that the plaintiff, a former employee alleging violations of a raft of federal employment laws, failed to perfect his right to a jury trial on the existence of an…