In Royal Palm Properties, LLC v. Pink Palm Properties, LLC, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 18682 (11th Cir. July 7, 2022), the Eleventh Circuit held that there may be no prevailing party for the purposes of post-verdict cost and fee shifting. A unanimous appellate panel affirmed a district court’s denial of a litigant’s motion for costs…
Category: Civil Procedure
Denial of Motion in Limine Without Prejudice Requires Renewal of Objection at Trial
Yates v. Pinellas Hematology & Oncology, P.A., 2021 US. App. LEXIS 38556 (11th Cir. Dec. 29, 2021), involved claims that the defendant medical provider violated the False Claims Act by materially altering some of its submissions to Medicare. After a jury found the defendant liable and awarded damages and penalties in excess of $1.1 million,…
Court Affirms Order Unsealing “Unguarded Emails”
The Eleventh Circuit reiterated the importance of access to judicial proceedings—including, in the case at hand, “unguarded emails expressing personal opinions,” in Callahan v. United Network for Organ Sharing, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 34201 (11th Cir. Nov. 17, 2021). The underlying dispute arose from a revised organ donation policy approved by the defendant United Network…
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 The doctrine was repealed by statute for cases removed under the general removal…
Eleventh Circuit Sets the Bar for Bar Orders
In SEC v. Quiros, 966 F.3d 1195 (July 20, 2020), the Eleventh Circuit held that the district court abused its discretion when it entered a bar order extinguishing non-parties’ claims, because entry of the order was not necessary to resolve the parties’ dispute. In 2016, the SEC filed a civil enforcement action against Ariel Quiros,…
Eleventh Circuit Upholds Forum-Selection Clause
In DeRoy v. Carnival Corp., 2020 WL 3525536 (11th Cir. June 30, 2020), the Eleventh Circuit upheld a forum-selection clause requiring litigation of claims in federal court. Plaintiff-Appellee Carmela DeRoy sued Defendant-Appellant Carnival Corporation after she injured her foot on a rug while onboard the Carnival Valor. The contract DeRoy entered into when she booked…
Eleventh Circuit Considers Issue of First Impression Regarding Rule 41(d) Awards of Costs
Although parties generally bear their own costs upon voluntary dismissal of a federal case, there are, as with most rules, exceptions. For example, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(d), if a plaintiff voluntarily dismisses an action and then files a second action “based on or including the same claim,” the court may: (1)…
Eleventh Circuit Emphasizes Importance of Striking Shotgun Pleadings
In a consolidated appeal of two cases filed against banking institutions, the Eleventh Circuit expressed frustration over being “forced to review a judgment that should never have been entered.” Estate of Bass v. Regions Bank, Inc., 2020 WL 284094 (11th Cir. Jan. 21, 2020). Rather than striking the complaints as impermissible shotgun pleadings and allowing…
Eleventh Circuit Takes the Middle of the Road in Evaluating a Foreign Tribunal’s “Receptivity” to Judicial Assistance from U.S. Courts
In Department of Caldas v. Diageo PLC, 2019 WL 2333910 (11th Cir. June 3, 2019), the Eleventh Circuit held that a district court evaluating a foreign court’s receptivity to judicial assistance from a U.S. Court in the context of an application for discovery under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 need not apply a rigid burden of…
Monkey See, Monkey Do: Eleventh Circuit Affirms Decision that Defendant’s Gorilla Logo Infringed Plaintiff’s Trademark But Vacates Award of Defendant’s Profits
In PlayNation Play Systems, Inc. v. Velex Corp., 2019 WL 2180589 (11th Cir. May 21, 2019), the Eleventh Circuit considered whether the district court erred in determining that the defendant infringed the plaintiff’s trademark and in awarding damages in the form of the defendant’s profits and cancellation of the defendant’s trademark. Plaintiff sold children’s outdoor…