Under Pennsylvania law, companies that register to do business in that State are required to agree to appear in its courts on “any cause of action” filed against them. In other words, by registering to do business in Pennsylvania, a corporation is deemed to have consented to the State’s general (“all purpose”) jurisdiction. This means […]
On behalf of the Atlantic Legal Foundation, I have authored and filed an amicus brief supporting the certiorari petition in Monsanto Company v. Durnell (24-1068), which urges the Supreme Court to decide whether the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (“FIFRA”) preempts state-law failure-to-warn claims involving Roundup, a widely used agricultural herbicide. Case Background Section 24(b) of FIFRA, 7
Supreme Court Should Decide Whether Roundup Failure-To-Warn Claims Are Preempted Read More »
I have authored and filed a petition-stage amicus brief on behalf of Green Oceans, an environmental group that opposes construction and operation of dozens of gigantic wind turbines on the Outer Contintental Shelf (“OCS”) off the Rhode Island and Massachusetts coasts. The amicus brief supports two pending certiorari petitions that seek review of a First
The certiorari petition in Save Jobs USA v. Department of Homeland Security (24-923) asks the Supreme Court to decide whether DHS has authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15), to decide, independently of Congress, which statutorily defined classes of nonimmigrant alien visa holders can work while in the United States. Resolution of
The pending certiorari petition in Hain Celestial Group, Inc. & Whole Foods Market, Inc. v. Palmquist, No. 24-724, presents an important unresolved question fundamental to ALF’s civil justice mission. ALF has filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to grant review. Case Background The Fifth Circuit’s holding that the district court’s final judgment in
ALF Urges Supreme Court To Reject “Post-Judgment Vertical Forum Shopping” Read More »
The Mexican government has sued heavily regulated U.S. firearms manufacturers for $10 billion in damages and sweeping injunctive relief to redress “social costs” that it alleges to have incurred as a result of gun violence in Mexico. According to Mexico’s complaint, filed in Massachusetts federal district court, the defendant manufacturers have knowingly “aided and abetted”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has taken the unusual step of granting en banc review to address the question of whether a federal district court properly exercised its gatekeeping role under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 in a patent infringement case. More specifically, the en banc Federal Circuit in EcoFactor, Inc. v.
The Inflation Reduction Act’s highly politicized, misleadingly named, “Drug Price Negotiation Program,” 42 U.S.C. § 1320f et seq., is a form of government-imposed price control. Under the Program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) selects certain “negotiation-eligible” brand-name drugs. Following a supposed “negotiation” and “agreement” with its manufacturer, each such drug can be sold within
ALF Again Argues That “Drug Price Negotiation Program” Is Unconstitutional Read More »
In the consolidated Gilead Tenofovir Cases, the California Court of Appeal held that “the legal duty of a manufacturer to exercise reasonable care can, in appropriate circumstances, extend beyond the duty not to market a defective product” (emphasis added). More specifically, the court held that “a drug manufacturer, having invented what it knows is a safer, and at least equally
ALF Argues New Drug Tort Violates Sound Science & Harms The Public Interest Read More »
The certiorari petition in Nantucket Residents Against Turbines v. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, No. 24-337, asks the Supreme Court to decide whether federal agencies can, consistent with the plain language of the Endangered Species Act, exclude from their Section 7 analysis known and available science regarding impacts on an endangered species resulting from federal
