Federal Court Won’t Second-Guess U.S. Military Combat-Zone Decisions

After almost eight years of consolidated, multidistrict, pretrial proceedings—including massive jurisdictional discovery and a succession of dispositive motions and appeals—Judge Roger W. Titus of the U.S. District Court of the District of Maryland on July 19, 2017 dismissed in its entirety the “Burn Pit” toxic-tort multidistrict litigation.  The primary defendant, Kellogg Brown & Root Services, […]

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Is It Finally Time To Fix FIFRA Preemption?

FIFRA is the comprehensive federal statute that for the past 70 years has regulated “pesticides”—a term which encompasses a broad range of agricultural, professional, industrial, and consumer pest control products.   One of the most persistent as well as hotly contested areas of pesticide regulation involves the subject of “preemption”—the supremacy of federal law over

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Battlefield Contractor Immunity Article Quotes Larry Ebner

In a feature article published on July 14, Bloomberg Law/BNA Federal Contracts Report turned to Capital Appellate Advocacy founder Larry Ebner for insight on “battlefield contractor” immunity defenses and case law growing out of U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.   According to Ebner,  the D.C. Circuit’s 2009 decision in Saleh v. Titan Corp. is

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Hollow Victory for Anti-Pesticide Groups

In a 2-1 decision issued on June 30, the D.C. Circuit court of appeals has allowed the continued use of cyantraniliprole (“CTP”)—which is classified by EPA as a reduced-risk agricultural insecticide—despite EPA’s undisputed failure to comply with Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) requirements to make an endangered/threatened species “effects” determination and consult with federal wildlife agencies.  The declaratory

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Justice Gorsuch’s Exciting First Opinion

The Daily Caller’s June 12 headline declares that “Justice Gorsuch’s First SCOTUS Opinion Is Super Boring.”  Not so!  Justice Gorsuch is off to a rousing start by transforming what sounds like a super-boring topic—the meaning of “debt collector” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act—into an opinion that from the first phrase of the first sentence

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Supreme Court Derails Forum Shoppers

The Supreme Court’s May 30 opinion in BNSF Railway Co. v. Tyrrell reaffirms that a State’s court system cannot exercise “general” or “all-purpose” personal jurisdiction over a corporation unless the company is incorporated in that State, has its principal place of business in that State, or otherwise is “at home” in that State.  See Daimler

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Supreme Court Won’t Review Discriminatory Law-Practice Statute

On April 17 the Supreme Court — in its final Order prior to Justice Neil Gorsuch’s inaugural session — declined to review the constitutionality of New York Judiciary Law § 470.  Under that law, as recently interpreted by the New York Court of Appeals, a New York bar member residing anywhere other than in New York

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Current Eight-Justice Court Agrees To Tackle Complex Litigation Issues That May Affect Businesses

Perhaps in anticipation of soon being joined by a ninth Justice, the Supreme Court agreed in mid-January to decide a number of litigation-related issues that may directly affect U.S. businesses: Because each of these issues has the potential to affect a broad range of U.S. businesses and industries, each of the Supreme Court cases in which they

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