On behalf of the Atlantic Legal Foundation (ALF), I have filed a merits-stage amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to hold in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Ry. Co., No. 21-1168, that a nonresident corporation cannot be subjected to a State’s general jurisdiction merely because, as required by the State, it registers to do business. This is […]
Law360 has published my sharply critical Expert Analysis of the amicus brief that the U.S. Solicitor General recently submitted to the Supreme Court in Monsanto Co. v. Hardeman, No. 21-241. My analysis explains that – “From the perspective of product liability defense attorneys, the brief from the solicitor general is a transparently partisan, short-sighted effort to
Justices Should Give Feds’ Roundup Amicus Little Weight Read More »
The Supreme Court recently proposed to eliminate the requirement to obtain the parties’ consent, or the Court’s permission, to file an amicus brief. I have written a short insight piece for DRI’s new online publication, The Brief Case, about this important development. My article raises a fundamental point about amicus briefs: Since the purpose of
Welcome News! The Supreme Court Proposes to Ditch the Amicus Brief Consent Requirement Read More »
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers impose onerous Clean Water Act permitting requirements in connection with discharge of dredged or fill material on private property that those agencies deem wetlands encompassed by “the waters of the United States”—the vague phrase that Congress chose to define “navigable waters” subject
On March 4, 2022, I was pleased to participate in a 90-minute continuing legal education webinar titled “Procedures, Practice Pointers, & Winning Strategies When Your Case is Headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.” The webinar, sponsored by the DuPage County (Illinois) Bar Association, emphasized written Supreme Court advocacy at the certiorari-petition stage, which is where
Webinar on Supreme Court Practice Read More »
3M Company v. Amador The Atlantic Legal Foundation (ALF), joined by Washington Legal Foundation and DRI-The Voice of the Defense Bar, has filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to hear an appeal that challenges the Eighth Circuit’s lax interpretation and application of Federal Rule of Evidence 702 (Testimony by Expert Witnesses). Rule 702 was amended more than 20 years
Amicus Brief Urges Supreme Court To Keep “Junk Science” Away From Juries Read More »
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. v. McCall, No. 21-926 Question Presented Whether an out-of-state corporate defendant’s registration to do business in a State should be deemed consent to that State’s general jurisdiction. Case Background Imposing limits on the ability of state and federal courts to assert jurisdiction over out-of-state defendants is fundamental to due process—what
The Atlantic Legal Foundation has submitted an amicus brief supporting the certiorari petition in John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, Inc. v. Tony Evers, Governor of Wisconsin, No. 21-388. The question presented —the proper First Amendment test for scrutinizing government officials’ selective exclusion of journalists from press conferences and briefings—goes to the heart of the
More than two decades ago, I stood before the Justices of the California Supreme Court and succeeded in persuading them that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) expressly preempts pesticide-related failure to warn claims. See Etcheverry v. Tri-Ag Service, Inc., 22 Cal.4th 316 (Cal. 2000). Five years later, in Bates v. Dow AgroSciences,
It’s Time For The Supreme Court To Revisit FIFRA Preemption Read More »
I today filed on behalf of the Atlantic Legal Foundation a petition-stage amicus brief supporting Petitioner Monsanto Company in Monsanto Co. v. Hardeman, No. 21-241. The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) vests the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with exclusive authority to regulate the content of pesticide product labeling. FIFRA accomplishes this by expressly
ALF Urges Supreme Court To Clarify Federal Preemption Of Pesticide Failure-To-Warn Suits Read More »
