Episode 322 -- Checking in on Caremark Cases
In our prior article, we discussed instances in which the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the district courts made different findings with regard to patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. A recent...more
U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals - Jones v. Ceinski - qualified immunity - Otto Candies v. Citigroup - RICO, fraud, conspiracy - Berrocal v. US Att’y Gen - standing, international treaty - Maglana v....more
On April 17, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion, resolved a circuit split and established a plaintiff-friendly pleading standard for ERISA prohibited transaction claims in Cunningham v. Cornell University,...more
The US Supreme Court has issued a unanimous opinion that could lead to an increase in litigation for prohibited transaction claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA)....more
The U.S. Supreme Court on April 17, 2025, issued a greatly anticipated decision in which the justices unanimously held that plaintiffs alleging a prohibited transaction under Section 1106(a)(1)(C) of the Employee Retirement...more
In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Cunningham v. Cornell University that plaintiffs can satisfy the requirements for pleading prohibited party-in interest transactions under ERISA section 406(a) without...more
Key takeaway: The Supreme Court held that to state an ERISA prohibited-transaction claim under 29 U.S.C. § 1106(a), a plaintiff needs only to plausibly allege the elements contained in § 1106(a) itself and does not need to...more
In a unanimous decision reversing dismissal of prohibited transaction claims based on fees paid to defined contribution plan recordkeepers, the Supreme Court held that ERISA’s prohibited transaction exemptions are affirmative...more
Two companion cases from the Fourth District Court of Appeals — Wilson Energy and Bethel Oil & Gas — are currently on appeal at the Ohio Supreme Court. Both cases involve similar facts and require the resolution of the same...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a summary judgment granted to the insurer over a policyholder’s argument that payment of an appraisal award and interest may extinguish an insurer’s liability...more
The United States Supreme Court recently held in E.M.D. Sales, Inc. v. Carrera that the “preponderance of the evidence” burden of proof applies in determining whether an employee is exempt under the federal Fair Labor...more
In Singh v. Deloitte LLP, et al., No. 23-1108, 2024 WL 5049345 (2d Cir. Dec. 10, 2024), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court’s dismissal of a complaint alleging that plan fiduciaries caused an...more
In an unexpected turn of events, the U.S. Supreme Court recently dismissed without explanation two securities fraud class action cases out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit—Facebook, Inc. v. Amalgamated Bank...more
U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals - Baxter v. Hendren - appellate jurisdiction, not pursuing claim, § 1983, excessive force, battery...more
Last week, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in NVIDIA Corp. v. E. Ohman J:Or Fonder AB., Case No. 23-970, to address two fundamental questions about how federal securities fraud cases must be pled to survive...more
Delaware court declines to enforce restrictive covenants in LLC agreement but grants interlocutory appeal. In Sunder Energy v. Jackson, et al., a company, Sunder, sued a former employee, Jackson, for breaching a...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued its decision in Matney v. Barrick Gold of North America, et al. on Sept. 6, 2023, finding that participants in an employer-sponsored defined contribution retirement plan...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has expanded its view of what a hostile work environment looks like and lowered the bar in terms of what a plaintiff must show to sufficiently allege a race-based hostile work...more
On November 30, 2022, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated dismissal of a retaliation action brought by Don Ascolese (“Ascolese”) under the False Claims Act (“FCA”). See United States ex rel. Don Ascolese v. Shoemaker...more
On November 24, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a pair of decisions addressing threshold requirements for securities fraud claims under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and...more
Welcome to Goodwin’s ERISA Litigation Update. Litigation involving ERISA-governed benefits plans has exploded in recent years. Lawyers in our award-winning ERISA Litigation practice have extensive experience litigating these...more
In a recent published, precedential opinion, Oakwood Laboratories LLC v. Thanoo, 999 F.3d 892 (3d Cir. 2021), the Third Circuit clarified the pleading standard necessary to allege a trade secret misappropriation claim under...more
BOT M8 LLC v. Sony Corporation, Appeal No. 2020-2218 (Fed. Cir. July 13, 2021) - In this week’s Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit addressed the stringency of pleading requirements alleging patent infringement. At...more
Walmart successfully ended eight years of protracted litigation under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) on June 4, 2021, when the Sixth Circuit affirmed dismissal of Medicare and Medicaid fraud allegations against the major...more
The New York Court of Appeals issued two important end-of-the-year decisions on December 17, 2020 in a heavily litigated, affirmative defense in residential mortgage foreclosure actions: the lack of standing to foreclose. In...more