Trader Joe’s is a hugely popular grocery chain that has expanded from its Southern California origins to operate close to 600 stores across the United States. Although Trader Joe’s has traditionally had a reputation as an...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Supreme Court’s decision in Iqbal on the requirement of specificity in pleading provided the guidance that “determining whether a plausible claim has been pled is a context-specific task that requires...more
As part of the Hatch-Waxman Act, given the lack of information on the allegedly infringing product, courts have found that patentees can satisfy the pleading requirements of Twombly/Iqbal without having access to the accused...more
Executive Summary: On April 27, 2021, a sharply divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, covering New York, Vermont, and Connecticut, held that in Fair Labor Standards Act Overtime cases (FLSA), to...more
Most states have adopted a version of what is typically referred to as the “Malfunction Theory” that permits circumstantial proof of a product defect in a product liability action. The Malfunction Theory largely corresponds...more
December 1, 2020 marked the five-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s abrogation of Form 18—the model complaint that provided the minimum requirements for stating a claim of direct infringement. Following the abrogation...more
Medical device manufacturers who seek to dispose of meritless claims at the initial pleading stage have long relied upon the doctrine of federal regulatory preemption. This doctrine is embodied by 21 U.S.C. § 360k(a), the...more
In May 2019, the United States government made available a private right of action under Title III of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act of 1996 (also known as Helms-Burton), 22 U.S.C. §§ 6021-6091....more
In Part I of this series, we discussed institutional bad faith and best practices for insurers to minimize the risk of these costly and intrusive lawsuits. In Part II, we will focus on cutting discovery off at the...more
The Second Circuit has breathed new life into Sarah Palin’s case against the New York Times by rejecting the use of an unusual “Iqbal” hearing to determine the plausibility of her allegations....more
On March 12, 2019, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued an Opinion in GEOMC Co. v. Calmare Therapeutics Inc., 918 F.3d 92, which clarifies the previously amorphous standard for pleading affirmative defenses. The...more
A recent District Court decision serves as a reminder to both Plaintiffs and Defendants to properly scrutinize a complaint for well-pleaded factual allegations. In Walker v. Lyons, Doughty & Veldhuis, P.C., et. al, No....more
On January 16, 2019, the Southern District of California dismissed a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) claim against Lyft because the plaintiff failed to support the automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) element of...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s blockbuster rulings in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal represented a major shift in federal pleading standards. Resolution of motions to dismiss frequently turns on whether a...more
The Situation: Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 84, which permitted U.S. patent-infringement lawsuits to proceed on very general allegations, was withdrawn three years ago. Subsequent court decisions have considered how much...more
A recent opinion from the Northern District of Texas is a reminder to all patent practitioners to heed pleading standards when drafting a complaint for patent infringement. In Lexington Luminance LLC v. Service Lighting and...more
A Complaint Identifying Infringing Products and the Patents Allegedly Infringed, Accompanied by Statements that the Products Meet All Elements of at Least One Claim of the Asserted Patents, May be Sufficient to Meet the...more
Addressing the minimum pleading requirements of Twombly and Iqbal, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a district court’s finding that a plaintiff’s eight-page complaint failed to state a claim on which...more
On May 18, 2018, United States District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein granted in part and denied in part Defendant Microsoft Corporation (“Microsoft”)’s motion to dismiss Holotouch, Inc. (“Holotouch”)’s complaint. Microsoft...more
After having its complaint for patent infringement dismissed for failure to state a claim and being denied its request to file an amended complaint in the Middle District of Georgia, Disc Disease Solutions turned to the...more
Texas Advanced Optoelectronic Solutions, Inc. v. Renesas Electronics America, Inc., Appeal Nos. 2016-2121, -2208, -2235 (Fed. Cir. 2018)?- In an appeal from a jury trial, the Federal Circuit addressed numerous issues...more
Federal Circuit Summaries - Before Reyna, Wallach, and Stoll. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Summary: A complaint that attaches the asserted patents, specifically...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) addressed the pleading standards for direct infringement, doctrine of equivalents infringement, indirect infringement and willful infringement in...more
Federal Circuit Summaries - Before Moore, Schall, and O’Malley. Appeal from the Northern District of Illinois. Summary: A plaintiff need not prove its case of patent infringement at the pleading stage. To the extent a...more