As noted in our post of July 18, 2007, there is a split in the decisions as to whether, in a diversity case in federal court, state or federal law governs punishment for spoliation (specifically, spoliation as a procedural dereliction; obviously, state law governs to the extent that state law recognizes an independent cause of action sounding in tort for spoliation) ...

The litany of misbehavior for which § 1927 sanctions were imposed in Cambridge Toxicology Group Inc. v. Exnicios, 495 F.3d 169 (5th Cir. 2007) was impressive: (1) [Plaintiff’s counsel] was denied leave to amend four times; (2) to avoid the effect of these earlier denials, [plaintiff’s counsel] filed a second case in an attempt to add ...

The Third Circuit held in Winer Family Trust v. Queen, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 22620 (3d Cir. Sept. 24, 2007), that the group pleading doctrine did not survive enactment of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. (The group pleading doctrine is a judicial presumption that statements in group-published documents such as annual reports and press re ...

Most opinions published over the past six months have rejected attempts to remove based on Grable & Sons Metal Prods., Inc. v. Darue Eng’g & Mfg., 545 U.S. 308 (2005), but there are some colorful exceptions. Adventure Outdoors, Inc. v. Bloomberg, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69631 (S.D. Ga. Sept. 20, 2007), is a defamation action filed in Georgia state cou ...

The plaintiff in Kraus Indus. v. Moore, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68869 (W.D. Pa. Sept. 18, 2007), filed a state court action for defamation, disparagement, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. After the defendants removed the action, the plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint, one count of which sought sanctions for the defendants’ alleged violatio ...

The lawsuit against PricewaterhouseCoopers was filed more than three years after PwC had concluded its audit work and rendered its opinion for the year in question. The issue for the New York Court of Appeals in Williamson v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 9 N.Y.3d 1, 840 N.Y.S.2d 730 (2007), was whether PwC’s work on subsequent audits for subsequent years to ...

The question of first impression in the Ninth Circuit in U.S. Mortgage, Inc. v. Saxton, 494 F.3d 833 (9th Cir. 2007) was whether SLUSA allows amendment of the complaint in a removed action to plead around SLUSA and federal jurisdiction. The Eighth and Eleventh Circuits have refused to allow a plaintiff class to amend its way around a SLUSA dismissal where t ...

The defendants in Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Corp. v. Sociйtй d’Exploitation du Solitarie, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67691 (E.D. La. Sept. 11, 2007), admitted that they had damaged the plaintiff’s pipeline with an anchor but sought to exclude the plaintiff’s experts’ testimony as to the extent to of the damage. First, defendants argued that the plai ...

The massive Average Wholesale Price multidistrict litigation (MDL) against pharmaceutical manufacturers is pending in the District of Massachusetts. Last year, District Judge Patti B. Saris denied the State of Arizona's motion to remand its case because the claims on behalf of Medicare Part B beneficiaries raised a substantial federal issue creating federal jurisdi ...

From Wells v. Xpedx, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67000 (M.D. Fla. Sept. 11, 2007), an age discrimination (wrongful discharge) action: 1. Burden on Non-Moving Party to Produce Admissible Evidence. ‛Evidence produced by a nonmoving party to avoid summary judgment need not be in admissible form if it could be reduced to admissible form a ...