What's New in the Courts

Judge Posner Reverses Denial of Certification Premised on Mootness of Proposed Representative's Claims. Wisconsin apparently allows the graduates of in-state law schools to be admitted into practice without taking the bar exam. An out-of-state plaintiff brought a putative class action challenging this practice under the Commerce Clause. After the suit was dismissed, and the plaintiff lodged an appeal, he learned that he had passed the bar exam. Judge Posner, writing for the Seventh Circuit, c...

U.S. Supreme Court Allows 502(a)(2) Action for Fiduciary Breach to Recover Losses to Participant's Portion of 401(k) Plan. A participant brought suit to recover losses to his 401(k) plan due to the employer’s failure to implement his investment directives. Contrasting the action with Russell, the U.S. Supreme Court observed that the misconduct alleged relates “to the proper management, administration, and investment of fund assets, with an eye toward ensuring that the benefits authorized by ...

Divided Supreme Court Allows the Kent Decison to Stand. In Desiano v. Warner-Lambert, (discussed below), the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals refused to apply Federal Preemption under Buckman with respect to product liability claims under Michigan Law, which provides that a pharmaceutical manufacturer can escape liability where the drug is approved by the FDA, unless the defendant withheld or misrepresented material information that would have prevented approval. In a one-sentence per cur...

Qualcomm Attorneys Sanctioned $8.5 Million for Discovery Abuses and False Representations to the Court. "One or more of the retained lawyers chose not to look in the correct locations for the correct documents, to accept the unsubstantiated assurances of an important client that its search was sufficient, to ignore the warning signs that the document search and production were inadequate, not to press Qualcomm employees for the truth, and/or to encourage employees to provide the informat...