Earlier this year, we previewed a Sixth Circuit en banc case regarding emergency measures taken in the City of Pontiac, Michigan to reduce and eliminate health care benefits of retired City employees. Sua sponte raising state law issues, the prior panel told the district court to consider whether the City manager’s actions complied with Michigan … Continue Reading
It’s been a busy week at the high court for the Sixth Circuit. The Supreme Court handed down three decisions in Sixth Circuit cases – among them, the unanimous affirmance of a Sixth Circuit ruling on standing. Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components In Lexmark, the Supreme Court affirmed the Sixth Circuit, albeit on … Continue Reading
A recent case out of a Texas federal court highlights the care that must be taken when dealing with notices of appeal, which are jurisdictional, and post-judgment motions in this day and age of e-filing. In what is surely a litigator’s worst nightmare, AT&T’s lawyers in Two-Way Media LLC v. AT&T Operations, Inc. missed the … Continue Reading
Yesterday, the Supreme Court announced that it would not review the “smelly washing machine cases” from the Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits. The Court had relisted the trio several times, increasing the odds that review would be granted. In the Sixth Circuit case, Whirpool v. Glazer, the panel had affirmed class certification for certain purchasers … Continue Reading
Legal fallout from a Michigan financial crisis will soon be before the en banc Sixth Circuit. Responding to the City of Pontiac’s deficits, Pontiac’s emergency manager modified collective bargaining agreements in 2011 to reduce retirement benefits for Pontiac’s retired employees. A Michigan statute granting him those emergency powers was later rejected by referendum. Retired employees … Continue Reading
A First Amendment challenge to Ohio’s law on false campaign speech is among the Supreme Court’s new grants for 2014. Ohio law prohibits knowingly or recklessly false statements about a political candidate or ballot initiative. In Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus, the Sixth Circuit affirmed dismissal of the suit as unripe; the court concluded … Continue Reading
In recent months, the Sixth Circuit has continued to rigorously enforce arbitration agreements and arbitration decisions, consistent with recent Supreme Court jurisprudence. This post profiles three Sixth Circuit cases from the past quarter that illustrate recent trends in the arbitration context. In Tillman v. Macy’s, Inc., 735 F.3d 453 (6th Cir. 2013), the Sixth Circuit … Continue Reading
A Sixth Circuit suit alleging mismanagement of retirement-plan assets is headed to the Supreme Court. Respondents are employees of Fifth Third Bancorp who invested in employee stock ownership plans that lost millions of dollars between July 2007 and September 2009 when Fifth Third’s stock plunged. ERISA protects participants in employee benefit plans by, among other … Continue Reading
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up a qualified immunity decision out of the Sixth Circuit. In Plumhoff v. Rickard, police officers fatally shot a driver and passenger following a high-speed chase of their vehicle near the Arkansas-Tennessee border. Leading up to the chase, an officer had stopped the vehicle and asked the … Continue Reading
Last week in United States of America v. Gabriel Llanez-Garcia, the Sixth Circuit vacated sanctions imposed against an assistant federal public defender and dismissed the sanctions proceedings against her. In a strongly-worded repudiation, the panel found no indication of the bad faith required to warrant sanctions under a court’s inherent authority. Noting that “[a]n attorney’s … Continue Reading
On Monday, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Arlington Video Productions – an unpublished Sixth Circuit decision – vacated the judgment, and sent it back to the Sixth Circuit for further consideration in light of Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, 569 U.S. ___ (2013). As we covered here, the Sixth Circuit in … Continue Reading
On Monday, the Supreme Court took up a Sixth Circuit case on federal court authority over a Native American tribe’s off-reservation gaming activity under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, 25 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq. In the proceedings below, the Michigan Attorney General obtained a preliminary injunction barring the operation of an illegal, off-reservation casino … Continue Reading