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Sixth Circuit’s Denial of Rehearing En Banc Spawns Concurring and Dissenting Opinions

Yesterday, the Sixth Circuit issued a set of engrossing opinions accompanying its order denying the petition for rehearing en banc in United States v. Carpenter, No. 22-1198 (6th Cir. Sep. 18, 2023).  The order is noteworthy for, among other reasons, solidifying a circuit split on the interpretation of the last, restrictive clause in section 403(b) … Continue Reading

Academic focus on a pending Sixth Circuit appeal

The Sixth Circuit recently heard argument in L.W. v. Skrmetti, involving Tennessee’s law prohibiting healthcare providers from performing gender-affirming surgeries and administering hormones or puberty blockers to transgender minors.  The district court facially enjoyed enforcement of the law as applied to hormones and puberty blockers and applied the preliminary injunction statewide.  Tennessee appealed and sought … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Holds that Insanity Acquittee Bears Burden of Proof in Seeking Continued Release After Violating Release Conditions

Squire Patton Boggs Summer Associate Taylor Lonas summarizes a recent opinion from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit holding that an insanity acquittee bears the burden of proof for showing, after violating the terms of his release, that his continued release would not “create a substantial risk” to the public.  18 … Continue Reading

The Sixth Circuits Rejects The “Juridical Link” Test For Class Actions

In Fox v. Saginaw County (No. 22-1265/1272), the Sixth Circuit rejected a class action where multiple defendants have identical policies, but the named plaintiff was only injured by one defendant.  Until recently, Michigan law permitted counties to obtain complete ownership of a property during a tax foreclosure, even if the value of the property far … Continue Reading

Panel Holds that Ohio Aggravated Burglary Statute Does Not Count as Predicate Violent Felony under ACCA. 

Co-authored by: Stephanie A. Darville & Shams H. Hirji About two weeks ago, the Sixth Circuit issued an important decision in United States v. White, No. 21-3209.  Judge White wrote the unanimous opinion for the Court, which was joined by Judge Moore and Judge Bush.  The Court held that an Ohio aggravated-robbery statute, R.C. § 2911.01(A)(1), … Continue Reading

States’ Title X Challenge Returns to Sixth Circuit

Readers of this Blog may recall that, earlier this year, we covered the Sixth Circuit’s decision declining to enjoin (pending appeal) a 2021 Health and Human Services Rule that does two notable things: (1) the Rule eliminates the prior Administration’s requirement “that grantees create strict physical and financial separation between their Title X programs and … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Opinion Reversed in Marietta Memorial Hospital Employee Health Benefit Plan v. DaVita Inc.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an opinion in Marietta Memorial Hospital Employee Health Benefit Plan v. DaVita Inc., which reversed the Sixth Circuit’s October 2020 decision finding that DaVita Inc. plausibly asserted a claim against an Ohio hospital’s health plan for unlawfully discriminating against patients with end-stage renal disease by offering low reimbursement rates … Continue Reading

Potential Sea Change in Sixth Circuit’s Certification of FLSA Collective Actions

A Fair Labor Standards Act case is working its way through the Sixth Circuit and could have serious ramifications for FLSA plaintiffs in the Sixth Circuit.  In this post, we discuss the potential sea change that a decision in In re: A&L Home Care and Training Center, et al. could effect in the Sixth Circuit’s … Continue Reading

Opioid Update: Court denies pharmacies’ motion for certification of an interlocutory appeal

Earlier this week in the Opioid MDL, Judge Polster denied the defendant pharmacies’ motion for certification of an interlocutory appeal.  The defendants asked him to certify three issues for appeal:  (1) whether the Ohio Product Liability Act abrogated the public nuisance claim, (2) whether the Court properly handled a juror’s misconduct during the trial, and … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Awards Attorney Fees to Multiple Qui Tam Relators

Last week, a panel of the Sixth Circuit unanimously greenlighted an award of attorney fees for multiple qui tam relators who had entered into a settlement agreement with the government and defendants under the False Claims Act.  Judge Moore authored the Court’s opinion.  She was joined by Judge Clay and Judge Gibbons. The seven relators … Continue Reading

The Sixth Circuit Vacates The Stay Of OSHA’s Mandate, But OSHA Delays Implementation Until January

As you probably know by now, the Sixth Circuit vacated the stay of OSHA’s vaccine mandate on Friday evening, allowing OSHA to move enforce its regulation, with an substantial, careful opinion by Judge Stranch (who was joined by Judge Gibbons) finding that OSHA has the statutory authority to issue and enforce the emergency temporary standard.  … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Clarifies Scheduling in OSHA Vaccine Cases

On Friday evening, the Sixth Circuit issued a ruling on several pending motions in the OSHA ETS litigation.  Most notably, the court denied OSHA’s motion to shorten the stay briefing and to set an expedited schedule for merits briefing—which appeared to be an attempt by the agency to obtain rulings before its emergency standards were … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit emphasizes the importance of challenging an arbitration agreement’s delegation clause to allow a court to resolve the arbitration agreement’s enforceability.

Who decides whether parties to an arbitration agreement have to arbitrate their dispute?  If there’s a delegation clause, it’ll be the arbitrator—unless a party specifically challenges the delegation clause.   The Sixth Circuit issued a 2-1 decision in In re: StockX Customer Data Security Breach Litigation emphasizing this point and declining to rule on an arbitration … Continue Reading

Opioid Update: Jury verdict reached against defendant pharmacies in opioid MDL

Yesterday, the first bellwether trial in the opioid multidistrict litigation (MDL) came to a close with a jury verdict in favor the plaintiffs. In this case, Ohio’s Lake and Trumbull counties sued CVS, Giant Eagle, Walgreens, and Walmart, arguing that the pharmacies drove the opioid crises in the counties by oversupplying prescription opioids and were … Continue Reading

Initial En Banc Petitions, Procedural Possibilities, and the OSHA Vaccine Mandate.

It’s been only three days since the Sixth Circuit won the JPML lottery to consolidate and adjudicate every appeal nationwide challenging OSHA’s vaccine mandate. Yet there have already been interesting developments. Many petitioners in the original Sixth Circuit cases have now moved for initial en banc review—which would bypass panel review entirely and send the … Continue Reading

Invited Error, Erie, and Pleading Standards – What to Make of Smith v. General Motors?

The Sixth Circuit handed down a recent decision, Smith v. General Motors, that, on its face, could be construed as having a wide-reaching impact on the pleading standard for certain product-liability and fraud claims.  But the panel was careful to disclose the larger, admittedly “odd” context of the case, making it difficult to discern just … Continue Reading

Supreme Court Denies Certiorari in Challenge to Michigan’s Alcohol Delivery Law

On Monday the Supreme Court addressed—or, perhaps more to the point, chose not to address—an issue close to the hearts of many in the midst of a pandemic: home delivery of fine wine and spirits.  The Court declined to review the Sixth Circuit’s decision in Lebamoff v. Whitmer, which upheld the State of Michigan’s alcohol … Continue Reading

Opioid Update: Sixth Circuit reverses order certifying a negotiation class

The opioid MDL continues to generate significant decisions in the law of civil procedure. Arguably the most significant arrived last week in a much-anticipated ruling, when a divided panel issued a published opinion reversing the district court’s certification of a “negotiation class” in the case. Judge Clay wrote the majority opinion, joined by Judge McKeague, … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Defers to Real-World Umpires in Dismissal of Kentucky Derby Case

This post arrives (along with many more) thanks to Zach Young, a Cincinnati native and rising 2L at Stanford Law School, where he studies as a Knight-Hennessy Scholar. The Kentucky Derby is known as the fastest two minutes in sports. But—in federal court at least—the 2019 contest galloped on until last week. Last Friday (8 days … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Urges Broader Understanding of “Education” Under Title IX

This post arrives (along with many more) thanks to Zach Young, a Cincinnati native and rising 2L at Stanford Law School, where he studies as a Knight-Hennessy Scholar. He will be contributing to the Sixth Circuit Appellate Blog regularly this summer. The American humorist and writer Mark Twain once counseled: “Never let schooling interfere with your … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit panel dismisses motion to enforce writ of mandamus

Several months ago this blog reported on Judge Kethledge’s opinion for the court that granted a writ of mandamus sought by retail pharmacy chain defendants in “Track One” of the opioid MDL. In that decision the Sixth Circuit directed the district court to strike the plaintiff counties’ amendments to their complaints (which contravened Rule 16(b) … Continue Reading
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