Case Law For In-House Counsel

Below are summaries of important opinions affecting in-house attorneys issued by the 1st and 2nd Circuit from mid-September 2007 through early November 2007. Readers can access the full text of the opinions at www.newengland
inhouse.com.

1st Circuit

Administrative
Liquefied natural gas case not ‘ripe’ for
decision
A suit challenging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s conditional approval of a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal and pipeline is not ripe for decision, where the U.S. Coast Guard and the Department of the Interior hadn’t completed their respective evaluations of various aspects of the project.
City of Fall River, Massachusetts, et al. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Docket No. 06-1203. Decided Oct. 26, 2007.

Copyright
Registration failure
defeats copyright
infringement claim
A judgment entered for defendants in a copyright infringement action will not be disturbed where the record indicates the plaintiff never submitted a complete application for registration of his copyright.
Torres-Negron v. J & N Records LLC. Docket No. 06-2058. Decided Oct. 2, 2007.
Employment
Hearsay inadmissible in discrimination case
In an employment discrimination case, the trial judge properly excluded statements contained in the internal age discrimination grievances filed by the plaintiff’s co-workers.
Bennett v. Saint-Gobain Corp., et al. Docket No. 07-1219. Decided Nov. 2, 2007.

Tort
Verdict against bank on negligent design claim overturned
A verdict in favor of a woman must be vacated because she failed to present sufficient evidence the defendant bank negligently designed its automatic teller machine where she was injured after being struck by a car.
Vazquez-Filippetti, et al. v. Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, et al. Docket No. 05-2372. Decided Sept. 27, 2007.

2nd Circuit

Antitrust
Assignees not
disqualified from
class certification
A judge shouldn’t have denied class certification to assignees, even thought the assignees do not fall within the definition of the class in the complaint. That in and of itself doesn’t foreclose the possibility that they can act as class representatives in lieu of the entities that originally brought the claims.
Cordes & Company Financial Services, Inc., et al. v. A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., et al. Docket No. 06-2143. Decided Sept. 27, 2007.
Crushed stone dealer can’t sue for antitrust
violation
A crushed stone dealer’s antitrust suit against a supplier had to be dismissed because

(1) the dealer lacks antitrust standing to assert a claim for monopolization of the crushed stone market at the manufacturing level, and

(2) the dealer has failed to allege a plausible claim of anticompetitive conduct at the distribution level.

Port Dock & Stone Corporation v. Oldcastle Northeast, Inc. Docket No. 06-4908. Decided Oct. 23, 2007.

Bankruptcy
JOLs barred from
challenging
settlement order
Because a corporation, which was a party to the settlement of a preference action pursuant to Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9019, is precluded from appealing a bankruptcy court order approving the settlement, that corporation’s joint official liquidators, standing in the corporation’s shoes, are similarly precluded.
In Re Refco Inc. Docket No. 06-5786. Decided Oct. 5, 2007.

Commercial
Portions of state gift
card law may be
federally preempted
A seller of pre-paid gift cards raised a triable issue in alleging that federal law preempts provisions in Connecticut’s Gift Card law prohibiting expiration dates.
SPGGC, LLC v. Blumenthal. Docket No. 05-4711. Decided Oct. 19, 2007.

Employment
ADA claims don’t have to be exhausted with EEOC before filing suit
A district court judge erred in ruling that a plaintiff had an obligation to present his claims under Titles III and V of the American with Disabilities Act to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission prior to suit.
McInerney v. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, et al. Docket No. 06-1746. Decided Oct. 15, 2007.

Forfeiture
Credit company
allowed to participate in forfeiture proceedings
Where a defendant city sought to preclude a defendant credit company from participating in motor vehicle forfeiture proceedings, a judgment for the plaintiff is affirmed and the defendants’ primary claim – that the plaintiff lacked a property interest in a seized vehicle – is rejected.
Ford Motor Credit Company v. NYC Police Department. Docket No. 06-4600. Decided Sept. 24, 2007.

Securities
NYSE immune from suit
The New York Stock Exchange is immune from investors’ claims about alleged regulatory failures, but the plaintiffs do not lack standing to proceed with claims of purported misrepresentation concerning the Exchange’s market integrity and internal operations.
In Re: NYSE Specialists Securities Litigation. Docket No. 06-1038. Decided Sept.18, 2007.