Anna Nicole bankruptcy case still splitting the circuits 
By:
Kimberly Atkins
Published: April 18, 2013
Tags: Anna Nicole Smith, Article III, Bankruptcy, Circuit Breaker, jurisdiction
WASHINGTON – The fallout from the complicated legal battle between the late pinup model Anna Nicole Smith and the estate of the elderly oil magnate she married is still being felt by bankruptcy lawyers across the nation because a new circuit split has emerged, making an already complex legal issue even more knotty.
Court: Loggers exempt from stormwater permitting rule 
Published: March 21, 2013
Tags: citizen suits, Clean Water Act, Environmental Protection Agency, jurisdiction, stormwater runoff
The Industrial Stormwater Rule under the Clean Water Act, as permissibly construed by the Environmental Protection Agency, exempts discharges of channeled stormwater runoff from logging roads from the permitting scheme under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.
Class plaintiff can’t avoid removal by stipulating to damages 
Published: March 19, 2013
Tags: CAFA, class action fairness act, class actions, jurisdiction, U.S. Supreme Court
A class action plaintiff could not avoid removal to federal court by stipulating that his total damages would be less than the $5 million jurisdictional threshold for application of the Class Action Fairness Act, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.
Class complaint didn’t trigger CAFA’s removal clock 
Published: February 28, 2013
Tags: class action fairness act, class actions, consumer protection, jurisdiction, removal
A consumer class action filed in state court failed to include facts necessary to trigger the time period for removal under the Class Action Fairness Act, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in reversing a remand order.
Court takes up ‘Chevron’ jurisdictional issue 
By:
Kimberly Atkins
Published: January 16, 2013
Tags: administrative law, Chevron deference, federal agencies, jurisdiction, U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON – While courts have long given deference to federal agencies’ reasonable interpretations of statutes under Chevron USA v. NRDC, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court wrestled with the open question of whether Chevron deference extends to an agency’s determination of its own statutory jurisdiction.
Justices to decide agency deference standard 
Published: October 10, 2012
Tags: Chevron deference, federal agencies, jurisdiction, U.S. Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a court should give Chevron deference to an agency’s interpretation of its own jurisdiction.
Defendant had right to justify removal under CAFA 
Published: July 3, 2012
Tags: class action fairness act, class actions, jurisdiction
A defendant in a consumer lawsuit should have had the opportunity to show that the amount in controversy was sufficient for removal under the Class Action Fairness Act, the 10th Circuit has ruled in reversing a remand order.
Calif. attorney, clients can’t be sued in Kansas 
Published: April 3, 2012
Tags: jurisdiction, malicious prosecution, product liability
A California attorney and his clients were not subject to the long-arm jurisdiction of Kansas courts when they were sued for malicious prosecution, the Kansas Court of Appeals has ruled in affirming a dismissal.
Supreme Court takes up health care challenge 
By:
Kimberly Atkins
Published: March 26, 2012
Tags: Anti-Injunction Act, health care, jurisdiction, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Supreme Court
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court began its historic three-day examination of the challenge to the federal health care law by taking up an issue that could stop the case in its tracks: whether the Anti-Injunction Act bars courts from considering challenges to the law before it is fully implemented in 2015.
There are two questions: Is the penalty for not obtaining health care coverage a tax? And if so, is the AIA a jurisdictional bar preventing courts from hearing challenges at all, or merely a defense that the government can raise?
Federal removal statute creates venue changes 
By:
David Frank
Published: February 17, 2012
Tags: Discovery, Federal courts, jurisdiction, venue
Civil practitioners say a new federal venue law that quietly went into effect last month will lead to an increase in diversity-based discovery and cut down on the “jurisdictional gamesmanship” that regularly occurs in litigation.
