Ohio Appeals Court Strips $75,000 Fee Award From Durrani Spine-Surgery Verdict
The First District upheld a $520,000 negligence judgment against spine surgeon Abubakar Atiq Durrani but held the trial court had no basis to award attorney fees.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
First Circuit Revives Aimovig Wrongful-Death Suit Against Amgen Over Label Change
The court held that four scientific articles not shown to have reached the FDA could plausibly have let Amgen add a brain-injury warning to Aimovig after approval.
First Circuit Throws Out Lobster Industry's Defamation Suit Over Seafood Watch Rating
The court held that the Monterey Bay Aquarium's advice to avoid Gulf of Maine lobster targeted a fishery of thousands and did not single out the five plaintiffs.
First Circuit Affirms Arbitration Award Adding Psychology PhD Students to Harvard Union
The court refused to vacate an award that placed graduate students in a bargaining unit without prior NLRB classification, calling arbitration awards 'nearly impervious to judicial oversight.'
First Circuit Rejects Boston’s Tolling Bid in PBM Opioid-Nuisance Case
The panel held that Massachusetts fraudulent-concealment tolling did not save Boston’s public-nuisance claim against OptumRx and Express Scripts because public litigation, reports and other materials gave the city the means to investigate alleged PBM wrongdoing before the limitations period expired.
First Circuit Requires District Court to Decide Motion to Compel Arbitration, Vacates Administrative Closure
The panel held that the FAA's mandatory language does not permit a district court to avoid ruling on a motion to compel arbitration by administratively closing the case.
1st Cir. Rejects Categorical Bar on Gang-Related Political Opinion Claims in Immigration Case
The First Circuit vacated the BIA's denial of asylum for a Honduran man, ruling that resistance to gangs can constitute a political opinion depending on the context.
First Circuit Backs CDC's 6-Month Age Rule For Imported Dogs
The panel said the dog-import rule fits the CDC's inspection authority and was rationally tied to preventing rabies and vaccination-document fraud.
First Circuit Upholds Freenet Child-Porn Search
The panel said a Massachusetts defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in Freenet Opennet requests that law enforcement received and logged through a peer-to-peer monitoring tool.
First Circuit Backs DEA In Ex-Worker's Retaliation Fight
The panel said a former DEA employee failed to show that her firing for insubordination and alleged lack of candor was a pretext for retaliation.
First Circuit Vacates Gun Sentence Over Mass. Cocaine Predicate
The panel said two Massachusetts cocaine convictions did not qualify as federal guideline controlled substance offenses because the state definition was broader than the federal drug schedules.
First Circuit Revives Part Of Catholic School's Challenge To Maine Anti-Bias Rules
The First Circuit ordered Maine officials to face a preliminary injunction against one religious-expression rule while largely rejecting St. Dominic Academy's bid to block other anti-discrimination requirements tied to public tuition funding.
First Circuit Tosses Puerto Rico Fee Appeal On PROMESA Stay
The panel said landowners' challenge to a 15% administrative fee on interest from court-held condemnation funds was void because it ran into Puerto Rico's Title III automatic stay.