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Derivative Action Stays in Federal Court

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 29, 2013
Tags: Corporate, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Plaintiffs may not return to state court to sue Capital One for alleged breach of fiduciary duty based on directors’ and officers’ failure to prevent alleged violations of federal consumer protection laws that led to payment of hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and damages; among other reasons, the Alexandria U.S. District Court says [...]

Assignee May Sue on Patent

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 11, 2013
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In this lawsuit alleging defendants infringed plaintiff assignee’s patent for an internet server and method of controlling an internet server, the Alexandria U.S. District Court says the assignment gave the assignee “all substantial rights” and it may pursue this action. This patent infringement suit presents the increasingly common, but always vexing jurisdictional question whether plaintiff, [...]

No Forfeiture for Defendant’s ESOP Interest

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 28, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A criminal defendant ordered to make restitution for wire fraud is not required to forfeit her interest in an ERISA-protected Employee Stock Ownership plan, an Alexandria U.S. District Court says; ERISA’s anti-alienation and assignment provision bars the government from seeking criminal forfeiture of defendant’s interest valued at $82,253, but the court says other remedies may [...]

Court Construes Statute Extending Patent Term

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 19, 2012
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

An Alexandria U.S. District Court construes a change in patent law under 35 U.S.C. § 154(b)(1)(B) to reject the U.S. PTO’s calculation of additional days added to the length of a patent term for delay attributable to the failure of a patent to issue within three years of the application date. In the 1990s, Congress [...]

Release Did Not Cover All Claims

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 19, 2012
Tags: Insurance, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Although plaintiff foundation and defendant insurance carrier settled the foundation’s claim for coverage of certain expenses arising out a lawsuit the foundation lost in a Texas state court that allegedly prompted the foundation’s bankruptcy, an Alexandria U.S. District Court says the parties’ two-part Release left room for the foundation to seek defense costs and indemnification [...]

Petition For Resentencing Dismissed

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 22, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A federal inmate’s petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 seeking resentencing after he was sentenced as a career criminal on a cocaine conspiracy conviction is dismissed without prejudice; the Alexandria U.S. District Court says § 2241 is not a substitute for § 2255, and defendant has not shown he can proceed under § 2255’s “savings [...]

Supervised Release Term Not Tolled

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 22, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

An Alexandria U.S. District Court dismisses a petition alleging defendant violated her period of supervised release because her term for supervised release expired before the petition was filed; defendant’s supervised release term was not tolled pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3524(e) during the period when she was in pretrial detention on a state charge that [...]

No Jurisdiction Over Unproven Patentee

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 22, 2012
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In a Massachusetts company’s patent infringement suit against a German company, the Alexandria U.S. District Court dismisses the German company for lack of personal jurisdiction, as plaintiff has been unable to rebut defendant’s affidavit asserting it is not a patentee or assignee of the patent in issue. This patent declaratory judgment action presents the unusual [...]

No Fees in International Custody Fight

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 15, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In this case of first impression in this circuit, an Alexandria U.S. District Court says a respondent mother who won an international custody case is not entitled to attorney’s fees under the International Child Abduction Remedies Act, but she is entitled to an award of costs under Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(d)(1). The father is [...]