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Consolidation Coal Co. v. Office of Workers' Compensation Programs

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Upheld a federal agency's decision that a former coal miner was entitled to benefits under the Black Lung Benefits Act. His former employer, a coal company, had challenged the benefits award.




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Texas Tech Physicians Associates v. US Department of Health and Human Services

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Held that a university-affiliated medical practice must return $8 million to the federal agency that administers Medicare. The medical practice's test of a new care management model (a Medicare demonstration project) did not achieve the expected cost savings. Upheld an administrative order.




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Azar v. Allina Health Services

(United States Supreme Court) - Held that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services neglected its statutory notice-and-comment obligations when it revealed a new policy that dramatically -- and retroactively -- reduced Medicare payments to hospitals serving low-income patients. Concluded that the new policy must be vacated. Justice Gorsuch delivered the opinion of the 7-1 Court (Justice Kavanaugh did not participate).




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Lomeli v. State Dept. of Health Care Services

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirmed. Plaintiff sued medical providers for birth injuries that were paid for through Medi-Cal. The Department of Health Care Services put a lien on the monies recovered from the medical providers. Plaintiff sought to remove lien. Court held that Medi-Cal was entitled to repayment and upheld the lien.




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Cargo Services Scam - HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and yours

A very long scam e-mail from Linda Zhong who lives in another dimension in time.




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Parcel Delivery Malware Spam - UPS Shipping service report Q76WQCOQBV

Poorly formatted, fake UPS Shipping service report, including malware.




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NatWest Credit Card Services Banking Phishing Scam

An extremely legitimate looking phishing scam aimed at NatWest credit card holders.




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Cargo Services Spam - Integrate Shipping Ltd

A year later Ms Jane Tan is at it again.




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Banking Phishing Scam - Chase Alert(SM): Notice for your Account

A fake Chase e-mail that has PHISHING written all over it.




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Center for Biological Diversity v. US Forest Service

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Revived environmental organizations' lawsuit seeking to compel the U.S. Forest Service to ban hunters' use of lead ammunition, which is ingested by scavenger wildlife species and causes lead poisoning. Held that the suit for declaratory and injunctive relief was justiciable. Reversed a dismissal and remanded.




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Sierra Club, Inc. v. US Fish and Wildlife Service

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In an amended opinion in a Freedom of Information Act case, held that the Sierra Club was entitled to certain records generated during the Environmental Protection Agency's rule-making process concerning cooling water intake structures. However, other records were protected from public release by the deliberative process privilege. Reversed in part and remanded.




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Great Minds v. FedEx Office and Print Services, Inc.

(United States Second Circuit) - Affirming a district court judgment dismissing a copyright infringement suit brought by a producer of educational materials against FedEx for their duplication of the products on behalf of school districts, whose use was licensed as noncommercial, because the distinction between their use and FedEx's facilitation of their use should have been explicitly laid out in the license they gave the schools.




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Sierra Club, Inc. v. U.S. Forest Service

(United States Fourth Circuit) - Vacated federal agency decisions approving construction of a natural gas pipeline through a national forest. Several environmental groups challenged the Bureau of Land Management's and U.S. Forest Service's rulings allowing the pipeline to be built. On a petition for review, the Fourth Circuit agreed with the environmental groups that the federal agencies failed to fully comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, the Mineral Leasing Act, and the National Forest Management Act, and therefore the appeals court vacated and remanded to the agencies for further proceedings.




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Arandell Corp. v. CenterPoint Energy Services, Inc.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Reinstated an antitrust claim against a wholly owned natural gas subsidiary that said it had no knowledge of its parent company's alleged price-fixing scheme that had pumped up the price of gas. The subsidiary argued that it could not be held liable for violating Wisconsin antitrust law because it was not involved in anything unlawful that its parent company may have done. Unpersuaded, the Ninth Circuit emphasized that a parent and a wholly owned subsidiary always act as a single enterprise whenever they engage in coordinated activity, and thus reversed the grant of summary judgment to the subsidiary.



  • Oil and Gas Law
  • Antitrust & Trade Regulation

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Sierra Club v. National Park Service

(United States Fourth Circuit) - Vacated actions taken by two federal agencies that provided necessary approvals for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. When the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service granted certain environmental authorizations that were needed to construct the 600-mile pipeline, which is designed to transport natural gas from West Virginia to the eastern portions of Virginia and North Carolina, environmental groups filed a petition for review of the agencies' actions. Agreeing with the environmental groups that both agency decisions were arbitrary and capricious, the Fourth Circuit vacated both administrative rulings.




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Clearlake Shipping PTE Ltd. v. NuStar Energy Services, Inc.

(United States Second Circuit) - Held that a bunker (marine fuel) supplier was not entitled to maritime liens against two chartered vessels to which it had physically provided marine fuel for which it was not paid. Affirmed the district court, in a case raising the question whether subcontractors were entitled to maritime liens.




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Washington State Dept. of Licensing v. Cougar Den, Inc.

(United States Supreme Court) - This case involved the State of Washington's tax on fuel importers who travel by public highway. The Yakama Nation contended that its 1855 treaty with the United States forbids that tax from being imposed upon fuel importers who are tribal members. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the tribe. Justice Breyer's plurality opinion was joined by only two other justices. Justices Gorsuch and Ginsburg concurred in the judgment.




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Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. v. Ironshore Specialty Insurance Co.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - In an insurance dispute following an explosion and fire on an oil rig in Ohio, addressed arbitrability and personal jurisdiction issues. Affirmed in part and reversed in part the decision below.




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Parker Drilling Management Services, Ltd. v. Newton

(United States Supreme Court) - Addressed what law applies on the Outer Continental Shelf, holding that California wage-and-hour law was inapplicable to a worker on an offshore drilling platform. Under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, if federal law addresses the relevant issue, state law is not adopted as surrogate federal law. Justice Thomas delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.



  • Oil and Gas Law
  • Labor & Employment Law
  • Admiralty

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Thana v. Bd. of License Comm'rs for Charles County

(United States Fourth Circuit) - In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action, arising after defendant revoked plaintiff-restaurant's alcoholic beverage license and related consent decrees and following state court proceedings on the matter, the district court's dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is reversed and the case remanded where plaintiff's action is an independent, concurrent action challenging defendant's administrative actions and the Rooker-Feldman doctrine does not apply.




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Double Eagle Energy Services v. MarkWest Utica EMG

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Vacated and remanded. Subject matter jurisdiction is determined when the federal court's jurisdiction is first invoked, so although subsequent changes eliminated the basis for jurisdiction the propriety at the time of filing supported the continuation of the case.




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Brock Services LLC v. Rogillo

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Affirmed. A company sued a former employee who went to work for a direct competitor. The Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's grant of a preliminary injunction because there was an employment agreement with a non-compete provision.




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Cobb v. Aramark Correctional Services

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Reversed and remanded. The act of handing a complaint to a prison official fulfilled the prison mailbox rule regarding the date of filing.




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In re US Office of Personnel Management Data Security Breach Litigation

(United States DC Circuit) - Revived claims that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's woefully inadequate cybersecurity practices enabled hackers to steal personal data about millions of past and present federal employees. Reversed a dismissal in relevant part, in a lawsuit brought by labor unions and others arising out of a 2014 cyberattack.




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Gonzalez v Department of Health Care Services

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirmed. Plaintiff appealed from order of the probate court denying their request that special needs trust be distributed to them rather than Department of Health Care Services. Appeals court found Department was entitled to reimbursement for Medi-Cal expenses.




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Higgs v. US State Park Police

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Affirmed. The FBI's refusal to turn over materials relating to the investigation of a murder on state park land that would violate the personal privacy of third parties and would disclose the identity of a confidential source was proper.




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Simmons v. Secretary of Health and Human Services

(United States Federal Circuit) - Affirming the denial of attorney fees and costs to a man who sued claiming that he developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome as the result of a flu vaccination because the Court of Federal Claims correctly concluded that there was no reasonable basis for the claim.




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Crowley v. EpiCept Corporation

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Affirming the district court's judgment for the defense in a diversity action brought by doctors alleging claims arising from their assignment of patents to the company that it failed to develop into FDA-approved drugs because the jury instructions were not improper and the verdict wasn't against the clear weight of the evidence.




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Monsanto Company v. Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirming the trial court's conclusion that Monsanto and others failed to state a claim in a suit where they averred that Proposition 65's reliance on the International Agency for Research on Cancer's determinations about which chemicals cause cancer improperly granted a foreign entity authority over domestic affairs.




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Oliver v. Secretary of Health and Human Services

(United States Federal Circuit) - Affirmed that vaccinations given to an infant did not cause him to develop a seizure condition. The parents of an infant who developed an illness called Dravet syndrome after being vaccinated sued the Secretary of Health and Human Services for compensation under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. Agreeing with the findings of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the Federal Circuit held in a 2-1 decision that the parents failed to show that the infant's injuries were caused by his vaccinations.




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Lifewatch Services Inc. v. Highmark Inc.

(United States Third Circuit) - Reinstated a medical device seller's claim that certain Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance companies violated antitrust law by unreasonably restraining trade in the national market for outpatient cardiac monitors. The seller of a cardiac monitoring device contended that it was shut out of the market because the defendants conspired to deny insurance coverage for its product to shield themselves from patient demand for it. Holding that the seller stated a claim under section 1 of the Sherman Act, the Third Circuit reversed dismissal of the complaint and remanded for further proceedings.



  • Antitrust & Trade Regulation
  • Health Law
  • Drugs & Biotech

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Teamsters Local 404 Health Services and Insurance Plan v. King Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

(United States Second Circuit) - Held that it was proper to remand to New York state court a case in which a labor union health plan sought disclosure of a patent dispute settlement agreement between pharmaceutical companies and the generic manufacturer of the EpiPen. Affirmed the district court's remand order, in this special proceeding under New York law seeking pre‐action disclosure.




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Afghan Farmers: Coronavirus Means ‘No Choice’ but to Grow Opium

Afghan farmers claim to have “no other choice” but to illegally grow poppies – a lucrative opium crop that fuels the country’s Taliban terror group – amid the economic downturn caused by the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on Friday.




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Charles Hurt: 'Demand Justice' Fight Back -- Against Judges Who Like the Constitution

Anti-democratic Democrats opened up a new front in their relentless war on an independent judiciary in America.




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Tom Fitton: Michael Flynn Got Justice Because He had Lawyers Willing to Push Back Against DOJ, FBI

President of Judicial Watch Tom Fitton told Breitbart News that General Michael Flynn only got justice because he had lawyers who "insisted upon it" and pushed back "against the entire political class" in Washington, D.C.




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UK Education Office Argues Christians Should Limit Their Beliefs to Church

The United Kingdom’s Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) argued before the High Court that Christian groups should not allow their religious beliefs to influence their professional activities.




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Chechen Migrant Drags French Policeman Over 60 Feet to Escape Virus Check

A Chechen migrant was arrested in the commune of Montereau-Fault-Yonne after dragging a police officer 60 feet with his vehicle while trying to escape a Wuhan coronavirus lockdown checkpoint.




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Sanders: 'It Would Be an Economic Disaster' if Trump Didn't Fund Postal Service and It 'Went Under'

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) discussed what kind of economic stimulus should be passed to respond to the coronavirus and stated that it would be “an economic disaster” if President Trump didn’t fund the




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Finally: Police Drop Investigation Into Working-Class Brexiteer Darren Grimes

London's Metropolitan Police have finally dropped their investigations into working-class Brexit campaigner Darren Grimes and Vote Leave's Alan Halsall, in another defeat for the supposedly neutral Electoral Commission.




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Tucker Carlson: 'Sociopath' Adam Schiff 'Unfit to Hold Office,' 'He Should Resign'

Friday, Fox News Channel's Tucker Carlson called on Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) to resign given how the saga regarding former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has unfolded, calling the California Democrat a "sociopath."




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The Police Retirement System of St. Louis v. Page

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirming the grant of summary judgment to Google executives in a suit brought by three shareholders bringing derivative suits alleging the corporation was harmed by executives who agreed to refrain from actively recruiting employees working for competitors, an arrangement that had been previously abandoned when it gave rise to antitrust issues with the Department of Justice, because the claim was barred by the three-year statute of limitations.




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James v. J2 Cloud Services

(United States Federal Circuit) - Reversing the dismissal of a claim for correction of inventorship and state law claims for lack of jurisdiction in the case of a man claiming to be the sole inventor of a patent for accepting incoming messages over a circuit switched network and transmitting it over a packet switched network because the assignment of the patent did not necessarily preclude the plaintiff from retaining ownership rights over the patent that would support the suit.




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Marshall's Locksmith Service v. Google, LLC

(United States DC Circuit) - Held that Google, Microsoft and Yahoo were not liable for allegedly conspiring to flood the market of online search results with information about so-called scam locksmiths, in order to extract additional advertising revenue. The Communications Decency Act barred this lawsuit brought by more than a dozen locksmith companies. Affirmed a dismissal.




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In re US Office of Personnel Management Data Security Breach Litigation

(United States DC Circuit) - Revived claims that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's woefully inadequate cybersecurity practices enabled hackers to steal personal data about millions of past and present federal employees. Reversed a dismissal in relevant part, in a lawsuit brought by labor unions and others arising out of a 2014 cyberattack.




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Nielen-Thomas v. Concorde Investment Services LLC

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Held that a state law fraud lawsuit against an investment adviser was precluded by the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act. The statute's definition of a "covered class action" includes any class action brought by a named plaintiff on a representative basis, regardless of the proposed class size. Affirmed a dismissal.




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Rel v. Pacific Bell Mobile Services

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirmed the dismissal of a proposed consumer class action lawsuit because the plaintiffs had failed to bring the case to trial within five years, as required by the California Code of Civil Procedure. It did not matter that the class claims had been dismissed within five years.




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Jeffries v. Volume Services America, Inc.

(United States DC Circuit) - Reversed and Remanded. The district court improperly dismissed a lawsuit in which a woman's credit card number and expiration date were printed on a receipt for lack of standing. The risk of identity theft was sufficient injury to support standing.




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NuWave Records Signs Fred Nice To Record Deal

Fred Nice, The Oxford, MS Native Has Officially Signed An Exclusive Record Deal With NJ-based NuWave Records




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Born Davinvi The Voice Of Da East

Radio Debut On Rap Station Radio




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Brock Services LLC v. Rogillo

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Affirmed. A company sued a former employee who went to work for a direct competitor. The Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's grant of a preliminary injunction because there was an employment agreement with a non-compete provision.