NEWS ALERT:
U.S. Supreme Court grants cert. petition regarding constitutional challenge to the statutory limitations on the removal of the Director of the CFPB
Recent Activity
Results are sorted by the date of most recent activity.
September 25, 2019
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief at merits stage in Supreme Court, arguing that the New York Convention on international arbitration does not conflict with domestic law applying equitable estoppel to enforce arbitration agreements against signatories.
September 25, 2019
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief in support of cert. petitions in First Amendment cases, arguing that the Court should grant review of Ninth Circuit judgment permitting California Attorney General to demand donor information from nonprofits.
September 25, 2019
U.S. Chamber leads coalition amicus brief in California Court of Appeal, arguing that a trade-secret owner may preclude the government from disclosing trade-secret information in response to a California Public Records Act request.
September 24, 2019
Ninth Circuit panel re-issues its opinion in independent contractor misclassification case and certifies questions concerning the retroactivity of the Dynamex decision to the California Supreme Court. The Ninth Circuit previously granted rehearing and vacated its prior opinion in order to certify the retroactivity issues to the California Supreme Court.
September 20, 2019
U.S. Chamber files brief in case involving an arachnid known as the Bone Cave harvestman, urging Fifth Circuit to impose limits on federal government’s authority to regulate purely intrastate species under the Endangered Species Act.
September 18, 2019
Ninth Circuit denies rehearing en banc in a First Amendment challenge to a prohibition in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The U.S. Chamber filed briefs on the merits and in support of the petition for rehearing, arguing that the panel erred in striking down an exemption from the TCPA for calls to collect debts owed to the federal government.
September 18, 2019
U.S. Chamber urges Michigan’s Supreme Court to grant leave to appeal lower court’s decision holding lessors of personal property—in this case, truck rental companies—liable for injuries caused by unauthorized drivers. The U.S. Chamber’s brief argues that the court’s decision disregards traditional duty principles in creating an expansive new theory of tort liability in Michigan.
September 17, 2019
D.C. Circuit dismisses petitions for review of the EPA’s 2015 Clean Power Plan as moot in light of the EPA’s 2019 Affordable Clean Energy Rule, which rescinds the 2015 Clean Power Plan. The U.S. Chamber and other petitioners asked for the D.C. Circuit to dismiss the petitions as moot in light of the Affordable Clean Energy rule, which took effect on September 6, 2019. The U.S. Chamber is also an intervenor in support of the EPA’s Affordable Clean Energy Rule in separate litigation.
September 16, 2019
U.S. Chamber urges Ninth Circuit to grant rehearing en banc and reverse class certification order in Illinois Biometric Privacy Act case with no actual injury and an expansive geographic scope. Previously, the U.S. Chamber filed two briefs supporting reversal of the class certification order.
September 13, 2019
U.S. Chamber files brief urging Second Circuit to grant Rule 23(f) petition for review and decertify medical-monitoring class action.
September 10, 2019
Third Circuit holds Natural Gas Act’s delegation of condemnation authority to private pipeline companies does not extend to condemnation of state-owned property, such that states are immune from condemnation suits unless the United States is a party. The U.S. Chamber and aligned business groups had filed an amicus brief urging the court to uphold the pipeline company’s condemnation claims.
September 9, 2019
NLRB rejects petition for micro-bargaining unit at Boeing’s 787 production line in South Carolina. The U.S. Chamber filed a coalition amicus brief in support of this outcome.
September 6, 2019
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief with other business groups urging Sixth Circuit to reverse district court order that would subject oil spill response plans to NEPA reviews and ESA consultation that could not impact the decision before the agency.
September 6, 2019
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief urging U.S. Supreme Court to reverse Federal Circuit’s overly lenient standard for allowing the United States to walk away from financial obligations to private companies induced to participate in public programs with financial assurances. Previously, the U.S. Chamber filed a brief supporting the cert. petition.
September 6, 2019
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief in support of petition for writ of mandamus by Ohio against claims brought by Ohio municipalities in national opioid MDL, arguing that the plethora of municipal lawsuits should not proceed.
September 6, 2019
U.S. Chamber and Missouri Chamber file amicus brief urging reversal of $4.7 billion trial verdict in talc litigation. The brief argues that that there was no personal jurisdiction in Missouri over out-of-state plaintiffs’ claims, that joinder of 22 plaintiffs’ claims was improper, and that punitive damages award was unconstitutional.
September 5, 2019
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief urging the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision holding that strict liability applies to claims under the “catch all” provision of the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law.
September 5, 2019
Utah Supreme Court holds that FDA authorization of medical devices through the 510(k) process may be an affirmative defense to strict liability claims. The U.S. Chamber had submitted an amicus brief urging the court to recognize the 510(k) process as shielding manufacturers from strict liability claims.
September 4, 2019
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief urging Fifth Circuit to reverse trial court order and remove claims against companies acting at the direction of the federal government to federal court.
August 30, 2019
National Labor Relations Board issues 3-1 opinion holding that an employer’s mistaken classification of an individual as an independent contractor, rather than an employee, does not violate the National Labor Relations Act. The U.S. Chamber filed two amicus briefs supporting this outcome, which the Board relied upon in the reasoning in its opinion.
August 30, 2019
Fifth Circuit rejects environmental groups’ challenge to CWA permit for lack of standing. The U.S. Chamber filed an amicus brief urging the court to reject the groups’ arguments.
August 30, 2019
U.S. Chamber and New Jersey Civil Justice Institute file complaint in federal court challenging New Jersey’s A.B. 121, which effectively bans the use of bilateral arbitration in employment agreements for employers in New Jersey. The complaint alleges that New Jersey’s law, as applied to arbitration, is preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act, and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief against the Attorney General of New Jersey from enforcing the law against employers with arbitration agreements.
August 29, 2019
Second Circuit panel unanimously affirms district court decision dismissing claims attempting to apply the Commodity Exchange Act extraterritorially. The panel’s opinion relies upon the amicus brief filed by the U.S. Chamber, citing it twice in the opinion.
August 29, 2019
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief concerning application of the “de facto officer” doctrine in Appointments Clause litigation. The U.S. Chamber’s brief takes no position on whether there is any constitutional violation in the appointment of officers to serve on the Financial Oversight and Management Board of Puerto Rico, but argues that if the Court concludes there is a violation of the Appointments Clause here, then the de facto officer doctrine does not bar judicial relief vacating the governmental action taken by unconstitutionally appointed officers that causes injury...
August 28, 2019
U.S. Chamber and coalition of business groups file amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to hold the Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA,” also known as Superfund) prevents state tort claims that seek to impose remedies that challenge EPA approved cleanup plans. Previously, the U.S. Chamber also filed an amicus brief supporting the cert. petition.
August 28, 2019
U.S. Chamber files coalition amicus brief arguing, at merits stage, that the Supreme Court should hold that ERISA plan disclosures give plan participants actual knowledge of the information disclosed for statute-of-limitation purposes.
August 26, 2019
Eleventh Circuit denies petition for panel and en banc rehearing in case concerning proximate causation under the Fair Housing Act. The U.S. Chamber filed an amicus brief in support of rehearing, arguing that the panel deviated from Supreme Court precedent applying settled principles of proximate causation.
August 26, 2019
U.S. Chamber leads coalition brief urging D.C. Circuit to reverse district court judgment that (i) overturned the Office of Management and Budget’s rejection of EEOC's burdensome new reporting requirement on employers and (ii) imposed an unreasonable timeline for compliance with that requirement. Previously, the U.S. Chamber filed two briefs urging rejection of the requirement when this case was before the D.C. District Court.
August 23, 2019
D.C. Circuit issues mixed ruling in challenges to Obama Administration’s 2015 Ozone NAAQS.
August 23, 2019
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief concerning transportation-worker exception in Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act, arguing that District Court erred in construing scope of “workers engaged … in interstate commerce” phrase to limit the availability of arbitration to resolve work-related disputes.
August 22, 2019
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief urging Seventh Circuit to reject plaintiff’s broad view of the definition of an automatic telephone dialing system under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
August 20, 2019
Divided panel of the D.C. Circuit dismisses petitions for review on the ground that there is no final agency action in the Wehrum memorandum on the “once in always in” policy for major sources under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act; the majority reasoned that the memorandum does not have direct and appreciable legal consequences. The U.S. Chamber filed a coalition amicus brief in support of EPA, urging the court to deny the petitions for review and arguing that the Wehrum memorandum was consistent with the Clean Air Act.
August 19, 2019
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief in support of petition for rehearing, arguing that panel erred in striking down exemption from Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for calls to collect debts owed to the federal government. The U.S. Chamber previously filed an amicus brief taking no position on the constitutionality of the exemption or the TCPA, but arguing that if the Court concludes that there is a violation of the First Amendment, then it should invalidate the TCPA’s prohibition, not its exemption, which would expose more speech to TCPA liability.
August 19, 2019
U.S. Chamber files merits stage amicus brief in personal jurisdiction case in New Mexico Supreme Court, arguing that the court of appeals erred in concluding that registration to do business in New Mexico sufficed to subject foreign company to personal jurisdiction in New Mexico. The U.S. Chamber previously filed an amicus brief in support of review, which the New Mexico Supreme Court granted and vacated the court of appeal’s earlier ruling on personal jurisdiction.
August 19, 2019
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief urging Ninth Circuit to grant rehearing en banc concerning California’s McGill rule, arguing that Federal Arbitration Act preempts state law requiring arbitration agreements to empower arbitrator to award injunctive relief to the broader public. The U.S. Chamber previously filed an amicus brief at the panel stage in this same case.