Justia Civil Procedure Opinion Summaries

Plaintiffs - all minors at the relevant times - were all trafficked through advertisements posted on Backpage.com. Plaintiffs filed suit against Backpage, alleging that Backpage tailored its website to facilitate sex traffickers’ efforts to advertise their victims on the website, leading to Appellants’ victimization. Specifically, Plaintiffs alleged that Backpage engaged in sex trafficking of minors as defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and its Massachusetts counterpart, violations of Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 93A, and abridgments of intellectual property rights. The district court dismissed the action for failure to state claims upon which relief could be granted. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that the facts alleged here did not state grounds that Plaintiffs were plausibly entitled to relief on their claims. View "Doe No. 1 v. Backpage.com, LLC" on Justia Law

Lopez & Medina Corp. (L&M) filed a lawsuit against several insurers for Patriot Air, LLC, alleging that the insurers were liable for L&M’s breach of contract claims against Patriot Air. The district court dismissed L&M’s complaint, concluding that the relevant insurance policy did not provide coverage for contract claims. The First Circuit affirmed. L&M and its owner subsequently filed the complaint in this action seeking recovery in tort for Patriot Air’s negligence arising out of the same set of facts that underlay the previous suit’s breach of contract claims. The district court dismissed the case on the ground of res judicata. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that the district court correctly invoked res judicata in dismissing the action. View "Medina-Padilla v. US Aviation Underwriters, Inc." on Justia Law

A Corp., a Massachusetts plumbing corporation and franchisor, brought a trademark infringement action against All American Plumbing, Inc., an Arizona corporation with its principal place of business in Arizona, alleging that All American was improperly using A Corp.’s “Rooter Man” mark, or one confusingly similar, to advertise its plumbing business on its website. The district court dismissed the complaint, concluding that A Corp. failed to meet its burden to establish either general or specific jurisdiction. A Corp. appealed, challenging the district court’s conclusion as to the exercise of specific jurisdiction. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that A Corp.’s argument for specific jurisdiction failed. View "A Corp. v. All American Plumbing, Inc." on Justia Law

Relator, an employee of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), sued UMMS alleging violations of the False Claims Act (FCA) and its Massachusetts counterpart. The district court dismissed Relator’s FCA claims against UMMS, concluding that UMMS is a state agency and, thus, exempt from the FCA. The district court denied Relator’s subsequent motion for leave to file a third amended complaint, concluding that the proffered complaint would be futile. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) UMMS is an arm of the state, not a “person” subject to suit under the FCA, and therefore, UMMS is exempt from suit by private parties under the FCA; and (2) Relator’s attempt to appeal the district court’s denial of leave to amend for want of appellate jurisdiction is dismissed for want of appellate jurisdiction. View "Willette v. Univ. of Mass." on Justia Law

Copia Communications, LLC, a Massachusetts company, brought this action in federal district court in Massachusetts against Seawind Key Investments, Limited, a Jamaican resort operator, and Seawind’s alleged alter-ego, AMResorts, LP, a Pennsylvania limited partnership, alleging breach of contract. The subject contract was proposed and executed in Jamaica, performance on the contract occurred almost exclusively in Jamaica, and the contract was governed by the laws of Jamaica. Both defendants, neither of which operated any business or had any corporate presence in Massachusetts, moved to dismiss, arguing lack of personal jurisdiction and forum non conveniens. The district court dismissed the case without prejudice, finding that it lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendants. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that the exercise of personal jurisdiction over the defendants was barred by the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. View "Copia Commc’ns, LLC v. AMResorts, LP" on Justia Law

Robert Gadbois (Relator) filed this qui tam action in the District of Rhode Island alleging PharMerica Corp. had violated the False Claims Act (FCA) and several parallel state statutes. Relator then filed a seconded amended complaint. The district court dismissed Relator’s FCA claim, concluding that Relator’s action and an earlier-filed action pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin were based on substantially the same facts, and therefore, the district court lacked jurisdiction by virtue of the FCA’s first-to-file bar. The court dismissed Relator’s state-law claims as well. Relator appealed. During briefing, the Supreme Court decided Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Carter, and the Wisconsin action was settled and dismissed, both of which dissolved the jurisdictional impediment to Relator’s action. Relator responded by broadening his appeal to include the possibility of supplementing his pleadings with the fact that the Wisconsin action was no longer pending. The First Circuit vacated the judgment of the district court to allow the court to consider Relator’s request for supplementation under Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(d), holding that Rule 15(d) is available to cure most kinds of defects in subject matter jurisdiction. View "Gadbois v. PharMerica Corp." on Justia Law