OPINION GREENAWAY, JR. , Circuit Judge . In this case, SmithKline Beecham Corporation, doing business as GlaxoSmithKline ("GSK"), seeks to enforce a court-approved settlement agreement and enjoin the State of Louisiana, through its Attorney General, from bringing allegedly released claims against GSK in the Louisiana state courts. Louisiana protests this enforcement action on the theory that the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution of the United States bars its involuntary inclusion in...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION ** SHWARTZ , Circuit Judge . Plaintiff I. Stephen Rabin appeals the District Court's order granting Defendants' motion to dismiss his putative class action complaint alleging violations of 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. 78a et seq. (the "Exchange Act"), and the Securities and Exchange Commission's Rule 10b-5(a) and (c), 17 C.F.R. 240.10b-5(a), (c). He asserts that defendants NASDAQ OMS PHLX, LLC and NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (the "...
OPINION ROTH , Circuit Judge . In this appeal we are asked to decide whether Max Folkenflik, Esq., committed fraud on the court. The Bankruptcy Court determined that Folkenflik had intentionally deceived the court. As a result, the court vacated the default judgment it had previously entered in favor of Folkenflik's clients. The District Court affirmed. Finding no error, we will affirm. I. This action was commenced as an adversary complaint in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding...
OPINION JORDAN , Circuit Judge . The dispute at the bottom of this putative class action began when two laptops, containing sensitive personal information, were stolen from health insurer Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc. The four named Plaintiffs filed suit on behalf of themselves and other Horizon customers whose personal information was stored on those laptops. They allege willful and negligent violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA"), 15 U.S.C. 1681, et seq., as well...
OPINION OF THE COURT RESTREPO , Circuit Judge . The Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. 12101, et seq., requires public accommodations, including movie theaters, to furnish auxiliary aids and services, which include qualified interpreters, to patrons with vision, hearing, and speech disabilities. Plaintiff-Appellant Paul McGann, who is blind and deaf, requested from Defendant-Appellee Cinemark USA, Inc. ("Cinemark") an American Sign Language ("ASL") tactile interpreter...
OPINION OF THE COURT VANASKIE , Circuit Judge . These asbestos cases involve the availability of the "bare-metal defense" under maritime law. The defense's basic idea is that a manufacturer who delivers a product "bare metal" — that is without the insulation or other material that must be added for the product's proper operation — is not generally liable for injuries caused by asbestos in later-added materials. A classic scenario would be if an engine manufacturer ships an engine without a...
OPINION OF THE COURT McKEE , Circuit Judge . The American Civil Rights Union ("ACRU") challenges the Philadelphia City Commissioners' failure to purge the city's voter rolls of registered voters who are currently incarcerated due to a felony conviction. Because state law prohibits felons from voting while they are in prison, the ACRU argues that the National Voter Registration Act requires the Commissioners to remove them from the voter rolls. For the reasons that follow, we will affirm...
OPINION OF THE COURT KRAUSE , Circuit Judge . Following a trial in which the evidence reflected that Appellee/Cross-Appellant Vincent Wilkerson shot his victim in the chest and beat the victim with a gun, a Pennsylvania jury convicted Wilkerson of both attempted murder and aggravated assault. In his instant petition for habeas corpus, Wilkerson contends that these convictions violate the Double Jeopardy Clause because the jury instructions permitted the jury to convict on both offenses...
OPINION OF THE COURT SMITH , Chief Judge . Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. ("Tennessee Gas") submitted applications to several federal and state agencies seeking approval to build an interstate pipeline project. One such agency is the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection ("PADEP"), 1 which issued a permit approving the project. The petitioners, Maya van Rossum and Delaware Riverkeeper Network (collectively, "Riverkeeper"), argue that we lack jurisdiction to rule on its petition...
OPINION OF THE COURT FISHER , Circuit Judge . On an early Sunday morning in January 2013, Lena Davenport was riding in the front passenger seat of a vehicle driven by her son Donald Burris, Jr. After running a red light and refusing to pull over, Burris led police officers on a nearly five-mile low speed pursuit into the City of Pittsburgh. As the pursuit entered an area with high pedestrian traffic, City of Pittsburgh Police Officers Louis Schweitzer, Stephen Matakovich, Calvin Kennedy,...
OPINION VANASKIE , Circuit Judge . Appellants Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railroad ("PWV") and Power REIT challenge the District Court's interpretation of a 1962 lease of railroad property (the "Lease") to Norfolk Southern Railway Company ("Norfolk Southern"). 1 In particular, Appellants contest the District Court's use of course-of-performance evidence to bolster its conclusions with respect to the disputed Lease provisions. Appellants also challenge the District Court's finding that...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION *** , MELLOY , Circuit Judge . On November 30, 2012, several train cars derailed while crossing Mantua Creek on a swing bridge near Paulsboro, New Jersey. One of the cars released over 20,000 gallons of vinyl chloride, creating an airborne chemical cloud. Plaintiff-appellants Alice Breeman and her children drove through the cloud repeatedly on the day of the spill. The other plaintiff-appellants are first responders who arrived on the scene shortly after the spill....
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * KRAUSE , Circuit Judge . Ashraf Mohamed, a native and citizen of Guyana, petitions for review of decisions by the Board of Immigration Appeals ordering his removal and denying his motion to reopen proceedings. Although we either lack jurisdiction or find no basis to grant relief on the issues raised in the petition for review of the removal order, we conclude the Board erred in its analysis of the motion to reopen, so we will remand for further proceedings on...
OPINION OF THE COURT SMITH , Chief Judge . Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. ("Tennessee Gas") submitted applications to several federal and state agencies seeking approval to build an interstate pipeline project. One such agency is the United States Army Corps of Engineers, 1 which administers certain provisions of the Clean Water Act. The Corps issued a permit approving the project. The petitioners, Maya van Rossum and Delaware Riverkeeper Network (collectively, "Riverkeeper"), challenge that...
OPINION SMITH , Chief Judge . This opinion addresses two sets of consolidated appeals concerning two pharmaceutical drugs: Lipitor and Effexor XR. In both sets of consolidated appeals, plaintiffs allege that the companies holding the patents related to Lipitor and Effexor XR fraudulently procured and enforced certain of those patents. Plaintiffs further allege that those companies holding the patents entered into unlawful, monopolistic settlement agreements with potential manufacturers of...
OPINION OF THE COURT JORDAN , Circuit Judge . Table of Contents I. Background....143 A. The Hatch-Waxman Act....143 B. Factual and Procedural Background....145 II. Discussion....147 A. Sham Litigation....147 1. Applicable Law....147 2. The Anchen Lawsuit....149 3. The Abrika Lawsuit....152 4. The Impax and Watson Lawsuits and the Appellants' Conspiracy Theory....153 5. The FDA Citizen Petition....154 6. Serial Petitioning....156 B. Reverse Payment Settlement Agreement....158 1....
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * AMBRO , Circuit Judge . I. BACKGROUND From 2008 through 2013 Harold Werkheiser served as one of three members of the Pocono Township's Board of Supervisors, a publicly elected body that acts as the Township's municipal government. As part of his service, Werkheiser was appointed annually by his colleagues to act as the Township's "Roadmaster," an office that oversees the municipality's infrastructure. "Pennsylvania law expressly allows for a member of the...
OPINION RENDELL , Circuit Judge : One of the many provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Pub. L. No. 111-148, 124 Stat. 119 (2010), requires employer-provided health insurance plans to cover an array of preventative services, including FDA-approved contraceptives, at no cost to participating employees. Employees have the option of seeking out covered medical providers and using their services, in which case they are reimbursed, or they can choose not to use them. The...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * HARDIMAN , Circuit Judge . Stacy Parks Miller, District Attorney of Centre County, Pennsylvania, filed a 311-paragraph complaint alleging 129 claims against 12 defendants from the Centre County legal community. The District Court, performing yeoman's work, deciphered the complaint and dismissed all claims. We agree with the District Court that nearly every claim is untenable, and we will affirm its judgment as to those claims. But we will hold that the District...
NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION * SMITH , Chief Judge . Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Co. ("Allstate") appeals a jury verdict in favor of homeowner Ahsaki Gordon on a breach of contract claim. Allstate's appeal primarily concerns its claim that the District Court erred by allowing the jury to consider Gordon's reasonable expectations of insurance coverage. We conclude that any error was harmless, and will affirm the judgment of the District Court. I. After a storm, on March 10 and...
