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Your Bottom Line and the Supreme Court ACC-Austin July 25, 2013 Evan A. Young. The Caseload. U.S. Courts of Appeals (2012) -- 57,570 1,104 cases per panel U.S. Supreme Court (OT 2012) -- 78 73 under plenary review 5 summary reversals. The Justices. Case Topics. Employment Discrimination
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Your Bottom Line and the Supreme CourtACC-AustinJuly 25, 2013Evan A. Young
The Caseload • U.S. Courts of Appeals (2012) -- 57,570 • 1,104 cases per panel • U.S. Supreme Court (OT 2012) -- 78 • 73 under plenary review • 5 summary reversals
Case Topics • Employment Discrimination • Securities and Corporations • Preemption • Class Actions • Arbitration • Intellectual Property • Property Rights • Jurisdiction • Administrative Law • Damages
"Under the definition of 'supervisor' that we adopt today, the question of supervisor status, when contested, can very often be resolved as a matter of law before trial. . . . The plaintiff will know whether he or she must prove that the employer was negligent or whether the employer will have the burden of proving the elements of the . . . affirmative defense."
"[T]he danger of juror confusion is particularly high where the jury is faced with instructions on alternative theories of liability under which different parties bear the burden of proof."
With a lower causation standard: "Consider ... the case of an employee who knows that he or she is about to be fired for poor performance, given a lower pay grade, or even just transferred to a different assignment or location. To forestall that lawful action, he or she might be tempted to make an unfounded charge of racial, sexual, or religious discrimination; then, when the unrelated employment action comes, the employee could allege that it is retaliation." • "Even if the employer could escape judgment after trial, the lessened causation standard would make it far more difficult to dismiss dubious claims at the summary judgment stage."
“Unlike the private party who has no reason to suspect fraud, the SEC’s very purpose is to root it out, and it has many legal tools at hand to aid in that pursuit.” • “[T]he SEC as enforcer is a far cry from the defrauded victim the discovery rule evolved to protect.”
"The results were horrific. Sixty to sixty-five percent of the surface of respondent's body deteriorated, was burned off, or turned into an open wound. She spent months in a medically induced coma, underwent 12 eye surgeries, and was tube-fed for a year. She is now severely disfigured, has a number of physical disabilities, and is nearly blind."
Karen Bartlett -- before and after CBS News
Design-defect claim -- sulindac is an "unreasonably dangerous product" • Addressed by • Change in chemical composition Not allowed under federal law (or chemistry) • Change in warning (might work)
Design-defect claim -- sulindac is an "unreasonably dangerous product" • Addressed by • Change in chemical composition • Not allowed under federal law (or chemistry) • Change in warning (might work)
Design-defect claim -- sulindac is an "unreasonably dangerous product" • Addressed by • Change in chemical composition • Not allowed under federal law (or chemistry) • Change in warning (might work) • Not allowed under federal law
“In outlining the contours of this slim category, we do not paint on a blank canvas. Unfortunately, the canvas looks like one that Jackson Pollock got to first.”
“It is not enough … to show that the [arbitrator] committed an error—or even a serious error.”
“[T]he sole question for us is whether the arbitrator (even arguably) interpreted the parties’ contract, not whether he got its meaning right or wrong.”
“The potential for these mistakes is the price of agreeing to arbitration. … The arbitrator’s construction holds, however good, bad, or ugly.”
“In sum, Oxford chose arbitration, and it must now live with that choice.”
