On March 19, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Standard Fire Ins. Co. v. Knowles that class-action plaintiffs cannot circumvent the jurisdictional requirements of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (“CAFA”) by stipulating damages under the jurisdictional threshold.
CAFA provides federal courts original jurisdiction over class actions where, among other things, the class has more than 100 members and the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $5 million exclusive of interest and costs. To calculate the amount in controversy, the claims of the ...
On January 17, 2013, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a report revealing an increase in “pay-for-delay” or “reverse-payment” patent settlements between brand-name pharmaceutical companies and their generic counterparts
These controversial settlements typically involve a brand-name drug manufacturer who is granted a drug patent which gives the company the exclusive right to sell the drug for up to 20 years, depending on the type of drug. The patent is then challenged by a generic rival. Rather than risk losing their patent monopoly on account of a judgment ...
