Justia U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Plaintiff purchased approximately 4,000 acres of land in Titus County, Texas, for use as a mitigation bank to offset the environmental impact of more destructive land use. 33 U.S.C. 1344. Before the purchase, the Army Corps of Engineers communicated that it then saw no impediments to creating the mitigation bank. After the Texas Water Development Board announced that the Reservoir would become less viable (if not infeasible) if the mitigation bank were approved, the Corps denied the application because the mitigation bank overlapped with the proposed Reservoir and it concluded that plaintiff's land might not exist in perpetuity. The district court dismissed a claim for just compensation. The Federal Circuit affirmed, holding that plaintiff did not have a cognizable property interest in obtaining a mitigation banking instrument. The claim was essentially that plaintiff detrimentally relied on representations made by the Corps. View "Hearts Bluff Game Ranch v. United States" on Justia Law

Plaintiff alleged infringement of patents covering systems and devices for testing blood samples against a competitor in the diagnostic field. The patents at issue name defendant as the assignee. Plaintiff claimed ownership based on confidentiality and non-competition clauses in employment and consulting contracts between its predecessor and an employee, the inventor. The district court dismissed, finding that plaintiff lacked standing because the 1999 Consulting Agreement did not continue the 1984 Agreement’s Disclosure and Assignment Covenant. The Federal Circuit affirmed, holding that the company lacked standing with respect to rights assigned long after the inventor resigned from the company. View "Abbott Point of Care, Inc. v. Epocal, Inc." on Justia Law

A 1935 settlement gives the tribe specific irrigation rights in the Gila River. The government filed another water rights claim on behalf of the tribe in 1979, resulting in a 2006 Arizona Supreme Court decree that the 1935 decree resolved all of the tribe's rights under all theories and that federal court was the proper forum for interpretation and enforcement of that decree. The Court of Federal Claims dismissed a claim against the United States for failure to secure and protect the tribe's water rights. The Federal Circuit affirmed, finding the claim barred by the six-year limitations period in 28 U.S.C. 2501. Rejecting an argument that the tribe was not on notice of its harm until the 2006 decision, the court stated that the plain terms of the 1935 decree indicated that the tribe would have no further rights and that the government was representing multiple parties.