FedCircuitBlog

Four cases being argued next month at the Federal Circuit attracted amicus briefs. One of these cases is Dinh v. United States. In it, the Federal Circuit will review a dismissal of a takings claim by the Court of Federal Claims. That court held that, because Congressional action did not explicitly devalue certain bonds or require transferring funds to repay the bonds to the Puerto Rican government, there was no taking. This is our argument preview.

The Federal Circuit announced today that it will be closed and not hold oral arguments previously scheduled for Thursday, January 9 in observance of the National Day of Mourning for President Carter. Here is the full text of the announcement.

This morning the Federal Circuit released a nonprecedential order dismissing an appeal. That’s it! Happy New Year!

Here is an update on recent activity at the Supreme Court in cases decided by the Federal Circuit. With respect to granted cases, earlier this month the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Feliciano v. Department of Transportation, and we have since posted our argument recap. With respect to petitions, two new petitions were filed in a patent case and a pro se case; waivers of the right to respond were filed in two patent cases, a case addressing Rule 36, and two pro se cases; briefs in opposition were filed in two patent cases; replies in support of petitions were filed in a patent case, a case addressing Rule 36, a veterans case, and a case addressing procedure; and six amicus briefs were filed in a case addressing Rule 36. In addition, the Court denied the petition in the case addressing procedure. Here are the details.

The Federal Circuit issued its opinion earlier this month in Metropolitan Area EMS Authority v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, a veterans case we have been following because it attracted an amicus brief. In this case, the Federal Circuit reviewed a rule promulgated by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs that permitted VA to pay the lesser of the actual charge or the Medicare fee schedule (MFS) amount for all non-contract ground and air ambulance transports. The petitioners in this case sought review of this rule. In an opinion authored by Judge Stoll and joined by Judges Lourie and Stark, the Federal Circuit granted the petition and set aside the rule as not in accordance with law given the governing statute. This is our opinion summary.

This morning the Federal Circuit released a precedential opinion in a veterans case, a nonprecedential opinion in a patent case, and a nonprecedential order dismissing an appeal. Here are the introductions to the opinions and a link to the dismissal.

Here is an update on recent en banc activity at the Federal Circuit in patent cases. Since our last update, the court denied two petitions raising the same question related to claim construction. Here are the details.

Today the Federal Circuit released a precedential opinion in one veterans case, a nonprecedential opinion in another veterans case, and two nonprecedential orders dismissing appeals. Here are the introductions to the opinions and links to the orders.

Today the Federal Circuit released one precedential opinion and three nonprecedential orders. The opinion comes in an appeal addressing the Equal Access to Justice Act, while the orders are all dismissals. Here is the introduction to the opinion and links to the dismissals.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Feliciano v. Department of Transportation, a case originally decided by the Merit Systems Protection Board and then the Federal Circuit. In this case, the Supreme Court is considering whether “a federal civilian employee called or ordered to active duty under a provision of law during a national emergency is entitled to differential pay even if the duty is not directly connected to the national emergency.” This is our argument recap.