WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court unanimously rejected a California-based offshore oil rig worker’s claim he should be paid for off-the-clock time on the oil platforms, as California law requires, because federal law alone governs the facilities that are based on the Outer Continental Shelf. After Texas and North Dakota, California is the third-largest oil-producing state. Oil is reportedly produced on 32 offshore platforms and artificial islands in Southern California alone. The ruling, which overturns a decision by the oft-reversed Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, is a victory for the Trump administration which sided with the employer in the case, a Houston, Texas-based company called Parker … Continue reading Supreme Court rules state law does not apply to Outer Continental Shelf

WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court sided with a Midwestern hospital chain on June 3, finding that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services changed its Medicare hospital reimbursement formula improperly because it failed to first conduct the required formal notice-and-comment rulemaking process. Minneapolis-based Allina Health Services, a nonprofit health care system that runs 13 hospitals and more than 90 clinics in Minnesota and western Wisconsin, challenged the formula-changing decision made by the Obama administration in 2013. The company claimed it had been shortchanged by as much as $4 billion as a result of the improperly executed policy change. Allina had asked the Provider … Continue reading Supreme Court requires Medicare to use notice and comment in rulemaking

WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court agreed May 28 to consider whether the parents of a foreigner killed outside the country by a U.S. law enforcement officer can pursue a claim for damages against the officer. The much-litigated case, Hernandez v. Mesa, is expected to proceed to oral arguments before the high court in the fall. U.S. Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa shot and killed Mexican national Sergio Hernandez, 15, on June 7, 2010. Hernandez had been playing with his friends on the Mexican side of a concrete culvert that marks the boundary between Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas. The … Continue reading Supreme Court to consider if cross-border shooting can lead to damages claim

WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court has granted emergency stays halting forced congressional redistricting statewide in both Ohio and Michigan that was ordered by U.S. district court judges who found that boundaries of electoral districts had been improperly drawn. The emergency orders were granted while the Supreme Court separately considers whether state electoral maps in North Carolina and Maryland were gerrymandered, or unfairly manipulated for partisan advantage. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the two different legal challenges on March 26 and is expected to rule on those cases next month. This means ahead of the presidential and congressional elections in 2020 that the electoral maps of four states in … Continue reading Supreme Court halts judge-ordered redistricting in Ohio, Michigan

The Supreme Court decided to allow a class-action lawsuit against an osteoporosis drug maker to proceed and stipulated that when the matter is adjudicated, a judge, not a jury, must decide whether federal law requires that a warning be placed on the drug’s label. The opinion written by Justice Stephen Breyer came May 20 in the case known as Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. v. Albrecht. All nine justices agreed in the judgment reached by Breyer, but there were two concurring opinions that provided different reasonings for reaching that result. More than 500 consumers are suing the company, claiming injuries dating … Continue reading Supreme Court allows class-action lawsuit against drug giant Merck