Where NIKE stopped an advertising campaign after the district court found it infringed on Fleet Feet’s trademarks, NIKE’s cessation of the campaign mooted its appeal of the preliminary injunction. Background In 2019, NIKE Inc., NIKE USA Inc. and NIKE Retail ...
Read More »Intellectual Property – End of challenged conduct moots injunction appeal
Criminal Practice – Ineffective assistance claim barred, without merit 
Where a defendant convicted of murder, burglary, kidnapping and related crimes previously claimed that his trial counsel’s performance was constitutionally deficient, and the state post-conviction court rejected that claim, he could not introduce new evidence in his federal habeas petition. ...
Read More »Criminal Practice – Drugs in car properly attributed to passenger 
Where the police legally stopped and searched a vehicle in which the defendant was a passenger and found 300 grams of fentanyl that neither he nor the driver claimed, it was “entirely reasonable” to conclude the occupants were in a ...
Read More »Criminal Practice – First Step sentence reductions must be explained 
Where defendants were granted reductions in their terms of supervised release under the First Step Act, the district court erred in not providing explanations for its decisions. Background Timothy McDonald, Anthony Ballard and Riccardo Mercellus Davey appeal district court orders ...
Read More »Criminal Practice – Restriction on future employment was overbroad 
Where a man who pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography was barred from working in “any type of employment without the prior approval of the probation officer,” and no explanation was provided for why this restriction was relevant to ...
Read More »Admiralty – Maritime lien not affected by prior settlement 
Although a fuel supplier had already entered into a settlement agreement with a vessel charterer who failed to pay for fuel, that settlement did not prevent the supplier from enforcing a maritime lien against the vessel. Background Addax Energy SA ...
Read More »Contract – Contract interpretation affirmed because of party’s waiver 
Where a food manufacturer prevailed on its breach of contract counterclaim because its contract with a food buyer was unambiguous, the decision was affirmed. The decision found that even if the contract was ambiguous, it led to the same result, ...
Read More »Real Property – Prescriptive Easement – Private Property – Interruption of Use – Verbal Threats – Exclusivity 
In this dispute over whether the defendant-service station has a prescriptive easement over a roadway that crosses plaintiff’s land, plaintiff argues the service station failed to establish the identity of the thing enjoyed because the roadway terminates on another’s property ...
Read More »Administrative – Attorney’s Fees – ‘Civil Action’ – Sanctions – Development Permit 
Where the State Action Statute, S.C. Code Ann. § 15-77-300, authorizes an award of attorney’s fees “In any civil action brought by … any political subdivision of the State,” the statute does not encompass contested administrative cases. We reverse the ...
Read More »Contract – Government Construction Project – Failure to Require Bond – Contract Balance 
Even though the defendant Military Department violated the Subcontractors’ and Suppliers’ Payment Protection Act by failing to require the defendant-general contractor to obtain a payment bond, since the department had already paid the contractor the total amount due on the ...
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