U.S. Eleventh Circuit

The coronavirus pandemic may be winding down, but there are still pending cases dealing with the legality of executive mandates requiring vaccination for different types of employees. One of them, Georgia v. Biden, is currently before the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, and its resolution will determine the fate of President Joe Biden's executive order mandating vaccination for federal contractors.

No one wants their lawsuit to be dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. But throwing facts and defendants up in the air in the hope and prayer that something – anything – will move the case forward can get your case dismissed just as quickly. Known as “shotgun complaints" in the 11th Circuit, rules 8(a)(2) and Rule 10(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure prohibit these scattershot approaches to lawsuits, at least in spirit.

The Eleventh Circuit recently clarified that discriminatory conduct by a municipality post-acquisition of a property can violate Fair Housing Act protections. The case arose when residents in LaGrange, Georgia, filed a civil complaint alleging that basic utility services have a discriminatory impact. The city, which is the sole provider of basic utilities, requires customers to first pay any debts owed to the city and provide photo identification to get services.

If you hadn't heard about Miracle Milly, the Chihuahua taking home the Guinness Book of World Records title for smallest dog, then get ready, as the pup is making a big debut in federal court. The dog's owner is more than a bit gnarled over the fact that her tiny Miracle Milly now also holds the title for the world's most cloned dog. That title was an accident as Milly was only supposed to be cloned 10 times.

Be careful what you ask for. That should be the mantra for lawyers who advise businesses about arbitration clauses in employment agreements. It's cheap advice, given the real cost of arbitration. In Hernandez v. Acosta, it turned out to be a $100,000 lesson. That's how much the employer owed in arbitration fees, which far exceeded the company's liability to one worker. Triple A, Triple Costs Julio Hernandez filed a federal wage case against Acosta Tractors, a Florida contractor.

In US v. Luna-Encinas, No. 08-12574, the court of appeals affirmed defendant's conviction for being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm, because the district court correctly denied defendant's motion to suppress pre-Miranda statements he made to a police officer that led to the discovery of the firearm, because defendant was not in "custody" when he made the relevant inculpatory statements to the police.