U.S. Eleventh Circuit

With increasing frequency, federal courts are ruling in favor of plaintiffs who challenge state-law restrictions on the availability or coverage for medications and treatments sought by transgender patients. Two major appellate decisions have favored trans employees whose state employers sought to exclude their care from their health…

Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida is considering challenging a recent court decision that blocked parts of Florida's Individual Freedom Act, also known as the Stop WOKE Act. This law faced scrutiny for potentially violating free speech rights, particularly in the workplace. The Legal Challenge The…

A contentious Texas law that governs porn websites and tries to control the age of the people who can access them has been legally disputed on freedom of speech theories. Now, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has chimed in. They’ve effectively upheld the meatier part of the…

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.