The Court has granted cert. in five cases, listed below. The full order list is here.
Briefs in cases granted are now available below the jump.
Docket: 09-337
Title: Krupski v. Costa Crociere S.P.A.
Issue: Whether Fed. R. Cir. P. 15(c)(1)(C) – which permits an amended complaint to “relate back,” for limitation purposes, when the amendment corrects a “mistake concerning the proper party’s identity” – permits “mistakes” where the plaintiff had imputed knowledge of the identity of the added defendant prior to filing suit.
Docket: 09-448
Title: Hardt v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company
Issues: (1) Whether ERISA § 502(g)(1) provides a district court with discretion to award reasonable attorney’s fees only to a prevailing party; and (2) whether a party is entitled to attorney’s fees pursuant to § 502(g)(1) when she persuades a district court that a violation of ERISA has occurred, successfully secures a judicially ordered remand requiring a redetermination of entitlement to benefits, and subsequently receives the benefits sought on remand.
Docket: 09-475
Title: Monsanto Company v. Geertson Seed Farms
Issues: (1) Whether plaintiffs under the National Environmental Policy Act are specially exempt from the requirement of showing a likelihood of irreparable harm to obtain an injunction; (2) whether a district court may enter an injunction sought to remedy a NEPA violation without conducting an evidentiary hearing sought by a party to resolve genuinely disputed facts directly relevant to the appropriate scope of the requested injunction; and (3) whether the Ninth Circuit erred when it affirmed a nationwide injunction that sought to remedy a NEPA violation based on only a remote possibility of reparable harm.
Docket: 09-497
Title: Rent-A-Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson
Issue: Whether the district court is in all cases required to determine claims that an arbitration agreement subject to the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAAâ€) is unconscionable, even when the parties to the contract have clearly and unmistakably assigned this “gateway†issue to the arbitrator for decision.
Docket: 09-559
Title: John Doe #1 v. Reed
Issues: (1) Whether the First Amendment right to privacy in political speech, association, and belief requires strict scrutiny when a state compels public release of identifying information about petition signers; and (2) whether compelled public disclosure of identifying information about petition signers is narrowly tailored to a compelling interest.
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