ON THE DOCKET - A federal appeals panel in St. Louis today will hear a closely watched case confronting the scope of sexual orientation protection under federal anti-discrimination laws. Major U.S. companies filed a brief backing Mark Horton, a health care specialist who sued Midwest Geriatric Management after the company allegedly rescinded a job offer upon learning he was gay. Neal Perryman of the St. Louis firm Lewis & Rice will argue for the company, and Gregory Nevins, senior counsel at Lambda Legal, will advocate for Horton. The Eighth Circuit panel granted EEOC lawyer Gail Coleman argument time. Several cases are pending review at the U.S. Supreme Court that examine the scope of Title VII. The justices have not acted on those petitions.
ENOUGH ALREADY - After spending three hours calling each other liars and thieves during opening statements, Apple and Qualcomm on Tuesday struck a licensing deal for wireless chip technology that ends all litigation between them, including Qualcomm’s actions against Apple pending in international courts. But as Scott Graham reports, the settlement reached in San Diego federal court does not resolve the FTC’s antitrust suit against Qualcomm, which was tried in January before U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh and remains pending.
