Coba was issued July 8, the other two on July 5.

Coba v. Ford Motor Co.—civil—affirmance—Krause

[Update: in response to a panel-rehearing petition, the court issued an opinion on July 26 revising footnote 10 to remove its assertion that the appellant had mischaracterized evidence and to clarify why the evidence did not support the appellant’s position. The amended opinion is now linked above, the old opinion is here.]

Ford sold vehicles for a decade with gas tanks whose linings flaked off into the gas, and, as you might imagine, that wasn’t a bit good for the vehicles’ fuel filters, injectors, or engines. The plaintiff here sued in New Jersey federal court, alleging various state-law theories. The district court entered summary judgment for Ford, and the Third Circuit affirmed. After confirming that the district court had jurisdiction under CAFA even though it denied class certification before its final ruling, the court upheld summary judgment on all grounds, including that a warranty for defects in materials or workmanship does not cover design defects.

Joining Krause were Jordan and Roth. The case was decided without oral argument.

Spartan Concrete Prods. v. Argos USVI—antitrust—affirmance—Hardiman

Two Virgin Islands concrete companies engaged in a price war. The companies used the same concrete supplier, and that supplier gave a 10% volume discount to the bigger one but not the smaller one. The smaller company sued the supplier, alleging antitrust price discrimination. The district court entered a directed verdict for the supplier, and the Third Circuit affirmed. The court held that the plaintiff failed to show antitrust injury essentially because it failed to show that its inability to win the price war was caused specifically by the 10% discount. The court also upheld the denial of the plaintiff’s belated motion to amend its complaint to add other claims.

Joining Hardiman were Chagares and Restrepo. Arguing counsel were Christopher Kroblin of Kennerhals Ferguson for the plaintiff and Howard Feller of McGuire Woods for the supplier.

U.S. v. Santarelli—habeas—reversal—Restrepo

In a decision that’s notable for habeas lawyers but likely rather impenetrable for everyone else, the Third Circuit held that (1) a petitioner’s amended claims related back to those in her original petition and (2) the petitioner’s motion to raise additional claims that she filed after the district court’s denial was not a successive petition because it was filed before she exhausted all of her appellate remedies from the denial of the initial petition.

Joining Restrepo were McKee and Ambro. Arguing counsel were Connor Baer (formerly of K&L Gates, now clerking for a Third Circuit judge) for the petitioner and Sean Camoni for the government. K&L Gates was appointed by the Third Circuit to represent the petitioner on appeal pro bono.