Before She Died, “Jane Roe” Said She Was Never Really Pro-Life: Does It Matter?

MICHAEL C. DORF

Cornell law professor Michael C. Dorf comments on the revelation that before she died, Norma McCorvey—the woman who was the plaintiff in Roe v. Wade and who had subsequently become a prominent spokesperson for overturning the decision—said she was never really pro-life after all. Using this example, Dorf explains why, in some ways, the individual plaintiff’s identity does not matter for the purpose of deciding an important legal issue, yet in other ways, the plaintiff’s underlying story can be very important for other reasons.

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Eastus v. ISS Facility Services, Inc.

Docket: 19-20258

Opinion Date: May 27, 2020

Judge: Leslie Southwick

Areas of Law: Arbitration & Mediation

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's order compelling arbitration, holding that plaintiff is not exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) under the Transportation Worker Exemption. Plaintiff primarily supervised 25 part-time and 2 full-time ticketing and gate agents at the airport. In this case, plaintiff's duties could at most be construed as loading and unloading airplanes. The court held that plaintiff was not engaged in an aircraft's actual movement in interstate commerce. Therefore, the exemption in the FAA does not apply to her and arbitration was validly ordered to resolve her dispute.

Zepeda v. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.

Docket: 18-20336

Opinion Date: May 27, 2020

Judge: James C. Ho

Areas of Law: Banking, Real Estate & Property Law

In a prior dispute between plaintiff and her lender, Feddie Mac, the Fifth Circuit certified to the Supreme Court of Texas the following question: "Is a lender entitled to equitable subrogation, where it failed to correct a curable constitutional defect in the loan documents under section 50 of the Texas Constitution?" The Texas Supreme Court answered in the affirmative. In light of the Texas Supreme Court's answer, the court reversed the district court's holding to the contrary and remanded for further proceedings.

In re: IntraMTA Switched Access Charges Litigation

Docket: 18-10768

Opinion Date: May 27, 2020

Judge: Jerry Edwin Smith

Areas of Law: Communications Law

Local exchange carriers (LECs) can assess interexchange carriers (IXCs) access charges when LECs provide IXCs with services that enable the IXCs to exchange wireless-to-wireline calls that originate and terminate within the same Major Trading Area (MTA). In this multidistrict litigation case, IXCs Sprint and Verizon filed suit against hundreds of LECs in various courts. The Fifth Circuit held that, because the LECs filed access charge tariffs with the FCC and state regulators, the filed-rate doctrine requires Sprint, Verizon, and Level 3 to pay those charges. Therefore, the court affirmed the dismissal of Sprint and Verizon's claims for damages and affirmed summary judgment on the LECs' claims and counterclaims. However, the court vacated in part, holding that Sprint and Verizon could be entitled to declaratory relief as to at least some of the LECs. Accordingly, the court remanded the dismissal of Sprint and Verizon's claim for declaratory relief.