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In this unpublished but instructive decision, the Fourth Circuit affirmed a Maryland district court’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration brought by Oliphant Financial, LLC and its collection law firm, Stillman P.C. The defendants sought arbitration in a putative class action brought by Thelma Roper alleging violations of federal and Maryland consumer protection statutes for suing consumers in state court after the statute of limitations had expired.

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Available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5265839 

Available at:   https://ssrn.com/abstract=5315512 

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Available at:   https://ssrn.com/abstract=5242161

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Tiber Creek Partners, a Virginia-based consulting firm, helped Ellume Ltd.—an Australian biotech company—and its U.S. subsidiary secure over $260 million in COVID testing contracts from Uncle Sam. When Ellume didn’t pay up, Tiber Creek sued in its home forum, the Eastern District of Virginia. But the district court dismissed the case on forum non conveniens grounds, and the Fourth Circuit just affirmed, sending the whole affair packing to Australia faster than you can sing “Waltzing Matilda.”

Tiber Creek filed two suits:

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Judge Pamela McAfee overruled a Chapter 7 trustee’s objection to a North Carolina debtor’s homestead exemption claimed in real estate located not in Wake County, but in Corentyne Berbice, Guyana. The case highlights two recurring issues in exemption law: 

(1) whether a spouse living abroad may qualify as a “dependent” for purposes of N.C.G.S. § 1C-1601(a)(1), and