Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

Bruce A. Shear v. MAZ Partners, LP, Individually and on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, No. 17-1821, 17-1904 · judgment July 2, 2018

Certiorari denied · November 13, 2018
Pre-decision estimate: 10% cert probability (95% interval 6%–16%)

Before the decision, about 2.4× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a First Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and down for a business respondent.

Questions presented

  1. When a jury finds in favor of defendant on the sole claim asserted against him, may a district court affirm the verdict but then use “equitable power” to enter a multi-million dollar disgorgement order against the victorious defendant?

  2. Faced with a novel and outcomedeterminative state law decision issued during a federal diversity trial, should a federal court certify a question of law regarding the interpretation of the decision to avoid making an Erie-guess about how the state court might decide the issue?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
James Harold Hulme
ArentFox Schiff LLP

For respondent
Chet B. Waldman
Wolf Popper, LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Nov 13 2018
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Oct 29 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of National Association for Behavioral Healthcare filed. (Distributed)
  3. Oct 24 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/9/2018.
  4. Oct 01 2018
    Waiver of right of respondent Maz Partners, LP to respond filed.
  5. Sep 28 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 29, 2018)