CAFC Affirms District Court Dismissal of Declaratory Judgment Under Doctrine of ‘Abstention’

On October 14, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), in Warsaw Orthopedic, Inc. v. Sasso, affirmed a decision of a district court dismissing Medtronic’s declaratory judgment complaint without prejudice and applying the doctrine of federal court “abstention” in view of a concurrent state court action. The CAFC concluded that the district court acted within its discretion in abstaining without prejudice because the question of contract interpretation was on appeal in state court and the federal action based on the federal issues was not precluded.

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