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includes strong injunctive relief mandating truthful Representing Apple Inc. is Winslow Taub, a
ongoing disclosure of battery health and phone per- partner with Covington & Burling in San Francis-
formance.” co. Taub didn’t respond to a request for comment
The settlement calls on Apple to, among other Wednesday.
things, maintain easily accessible and prominent Apple ‘s senior vice president and general coun-
web pages that provide clear and concise infor- sel, Bruce Sewell, also didn’t respond to a request for
mation to consumers about lithium-ion batteries comment.
and unexpected shutdowns. In addition, the com- ¦

pany will provide information to consumers in the Robert Storace covers legal trends, lawsuits and
iPhone user-interface setting about the battery, such analysis for the Connecticut Law Tribune. Follow
as its maximum capacity and information on peak him on Twitter @RobertSCTLaw or reach him at
performance capabilities. 203-437-5950.

Court Upholds Firing of FAU Professor Who
Questioned Sandy Hook

By Jim Saunders

Afederal appeals court has backed a deci-
sion by Florida Atlantic University to fire a
professor who drew national attention for
questioning whether the 2012 massacre at Sandy
Hook Elementary School in Connecticut actually
occurred.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Eleventh Circuit on Monday rejected James
Tracy’s First Amendment arguments that he was
fired in retaliation for views posted on a blog. The
panel upheld a jury’s decision on the First Amend-
ment issue and a district judge’s rulings against
Tracy on other issues. Photo: Ron Frank/Shutterstock.com

“To establish that he was discharged in retaliation and had a blog that explored conspiracy theories
for protected speech, plaintiff had to prove, among and criticized the media, according to the appeals
other things, that his speech played a ‘substantial court. He drew attention for questioning whether
part’ in the university’s decision to terminate him,” the Sandy Hook massacre, in which a gunman killed
said the 26-page opinion, written by Eleventh Cir- 20 children and six adults, had occurred.
cuit Judge Julie Carnes and joined by Senior Judges The firing came after a protracted dispute between
Stanley Marcus and Paul Kelly. “The jury found that Tracy and the university about a request that he re-
plaintiff had failed to do so, as it found that plaintiff ’s port his outside activities. The appeals court said
blog speech was not a motivating factor in the uni- such reporting was required under a collective bar-
versity’s decision. We conclude that there was more gaining agreement.
than sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict.” In addition to raising the First Amendment
Tracy was a tenured faculty member in FAU’s arguments about retaliation, Tracy also argued
School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
¦ Continued on PAGE 16

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