Appellate

  • May 13, 2024

    Justices Deny Review Bid From Convicted REIT Execs

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a bid by four incarcerated executives with Texas real estate investment trust United Development Funding to overturn a Fifth Circuit ruling upholding their convictions in a Ponzi scheme.

  • May 13, 2024

    Houston Truck Co. Doesn't Owe $2M Excise Tax, 5th Circ. Told

    A Houston truck company that sells tires made by a Chinese manufacturer doesn't owe $2 million in import taxes because it's not legally the tire importer, the company told the Fifth Circuit in asking it to affirm a ruling that could split circuits.

  • May 13, 2024

    Justices Decline To Hear $3.5B Insurance Surplus Case

    A proposed class action accusing an insurer of failing to return an over $3.5 billion surplus of underwriting profits back to policyholder members will be litigated in Illinois state court, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday, denying the company's bid for certiorari.

  • May 13, 2024

    Rail Worker Wage Case Won't Get High Court Review

    The U.S. Supreme Court won't intervene in a pending Massachusetts lawsuit against the operator of a freight rail line over whether its employees are covered by the state's Prevailing Wage Act, declining Monday to review the case.

  • May 13, 2024

    Justices Won't Touch Insurer's Win In 401(k) Exit Fee Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a dental office's case accusing an insurance company of unlawfully charging fees to 401(k) plans that left its platform, leaving in place a Fifth Circuit ruling that found the insurer was under no obligation to waive the charges.

  • May 13, 2024

    Supreme Court Won't Hear 'Original Patents' Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition from Ikorongo Texas LLC challenging how a Texas federal judge interpreted a rarely invoked requirement for reissue patents when he invalidated the company's patents in litigation with the dating app company Bumble.

  • May 13, 2024

    High Court Won't Consider Ex-Tufts Prof's Retaliation Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review a lawsuit brought by a former Tufts University dental professor who said the First Circuit ignored crucial evidence and relied on false information when it shut down claims that she lost a promotion for reporting sexual harassment.

  • May 13, 2024

    Justices Skip Website's Bid To Review Copyright Ruling

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a Tenth Circuit decision that revived a copyright complaint accusing controversial web forum Kiwi Farms and its owner of infringing the works of self-published author Russell Greer, who wrote about his court battle with pop star Taylor Swift.

  • May 13, 2024

    High Court Won't Take Up Wyo. Wildfire Suit

    The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a suit by survivors of the 2018 Roosevelt wildfire in Wyoming against the U.S. Forest Service over the government's decisions in fighting the fires.

  • May 13, 2024

    Justices Reject Incarcerated Man's Atty Abandonment Claim

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the case of a Texas man incarcerated on death row who says his court-appointed lawyer deprived him of a fair chance at challenging his conviction in a 2005 double homicide.

  • May 13, 2024

    Justices Reject COVID App Makers' Last-Ditch Apple Appeal

    The U.S. Supreme Court dealt the latest blow Monday to app developers who've struck out at every turn on antitrust allegations over Apple's rejection of COVID-19-tracking and bitcoin apps, refusing to look at a Ninth Circuit's refusal to revive the lawsuit.

  • May 13, 2024

    Justices Won't Review Atty's Discipline For Accusing Judges

    The U.S. Supreme Court won't weigh in on whether the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania improperly suspended an attorney based on alleged violations of disciplinary rules that had been seven years old at the time, the court announced Monday.

  • May 13, 2024

    Justices Won't Review Ch. 11 Stay In Asbestos Cases

    The U.S. Supreme Court won't review lower courts' decisions allowing the paper-products company Georgia-Pacific to remain shielded from mass tort litigation by way of a subsidiary's Chapter 11 case.

  • May 11, 2024

    Alito Warns Freedoms Of Speech, Religion Are In Danger

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito warned Saturday that support for freedom of speech on college campuses is "dangerously" low, and that freedom of religion is in peril nationwide.

  • May 10, 2024

    Patent Owners Face Risks In Amazon Program After Ruling

    The Federal Circuit ruled earlier this month that a company alleging patent infringement through Amazon's patent evaluation program must face a declaratory judgment suit in the accused infringer's home state. The holding creates a risk for patent owners who may rethink using the program, attorneys told Law360.

  • May 10, 2024

    Mich. Justices Find State Law Bars Firing Friend As Reprisal

    The Michigan Supreme Court held Friday that the state's civil rights law prohibits employers from retaliating against an employee by targeting a coworker who is a friend or family member, reviving two former prison workers' lawsuit against the state.

  • May 10, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Backs ITC Decision Clearing Computer Gear Imports

    The Federal Circuit on Friday upheld the U.S. International Trade Commission's holding that CommScope, Hewlett Packard, Netgear and others didn't infringe Q3 Networking's computer gear patents with their imports of things like routers.

  • May 10, 2024

    Okla. Tells Justices 10th Circ. Wrong On PBM Law

    Oklahoma's insurance department Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its petition seeking review of a Tenth Circuit decision overturning portions of a state law regulating pharmacy benefit managers, arguing that high court intervention is needed to resolve disagreement among the circuits on federal preemption.

  • May 10, 2024

    Pa. Commission Had Right To Deny Grid Project, 3rd Circ. Told

    The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission called on the Third Circuit on Friday to reinstate its rejection of a transmission power project approved by regional grid operator PJM Interconnection, arguing a federal district court wrongly deemed the decision unconstitutional.

  • May 10, 2024

    Full 4th Circ. Urged To Settle Key 'Texas Two-Step' Questions

    A Fourth Circuit panel left critical issues open when it denied permission to an appeal challenging the so-called Texas two-step Chapter 11 of industrial equipment maker Aldrich Pump, asbestos claimants in two separate bankruptcy cases said, asking the full appeals court to reconsider hearing the case and settle questions that have plagued their own bankruptcies in the Western District of North Carolina.

  • May 10, 2024

    4th Circ. Judge Suspects 'Abuse' In Land Donor Tax Case

    The Fourth Circuit appeared poised Friday to rule that a couple owes taxes and penalties after claiming an inflated $5.1 million valuation on donated land for deductions, with one judge positing he believed the couple had engaged in "abuse" of a conservation donation.

  • May 10, 2024

    Walmart Must Pay $1M Injury Verdict, Ga. Appeals Court Says

    The Georgia Court of Appeals won't give Walmart a way out of a $1 million verdict owed to a woman injured in a store in 2018, dispatching Friday with the retail chain's argument that the verdict was blatantly excessive.

  • May 10, 2024

    US Bancorp Seeks Quick Appeal In 401(k) Fee Suit

    U.S. Bancorp asked Friday for approval to immediately appeal an order allowing a proposed class action over record-keeping fees for the bank's 401(k) plan to move forward, telling a Minnesota federal court that getting the Eighth Circuit's take could provide clarity to other cases nationwide.

  • May 10, 2024

    Mich. Lawmakers Introduce Judicial Privacy Bill

    A group of Michigan state senators has introduced a bill that would allow judges to seal personal information about themselves and their immediate family members in government agency files, including blocking the government from disclosing the information in response to public records requests, with some narrow exceptions.

  • May 10, 2024

    1st Circ. Fast-Tracks DraftKings Noncompete Feud

    The First Circuit on Friday granted a former DraftKings executive's request to expedite his appeal of a Boston federal judge's ruling that blocked him from doing similar work in the U.S. for rival Fanatics. 

Expert Analysis

  • What Bankruptcy Deadline Appeal May Mean For Claimants

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    If the Third Circuit reverses a recent appeal made in In re: Promise Healthcare, litigation claimants within the circuit will not be able to rely on the proof of claim process to preserve the claim — but if the court affirms, the U.S. Supreme Court may need to step in to resolve the circuit split on this issue, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • Why Fed. Circ. Should Resolve District Split On Patent Statute

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    A split exists among district courts in their analysis of when marking cannot be done on a patented article due to its character, and the Federal Circuit should consider clarifying the analysis of Section 287(a), a consequential statute with important implications for patent damages, say Nicholas Nowak and Jamie Dohopolski at Sterne Kessler.

  • Employers Beware Of NLRB Changes On Bad Faith Bargaining

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    Recent National Labor Relations Board decisions show a trend of the agency imposing harsher remedies on employers for bad faith bargaining over union contracts, a position upheld in the Ninth Circuit's recent NLRB v. Grill Concepts Services decision, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease

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    This Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Adam Siegler at Greenberg Traurig discusses his experience working as a lawyer with Parkinson’s disease, sharing both lessons on how to cope with a diagnosis and advice for supporting colleagues who live with the disease.

  • When Trade Secret Protection And Nat'l Security Converge

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    The Trump administration's anti-espionage program focused on China is over, but federal enforcement efforts to protect trade secrets and U.S. national security continue, and companies doing business in high-risk jurisdictions need to maintain their compliance programs to avoid the risk of being caught in the crosshairs of an investigation, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Why Incorporating By Reference Is Rarely Good Practice

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    The Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Promptu Systems v. Comcast serves as a reminder that while incorporating by reference may seem efficient, it is generally prohibited by courts and can lead to sanctions when used to bypass a word count limit, says Cullen Seltzer at Sands Anderson.

  • Strategies For Defense Attys To Subpoena A Nonparty Witness

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    Federal criminal defendants seeking to subpoena potentially exculpatory information from nonparty witnesses must satisfy a stringent standard and should consider several often overlooked arguments to assure courts they’re not engaging in a fishing expedition, says James Roberts at Schlam Stone.

  • Series

    Playing Hockey Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Nearly a lifetime of playing hockey taught me the importance of avoiding burnout in all aspects of life, and the game ultimately ended up providing me with the balance I needed to maintain success in my legal career, says John Riccione at Taft.

  • ESG Challenges In Focus After Sierra Club Opposes SEC Rule

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    The Sierra Club's recent objection to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosures for investors presents an unusual — pro-disclosure — legal challenge and an opportunity to take a close look at the varying critiques of ESG regulations, say Colin Pohlman, and Jane Luxton and Paul Kisslinger at Lewis Brisbois.

  • Opinion

    High Court Should Settle Circuit Split On Risk Disclosures

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    The U.S. Supreme Court should grant the petition for writ of certiorari in the Facebook case to resolve a growing circuit split concerning when risk disclosures can be misleading under federal securities laws, and its decision should align with the intent of Congress and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, says Richard Zelichov at DLA Piper.

  • Opinion

    Why Supreme Court Should Allow Repatriation Tax To Stand

    If the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't reject the taxpayers' misguided claims in Moore v. U.S. that the mandatory repatriation tax is unconstitutional, it could wreak havoc on our system of taxation and result in a catastrophic loss of revenue for the government, say Christina Mason and Theresa Balducci at Herrick Feinstein.

  • For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill

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    A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • High Court's Jan. 6 Rioter Case May Have Wide Ripple Effects

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    The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear oral arguments in Fischer v. United States, a case that will determine whether a law enacted after the Enron scandal can be used to prosecute Jan. 6 rioters, and could affect the government’s ability to charge those who impede a range of official proceedings, say Brook Dooley and Sara Fitzpatrick at Keker Van Nest.

  • 5th Circ. Clarifies What Is And Isn't A 'New Use' Of PFAS

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    The Fifth Circuit's March 21 decision in Inhance Technologies v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, preventing the EPA from regulating existing uses of PFAS under "significant new use" provisions of the Toxic Substances Control Act, provides industry with much-needed clarity, say Joseph Schaeffer and Sloane Wildman at Babst Calland.

  • CORRECTED: Endoscope Patent Case Offers Guidance On Right To Repair

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    An Alabama federal court's decision in Karl Storz v. IMS reaffirmed that product owners have broad rights to repair or modify their property as they see fit, highlighting the parameters of the right to repair in the context of patent infringement, say Dustin Weeks and Dabney Carr at Troutman Pepper. Correction: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article and headline attributed the Karl Storz ruling to the wrong court. The error has been corrected.

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