Appellate

  • October 22, 2026

    Texas Judge Probe Shows Lack Of Mental Impairment Process

    Fifth Circuit officials have done a reasonable job of handling a rare situation involving a Texas federal judge who appears to be undergoing a mental health crisis, but the episode highlights that a more standardized way of dealing with federal judges experiencing mental impairment needs to be established, experts and scholars say.

  • October 22, 2026

    Driving Boat To Oilfield Isn't Maritime Work, 5th Circ. Says

    Using a boat to transport workers to oil platforms off the Louisiana coast does not make a labor supplier and oil producer's services agreement a maritime contract with an enforceable indemnity provision, a Fifth Circuit panel said in finding the producer does not have to indemnify the supplier.

  • October 22, 2026

    California Jury Clears San Francisco In DA Worker's Bias Case

    A California jury on Thursday ended a decadelong, precedent-setting race bias suit brought by a Black San Francisco prosecutor's office worker who claims that the city inadequately responded after a co-worker called her a racial slur, finding that there was no racial harassment or retaliation.

  • October 22, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Won't Overrule Sending IP Cases From Va. To Ill.

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday said it won't send back to Virginia federal court a trio of suits accusing fleet vehicle telematics company Xirgo Technologies of infringing more than a dozen patents, keeping the cases in Illinois federal court.

  • October 22, 2026

    Idaho Tribes Tell Justices 1900 Law Bars Agribiz Land Swap

    The U.S. Supreme Court should reject an Idaho agribusiness's bid to reverse a decision that invalidated a land transfer over concerns of contamination from a planned fertilizer plant expansion, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes said, arguing the federal government violated a century-old restriction on the ceded lands.

  • October 22, 2026

    6th Circ. Weighs Implications Of Ohio Pivot On Hemp

    A Sixth Circuit panel on Thursday appeared uncertain whether Ohio's recent policy shift to reclassify federally legal hemp products as marijuana discriminates against out-of-state operators.

  • October 21, 2026

    6th Circ.'s Sutton Floats Class Action Limits At Judiciary Panel

    An influential federal judge is proposing new restrictions on class actions that aim to broadly block government policies, judiciary advisers heard at a Wednesday gathering, which also explored transparency ideas affecting legal finance and hard-to-access court records in the red-hot realm of immigration litigation.

  • October 21, 2026

    Guo Trustee Says No Circuit Split Threatens $24M Yacht Win

    A Chapter 11 trustee urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to reject a bid by Chinese exile Miles Guo's daughter to undo rulings placing $24 million in yacht sale proceeds plus a $37 million escrow into the bankruptcy estate, disputing allegations that a circuit split warrants the justices' attention.

  • October 21, 2026

    3rd Circ. Questions Claims Of Bias In $6B Citgo Sale

    A Third Circuit panel appeared skeptical during more than two hours of oral arguments on Wednesday that an order greenlighting the nearly $6 billion sale of Citgo to satisfy billions of dollars of Venezuelan debt should be overturned because of the appearance of bias.

  • October 21, 2026

    Fla. Court Rejects Donor-Conceived Child's Homestead Claim

    A Florida appeals court ruled Wednesday in favor of the estate of a prominent heart surgeon, finding the child conceived through a sperm donor arrangement is not entitled to a multimillion-dollar beachfront property he owned.

  • October 21, 2026

    DHS Seeks High Court OK To Restart Big Bend Wall Project

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to let the agency restart construction of the Big Bend border wall, saying the district court lacked jurisdiction to pause the project.

  • October 21, 2026

    Wrong Address Doesn't Invalidate Warrant, Mich. Court Says

    A Michigan state appellate court has ruled that a man's conviction on two counts of obstructing and resisting police is not moot just because the officers entered the man's home using an arrest warrant that had a different address.

  • October 21, 2026

    Deal Staves Off Trial In Snapchat Speed Filter Suit

    Snapchat's parent company and a Georgia man who alleged the app's speed filter feature contributed to a 2015 car wreck that left him seriously injured have reached a settlement, according to a court filing that came two weeks before their legal battle was slated for trial.

  • October 21, 2026

    NC Panel Affirms $10 Nominal Damages In Insurance Fight

    A split North Carolina appellate panel Wednesday affirmed $10 in nominal damages to a receiver in an insurance dispute, agreeing with a lower court that the receiver for a driver named in an injury suit did not show the driver suffered additional actual damages from the insurer's failure to defend.

  • October 21, 2026

    9th Circ. Judges Hint Hospital CBA May Mandate Arbitration

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared receptive on Wednesday to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center's argument that a nurse should be forced to individually arbitrate proposed class break claims, with two judges suggesting that a union contract's repeated references to Golden State labor law bolster the hospital's position.

  • October 21, 2026

    Verisk Denies Fault For Canceled $2.35B AccuLynx Deal

    Verisk Analytics Inc. urged the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday to let it abandon its $2.35 billion acquisition of roofing software company AccuLynx, arguing a lower court wrongly blamed it for federal antitrust delays, while AccuLynx insisted the company must keep working to close the deal.

  • October 21, 2026

    Chinese Light Makers Reach Deal After $1.5M Patent Verdict

    Chinese company Jiaxing Super Lighting has reached a deal to end a patent lawsuit over LED tube lamp products after a Texas federal jury earlier this year awarded the business $1.5 million in damages for infringing one of its patents.

  • October 21, 2026

    Mich. Appeals Court Revives Hunting Shooting Suit

    A Michigan state appeals court has reinstated claims against a father and a farm that stem from a hunting accident that left a man with catastrophic injuries, ruling a jury should have decided whether the father was grossly negligent when he gave his son a shotgun despite knowing about his drinking problem and history of reckless behavior.

  • October 21, 2026

    2nd Circ. Says NYC Could Have Sped Up Man's Rikers Release

    The Second Circuit has revived a suit by a man held on Rikers Island for over seven years who alleged that inadequate procedures by the agency that runs the New York City jail kept him incarcerated for an extra 17 days.

  • October 21, 2026

    Trucking Group Tells DC Circ. Fee System Doesn't Deliver

    A trucking trade group is challenging the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's interstate motor carrier fees for 2027, claiming in a new D.C. Circuit petition that the agency never lawfully established the fee-setting system by regulation.

  • October 21, 2026

    Ex-Arizona Recorder Urges High Court To Drop Voter ID Case

    A former recorder for Maricopa County, Arizona, says the Supreme Court should dismiss the Republican National Committee's challenge to two state voting laws as improvidently granted, telling the justices that the case is an improper vehicle for deciding provisions of the National Voter Registration Act.

  • October 21, 2026

    6th Circ. Weighs First Amendment Right To Court Videos

    Modern technology necessitates updated court-access rules, a representative for a University of Michigan professor told a Sixth Circuit panel Wednesday, saying that citizens should have access to audio and video recordings of public court proceedings in addition to written transcripts.

  • October 21, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Says Sioux Tribe Can't Shift Building Repair Costs

    A Federal Circuit Court of Appeals panel has rejected a South Dakota tribe's bid to overturn a decision that the federal government isn't responsible for paying for a deteriorating building on its reservation, saying it is not persuaded by the Indigenous nation's contract-based arguments.

  • October 21, 2026

    Fund Manager Challenges Chancery's Congo Palm Oil Ruling

    An investment fund manager and three affiliated entities urged the Delaware Supreme Court Wednesday to overturn a ruling that stripped them of interests in a Congolese palm oil business, arguing it handed fellow investor Kuramo Capital Management LLC an enormous windfall, while Kuramo defended the unusual remedy as necessary to protect its investment from the manager's misconduct.

  • October 21, 2026

    5th Circ. Finds Afghan Educator Didn't Show Torture Risk

    A split Fifth Circuit let stand deportation orders for a former Afghan education official beaten by the Taliban after he protested the closure of girls' schools, finding the evidence did not support he would likely face torture if he returned.

Expert Analysis

  • 3rd Circ. Hotel Ruling Flags Key Issues In Dynamic Pricing

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    The Third Circuit's recent decision in Cornish-Adebiyi v. Caesars Entertainment relies on allegations that competitors used nonpublic data to set real-time rates considered exorbitant, highlighting both the potential risks and substantial benefits of utilizing emerging technologies, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • 4th Circ. Class Cert. Ruling Offers Tips For Damages Experts

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    The Fourth Circuit's recent decision reversing class certification in litigation against Boeing raises the cost of a bare-bones damages model proposal for plaintiffs, but it also clarifies what a defensible proposal should contain, say Alok Khare and Erica Rose at FTI Consulting.

  • Opinion

    'Plain Meaning' Requires Plainer Meaning In IP Litigation

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Socket Solutions v. Import Global highlights the frequent ambiguity surrounding courts' references to "plain meaning" in patent claim construction — an ambiguity that should be resolved by courts, not litigants, say attorneys at Klarquist Sparkman.

  • What To Know As Legal Duty To Consider AI Takes Shape

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    While the U.K. Jurisdiction Taskforce’s recent statement on liability for artificial intelligence harms is nonbinding for both U.K. and U.S. lawyers, it highlights the importance of being able to distinguish between the availability of a tool and a professional obligation to use it, say Jonny Frank and Michael Costa at StoneTurn.

  • Patent Ruling Shows Concrete Tech Solution Key To Eligibility

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    The Federal Circuit’s recent Ceiva Opco v. Amazon.com decision offers an important reminder that software-related inventions can remain patent eligible when they claim a concrete technological solution to a specific problem, says Irah Donner at Manatt.

  • Appellate Vape Rulings May Expand State Regulation Powers

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    Two recent federal appeals courts decisions rejecting Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act preemption challenges to state electronic nicotine delivery systems directory laws signal an emerging appellate consensus that could significantly expand states' power to regulate vaping product sales where federal enforcement falls short, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • How Solar Fraud Case Affects Lender Oversight Of Dealers

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to review the Third Circuit's ruling in Migliore v. Sunlight Financial means that residential solar finance companies are protected from vicarious liability for deceptive acts by independent solar dealers — but lenders must still take steps to guard against dealer misconduct, says Rand Manasse at Green Lane Partners.

  • Fed. Circ. Rulings Emphasize Adjudicative Access And Review

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    Decisions from the Federal Circuit's 2026 docket indicate that the court is increasingly paying attention to whether tribunals possess authority to act, meaning practitioners will need to properly address procedural hurdles before they can argue the merits of a case, say attorneys at Reichman Jorgensen.

  • Amazon v. Perplexity Ruling Limits CFAA Reach Over AI Tools

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Amazon v. Perplexity provides important early guidance on how the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act applies to agentic artificial intelligence, and is the latest in a line of rulings in which courts have declined to stretch existing statutes to broadly regulate AI, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Managing OSHA Mental Illness Logs After 5th Circ. Vacatur

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    Employers with facilities in multiple states need to carefully weigh their recordkeeping procedures following the Fifth Circuit’s recent decision that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cannot require employers to log work-related mental illness, as inconsistent logs across facilities may raise other issues, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • Expect More Probes After 3rd Circ. Algorithmic Pricing Ruling

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    The Third Circuit's recent decision in Cornish-Adebiyi v. Caesars Entertainment, allowing algorithmic price-fixing claims to proceed past motions to dismiss, may serve as a road map for how to contend with increased litigation risk in this developing area of antitrust law, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • Series

    Being In A Band Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing shows in storied New York City venues and rehearsing with my bandmates in poorly ventilated rooms helped develop the professional qualities I rely on as a litigator, including an ability to collaborate with strong-minded equals and the determination to treat each client with singular focus, says Eliad Shapiro at Herrick Feinstein.

  • Notable Q2 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    After 2026's second quarter, there is more authority rejecting class certification on total loss valuation theories from courts at the federal circuit, federal district and state appellate level — along with a resolution of a novel issue of depreciation on a wildfire claim, says Kevin Zimmerman at BakerHostetler.

  • 10th Circ. Ruling Undermines False Ad 'Two Clicks' Rule

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    The Tenth Circuit’s recent ruling in KetoNatural Pet Foods v. Hill's Pet Nutrition substantially challenges a long-standing assumption that a company can avoid responsibility for promotional claims simply because the consumer encountered them by clicking a hyperlink to a third-party website, say attorneys at Venable.

  • How Drug Trial Prediction Markets Pose Insider Trading Risks

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    Multiple prediction market platforms have recently announced plans to offer event contracts related to clinical trial outcomes and regulatory decisions, creating new insider trading risks by expanding the group of people possessing related material nonpublic information far beyond traditional corporate insiders, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

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