Appellate

  • May 08, 2026

    Fla. Panel Revives Homeowners' Storm Damage Suit

    A Florida appeals court on Friday revived a couple's suit claiming their home insurer wrongfully refused to fully pay a claim for storm damage, saying the lower court erroneously disposed of the case based on the insurer's pretrial motion to exclude the couple's evidence of damages.

  • May 08, 2026

    Vartabedian Katz Sanctioned Over Atty Privilege Violation

    A Texas state court has leveled $120,000 in sanctions against Vartabedian Katz Hester & Haynes LLP for wrongfully obtaining privileged information through discussions with a former in-house counsel of Pioneer Natural Resources in connection with a dispute over oil and gas leases.

  • May 08, 2026

    3rd Circ. Rejects NJ Man's Bid To Revisit $40M Tax Conviction

    The Third Circuit has declined to reconsider upholding the conviction of a man who raked in $40 million from filing false tax returns.

  • May 08, 2026

    Cop Testimony In Pot Case Wasn't 'Harmless,' Fla. Panel Says

    A man sentenced to four years for drug possession with an intent to sell after an officer testified that the intent was shown by the amount of marijuana he possessed, along with baggies and a scale, must have his conviction connected to selling reversed, a Florida appeals court said on Friday.

  • May 08, 2026

    Panel Revives Fight Over Late Burrito Chain Founder's IRA

    Massachusetts' intermediate-level appeals court Friday revived a dispute over who is entitled to the Charles Schwab individual retirement account of the late founder of Anna's Taqueria, a popular Boston-area Mexican restaurant chain.

  • May 08, 2026

    Top Atty In DOJ Appeal Over Law Firm Exec Orders To Depart

    The lead federal prosecutor on the Trump administration's appeal to reinstate executive orders targeting four law firms is stepping down from his government role at the end of May, he publicly announced this week.

  • May 08, 2026

    4th Circ. Backs Toss Of Fired Worker's Whistleblower Suit

    The Fourth Circuit upheld the dismissal Friday of a home health salesperson's suit claiming he was fired out of retaliation for complaining about sexual comments made at a company picnic, ruling the lower court used the correct legal standard to throw out his case.

  • May 08, 2026

    Texas Justices Say Nicotine Pouches Taxable As Tobacco

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday found that oral nicotine pouches are taxable as tobacco products under state law, as they are made from "tobacco substitutes" through a combination of nicotine extracted from tobacco leaves and plant compounds.

  • May 08, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Weighs Timing Concerns In Tariff Exclusion Denials

    A Federal Circuit panel on Friday largely let attorneys do the talking while attempting to suss out whether the U.S. Department of Commerce properly justified blocking the country's largest vegetable canner from securing tariff exclusions for its imported tin.

  • May 08, 2026

    NY Appeals Court Orders New Trial In Sex Abuse Case

    A New York state appeals court has ordered a new trial for a man convicted of sexual assault, finding he was wrongly denied a short adjournment before prosecutors presented a last-minute witness to rebut his alibi.

  • May 08, 2026

    Prosecutors Oppose Move To Put Off Goldstein Sentencing

    Federal prosecutors are claiming that SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein may have violated his pretrial release conditions when he racked up over $1.7 million in gambling income last year, telling a federal judge not to delay sentencing for the famed U.S. Supreme Court lawyer.

  • May 08, 2026

    11th Circ. Backs Alabama State University In Pay Bias Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit on Friday scuttled an equal pay lawsuit from a former athletics official at Alabama State University, finding she failed to identify a male counterpart who performed similar work and yet was paid more.

  • May 08, 2026

    DOL Benefits Chief Warns Of 'Bad Faith' Focus On ESG, DEI

    The top official for the U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits subagency said at a trade association conference Friday that agency investigations will focus on benefit plan managers' loyalty conflicts, including disloyal pursuits of socially conscious investing or diversity goals.

  • May 07, 2026

    Judiciary Panel Punts AI Rules, Mulls Judges' Survey Results

    Buckle up: Efforts to modernize evidentiary rules amid artificial intelligence fears are getting bumpy, as judiciary advisers Thursday agreed to dramatically delay action while digesting an AI survey of nearly 1,000 judges and organizing a symposium of litigators and tech pros.

  • May 07, 2026

    11th Circ. Won't Revive Volkswagen Driver's Oil Leak Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit declined to revive a Volkswagen driver's proposed class action claiming her SUV suffered from a defect that caused it to leak oil, ruling Thursday she hasn't plausibly alleged the issue rendered the vehicle unsafe, considering she drove it more than 57,000 miles two years before the issue emerged.

  • May 07, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Judges Stuck On Drug Efficacy's Role In Patents

    A Federal Circuit panel struggled Thursday to pin down where the line is between patent enablement on cancer drug patents and U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards, as a Pfizer unit tried to revive its $107 million jury victory over AstraZeneca.

  • May 07, 2026

    Judges Clash On Whether Kelly Urged Order Disobedience

    A D.C. Circuit panel appeared to be headed for a split decision on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's appeal of a district court order stopping him from dropping Sen. Mark Kelly's U.S. Navy rank, with judges clashing over whether Kelly ever told service members to disobey lawful orders.

  • May 07, 2026

    Trump Campaign Exits Sex Assault Suit, Manager Appeals

    Days after President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign settled negligence claims in a former aide's sexual assault lawsuit, an ex-campaign manager accused of rape faced doubts from New York state appellate judges that he could escape the case with their help.

  • May 07, 2026

    6th Circ. Tosses Ohio's Out-Of-State Wine Limits

    The Sixth Circuit has struck down as unconstitutional Ohio's restrictions on out-of-state retailers' ability to sell wine directly to consumers in the Buckeye State.

  • May 07, 2026

    NC Panel Rules Prior Verdict Bars Hospital Negligence Case

    A divided North Carolina state appeals court panel pulled the plug on a couple's negligence case against a local hospital, finding their suit is bound by a verdict in a separate, near-identical lawsuit in which a jury cleared the same hospital of wrongdoing.

  • May 07, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs Lead Choice In Super Micro Investor Fraud Suit

    A Ninth Circuit panel has refused to undo a California federal court order rejecting Crain Walnut Shelling's bid to lead a securities class action against Super Micro Computers Inc., concluding Thursday the lower court properly determined other investors had shown the nut processor wasn't fit to spearhead the case.

  • May 07, 2026

    'If It Quacks': Judge Hints Kalshi's Biz Is Sports Gambling

    Fourth Circuit judges appeared dubious Thursday as counsel for Kalshi explained why its "sports event contracts" can only be regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission rather than state gambling laws, with one judge remarking, "If it quacks, you know, it's a duck. Right? It's gambling isn't it?"

  • May 07, 2026

    4th Circ. Questions Class Cert. Ruling In Boeing Investor Case

    The Fourth Circuit indicated on Thursday it may send an investor lawsuit against Boeing back to a lower court for a second look at class certification, with one judge saying the district court "told us nothing" about what liability theory was being relied on to certify the class.

  • May 07, 2026

    La. Says Mailed Abortion Pills Harm State Budget, Sovereignty

    The state of Louisiana on Thursday defended its standing to challenge telehealth access to the abortion medication mifepristone, telling the U.S. Supreme Court that it has suffered financial and other injuries as mail-order pills flood the state.

  • May 07, 2026

    Judge, In 'Difficult Position,' OKs Rare Patent Defense

    A Massachusetts federal judge found himself in what he said was a "difficult position" in allowing an unusual defense to be advanced in a patent infringement case related to blood pumps in light of criticism of the defense from the Federal Circuit.

Expert Analysis

  • 2 AI Snafus Show Why Attys Can't Outsource Judgment

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    The recent incident involving Sullivan & Cromwell where citations in a filed motion were fabricated by artificial intelligence, as well as a punitive ruling from the Sixth Circuit in U.S. v. Farris, demonstrate that the obligation to supervise AI has belonged and always will belong to lawyers, says John Powell at the Kentucky School Boards Association.

  • Assessing The 9th Circ.'s Recent Stock Drop Dismissal Trend

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    The recent decision in Nova Scotia Health Employees' Pension Plan v. Comerica is an important circuit-level addition to the growing trend of Ninth Circuit securities class action dismissals on loss causation grounds, which have used a contextual analysis premised on stock drops that are modest, typical and short-lived, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

  • Calif. Case Raises Questions For Medical Practice Investors

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    The California attorney general's amicus brief in Art Center v. WCE and the California Medical Association's response highlight how the California appeals court's ruling could significantly affect the structure and enforceability of succession arrangements in medical practice ownership, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Opinion

    Tribal Gaming Law Is Paramount In Prediction Market Cases

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    Whatever the outcome of the preemption question in prediction market litigation involving states and the federal government, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act deals very specifically with gaming on Indian lands and almost certainly trumps the general federal laws at issue, says Kevin Washburn at the University of California, Berkeley.

  • Series

    Playing Magic: The Gathering Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The competitive card game Magic: The Gathering offers me a training ground for the strategic thinking skills crucial to litigation, challenging me to adapt to oft-updated rules, analyze text as complicated as any statute and anticipate my opponent’s next moves, says Christopher Smith at Lash Goldberg.

  • Why Product-Based Public Nuisance Claims May Be Waning

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    The Maryland Supreme Court's recent decision in Express Scripts v. Anne Arundel County is the latest in a national trend of rulings rejecting product-based public nuisance claims — but other forms of government litigation against companies that allegedly increase the cost of public services are likely to continue, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • State Of Insurance: Q1 Notes From Illinois

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    Matthew Fortin at BatesCarey discusses notable insurance developments in Illinois, including the state Supreme Court's highly anticipated Griffith Foods v. National Union Fire Insurance ruling, two bulletins from the Department of Insurance directed at public adjusters and a Seventh Circuit decision precluding a "super excess" tier of coverage.

  • Fed. Circ. In March: IPR And The Limits Of Retroactivity

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    The Federal Circuit recently ruled in Implicit v. Sonos that even though the clever retroactive correction of two invalidated patents theoretically should have changed the outcome of the inter partes review, the patentee had forfeited the right to rely on the correction — which is interesting for several reasons, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Improving Well-Being In Law, 10 Years After Landmark Study

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    An important 2016 study revealed significant substance abuse and mental health issues among lawyers, and while the findings helped normalize the conversation around these topics, a decade later, structural change is still needed, says Denise Robinson at PLI.

  • Managing Tort Risk After Justices' War Zone Immunity Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Hencely v. Fluor changes the tort landscape for battlefield contractors, whose liability for employee injury will now turn on compliance with battlefield directives — a question that will require discovery into highly sensitive details of combat operations and military decision-making, says Warren Bianchi at Fluet.

  • What Mass. Ruling Clarifies About Whistleblower Protections

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    A Massachusetts appellate court's recent decision in Galvin v. Roxbury Community College, finding that an employee retained whistleblower protections despite his reporting responsibilities and possible contribution to the compliance failure, requires employers to distinguish between performance-based decisions and their response to protected reporting, say attorneys at Smith Kane.

  • AG Watch: Texas Charts A Course On Investigative Authority

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    The Texas Supreme Court's recent decision in Texas v. PFLAG affirmed, and arguably expanded, the Texas attorney general's civil investigative demand authority, providing a road map that other courts evaluating state attorney general CIDs may find instructive, amid a lack of precedent, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

  • State Of Insurance: Q1 Notes From Pennsylvania

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    From causation standards in first-party property claims, to the scope of statutory bad faith liability, to the enforceability of arbitration provisions in underinsured motorist disputes, three recent cases illustrate how Pennsylvania courts continued to refine the boundaries of coverage and dispute resolution, says Todd Leon at Marshall Dennehey.

  • Building A Persecution Case After Justices' Asylum Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Urias-Orellana v. Bondi raises the bar for overturning agency findings in federal court, changing how practitioners handling asylum and removal defense cases need to think about building a factual record and formulating arguments on appeal, say attorneys at Lai & Turner and Farzaneh Law.

  • High Court 'Skinny Label' Case Will Matter To Tech Litigators

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    Hikma v. Amarin, set for oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, has potential to affect not just generic drug label-based evidence in patent cases, but also how technology inducement cases are presented and proven, says attorney Abdul Abdullahi.

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