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Appellate
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July 08, 2024
Judge's Error Reverses Med Mal Atty Sanctions, Panel Rules
A Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled Monday that a Philadelphia trial court erred by imposing sanctions on counsel in a long-running medical malpractice suit against a hospital, saying sanctions can't be based on a broad courtwide policy attempting to speed up medical malpractice cases.
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July 08, 2024
Fla. Judge Facing Reprimand For Spreading Campaign Gossip
A Florida judge has agreed to a public reprimand for disseminating unreliable allegations about her opponent for a judicial seat that insinuated the opponent fraudulently obtained money from the Paycheck Protection Program, according to documents filed Monday.
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July 08, 2024
2nd Circ. Lets Rail Co. Retool Suit Against Big Banks
The Second Circuit on Monday restored Eddystone Rail Co. LLC's lawsuit targeting Bank of America NA and other banks for their alleged roles helping an oil transportation and logistics company evade liability in a roughly $140 million contract dispute, reasoning that the rail company still has time to amend its complaint.
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July 08, 2024
Fed. Circ. Won't Let Charter Shake Off Texas Patent Suit
The Federal Circuit on Monday turned down an argument from Charter Communications to direct a lower court in Marshall, Texas, to toss a patent infringement suit it's facing — less than a year after the cable company lost a nearly identical argument in a different patent case before the appeals court.
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July 08, 2024
11th Circ. Reverses Halt On Ga. Election Spending Probe
The Eleventh Circuit on Monday threw out a district court ruling blocking Georgia officials from enforcing a state campaign finance law against two nonprofits founded by Stacey Abrams that challenged the law's constitutionality, holding that the lower federal court should have abstained in light of a state proceeding.
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July 08, 2024
3rd Circ. Backs Pa. In Transco's Pipeline Permit Review Fight
The Third Circuit on Monday backed the Pennsylvania state environmental board's authority to review pipeline upgrade permits secured by Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co., rejecting the company's assertion that under the federal Natural Gas Act a federal court is the only forum to dispute the issuance of the permits.
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July 08, 2024
Purdue Creditors Look To Sue Sacklers After Justices' Ruling
The official committee of unsecured creditors in the Chapter 11 case of drugmaker Purdue Pharma asked a New York bankruptcy judge on Monday for standing to bring actions against members of the Sackler family that own the company after the U.S. Supreme Court torpedoed a precarious settlement among the parties.
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July 08, 2024
Maple Leaf Must Go The Way Of Chevron, Solar Cos. Say
Last month's U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning 40 years of judicial deference to federal agencies' read of statutes puts the Federal Circuit's own brand of executive branch acquiescence squarely on the chopping block, a solar industry group said Monday.
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July 08, 2024
Full 2nd Circ. Urged To 'Correct' Panel's Insider Trading Ruling
A hedge fund accused of taking advantage of its corporate insider status to profit off swing trading in 1-800-Flowers' stock is urging the full bench of the Second Circuit to reconsider a decision to revive the lawsuit against it, arguing in a Monday petition to the court that the ruling clashes with both U.S. Supreme Court precedent and with controlling Second Circuit precedent on standing.
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July 08, 2024
Biggest Michigan Decisions Of 2024: A Midyear Report
Michigan's appellate courts started off the year with notable labor and no-fault insurance opinions, allowing retaliation claims from a whistleblower's friends who didn't make any complaints themselves, and clarifying confusing auto insurance coverage changes after legislative reforms. Here is a look at some of the biggest decisions in Michigan so far this year.
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July 08, 2024
3rd Circ. Doubts SEC Properly Served Ponzi Scheme Suspect
The Third Circuit on Monday appeared skeptical of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's bid to maintain a default judgment against a Swiss resident accused of operating a $1.4 million Ponzi scheme, peppering the agency with questions about how the complaint was served.
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July 08, 2024
Baseless Lawsuit Rule A 'Catch-22' For Texans, 5th Circ. Told
Those that are labeled vexatious litigants under a Texas statute meant to restrict baseless lawsuits are stuck in a "catch-22" if they seek to file legitimate litigation, a group of Texans told the Fifth Circuit on Monday.
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July 08, 2024
Clinic Is Liable For Botched Operations, NC Justices Told
A patient claiming she underwent unnecessary and flawed spinal surgery at the hands of a defrocked doctor urged the North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday to let stand a ruling that the practice where he worked and its physicians can be held liable for her treatment.
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July 08, 2024
Senate Confirms 7th Circ. Judge GOP Slammed For Backlog
The Senate voted 47-43 on Monday evening to confirm U.S. District Judge Nancy L. Maldonado to the Seventh Circuit.
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July 08, 2024
Federal Circuit Doubts Impropriety Of $4K H-1B Fraud Fee
A Federal Circuit panel seemed unpersuaded Monday by an argument from software companies that a $4,000 fraud fee for H-1B visa petitions does not apply to noncitizens in the U.S. seeking to change their nonimmigrant visa status to H-1B.
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July 08, 2024
Texas Anesthesia Co. Can't Pause Or Appeal Suit, FTC Says
The Federal Trade Commission urged a Texas federal court not to pause its suit accusing U.S. Anesthesia Partners Inc. of a monopolistic "roll-up" of Lone Star State anesthesia practices, arguing the company can't appeal an order refusing to toss the case against it.
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July 08, 2024
Justices Told To Ignore 'Hopeless' Challenge To Antitrust Test
A group of wholesalers who say the makers of 5-Hour Energy illegally favored Costco in distributing the energy drink shots told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to reject the drink-maker's certiorari petition, saying it asks the justices to take on the role of fact-finders.
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July 08, 2024
8th Circ. Won't Review Immigration Hardship Determination
A split Eighth Circuit panel held Monday that it can't review whether a Mexican man's U.S. citizen children will experience extreme hardship if he's removed, saying the underlying decision denying him removal relief is discretionary and therefore shielded from judicial review.
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July 08, 2024
9th Circ. Denies Northrop Retirees' Bid For New Judge
A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday shot down Northrop Grumman pensioners' bid to have their proposed ERISA class action tried before another judge, after two different appellate court panels overturned a lower court judge's two previous dismissals in the matter.
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July 08, 2024
11th Circ. Revives Fla. Worker's Retaliation Claim
The Eleventh Circuit partially revived a retaliation suit brought by a Florida construction worker who claims he was harassed for being Cuban and unable to speak English and threatened and assaulted after reporting the behavior, before being fired by a company that said it found him sleeping on the job.
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July 08, 2024
9th Circ. Revives Liability Claims In Welder's Injury Suit
The Ninth Circuit has mostly reversed a summary judgment order that freed a hoist maker and maintenance company from product liability and negligence claims by a welder who was injured when the hoist came loose and struck him in the head.
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July 08, 2024
DraftKings Hiding Ball On Noncompete Law, 1st Circ. Told
A former DraftKings executive fighting a noncompete so he can work for rival sports-betting upstart Fanatics has told the First Circuit his ex-employer is overlooking the importance of a California law that could unwind the restrictive covenant.
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July 08, 2024
Mich. Justices Back Funeral Costs Imposed Years After Murder
The Michigan Supreme Court said Monday that it is not unconstitutional to apply current restitution laws to old crimes, finding that restitution awards do not run afoul of constitutional prohibitions on retroactively making the consequences of a crime harsher.
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July 08, 2024
Trump Allies Push For Fani Willis DQ In Election Case
A pro-Donald Trump think tank has thrown its support behind the former president's bid at the Georgia Court of Appeals to have a trial court's decision reversed and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis disqualified from prosecuting Trump and 18 co-defendants over interference in the 2020 election.
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July 08, 2024
DC Circ. Supports NLRB Order Against Puerto Rico Hospital
The National Labor Relations Board rightly found that a hospital in Puerto Rico violated federal labor law by unilaterally slashing workers' hours, the D.C. Circuit ruled, saying the hospital can't excuse its actions with claims about financial effects from the pandemic.
Expert Analysis
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3 Recent Decisions To Note As Climate Litigation Heats Up
Three recent rulings on climate-related issues — from a New York federal court, a New York state court and an international tribunal, respectively — demonstrate both regulators' concern about climate change and the complexity of conflicting regulations in different jurisdictions, say J. Michael Showalter and Robert Middleton at ArentFox Schiff.
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Trending At The PTAB: Real Party In Interest And IPR
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s recent Luminex v. Signify decision, finding a complaint seeking indemnification may be treated as a public demand sufficient to establish a real party-in-interest, shows that the board continues to apply a broad and expansive definition to that term, say Yicong (Eve) Du and Yieyie Yang at Finnegan.
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Perspectives
Justices' Repeat Offender Ruling Eases Prosecutorial Hurdle
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week in Brown v. U.S., clarifying which drug law applies to sentencing a repeat offender in a federal firearms case, allows courts to rely on outdated drug schedules to impose increased sentences, thus removing a significant hurdle for prosecutors, says attorney Molly Parmer.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: May Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from automobile insurance to securities — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including circuit-specific ascertainability requirements and how to conduct a Daubert analysis prior to class certification.
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Perspectives
Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys
As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.
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The Fed. Circ. In May: The Printed Matter Doctrine's Scope
The Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Ioengine v. Ingenico, which addressed the scope of the printed matter doctrine as applied to transmitted data or program code, restores the doctrine’s status as a relatively narrow part of patent law, say Jeremiah Helm and Sean Murray at Knobbe Martens.
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CFPB's Expanding Scope Evident In Coding Bootcamp Fine
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent penalty against a for-profit coding bootcamp that misrepresented its tuition financing plans is a sign that the bureau is seeking to wield its supervisory and enforcement powers in more industries that offer consumer financing, say Jason McElroy and Brandon Sherman at Saul Ewing.
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Fintech Compliance Amid Regulatory Focus On Sensitive Data
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent, expansive pursuit of financial services companies using sensitive personal information signals a move into the Federal Trade Commission's territory, and the path forward for fintech and financial service providers involves a balance between innovation and compliance, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.
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5th Circ. Bond Claim Ruling Shows Creditors Must Be Vigilant
In Raymond James & Associates v. Jalbert, the Fifth Circuit recently held that the bankruptcy debtor's indemnification obligations were discharged by the confirmed plan because the indemnified party failed to speak up, demonstrating that creditors must proactively protect their rights, says Joshua Lesser at Bradley Arant.
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4 Arbitration Takeaways From High Court Coinbase Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's May 23 decision in Coinbase v. Suski, which provides clarity to parties faced with successive contracts containing conflicting dispute resolution provisions, has four practical impacts for contracting parties to consider, say Charles Schoenwetter and Eric Olson at Bowman and Brooke.
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Fed. Circ. Scrapping Design Patent Tests Creates Uncertainty
The Federal Circuit last week discarded established tests for proving that design patents are invalid as obvious, leaving much unknown for design patent applicants, patentees and challengers, such as what constitutes analogous art and how secondary references will be considered and applied, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.
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Series
Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.
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3rd Circ.'s Geico Ruling May Encourage Healthcare Arbitration
The Third Circuit's recent decision in Geico v. Mount Prospect, finding that claims under New Jersey's Insurance Fraud Prevention Act can be arbitrated, strengthens arbitration as a viable alternative to litigation, even though it is not necessarily always a more favorable forum, say Khaled Klele and Jessica Osterlof at McCarter & English.
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How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case
The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.
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One Contract Fix Can Reduce Employer Lawsuit Exposure
A recent Fifth Circuit ruling that saved FedEx over $365 million highlights how a one-sentence limitation provision on an employment application or in an at-will employment agreement may be the easiest cost-savings measure for employers against legal claims, say Sara O'Keefe and William Wortel at BCLP.