Appellate

  • August 12, 2024

    Proofpoint Seeks To Double $13.5M IP Trial Win At 9th Circ.

    Software company Proofpoint urged the Ninth Circuit to find the lower court erred in denying it exemplary damages that could have doubled its $13.5 million trade secret theft verdict, arguing that a jury should've decided the issue and the ruling violated Proofpoint's Seventh Amendment rights to a jury trial.

  • August 12, 2024

    NC Court Won't Stop 'Ultimate Relief' In Mogul's $524M Case

    The North Carolina Court of Appeals refused on Monday to issue an immediate halt to a court-ordered receiver being appointed to manage the assets of convicted insurance mogul Greg Lindberg, saying it would consider blocking the appointment after further court proceedings.

  • August 12, 2024

    Visa Lottery Winners Ask Full DC Circ. To Allow Processing

    Attorneys for 2020 and 2021 diversity visa lottery winners asked the full D.C. Circuit to undo a panel decision barring the U.S. Department of State from processing their expired visa applications, saying the decision flouts precedent.

  • August 12, 2024

    2nd Circ. Says Arbitration Ban Protects Sex Harassment Suit

    The Second Circuit said Monday that because a financial services worker said she continued to experience harassment after a law went into effect curbing mandatory arbitration for workplace sex misconduct disputes, her case can't be kicked out of court.

  • August 12, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Says Co. Can't Patent Coke Zero's Secret Sweetener

    A Federal Circuit panel found Monday that the company that developed the artificial sweetener used in Coke Zero can't patent its formula after it has already touched the lips of customers even if they kept the recipe secret, something that's consistent with "precedent going back to the 1800s."

  • August 12, 2024

    States Oppose Shkreli High Court Bid For $64M Disgorgement

    State enforcers are opposing a petition from ex-pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a disgorgement order requiring him to pay up to $64 million for an alleged scheme to increase the price of a life-saving drug by 4,000%

  • August 12, 2024

    2nd Circ. Nixes 'Excessive' $5M Award For Housing Nonprofit

    The Second Circuit on Monday overturned a $5 million award to a nonprofit that faced pushback from a Connecticut town while trying to open a group home for individuals with disabilities, finding that it was unconstitutionally excessive, but at the same time castigated the municipality's officials for "highly reprehensible" conduct.

  • August 12, 2024

    DC Circ. Revives Businessman's Suit Over Mueller Report

    A Georgian-American businessman discussed in special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 election can pursue claims that inaccuracies in the report harmed his reputation and business dealings, the D.C. Circuit said Friday.

  • August 12, 2024

    Convicted Fla. Atty Says Bogus Threat Testimony Tainted Trial

    A Florida attorney has urged the Eleventh Circuit to toss her criminal wire fraud conviction and six-year prison sentence, because she said the trial court wrongly let prosecutors "throw a loaded grenade" at her by allowing testimony about an "unsubstantiated and uncorroborated claim" that the attorney threatened a co-defendant.

  • August 12, 2024

    NJ Bar Aims To Nix Opinion Allowing Atty Keyword Search

    The New Jersey State Bar Association is urging the state Supreme Court to overturn an ethics advisory opinion allowing attorneys to purchase other attorneys' names to use as keywords in online searches in order to redirect web traffic to their website.

  • August 12, 2024

    Ex-Morris James Paralegal Loses Unemployment Pay Fight

    Delaware's Supreme Court on Monday denied an ex-Morris James LLP paralegal's attempt to revive his bid to collect unemployment benefits after he agreed to leave the firm, saying he failed to show that a lower court made a "reversible error" in upholding the denial of his jobless pay bid.

  • August 12, 2024

    The Biggest Georgia Rulings Of 2024 So Far

    From upholding a win for a transgender sheriff's deputy who challenged a county health plan's refusal to pay for gender-affirmation surgery, to ruling that a judicial emergency order issued during the pandemic can be used to toll the state's medical malpractice statute of repose, Georgia courts have been busy in the first half of 2024.

  • August 12, 2024

    Court Observers Offer Their Wish Lists For A Judiciary FOIA

    Government transparency advocates and court watchers think a recently introduced bill to subject the judiciary to the Freedom of Information Act would increase trust and transparency in the courts, and they have some ideas already of what they'd like to obtain from them.

  • August 09, 2024

    Split 9th Circ. Affirms Ax Of Meta Anti-Vax Censorship Suit

    A split Ninth Circuit panel Friday affirmed the dismissal of Children's Health Defense's lawsuit challenging Meta's policy of censoring its anti-vaccine Facebook posts, with the majority concluding that the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-founded nonprofit failed to show Meta was acting on the government's behalf to state viable constitutional claims.

  • August 09, 2024

    9th Circ. Wipes Out BNSF's Retaliation Win

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday overturned BNSF Railway Co.'s win in a late conductor's retaliation suit on Friday, saying the railroad failed to show it would've terminated the worker regardless of his refusal to stop conducting a brake test — even though the employer has insisted he was mainly fired for insubordination and misreporting his time card.

  • August 09, 2024

    Valeant's Legal Gripe A Total 'Nothingburger,' Justices Told

    A lawyer who assembled a whistleblower lawsuit against a major pharmaceutical company using publicly available patent board filings says the larger legal question of whether he can do that is way too niche for the U.S. Supreme Court to bother thinking about.

  • August 09, 2024

    Tesla Can't Duck Workers' PAGA Case Under Anti-SLAPP

    A California appellate court has rejected Tesla's attempt to ditch a Private Attorneys General Act case brought by former employees seeking personnel records, agreeing with a lower court that the workers' status as members of a class in a related action against Tesla doesn't entitle the electric-car maker to protection under anti-SLAPP.

  • August 09, 2024

    Trump Again Appeals Merchan's Gag Order To NY High Court

    Former President Donald Trump is again seeking dismissal of a gag order in his criminal hush money case barring him from threatening court and district attorney staff, telling New York's highest court on Thursday that he disagreed with "each and every part" of a recent intermediate appellate court ruling that found threats remained imminent.

  • August 09, 2024

    Judge Slams Justices For 'Eschewing' History In Trump Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court spurned historical analysis and "fundamentally" changed the presidency when it granted Donald Trump broad criminal immunity from federal charges that he interfered with the 2020 presidential election while in office, a Massachusetts federal judge wrote in a ruling Friday that ended an ex-public defender's sexual harassment lawsuit.

  • August 09, 2024

    DC Circ. Pans Suit Claiming HHS Caused Health Aid Shortage

    The D.C. Circuit said Friday that a judge properly dismissed a proposed class action blaming the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for a lack of home health aides willing to assist Medicare beneficiaries with chronic illnesses, saying the private providers aren't required to accept those patients.

  • August 09, 2024

    Guarantors Ink Deal To End 11th Circ. Appeal Of $8.7M Award

    Guarantors facing an $8.7 million judgment on a hospitality lender's breach claim have settled the matter stemming from an unpaid $6.2 million loan for a Michigan hotel, according to an Eleventh Circuit filing.

  • August 09, 2024

    Texas Justices To Answer SMU Law Prof's Defamation Query

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday agreed to answer a question posed by the Fifth Circuit regarding the interpretation of the state's human rights act in a case involving a former Southern Methodist University law professor who sued the school and several administrators after being denied tenure.

  • August 09, 2024

    6th Circ. Partially Revives Crypto IRS Reporting Challenge

    The Sixth Circuit issued a mixed ruling Friday in a suit brought by a group of cryptocurrency users challenging the IRS' pending mandate to report large crypto transactions, reversing the dismissal of the suit's Fourth and First Amendment violation claims but affirming that some of the case's claims are not ripe.

  • August 09, 2024

    Transco Can't Get Full 3rd Circ. Review Of Pa. Permit Fight

    The Third Circuit has rebuffed Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co.'s bid for en banc review of a district court's decision backing a Pennsylvania state environmental board's authority to review pipeline upgrade permits.

  • August 09, 2024

    Vidal Can't Be Used Against Ex-Client At PTAB, Fed. Circ. Says

    The Federal Circuit said Friday that the initial involvement of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal in a handful of patent challenges during her private practice days at Winston & Strawn LLP isn't enough to prevent the patent board from ever deciding on those petitions.

Expert Analysis

  • Jarkesy's Impact On SEC Enforcement Will Be Modest

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    Though the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy decision found that fraud defendants have a constitutional right to a jury trial, the ruling will have muted impact on the agency’s enforcement because it’s already bringing most of its cases in federal court, say Jeremiah Williams and Alyssa Fixsen at Ropes & Gray.

  • Series

    Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.

  • NY Ruling Offers A Foreclosure Road Map For Lenders

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    A New York appellate court recently upheld a summary judgment ruling in favor of a commercial lender's foreclosure in U.S. Bank v. 1226 Evergreen Bapaz, illustrating the proofs lenders will need to prosecute a foreclosure action, especially where the plaintiff is an assignee of the originating lender, say attorneys at Sherman Atlas.

  • What Chevron's End Means For How Congress Does Business

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, overturning the Chevron doctrine, will have a far-reaching impact across the entire public policy life cycle, beginning with how Congress writes its laws and extending through agency implantation and judicial review, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: Preserving Payment Rights

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    Stephanie Magnell and Zachary Jacobson at Seyfarth examine three recent decisions that together illustrate the importance of keeping accurate records and adhering to contractual procedures to avoid inadvertently waiving contractual rights to cost reimbursements or nonroutine payments.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step

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    From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Alice Step 2 Trends Show Courts' Extrinsic Evidence Reliance

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    A look at recent trends in how district courts are applying Step 2 of the Alice framework shows that courts have increasingly relied on extrinsic evidence to help determine whether a claimed invention is "well-understood, routine, and conventional," says Jonathan Tuminaro at Sterne Kessler.

  • Opinion

    OFAC Sanctions Deserve To Be Challenged Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision opens the door to challenges against the Office of Foreign Assets Control's sanctions regime, the unintended consequences of which raise serious questions about the wisdom of what appears to be a scorched-earth approach, says Solomon Shinerock at Lewis Baach.

  • How Calif. Ruling Alters Worker Arb. Agreement Enforcement

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    The California Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Ramirez v. Charter Communications should caution employers that while workers’ arbitration agreements will no longer be deemed unenforceable based on their number of unconscionable provisions, they must still be fair and balanced, says Sander van der Heide at CDF Labor.

  • Opinion

    After Jarkesy, IRS Must Course-Correct On Captive Insurance

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy decision has profound implications for other agencies, including the IRS, which must stop ignoring due process and curtailing congressional intent in its policing of captive insurance arrangements, says Peter Dawson at the 831(b) Institute.

  • The Rise Of State And Local Environmental Leadership

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    While Congress is deadlocked, and a U.S. Supreme Court with a hostility toward the administrative state aggressively dismantles federal environmental oversight, state and local governments are stepping up with policies to shape a more sustainable future for all species, says Jonathan Rosenbloom at Albany Law School.

  • Questions Linger About DTSA's Scope After Motorola Ruling

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    The Seventh Circuit’s recent ruling in Motorola v. Hytera, which held that the Defend Trade Secrets Act applies extraterritorially, does not address whether an act that furthers misappropriation must be committed by the defendant in order to satisfy the law's extraterritoriality requirement, say Ilissa Samplin and Grace Hart at Gibson Dunn.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Slowing Down AI In Medical Research

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision overturning the Chevron doctrine may inhibit agencies' regulatory efforts, potentially slowing down the approval and implementation of artificial intelligence-driven methodologies in medical research, as well as regulators' responses to public health emergencies, say Ragini Acharya and Matthew Deutsch at Husch Blackwell.

  • What High Court TM Rulings Tell Us About Free Speech

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    Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings show tension between free speech and trademark law, highlighting that while political mockery is protected, established brands may be forced to adapt to evolving cultural values, says William Scott Goldman at Goldman Law Group.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

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