Appellate

  • October 09, 2026

    ERISA Recap: 6 Notable Decisions From September

    The Tenth and Seventh circuits issued published opinions in two union retirement disputes, while the Sixth Circuit found that the Commonwealth of Kentucky's lawsuit against pharmacy benefit managers does not belong in state court, citing colorable federal preemption arguments. Here's more on those decisions and three other notable rulings involving the Employee Retirement Income Security Act that came down in September.

  • October 09, 2026

    Feds Again Turn To 9th Circ. In Fight Over ICE Facility

    The Trump administration said Friday it will ask the Ninth Circuit to overturn a trial court decision requiring ICE to give independent monitors access to conduct inspections and electronic records for detained immigrants at a lockup in Adelanto, California, where a judge has twice called for conditions to be improved.

  • October 09, 2026

    11th Circ. OKs Experience-Based Price For Fla. Bar Exam

    Florida can continue to charge "experienced" attorneys more money to sit for the state's bar exam than recent law school graduates, after the Eleventh Circuit on Friday rejected a lawsuit claiming the policy violates the Commerce Clause by discriminating against out-of-state attorneys.

  • October 09, 2026

    11th Circ. Tosses Crash Award Over Doctor Testimony

    The Eleventh Circuit on Friday threw out a roughly $400,000 damages award a trucking company was ordered to pay to a victim of a crash with one of its drivers, saying the lower court didn't issue a clear enough ruling on the testimony from her physician.

  • October 09, 2026

    Up Next At High Court: Criminal Sentences & Video Privacy

    The U.S. Supreme Court will close out its October sitting by hearing oral arguments in two cases that ask what level of deference federal district courts should give to commentary interpreting the federal sentencing guidelines, and what purchases are protected under a video consumer privacy statute.

  • October 09, 2026

    Gov't Can't Raise New Line In $16M Tax Suit, Founder Says

    The government cannot use a postargument letter to introduce a new argument in a dispute with the founder of Buy.com over his nearly $16 million tax bill, he told the Tenth Circuit.

  • October 09, 2026

    Del. Justices Back ATG In Empery Proxy Fight

    The Delaware Supreme Court has upheld a Chancery Court ruling requiring digital asset company Empery Digital Inc. to allow activist investor ATG Capital Opportunities Fund LP's nine board nominees to stand for election, rejecting the company's challenge less than a week before its annual meeting Oct. 14.

  • October 09, 2026

    Arizona Tribe Loses Bid To Pause Border Wall Construction

    A D.C. federal judge has denied an Arizona tribe's request to block border wall construction on its reservation pending appeal, saying the Indigenous nation hasn't identified any reason for reconsideration of a previous decision that reached the same conclusion.

  • October 09, 2026

    Pa. Odd Fellows Lodge Can't Take Over Philly Charity

    The Pennsylvania leaders of the International Order of Odd Fellows can't take over a Philadelphia charity that a local lodge had organized 140 years ago, since amendments to the charity's charter and bylaws giving the "Grand Lodge" control had not followed the original charter or state law, an appellate panel has ruled.

  • October 08, 2026

    Pasadena Worker Accuses 9th Circ. Of 'Lies' In COVID Ruling

    A Pasadena police employee on Thursday failed to convince the Ninth Circuit to give him a second shot at suing the city over its COVID-19 vaccination policy, rejecting his argument that a panel decision in the matter was "rife with lies, misstatements, material omissions and total fabrications."

  • October 08, 2026

    Starbucks Says NLRB Ignored Repeat Dress Code Violations

    Starbucks asked the Fifth Circuit on Thursday to vacate a National Labor Relations Board decision that the coffee chain flouted federal labor law by stepping up dress code policy enforcement without bargaining beforehand, arguing management at a unionized Oregon store followed the company's established corrective action policy.

  • October 08, 2026

    DOJ Urges Justices To Keep Anti-ICE Activist Detained Pretrial

    Federal prosecutors on Thursday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to leave in place a Sixth Circuit ruling that a self-described "antifa" member must remain in jail pending trial on charges that he cyberstalked and threatened a social-media supporter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

  • October 08, 2026

    Wash. Justices Say Privacy Act Doesn't Bar Hospital Pixel Use

    The Washington State Supreme Court said Thursday the state's privacy act does not prohibit Seattle Children's Hospital from using web analytics tool Meta Pixel on its public-facing website, rejecting a group of parents' allegations that their browsing and search activity was illegally intercepted and sent to the Facebook parent company.

  • October 08, 2026

    Coinbase Tells 2nd Circ. Only CFTC Oversees Event Contracts

    Event contracts that Coinbase offers, including sports event contracts, are swaps over which the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has "exclusive" jurisdiction, the company has urged the Second Circuit to rule, arguing Connecticut's laws have "no role to play" in regulating prediction markets.

  • October 08, 2026

    Dodd-Frank Act Is Focus Of Latest Amici In NJ-Kalshi Case

    Multiple amici, including the drafter of the Dodd-Frank Act, weighed in on New Jersey’s petition for the U.S. Supreme Court to review the regulation of prediction markets and sports betting, saying the statute was not meant to displace state gambling laws.

  • October 08, 2026

    Pa. Justices Urged To Toss $207M UPenn Med Mal Verdict

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has pressed the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that allowed a record $207 million medical malpractice verdict, saying because no individual hospital employee was found negligent, the case improperly expands vicarious liability into an unprecedented "team liability" doctrine.

  • October 08, 2026

    Hotel Guest Argues Info Exchange Fight Fits Digital Era

    The give-to-get nature of a software service allowing luxury hotels to access competitors' occupancy data only upon contributing their own should be enough to plausibly outline an age-old illegal information exchange in the more modern digital era, a hotel guest told the Seventh Circuit.

  • October 08, 2026

    High Court Urged To Keep Prison Trans Care Ban Blocked

    The U.S. Supreme Court should decline the Trump administration's request to disturb a district court order barring the Federal Bureau of Prisons from enforcing a gender dysphoria care ban, a group of transgender individuals incarcerated in BOP facilities argued Thursday.

  • October 08, 2026

    8th Circ. Won't Rethink $110M Deal For Broker Fees Suit

    The Eighth Circuit has rejected an objector's bids to rethink its decision to affirm $110.6 million worth of antitrust class action settlements that aim to resolve broker fee claims against the National Association of Realtors and multiple brokerages.

  • October 08, 2026

    DC Circ. Won't Rehear Ruling Blocking Fla. Wetlands Permits

    The D.C. Circuit has denied a petition from the federal government for an en banc rehearing of a previous court decision vacating the EPA's authorization for Florida to run a Clean Water Act permitting program for dredging and filling wetlands.

  • October 08, 2026

    Energy Companies' Win In NYC Greenwashing Suit Affirmed

    A New York appeals court on Thursday affirmed the dismissal of a New York City suit accusing BP, Exxon and Shell of deceiving consumers about the environmental effects of their gasoline products and alternative energy investments.

  • October 08, 2026

    Justices Told Award Moots Burford's 3rd Circ. Challenge

    A German claims aggregator is citing an award it received in ongoing arbitration involving Burford Capital as reason for the U.S. Supreme Court to pass on the litigation funder's certiorari petition seeking review of an unfavorable Third Circuit decision.

  • October 08, 2026

    Fla. Panel Trims Punitive Damages Claim By Ex-Marvel CEO

    The former CEO of Marvel Entertainment can request punitive damages against his neighbor in a feud over the surreptitious collection of DNA evidence but not against the neighbor's attorney or a Chubb affiliate accused of helping him, a Florida appeals court has ruled.

  • October 08, 2026

    $13.4M Conn. Insurance Fight Won't Resume Amid Appeal

    A Connecticut judge won't lift a stay on a mother's lawsuit seeking to enforce a $13.4 million trial judgment over her son's death in a group home because the group home still has time to appeal a decision affirming the judgment.

  • October 08, 2026

    Mich. Justices Mull Bias Claim Of Same-Sex Wedding Officiant

    The Michigan Supreme Court on Thursday questioned whether the state's civil rights law protects employees from discrimination based on their association with people in protected classes, as a former Calvin University professor argued that the school unlawfully fired him for officiating a same-sex wedding.

Expert Analysis

  • Trump Admin's Agency Records Purge Tests Judicial Notice

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    While courts commonly take judicial notice of data in government websites and reports, the Trump administration's recent modification or wholesale deletion of these sources means that litigants must look elsewhere to support trial admission of this information, says Jon Gryskiewicz at Lewis Baach.

  • Series

    Cow Horse Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Moving an unwilling 800-pound cow while riding a horse at high speed is exhilarating, a little unhinged and, at least for me, a surprisingly effective training ground for litigation — both demand focus, preparation over rigid planning and the willingness to act despite fear, says Ashley Zitrin at Glenn Agre.

  • Fla. Driver Ruling Shows Renewed Focus On Privacy Standing

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    A Florida federal court's recent dismissal of a class action alleging that private driving records had been improperly used in violation of the Driver's Privacy Protection Act suggests that companies defending against privacy class actions in Florida may reconsider Article III challenges at the dismissal stage, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Vax Ruling Offers Employer Tips For Handling Political Speech

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    A California appeals court's recent decision in Rademacher v. ABC, rejecting a "General Hospital" actor's suit alleging he was terminated for opposing a vaccine policy, demonstrates the importance of the employer's process, including neutral policies, documentation, and evidence of who knew what and when, say attorneys at Krevolin Horst.

  • O Brother, Where Art DAO? Jurisdiction Issues Abound

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    While there is a dearth of decisions examining a decentralized autonomous organization's citizenship for diversity jurisdiction purposes, Second Circuit case law has defined citizenship for other unincorporated entities, which may guide how courts evaluate an increasing number of cases involving DAOs, says Michael Mix at Morrison Cohen.

  • Protecting AI-Driven Innovation In Life Sciences IP

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    Recent developments, including the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's evolving inventorship standards, and the impact of artificial intelligence on the "person of ordinary skill in the art" standard demand that life sciences companies elevate AI patent strategy to a top priority, says Sandra Haberny at Quinn Emanuel.

  • 2nd Circ. Ruling Notably Limits Sentencing Courts' Discretion

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision in U.S. v. Dralle clarifies the bounds of sentencing courts’ ability to consider uncharged or co-defendant conduct without tying it to statutory sentencing factors, and it may have broader implications for limiting loss attribution in white collar and other criminal cases, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • High Court's Hikma Decision Reshapes 'Skinny Label' Suits

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Hikma v. Amarin marks a significant victory for generic drug manufacturers, but rather than putting an end to so-called skinny label inducement claims, it narrows and refocuses them, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.

  • Opinion

    At High Court, Oil Cos.' Suncor Preemption Claims Fall Short

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    In Suncor Energy v. Boulder County, pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, oil and gas companies argue that municipalities' climate deception claims are equivalent to emissions standards for their industry — but the suit is ultimately incapable of imposing such standards, say Thomas McGarity at the University of Texas School of Law and James Goodwin at the Center for Progressive Reform.

  • 3 Disgorgement Questions Linger After Justices' SEC Ruling

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Sripetch v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission avoided placing new limits on the SEC’s disgorgement powers, it passed over several questions, including whether the commission can seek disgorgement when returning the money to investors isn't possible, says David Slovick at Kopecky Schumacher.

  • Checking For AI Errors Is Now A Two-Way Street

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    A handful of recent federal and state cases demonstrate the importance of checking for errors generated by artificial intelligence not only in your own court submissions, but also your opponent's, as well as when catching opposing counsel's AI mistakes could result in an award for attorney fees, says Tamara Barago at Hollingsworth.

  • Opinion

    Federal Circuit Should Implement Mini En Banc Process

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    To fulfill its mission of uniformity in patent law while avoiding the challenges of en banc hearings, the Federal Circuit should institute mini en bancs — allowing regular three-judge panels to exercise en banc powers unless a majority of the court says otherwise, says Joshua Sohn at the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • What's Next After Justices' Last-Mile Driver Arbitration Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Flowers Foods v. Brock, refusing to narrow the scope of a Federal Arbitration Act exemption for workers engaged in interstate commerce, gives previously unprotected workers access to litigation, but preserves two potentially powerful arguments for future proceedings, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Shoring Up Corporate Law In Maryland

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    Launched more than 20 years ago to improve complex corporate adjudication, Maryland's Business and Technology Case Management Program has been a solid success in some areas, but there always is room for improvement, says Bill Krulak at Miles & Stockbridge.

  • How End Of SEC 'Gag Rule' Affects Free Speech Certiorari Bid

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    The Securities and Exchange Commission's recent rescission of the so-called gag rule, which forbade defendants in settlements from denying the SEC’s allegations, may sway the outcome of a petition to the Supreme Court in a case challenging the rule on First Amendment grounds, say attorneys at Troutman.

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