Appellate

  • June 27, 2024

    Supreme Court Freezes EPA's 'Good Neighbor' Rule

    The U.S. Supreme Court stayed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's plan to reduce cross-state pollution Thursday, finding several states and industry groups challenging it in court will likely prevail on the merits.

  • June 27, 2024

    Justices Limit SEC's Use Of In-House Courts

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday curtailed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's use of its in-house court system, saying the accused have a right to a jury trial when financial penalties are on the table.

  • June 27, 2024

    Justices Nix 3rd-Party Liability Releases In Purdue Ch. 11 Plan

    The U.S. Supreme Court shot down the validity of nonconsensual third-party releases in an opinion issued Thursday in the case of bankrupt drugmaker Purdue Pharma LP, potentially exposing the Sackler family members who own the company to personal liability for the company's role in the opioid crisis.

  • June 26, 2024

    5th Circ. Says SEC Must Reconsider Axing Proxy Regulations

    The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday vacated the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's decision to rescind a portion of Trump-era rules requiring proxy advisory firms to notify companies about their advice to investors, ruling that the agency didn't adequately explain the abrupt change.

  • June 26, 2024

    Biotech Co. Allowed To Appeal Red Cross Antitrust Immunity

    The American Red Cross' immunity from antitrust allegations that it smothered competition for testing platelets for bacteria is back in play after a Massachusetts federal judge agreed Wednesday to let the biotech company suing the blood donation giant ask the First Circuit to revive its claims.

  • June 26, 2024

    Justices Leave Blurry Line In Place On Misinformation Fight

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Wednesday to reverse a Fifth Circuit order prohibiting the Biden administration from joining with social media platforms to fight misinformation leaves an important First Amendment question unanswered and left Missouri's attorney general promising a continuing fight against what he called a "censorship regime."

  • June 26, 2024

    Justices Chide 5th Circ. In Biden Social Media Case

    The Fifth Circuit relied on "clearly erroneous" facts and an overgeneralized view of standing when it ordered the Biden administration to stop working with social media platforms to combat COVID-19 and election misinformation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday as it threw out a challenge to the government's actions.

  • June 26, 2024

    Ga. High Court Told To Skip Inventor's 'Clerical Mistake' Fight

    A unit of the analytics giant Clarivate is telling Georgia's highest court that a neurosurgeon's $102 million legal malpractice case over "a clerical mistake" in a patent filing from an aggrieved former FisherBroyles client is definitely "not a cert-worthy case."

  • June 26, 2024

    3rd Circ. Won't Revive Distillery Investor's RICO, Secrets Case

    The Third Circuit on Wednesday agreed that the main investor of a Pennsylvania distillery can't revive his federal racketeering or trade secret claims against a former business partner and others related to the craft liquor business.

  • June 26, 2024

    Fla. Court Paves Way For $1B Miami Highway Expansion

    A Florida appeals court on Wednesday affirmed a decision overturning an administrative law judge's ruling against a $1 billion Miami-Dade County plan for a highway extension into wetlands and agricultural areas, paving the way for the controversial plan to move forward.

  • June 26, 2024

    Chamber Backs 9th Circ. Call To Nix SEC's 'Gag Rule'

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is among those calling on the Ninth Circuit to overturn a long-standing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission policy that settling parties not be allowed to deny the allegations against them, saying that the so-called gag rule threatens the free speech rights of the accused.

  • June 26, 2024

    Bill Nye Asks Calif. Panel To Reboot His Disney Royalty Fight

    Bill Nye the Science Guy urged a California appellate court Wednesday to revive allegations that The Walt Disney Co. cheated him out of millions in royalties for his famous educational show, arguing the trial judge erred by deciding the contract and accounting dispute instead of sending it to a jury.

  • June 26, 2024

    State Farm Loses Bid To Skip Atty Fees On Expert Technicality

    A Texas appeals court found that State Farm may still have to pony up attorney fees in a case involving an underinsured motorist claim, saying Wednesday that the trial court got it wrong when it granted the insurance company's motion to strike the motorist's expert designation in a bifurcated trial on the fee issue.

  • June 26, 2024

    EU Court Tosses Spanish Shipping Cos. State Aid Appeal

    A European court on Wednesday once again dismissed a 2014 challenge to the European Commission's move to block a Spanish tax scheme benefiting Spanish shipbuilders and their suppliers.

  • June 26, 2024

    4th Circ. Douses Fireworks Co.'s Challenge To CPSC Notices

    The Fourth Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of a fireworks importer's challenge to safety notices from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, saying the notices are not a final agency action that can be reviewed under the Administrative Procedure Act.

  • June 26, 2024

    Bribery Ruling Could Disrupt ComEd Verdict, Madigan Trial

    The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling Wednesday narrowing the federal bribery law long relied upon to curb local corruption is expected to make waves in two prominent Chicago cases, attorneys say, with one likening it to a "nuclear bomb" exploding prosecutors' convictions of a former ComEd executive and lobbyists.

  • June 26, 2024

    Feds To Reassess Whether Garage Door Imports Violated Patents

    The U.S. International Trade Commission will be reviewing an administrative law judge's ruling that Nortek Inc. violated U.S. trade law by importing products that infringe on a rival's intellectual property.

  • June 26, 2024

    Choctaw Nation Wants 9th Circ. Rehearing In CVS Arb. Dispute

    The Choctaw Nation has asked the Ninth Circuit for a rehearing in an effort to undo the court's decision forcing it to arbitrate a dispute over prescription drug reimbursements with subsidiaries of CVS Health Corp., arguing it never waived sovereign immunity and did not agree to such proceedings on its Recovery Act claims.

  • June 26, 2024

    SpaceX Beach Closure Challenge Is 'Illogical,' Texas Says

    Texas is asking its high court to review a decision that forces several government entities to face an environmental group's challenge to the closure of a beach for SpaceX activities, writing that the appellate court's adoption of the group's theory of open beach access "clashes" with state law and court precedent.

  • June 26, 2024

    11th Circ. Urged To Toss $62M Order Against Forex Co. CEO

    An imprisoned former CEO of an investment company urged the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday to toss a multimillion-dollar penalty against him obtained by the federal government, saying he never operated foreign exchange commodity pools and didn't invest borrowed funds on behalf of lenders.

  • June 26, 2024

    Ex-Worker Says NC Justices Needn't Review Carcinogen Test

    A former graduate student worker for North Carolina State University has told the Tar Heel State's highest court that the school is trying to delay a potential lawsuit by continuing its fight to keep the ex-employee and cancer patient from investigating a campus building for carcinogens.

  • June 26, 2024

    Apple Watch Improvement Is 'Inferior,' Docs Tell 9th Circ.

    Four cardiac specialists backed medical monitoring startup AliveCor against Apple in a Ninth Circuit amicus brief Tuesday arguing a district court wrongly nixed antitrust claims by crediting the phaseout of a heart rate monitoring algorithm as an improvement when all it did was deny patient access to "potentially life-saving" technology.

  • June 26, 2024

    Supreme Court Bribery Ruling Limits Government's 'Arsenal'

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Wednesday limiting the reach of a federal bribery law has removed a "novel" tool that prosecutors employed in a wide range of public corruption cases and could result in fewer prosecutions of state and local officials, experts say.

  • June 26, 2024

    Texas Uses Justices' Gun Ruling To Defend Deportation Law

    Texas has told the Fifth Circuit that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision maintaining a ban on firearm ownership for domestic abusers supports its state law authorizing the arrest and deportation of migrants.

  • June 26, 2024

    NJ Panel Tosses Malpractice Suit Over COVID-19 Death

    A New Jersey appellate panel on Wednesday dismissed medical malpractice claims against a nursing home and doctor who discharged a patient without waiting for the results of her COVID-19 test, which turned out to be positive, an omission that preceded the death of her husband from the virus.

Expert Analysis

  • NJ Ruling Offers Road Map To Fight Dishonored Check Claims

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    As ATM and mobile check deposits become more common, a New Jersey state appellate court’s recent ruling in Triffin v. Neptune shows that issuers can rely on copies of checks to defend against claims that checks were wrongfully dishonored after being electronically deposited, say attorneys at Sherman Atlas.

  • 4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best

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    As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.

  • A Look At Recent Challenges To SEC's Settlement 'Gag Rule'

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    Though they have been unsuccessful so far, opponents of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's so-called gag rule, which prevents defendants from denying allegations when settling with the SEC, are becoming increasingly vocal and filing more challenges in recent years, say Mike Blankenship and Regina Maze at Winston & Strawn.

  • How 3 Unfolding Cases Could Affect The Energy Industry

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    Three judicial decisions now in the pipeline — Texas' challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's methane regulations, Delaware's climate suit against big energy companies, and a case before the Supreme Court of Texas on royalty lease interpretation — could have important implications for the energy industry, say Michelle Scheffler and Rachael Cox at Skadden.

  • Conn. Bankruptcy Ruling Furthers Limitation Extension Split

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    A recent Connecticut bankruptcy court decision further solidifies a split of authority on whether Bankruptcy Rule 9006(b) may be used to extend the limitations period, meaning practitioners seeking to extend should serve the motion on all applicable parties and, where possible, rely on the doctrine of equitable tolling, says Shane Ramsey at Nelson Mullins.

  • How Purdue Pharma High Court Case May Change Bankruptcy

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling in Purdue Pharma may be the death of most third-party releases in Chapter 11 cases, and depending on the decision’s breadth, could have much more far-reaching effects on the entire bankruptcy system, say Brian Shaw and David Doyle at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Series

    Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • Fears About The End Of Chevron Deference Are Overblown

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    While some are concerned about repercussions if the U.S. Supreme Court brings an end to Chevron deference in the Loper and Relentless cases this term, agencies and attorneys would survive just fine under the doctrines that have already begun to replace it, say Daniel Wolff and Henry Leung at Crowell & Moring.

  • What A Post-Chevron Landscape Could Mean For Labor Law

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Chevron deference expected by the end of June, it’s not too soon to consider how National Labor Relations Act interpretations could be affected if federal courts no longer defer to administrative agencies’ statutory interpretation and regulatory actions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Perspectives

    Context Is Everything In Justices' Sentencing Relief Decision

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    In the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Pulsifer v. U.S. decision, limiting the number of drug offenders eligible for sentencing relief, the majority and dissent adopted very different contextual frames for interpreting the meaning of “and” — with the practical impact being that thousands more defendants will be subject to severe mandatory minimums, says Douglas Berman at Moritz College of Law​​​​​​​.

  • Opinion

    The SEC Is Engaging In Regulation By Destruction

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent use of regulation by enforcement against digital assets indicates it's more interested in causing harm to crypto companies than providing guidance to the markets or protecting investors, says J.W. Verret at George Mason University.

  • Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs

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    Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.

  • Studying NY, NJ Case Law On Employee Social Media Rights

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    While a New Jersey state appeals court has twice determined that an employee's termination by a private employer for social media posts is not prohibited, New York has yet to take a stand on the issue — so employers' decisions on such matters still need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, say Julie Levinson Werner and Jessica Kriegsfeld at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • A 5th Circ. Lesson On Preserving Indemnification Rights

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent decision in Raymond James & Associates v. Jalbert offers an important lesson for creditors and parties to indemnification agreements: If a debtor has indemnified a creditor, the creditor should consider participating in the bankruptcy case to avoid being deemed to have forfeited its indemnification rights, say Dania Slim and Alana Lyman at Pillsbury.

  • ShapeShift Fine Epitomizes SEC's Crypto Policy, And Its Flaws

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    A recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission order imposing a fine on former cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift for failing to register as a securities dealer showcases the SEC's regulation-by-enforcement approach, but the dissent by two commissioners raises valid concerns that the agency's embrace of ambiguity over clarity risks hampering the growth of the crypto economy, says Keith Blackman at Bracewell.

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