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Appellate
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August 01, 2024
Fed. Circ. Denies PTAB Overreach In Voice Tech IP Invalidation
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board properly invalidated a Voice Tech Corp. patent directed to the use of voice commands and did not make up a new theory in favor of challenger Unified Patents LLC, the Federal Circuit said Thursday.
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August 01, 2024
Colo. Judges Can't Tell Magistrates To Redo Rulings
Colorado state courts that reject a magistrate's order can't send it back to the magistrate for reconsideration, a state appellate panel ruled Thursday, stating in a published opinion that district judges must issue a new ruling themselves.
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August 01, 2024
Colo. Panel Finds Campaign Disclosure Rule Unconstitutional
A Colorado Court of Appeals panel on Thursday found that a requirement for ballot issue committees to list their registered agent on election communications is unconstitutionally compelled speech, reasoning that the public doesn't learn much from knowing a committee's legal representative.
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August 01, 2024
6th Circ. Says Teacher's Failure To Engage Sinks ADA Suit
A former teacher can't revive his disability bias lawsuit claiming a school board unlawfully refused to let him continue working from home following a mid-pandemic return to in-person instruction, the Sixth Circuit ruled Thursday, faulting the educator for refusing to discuss alternative accommodations.
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August 01, 2024
9th Circ. Says Vegas Casino Pilots Are Exempt From OT
Five corporate pilots for a Las Vegas casino performed non-manual labor and are therefore exempt from overtime requirements under federal law, the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday, upholding a Nevada federal court's decision.
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August 01, 2024
White House Defends 6th Circ. Nom Against Tenn. Senator
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved seven judicial nominees on Thursday, including one for the Sixth Circuit under fire from her home-state senators.
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August 01, 2024
5th Circ. Backs Louisiana's Block Of EPA Chemical Rule
The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday refused to overturn a Louisiana agency's move to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing a chemical rule that a neoprene maker says would force it to shut down.
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August 01, 2024
Fla. Justices Sanction Paralegal For Immigration Practice
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday told a paralegal and the immigration legal services businesses she has operated that she must reimburse clients who were misled into believing they were working with licensed attorneys.
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August 01, 2024
Senate Passes Bill To 'Systematically' Increase Judgeships
The Senate passed a bipartisan bill Thursday by voice vote to create 66 new and temporary judgeships to help federal courts handle increasing workloads.
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August 01, 2024
3rd Circ. Affirms Nix Of Discovery Ask On GM In Brazil Case
A Delaware federal court didn't abuse its discretion by declining to begin discovery on General Motors to aid ongoing litigation in Brazil for a group that is entitled to receive dozens of car dealerships' tax credits from the early 1990s, the Third Circuit found.
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August 01, 2024
Feds Urge Against Steve Bannon's En Banc Rehearing Bid
The federal government is urging the D.C. Circuit not to revisit its long-standing precedent on the meaning of the contempt of Congress law as former Donald Trump aide Steve Bannon looks to undo his conviction under the statute.
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August 01, 2024
5th Circ. Says Oil Crossing State Lines Made Work Interstate
The crude oil that a worker transported travels outside of Texas and thus is part of an interstate trip, the Fifth Circuit ruled, flipping a district court's decision that the Motor Carrier Act exemption didn't apply to a transporter who sought unpaid overtime.
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August 01, 2024
6th Circ. Dashes Appeal Of Mich. Township's Ex-GC
A Michigan township's former general counsel was not denied due process when his position was eliminated in 2020, the Sixth Circuit has ruled, agreeing with the district court that the attorney's employment agreement did not guarantee him a job.
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August 01, 2024
NY Appeals Court Upholds Trump Gag Order
A New York appeals court on Thursday rejected Donald Trump's bid to strike down a gag order that bars him from threatening court and district attorney staff in his criminal hush money case ahead of his scheduled sentencing next month, as the former president renewed his bid to vacate his conviction following the U.S. Supreme Court's immunity ruling.
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August 01, 2024
3rd Circ. Says Enviro Fight No Reason To Reopen Ch. 11
The Third Circuit ruled Thursday that Bath Iron Works' potential liability over a polluted New Jersey river doesn't affect the Chapter 11 case of the shipbuilder's former affiliate, backing a district court that decided a bankruptcy judge erred in reopening the case.
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August 01, 2024
Calif. Justices Block Drivers From Intervening In PAGA Deal
The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that ride-hail drivers bringing claims under the state's Private Attorneys General Act lack standing to intervene in a separate case that reached a settlement.
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August 01, 2024
Mass. Could Be New Front In The Battle Over Jury Trial Right
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling granting defendants facing administrative civil penalties the right to a jury trial, experts say a similar challenge in Massachusetts is likely, but may not find as receptive a judicial audience.
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August 01, 2024
Schumer And Senate Dem Bill Would Reverse Trump Immunity
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and more than 30 of his Democratic colleagues introduced a bill on Thursday to undo the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that former President Donald Trump has immunity for official acts.
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July 31, 2024
Split 9th Circ. Won't Use New Law To Revive Trafficking Suit
A split Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday refused to revive a human trafficking suit former Cambodian seafood factory workers launched against a Californian importer, saying a new law that expanded liability after the distributor's summary judgment win didn't apply retroactively.
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July 31, 2024
11th Circ. Affirms Trim Of Ex-Ala. Judge's Defamation Suit
The Eleventh Circuit held Wednesday that an Alabama federal court was correct to toss some of the claims in a defamation suit from Roy Moore, the embattled former Alabama Supreme Court leader, ruling that the court lacked jurisdiction over some claims and others were conclusory.
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July 31, 2024
Lewis Brisbois TM Foe Can't Ax Injunction, 5th Circ. Says
The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday upheld an injunction against three Texans accused of ripping off the Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP name, saying it's clear the only reason the defendants created the infringing entity "was to ride on the back" of the BigLaw firm's reputation.
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July 31, 2024
Del. Justices Reject New Earnout Claim In $300M Deal Appeal
Delaware's Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld dismissal of a post-sale stockholder representative suit challenging denial of accelerated, post-closing "earnout" payments after the merger of Edwards Lifesciences and Valtech Cardio Ltd., rejecting a stockholder bid to introduce post-appeal developments.
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July 31, 2024
DC Circ. Revives Insurer's Bid To Enforce Argentina Awards
The D.C. Circuit has revived an insurance company's efforts to enforce arbitral awards it won against Argentina in a decades-old dispute over tens of millions of dollars due under reinsurance contracts, ordering a lower court to more closely consider two exceptions to sovereign immunity.
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July 31, 2024
Pa. Panel Upholds Post-Gazette Strikers' Win
The Pennsylvania Superior Court on Wednesday delivered a win for striking unions picketing outside the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's warehouse, upholding a county court's decision that the newspaper's claims that the unions disrupted deliveries were out of its jurisdiction.
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July 31, 2024
11th Circ. Revives Suit Over Ga. City's Ouster Of White Manager
A white ex-city manager of a small Georgia city who was fired after a new administration allegedly vowed to replace him with a Black person will get another shot at pressing his racial discrimination claims as the Eleventh Circuit gave the case new life Wednesday.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge at Robinson Bradshaw.
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5th Circ. Venue-Transfer Cases Highlight Mandamus Limits
Three ongoing cases filed within the Fifth Circuit highlight an odd procedural wrinkle that may let district courts defy an appellate writ: orders granting transfer to out-of-circuit districts, but parties opposing intercircuit transfer can work around this hurdle to effective appellate review, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.
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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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PTAB Rulings Shed Light On Quantum Computing Patents
Recent Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions on enablement rejections against quantum computing patent claims provide patent practitioners with valuable guidance on best practices for avoiding and overcoming enablement, say Fred Qiu and Alex Nie at Sheppard Mullin.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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Fed. Circ. Rulings Crystallize Polymorph Patent 'Obviousness'
A comparison of two recent Federal Circuit obviousness challenge decisions regarding polymorph patents provides helpful insight into the assessment of screening arguments, particularly the issue of reasonable expectation of success, say Michael Green and John Molenda at Steptoe.
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DC Circ. Ruling Heightens HHS Contract Pharmacy Challenges
The D.C. Circuit's recent ruling that the Section 340B program does not bar manufacturers from restricting deliveries of discounted drugs to contract pharmacies represents a second strike against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' current contract pharmacy policy and raises the stakes surrounding an upcoming Seventh Circuit ruling on the same issue, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.
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Series
In The CFPB Playbook: Regulatory Aims Get High Court Assist
Newly emboldened after the U.S. Supreme Court last month found that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding is constitutional, the bureau has likely experienced a psychic boost, allowing its already robust enforcement agenda to continue expanding, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
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3 Infringement Defenses To Consider 10 Years Post-Nautilus
In the 10 years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s influential Nautilus ruling, the spirit of the “amenable to construction” test that the opinion rejected persists with many patent litigators and judges, so patent infringement defense counsel should always consider several key arguments, says John Vandenberg at Klarquist Sparkman.
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NY Ruling Paves A Court Payment Shortcut For More Creditors
A recent New York state appeals court ruling expands access to an expedited statutory procedure for court enforcement of promissory notes or unconditional guaranties, allowing more creditors to minimize the risk of potentially challenging litigation on threshold issues, says Alexander Levi at Friedman Kaplan.
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9th Circ. COVID 'Cure' Case Shows Perks Of Puffery Defense
The Ninth Circuit's March decision in a case surrounding a company's statements about a potential COVID-19 cure may encourage defendants to assert puffery defenses in securities fraud cases, particularly in those involving optimistic statements about breakthrough drugs that are still untested, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.
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After Years Of Popularity, PAGA's Fate Is Up In The Air
The last two years held important victories for plaintiff-side employment attorneys in California Private Attorneys General Act litigation at the trial and appellate court levels, but this hotbed of activity will quickly lose steam if voters approve a ballot measure in November to enact the California Fair Pay and Employer Accountability Act, says Paul Sherman at Kabat Chapman.
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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.