Appellate

  • June 18, 2024

    DOJ Says DC Circ. Shouldn't Rethink Realtor Antitrust Probe

    The U.S. Department of Justice has told the D.C. Circuit that its April decision allowing it to reopen an investigation into the National Association of Realtors doesn't conflict with any U.S. Supreme Court or circuit court decisions and that the NAR's rehearing petition should be denied.

  • June 18, 2024

    Ford Says Sanctions Violated Due Process In $1.7B Case

    Attorneys for Ford Motor Co. urged the Georgia Court of Appeals on Tuesday either to order a new trial or substantially reduce a record-setting $1.7 billion punitive damages verdict returned against the automaker in litigation over a fatal rollover, arguing the award resulted from "death penalty sanctions" that essentially directed a verdict against it.

  • June 18, 2024

    Fla. Judge Admits To Ethics Charges In Mishandling DQ Bid

    A Miami-Dade County state court judge has admitted to violating the Florida Code of Judicial Conduct while overseeing proceedings, saying that he made improper commentary in orders of recusal that he granted in two separate criminal cases, Florida Supreme Court records show.

  • June 18, 2024

    Novant Drops NC Hospital Merger After 4th Circ. Pauses Deal

    Novant Health has abandoned its plans to purchase two North Carolina hospitals for $320 million after a split Fourth Circuit panel on Tuesday granted the Federal Trade Commission's bid for an emergency injunction putting the deal on hold indefinitely.

  • June 18, 2024

    Panel Laments 'Hunger Games' Tactics In Mich. Judicial Races

    A Michigan Court of Appeals panel has expressed concern that judicial candidates are weaponizing the complexity of Michigan's filing requirements to eliminate their competition, with one judge commenting that "contests for vacant judgeships all too often have turned into the Hunger Games." 

  • June 18, 2024

    Ariz. County Says New Kari Lake Vote Claims Merit Sanctions

    Maricopa County officials are slamming former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake's bid to unravel a Ninth Circuit decision affirming the toss of her lawsuit over Arizona's voting machines, contending that the "fatally flawed" effort warrants sanctions.

  • June 18, 2024

    2nd Circ. Says No Gov't Misconduct In Campaign Money Case

    The Second Circuit on Tuesday reversed a ruling from a Connecticut federal judge that found prosecutors violated their evidence disclosure obligations in a campaign finance case against a former state senator and his treasurer.

  • June 18, 2024

    10th Circ. Won't Revive Airline's Union Election Challenge

    A low-cost airline based in the Salt Lake City area lost its challenge to a union representation as the Tenth Circuit ruled that a Utah federal judge correctly dismissed the case.

  • June 18, 2024

    EPA Tells DC Circ. That Smog Plan Is Legally Sound

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday defended its plan to reduce smog-forming emissions in several states, telling the D.C. Circuit that it's taken a sensible approach to cracking down on upwind pollution using a formula that has been backed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • June 18, 2024

    5th Circ. Wrongly Slashed $366M Bias Verdict, Justices Told

    A Black former FedEx employee urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review the reduction of a $366 million jury verdict in her suit alleging she was fired for reporting race discrimination, arguing the Fifth Circuit incorrectly held that her employment contract could shorten her window for filing suit.

  • June 18, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Vax Mandate Case Amid Judge DQ Bid

    In a nonprecedential opinion, the Ninth Circuit has refused to restore a COVID vaccine mandate suit brought by federal workers and contractors who also sought to disqualify a judge they believed was conflicted, finding the workers lacked standing because they named officials who cannot reinstate them rather than their employers.

  • June 18, 2024

    NY High Court Denies Trump's Gag Order Appeal

    New York state's highest court on Tuesday denied Donald Trump's rapid appeal of the gag order that limited his speech during his criminal hush money trial, finding it did not raise serious constitutional issues.

  • June 17, 2024

    Excess Insurers May Need To Pay In Kaiser Asbestos Dispute

    A policyholder can tap into first-layer excess policies as soon as the primary coverage for that period is exhausted, the California Supreme Court ruled, potentially implicating several first-level excess insurers to contribute to coverage for underlying asbestos exposure claims against Kaiser Cement and Gypsum Corp.

  • June 17, 2024

    Teva, DOJ Signal Key Kickback Case May Fizzle At 1st Circ.

    A U.S. Department of Justice kickback case against Teva Pharmaceuticals — closely watched by False Claims Act lawyers because of its multibillion-dollar stakes and its link to a major circuit split — is poised for settlement, according to a new First Circuit filing ahead of eagerly awaited oral arguments.

  • June 17, 2024

    Email Doesn't Cut It For Contempt Notice, Colo. Justices Say

    Colorado justices on Monday ruled that email is not enough to properly put a party on notice about contempt proceedings, concluding the medium does not meet the requirement for "directly" serving a party.

  • June 17, 2024

    9th Circ. Says Facebook 'Face Signatures' Not Subject To BIPA

    The Ninth Circuit sided with Meta Platforms on Monday by declining to revive an Illinois resident's proposed class action accusing Facebook of breaking the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act, ruling that the "face signature" at issue isn't protected by the law because it cannot be used to identify someone.

  • June 17, 2024

    DC Circ. Gives FERC More Clarity On Scope Of Climate Reviews

    A recent D.C. Circuit decision not only endorses the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's current approach to reviewing the climate change impacts of gas infrastructure projects, but may also help trim environmental reviews by federal agencies across the board.

  • June 17, 2024

    Mifepristone Ruling Means End Of Texas DACA Suit, Feds Say

    A Texas-led coalition of states doesn't have standing to challenge the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program after the U.S. Supreme Court's blockbuster decision rejecting a challenge to the abortion drug mifepristone, the Biden administration told the Fifth Circuit on Monday.

  • June 17, 2024

    Hurricane Coverage Fight Must Be Arbitrated, 5th Circ. Rules

    The Fifth Circuit has ruled that a group of domestic insurers could force arbitration of a coverage dispute for hurricane damage under an international arbitration clause despite conflicting state law, overturning the underlying ruling based on a since-issued opinion.

  • June 17, 2024

    6th Circ. Sends Enbridge Pipeline Dispute To Mich. State Court

    A Sixth Circuit panel on Monday remanded a dispute between Michigan's attorney general and Enbridge Energy that looks to shut down dual pipelines that cross the Straits of Mackinac, saying the company failed to timely remove the case to federal court and there are no equitable exceptions to do so.

  • June 17, 2024

    Toss Universal Service Fund Challenge, FCC Urges 5th Circ.

    The Federal Communications Commission on Monday urged the Fifth Circuit to throw out a challenge to the agency's telecom subsidy system after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a pair of similar cases.

  • June 17, 2024

    Top Patent Eligibility Rulings In The Decade Since Alice

    The U.S. Supreme Court's Alice v. CLS Bank decision 10 years ago this week led to scores of inventions being found ineligible for patenting, and rulings since then have fleshed out the law on the contentious topic. Here's a look at the most notable patent eligibility decisions after Alice.

  • June 17, 2024

    No Coverage For Family Shareholder Row, 2nd Circ. Affirms

    A Liberty Mutual unit had no duty to defend Paraco Gas Corp. and two of its executives in a family shareholder dispute, the Second Circuit affirmed Monday, finding that all claims in the underlying suit fell within the policy's contract exclusion.

  • June 17, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Says Errors Led To Injunction In Trade Secrets Suit

    A Federal Circuit panel on Monday overturned a preliminary injunction against a South Korean insulin pump patch manufacturer that allegedly stole trade secrets from a rival, saying a Massachusetts federal court made a series of errors in its determination to grant an injunction.

  • June 17, 2024

    Feds, Tribes Say It's Too Soon To Reopen Monument Suit

    The federal government, tribes and conservation groups are fighting a bid by Utah and farming associations to lift a more than three-year stay in a challenge to the Bears Ears National Monument, arguing that the state is already involved in litigation that attempts to nullify the presidential proclamation that established it.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

  • The Challenges SEC's Climate Disclosure Rule May Face

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    Attorneys at Debevoise examine potential legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new climate-related disclosure rule — against which nine suits have already been filed — including arguments under the Administrative Procedure Act, the major questions doctrine, the First Amendment and the nondelegation doctrine.

  • Ala. Frozen Embryo Ruling Creates Risks for Managed Care Orgs

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    The Alabama Supreme Court's decision in LePage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine last month, declaring that frozen embryos count as children, has not only upended the abortion debate but also raised questions for managed care organizations and healthcare providers that provide, offer or facilitate fertility treatment nationwide, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • NY Bond, Enforcement Options As Trump Judgment Looms

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    In light of former President Donald Trump's court filing this week indicating that he can't secure a bond for the New York attorney general's nearly $465 million judgment against him, Neil Pedersen of Pedersen & Sons Surety Bond Agency and Adam Pollock of Pollock Cohen explore New York state judgment enforcement options and the mechanics of securing and collateralizing an appellate bond.

  • What To Watch As Justices Consider Appeal Deadline Case

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    Next week, in Harrow v. U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider for the first time whether a statutory deadline for appealing from a federal agency to an Article III court is jurisdictional, setting the stage for a decision that could dramatically reshape the landscape for challenging agency decisions, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: March Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from consumer fraud to employment — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including coercive communications with putative class members and Article III standing at the class certification stage.

  • Opinion

    Justices' Trump Ballot Ruling May Spark Constitutional Crisis

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that former President Donald Trump must be reinstated to Colorado’s primary ballot endorses an unnecessarily broad legal theory of disqualification from federal office, raising constitutional questions that will only become more urgent as the next presidential election nears, says Devon Ombres at the Center for American Progress.

  • Rebuttal

    High Court Should Maintain Insurer Neutrality In Bankruptcy

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    While a recent Law360 guest article argues that the U.S. Supreme Court should endorse insurer standing in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum, doing so would create a playground for mischief and delay, and the high court should instead uphold insurance neutrality, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • The Future Of ERISA If High Court Ends Chevron Deference

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming decisions in two cases involving fishing company challenges to regulatory requirements could weaken or repeal Chevron deference, meaning U.S. Department of Labor regulations adopted under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act may be heavily scrutinized, modified or vacated by federal courts, say Naina Kamath and Julie Stapel at Morgan Lewis.

  • Assessing 2 Years Of High Court's Arbitration Waiver Ruling

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    In the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Morgan v. Sundance, clarifying that no special rules apply to waiver of arbitration provisions, the ruling has had immediate ramifications in federal courts, but it may take some time for the effects to be felt on other federal issues and in state courts, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Risks Of Nonmutual Offensive Collateral Estoppel In MDLs

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    After the Supreme Court declined to review the Sixth Circuit's ruling in the E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. personal injury litigation, nonmutual offensive collateral estoppel could show up in more MDLs, and transform the loss of a single MDL bellwether trial into a de facto classwide decision that binds thousands of other MDL cases, say Chantale Fiebig and Luke Sullivan at Weil Gotshal.

  • Infringement Policy Lessons From 4th Circ. Sony Music Ruling

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    The Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Sony Music v. Cox Communications, which in part held that the internet service provider was liable for contributing to music copyright infringement, highlights the importance of reasonable policies to terminate repeat infringers, and provides guidance for litigating claims of secondary liability, say Benjamin Marks and Alexandra Blankman at Weil.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • When Your Client Insists On Testifying In A Criminal Case

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    Speculation that former President Donald Trump could take the stand in any of the four criminal cases he faces serves as a reminder for counsel to consider their ethical obligations when a client insists on testifying, including the attorney’s duty of candor to the court and the depth of their discussions with clients, says Marissa Kingman at Fox Rothschild.

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