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Circuit-By-Circuit Guide To 2024's Most Memorable Moments
One judge said a litigant's position would cause "an effing nightmare," and another decried the legal community's silence amid "illegitimate aspersions." Public officials literally trashed one court's opinion, and fateful rulings dealt with controversial politicians, social media and decades of environmental policy. Those were just a few appellate highlights in 2024, a year teeming with memorable moments both substantive and sensational.
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December 23, 2024
Anti-Laundering Law Is Likely Constitutional, 5th Circ. Rules
The Fifth Circuit on Monday lifted a lower court's nationwide block of a federal corporate transparency law, ruling in an unpublished order that the federal government made a "strong showing" that it could successfully defend the law's constitutionality.
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December 23, 2024
BREAKING: Biden Vetoes Bill To Add New Judgeships
President Joe Biden vetoed a bill Monday that would have added more federal judgeships, despite the judiciary's plea that more seats on the bench are needed desperately.
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December 23, 2024
Ex-Pharma Exec Charged With $38M Insider Trading Scheme
A former chief science officer of pharmaceutical company Humanigen faces charges in New Jersey federal court that he dumped shares of the company before it publicly announced its potential COVID-19 drug did not receive federal approval, according to an indictment unsealed Monday.
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December 23, 2024
2nd Circ. Won't Ax Retrial, $1 Verdict In Sex Harassment Suit
The Second Circuit refused to reopen a lawsuit claiming a Manhattan dental practice allowed a supervisor to sexually harass female employees, upholding a lower court's decision to nix a nearly $2.6 million jury win and order a new trial that ended in a $1 verdict.
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December 23, 2024
DOL Wants Full 9th Circ. Review Of Contractor Wage Ruling
A split Ninth Circuit panel decision that blocked President Joe Biden from raising federal contractors' minimum wage to $15 an hour shrinks the president's power, the U.S. Department of Labor said, urging the full appellate court to step in.
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December 23, 2024
3rd Circ. Must Make Newspaper Rescind Changes, NLRB Says
The National Labor Relations Board asked the Third Circuit to greenlight an injunction against the publisher of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette involving a yearslong negotiating dispute with a NewsGuild affiliate, seeking compliance with portions of a board decision that required the company to walk back unilateral changes.
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December 23, 2024
6th Circ. Says Trial Needed To Decide If FLSA Violations Willful
The Sixth Circuit has upended an order finding a horse training company willfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when it failed to pay workers overtime wages, saying the question of whether it knowingly ran afoul of the law is best left to a jury.
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December 23, 2024
EEOC Backs Fired Ford Worker's Retaliation Claim At 6th Circ.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission urged the Sixth Circuit to revive a Muslim, Middle Eastern engineer's suit claiming Ford fired him for complaining about on-the-job bias, saying the lower court wrongly factored in months of medical leave when assessing the timing of his termination.
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December 23, 2024
NASCAR Can't Pause Jordan Team's Win In Antitrust Case
A North Carolina federal judge won't pause his order blocking NASCAR from enforcing its antitrust release in racing contracts — including one for a team owned by former NBA star Michael Jordan — for the 2025 season, saying Monday that he did not grant the injunction lightly.
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December 23, 2024
House Report Says Gaetz Paid For Sex, Accepted Gifts
Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz regularly paid women for sex, including with one 17-year-old girl, used illicit drugs and accepted a trip to the Bahamas in excess of permissible gift amounts, according to a report released Monday morning by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics.
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December 20, 2024
Watchlist Flouts Justices' Major-Questions Ruling, Petition Says
Four individuals backed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review the government's terrorist watchlist, saying a Fifth Circuit ruling affirming its legality eviscerated the justices' major questions doctrine.
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December 20, 2024
Argentina Asks Justices To Review Bondholders' $310M Win
Argentina wants the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve a circuit split over what law applies when determining whether a country's assets are shielded from creditors under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, saying its reversionary interests worth $310 million in collateral backing recently matured 1990s Brady bonds are immune.
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December 20, 2024
High Court Bar's Future: Williams & Connolly's Sarah Harris
Sarah M. Harris of Williams & Connolly LLP never planned on being a U.S. Supreme Court advocate, or even an appellate one. She stumbled upon that career path after realizing her initial goal of becoming a national security or government lawyer wasn't the right fit.
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December 20, 2024
Full Fed. Circ. Won't Review Case Salesforce Said Caused Split
The full Federal Circuit has refused to review a ruling that revived a software patent suit against Salesforce and sunk a $6.9 million attorney fee award it won, turning aside the company's argument that the decision created a split within the court that will cause "recurring confusion."
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December 20, 2024
Colo. Panel Upholds Antero's $215M Wastewater Contract Win
A Colorado appellate panel will hold a wastewater solutions firm to a $215 million judgment for breaching salt standards in a contract to build a fracking water treatment plant for Antero Resources, recognizing an email referencing the criteria as a part of a change order and thus the deal itself.
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December 20, 2024
Litigator On The Roof: The Acting, Singing Mass. Solicitor
The top appellate lawyer in the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General will be ringing in the new year by performing a comical cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, the latest show in a lengthy side career in music.
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December 20, 2024
9th Circ. Orders Closer Security Review In Muslim Spying Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Friday partially revived a long-running putative class action over the FBI's alleged surveillance of Muslims in Southern California, saying more work needs to be done before determining whether the case is so tied to state secrets that it puts national security at risk.
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December 20, 2024
A Look Back At 2024's Major Securities Litigation Moments
The private securities litigation bar experienced a busy 2024, with meaningful and significant rulings in almost all of the nation's leading courts, and corporations, investors, government agencies and executives fighting over pay packages, disclosures, class certifications and mergers.
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December 20, 2024
Panel Baffled Why Prosecutor Left Holding Bag In Weed Case
A Michigan state judge who stuck the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office with a $66,000 bill for marijuana destroyed by police and said he'd "let the Court of Appeals sort it out" left those appellate judges scratching their heads — and reversing his decision on Thursday.
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December 20, 2024
3rd Circ. Denies Challenge To Pa. Autism Settlement
A Third Circuit panel on Friday rejected claims a settlement requiring around-the-clock care for a woman with autism is too impractical to be enforced, reversing a lower-court decision and handing a victory to the Pennsylvania woman's family.
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December 20, 2024
TikTok Divestment Deadline Must Be Extended, Senators Say
TikTok is set to be removed from app stores in the United States in less than a month, but two senators have urged President Joe Biden to kick the can down the road with an extension that would prevent "serious hardship" to both creators and users.
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December 20, 2024
Fed. Circ. Says Teva Inhaler Patents Can't Be In Orange Book
The Federal Circuit on Friday upheld a decision that Teva Pharmaceuticals improperly listed its asthma inhaler patents in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book, saying that only patents that claim a drug's active ingredient can be included in the database.
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December 20, 2024
Asus Can't Overturn $660K Patent Verdict At Fed. Circ.
Federal Circuit judges were unpersuaded Friday to do anything about an almost $660,000 jury verdict against laptop maker Asus, deciding that the Taiwanese electronics business was largely too late to ask questions about the ownership of a patent developed by a defunct chipmaker over two decades ago.
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December 20, 2024
6th Circ. To Group FedEx, Kellogg Pension Data Appeals
The Sixth Circuit on Thursday rejected a request to stay a case alleging FedEx Corp. uses outdated actuarial assumptions in calculating certain retirees' annuities, pending a similar appeal from Kellogg Co. retirees, saying it would instead group the cases together.
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December 20, 2024
Court Opens Window For Patient To Pierce COVID Immunity
A Michigan appellate court said Wednesday medical malpractice claims from a patient seeking help for pandemic-related stress were barred because her hospital admittance and alleged injuries had a connection to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the court directed a lower court to consider letting the patient plead a gross negligence exception to the state's pandemic response immunity.
Editor's Picks
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12 Lawyers Who Are The Future Of The Supreme Court Bar
One attorney hasn't lost a single U.S. Supreme Court case she's argued, or even a single justice's vote. One attorney is perhaps "the preeminent SCOTUS advocate." And one may soon become U.S. solicitor general, despite acknowledging there are "judges out there who don't like me." All three are among a dozen lawyers in the vanguard of the Supreme Court bar's next generation, poised to follow in the footsteps of the bar's current icons.
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How Reshaped Circuit Courts Are Faring At The High Court
Seminal rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court's latest term will reshape many facets of American society in the coming years. Already, however, the rulings offer glimpses of how the justices view specific circuit courts, which have themselves been reshaped by an abundance of new judges.
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Law360's Guide To Biden's Judicial Picks
UPDATED December 20, 2024 | President Joe Biden is shaping the federal judiciary by adding to the courts' professional and demographic diversity — a sharp break from former President Donald Trump, who made the judiciary more homogeneous as the judges confirmed under him were 84% white and 76% male.
Expert Analysis
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Reviewing 2024's Crucial Patent Law Developments
As 2024 draws to a close, significant rulings and policies aimed at modernizing long-standing legal practices or addressing emerging challenges have reached patent law, says Michael Ellenberger at Rothwell Figg.
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Contract Disputes Recap: Adjustments, Preclusion, Waivers
Ken Kanzawa at Seyfarth examines three recent decisions from the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals that examine distinctions between requests for equitable adjustments and claims, forum selection and res judicata, and the waiver of penalties for expressly unallowable costs.
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The Justices' Securities Rulings, Dismissals That Defined '24
The U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 securities rulings led to increased success for defendants' price impact arguments, but the justices' decisions not to weigh in on important issues relating to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act's pleading requirements may be just as significant, say attorneys at Skadden.
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10 Noteworthy CFPB Developments From 2024
In a banner year for consumer finance regulation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made significant strides in its efforts to rein in Big Tech and nonbank financial firms, including via rules regarding open banking, credit card late fees, and buy now, pay later products, say attorneys at Wiley.
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Series
Fixing Up Cars Makes Me A Better Lawyer
From problem-solving to patience and adaptability to organization, the skills developed working under the hood of a car directly translate to being a more effective lawyer, says Christopher Mdeway at Kaufman Dolowich.
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2024 Has Been A Momentous Year For ESG
Significant developments in the environmental, social and governance landscape this year include new legislation, evolving global frameworks, continued litigation and enforcement actions, and a U.S. Supreme Court decision that has already affected how lower courts have viewed some ESG challenges, say attorneys at Katten.
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Making The Pitch To Grow Your Company's Legal Team
In a compressed economy, convincing the C-suite to invest in additional legal talent can be a herculean task, but a convincing pitch — supported by metrics and cost analyses — may help in-house counsel justify the growth of their team, say Elizabeth Smith and Roger Garceau at Major Lindsey.
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Justices May Find Gov't Can Keep Fraudulent Transfer Benefit
Based on the justices' questions at the recently argued U.S. v. Miller, the Supreme Court appears prepared to hold that the U.S. — unlike any other creditor — is permitted to retain the benefits of a fraudulent transfer to the detriment of other bankruptcy creditors, says Kevin Morse at Clark Hill.
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Why Letters Of Protection Are Discoverable In Texas PI Suits
Recent Texas Supreme Court opinions and key provisions of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure make letters of protection, in which plaintiff attorneys promise payment to healthcare providers based on jury awards, discoverable — good news for defendants fighting exorbitant damage claims in personal injury cases, says Nathan Vrazel at Munsch Hardt.
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4 Trade Secret Pointers From 2024's Key IP Law Developments
Four significant 2024 developments in trade secret law yield practical tips about defending trade secrets overseas, proving unjust enrichment claims, forcing compliance with posttrial orders and using restrictive covenants to prevent employee leaks of confidential intellectual property, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.
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Data Privacy Landscape After Mass. Justices' Wiretap Ruling
In Vita v. New England Baptist Hospital, Massachusetts’ highest court recently ruled that the state’s wiretap law doesn’t prohibit all tracking of website user activity, but major financial and reputational risks remain for businesses that aren't transparent about customer’s web data, says Seth Berman at Nutter.
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Ledbetter's Legacy Shines In 2024 Equal Pay Law Updates
The federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act turned 15 this year, and its namesake's legacy is likely to endure in 2025 and beyond, as demonstrated by 2024's state- and local-level progress on pay equity, as well as several rulings from federal appellate courts, say attorneys at Fisher Phillips.
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Opinion
Justices Rightly Corrected Course In Nvidia And Facebook
By dismissing both the Nvidia and Facebook class actions, over investors' ability to hold corporations accountable for fraud, the U.S. Supreme Court was right in refusing to favor corporations over transparency, and reaffirmed its commitment to corporate accountability, investor protection and the rule of law, says Laura Posner at Cohen Milstein.
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Top 10 Whistleblowing And Retaliation Events Of 2024
From a Florida federal court’s ruling that the False Claims Act’s qui tam provision is unconstitutional to a record-breaking number of whistleblower tips filed with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, employers saw significant developments in the federal and state whistleblower landscapes this year, say attorneys at Proskauer.
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When US Privilege Law Applies To Docs Made Outside The US
As globalization manifests itself in disputes over foreign-created documents, a California federal court’s recent trademark decision illustrates nuances of both U.S. privilege frameworks and foreign evidentiary protections that attorneys must increasingly bear in mind, say attorneys at Hunton.