Appellate

  • September 04, 2024

    FCC Sued In 5th Circ. Over Wi-Fi Plan For Schools, Libraries

    A couple who run an anti-cyberbullying nonprofit are suing the Federal Communications Commission in the Fifth Circuit over its new rules to subsidize Wi-Fi service for school and library users off campus, saying the subsidy violates limits built into the law that created the E-Rate program.

  • September 04, 2024

    Tort Report: 'Landmark' $16M Crash Verdict Against Amazon

    A "landmark" verdict out of Georgia that put Amazon on the hook for an independent contractor delivery driver's negligence and a hearing-impaired Florida physician's disciplinary matter lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

  • September 04, 2024

    9th Circ. Blocks Calif.'s Social Media Content Disclosure Law

    The Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday that a trial judge wrongly denied X Corp.'s bid to block parts of a new California law that requires social media giants to disclose their content-moderation policies, finding that provisions requiring the companies to disclose how and whether they define extreme content are likely unconstitutional.

  • September 04, 2024

    Chamber Backs Gilead's Immunity In COVID Appeal

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a trade association representing drug companies have urged a Michigan state appeals court to rule that Gilead Sciences is immune from a claim that a recalled batch of COVID-19 medication caused a man to suffer two strokes.

  • September 04, 2024

    LinkedIn Speech Not Covered By Labor Law, 5th Circ. Told

    A logistics company told a Fifth Circuit panel during oral arguments Wednesday that an employee who was fired for allegedly disparaging comments made over LinkedIn wasn't protected under labor law, although the panel pointed out that an employee can take protected wage complaints to outside parties.

  • September 04, 2024

    Fintech Investor Tries To Undo 'Formulistic' Nix Of NCino Suit

    A pension fund invested in financial technology company nCino Inc. urged Delaware's Supreme Court on Wednesday to revive its suit against company directors and investment firm Insight Venture Partners over a $1.2 billion acquisition, arguing the Chancery Court "missed the mosaic for the tiles" by dismissing the case.

  • September 04, 2024

    2nd Circ. Hears Unvaxxed NY Judge's 'Exile' Challenge

    A Second Circuit panel on Wednesday voiced some skepticism of a bid to revive a New York state judge's lawsuit over his "exile" after he failed to get a religious exemption from the court system's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

  • September 04, 2024

    4th Circ. Says Trade Secrets Verdict Wrongly Based On Va. Law

    The Fourth Circuit wants a Virginia federal court to take another crack at a trade secrets dispute brought by an industrial equipment supplier against a former employee who founded and operated two competitors while working for it, concluding a jury's verdict was based on the wrong laws.

  • September 04, 2024

    Full DC Circuit Refuses To Save Green Cards For Visa Winners

    Thousands of diversity visa winners lost their yearslong court battle to obtain their green cards, when the full D.C. Circuit declined to review a panel decision barring the U.S. Department of State from processing their expired visa applications.

  • September 04, 2024

    Ga. Justices Take On Barnes & Thornburg Malpractice Case

    The Georgia Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to consider reviving a legal malpractice lawsuit against Barnes & Thornburg LLP over its handling of an underlying case against a life insurance company, with the justices focused on whether the doctrine of judgmental immunity should have barred the claims.

  • September 04, 2024

    1st Circ. Unsure If Texts In Pot Bribe Case Crossed State Lines

    A First Circuit panel on Wednesday expressed skepticism that the simple sending of an iMessage through an Apple cellphone satisfies the element of wire fraud requiring interstate communication, entertaining a Massachusetts attorney's challenge to his convictions for seeking to bribe a police chief to win a local marijuana license.

  • September 04, 2024

    Insurer Must Cover Woman's Fire Claim, Wash. Panel Says

    An insurer must cover a woman's claim for damage to her former home after she was assaulted and set on fire by her ex-husband, a Washington state appeals court ruled, finding that a domestic abuse exception to the policy's intentional loss exclusion applies.

  • September 04, 2024

    Texas Justices OK Some Online Learning For Bar Admission

    The Texas Supreme Court has announced rule changes that would allow certain online degree programs to qualify for admission to the State Bar of Texas.

  • September 04, 2024

    2nd Circ. Says Free E-Book Library Not Fair Use

    The Second Circuit on Wednesday rejected a nonprofit digital library's fair use defense of its practice of distributing copyrighted e-books for free, ruling in favor of a group of book publishers in a closely watched case.

  • September 04, 2024

    Ga. Justices Disbar Atty For Abandoning Clients' Cases

    The Supreme Court of Georgia has disbarred an attorney after his late filings cost his clients more than $800,000 combined in default judgment and medical costs, concluding on Wednesday that such a strong move in response to his misconduct is supported by the court's precedent.

  • September 04, 2024

    Chief Justice Brister To Bring 20 Years' Wisdom To 15th Court

    For newly appointed Chief Justice Scott A. Brister of the Fifteenth Court of Appeals of Texas, the creation of a new statewide appeals court came at the perfect time.

  • September 04, 2024

    Election Year Surprise? GOP Judges Opening Seats For Biden

    Well ahead of fall elections that could flip the White House and U.S. Senate to Republicans, many GOP-appointed judges are retiring and giving Democrats opportunities to fill key seats before Republicans can capitalize on any wins at the polls, and several of the judges discussed the political backdrop with Law360.

  • September 04, 2024

    Ga. Justices Affirm Rejection Of Class In Patient Privacy Suit

    The Georgia Supreme Court said Wednesday that a Fulton County trial court acted within its discretion when it denied class certification for a suit over a release of patient records from a private mental health hospital, overturning a Georgia Court of Appeals ruling.

  • September 04, 2024

    Atty Disbarred In Fla. Over Sexual Messages To Client

    The Florida Supreme Court has disbarred an Ohio attorney for sending inappropriate sexual text messages to a client, more than a year after the Buckeye State high court handed the lawyer a two-year suspension for the same misconduct.

  • September 04, 2024

    EPA Coke Ovens Rule Challenged By Green Groups, Industry

    Green groups and a coke-making business have kicked off challenges to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rule strengthening emission standards for hazardous air pollutants like benzene, mercury, lead and arsenic that are emitted by coke oven facilities.

  • September 04, 2024

    Cos. Tell High Court Biden Can't Hike Contractors' Min. Wage

    The Tenth Circuit pushed the borders of the Procurement Act too much when it blessed President Joe Biden's decision to increase federal contractors' hourly minimum wage, two outdoor groups told the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the law doesn't authorize wage increases.

  • September 04, 2024

    Concrete Co. Owes Workers $370K, Wash. Panel Says

    A Washington appeals court refused to overturn a state agency's determination that a concrete company owes workers more than $370,000 in wages for working at a disposal site, saying the work was sufficiently related to a public works project to trigger the state's prevailing wage law.

  • September 04, 2024

    J&J Hit With $1B Damages In Del. Merger Milestone Fight

    Johnson & Johnson owes more than $1 billion to a medical robotics developer and entrepreneur caught up in a multibillion-dollar post-acquisition dispute, a Delaware vice chancellor ruled Wednesday.

  • September 03, 2024

    8th Circ. Again Scraps Class Cert. For TD Ameritrade Clients

    The Eighth Circuit reversed Tuesday a lower court's ruling certifying a class of TD Ameritrade clients for the second time in a lawsuit alleging the stockbroker routed orders to trading venues that didn't always provide the best execution, rejecting the named plaintiff's new class-wide damages theory based on commissions.

  • September 03, 2024

    Army Corps Gets 150K Comments Against Enbridge Pipeline

    Environmental, health and faith groups have joined the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians in submitting about 150,000 comments to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opposing Enbridge Inc.'s plans to reroute its controversial Line 5 pipeline.

Expert Analysis

  • Half-Truths Vs. Omissions: Slicing Justices' Macquarie Cake

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Macquarie v. Moab provides a road map for determining whether corporate reports that omit information should be considered misleading — and the court baked it into a dessert analogy that is key to understanding the guidelines, say Daniel Levy and Pavithra Kumar at Advanced Analytical Consulting Group.

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • Chevron's End Puts Target On CFPB's Aggressive BNPL Rule

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    A recent interpretative rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, subjecting buy-now, pay-later loans to the same regulations as credit cards, is unlikely to survive post-Chevron challenges of the rule's partisan and shaky logic, say Scott Pearson and Bryan Schneider at Manatt.

  • Justices' Ch. 11 Ruling Is A Big Moment For Debtors' Insurers

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Truck Insurance v. Kaiser Gypsum ruling upends decades of Chapter 11 bankruptcy jurisprudence that relegated a debtor’s insurer to the sidelines, giving insurers a new footing to try and avoid significant liability, say Stuart Gordon and Benjamin Wisher at Rivkin Radler.

  • Justices' Starbucks Ruling May Limit NLRB Injunction Wins

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Starbucks v. McKinney, adopting a more stringent test for National Labor Relations Board Section 10(j) injunctions, may lessen the frequency with which employers must defend against injunctions alongside parallel unfair labor practice charges, say David Pryzbylski and Colleen Schade at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • Justices' Criminal Law Decisions: The Term In Review

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    Each of the 11 criminal decisions issued in the U.S. Supreme Court’s recently concluded term is independently important, but taken together, they reveal trends in the court’s broader approach to criminal law, presenting both pitfalls and opportunities for defendants and their counsel, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: July Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers cases touching on pre- and post-conviction detainment conditions, communications with class representatives, when the American Pipe tolling doctrine stops applying to modified classes, and more.

  • 7th Circ. Motorola Ruling Raises Stakes Of DTSA Litigation

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    The Seventh Circuit’s recent ruling in Motorola v. Hytera gives plaintiffs a powerful tool to recover damages, greatly increasing the incentive to bring Defend Trade Secrets Act claims against defendants with large global sales because those sales could generate large settlements, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Bid Protest Litigation Will Hold Steady For Now

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    Though the substantive holding of Loper Bright is unlikely to affect bid protests because questions of statutory interpretation are rare, the spirit of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision may signal a general trend away from agency deference even on the complex technical issues that often arise, say Kayleigh Scalzo and Andrew Guy at Covington.

  • Challenging Prosecutors' Use Of Defendants' Jail Phone Calls

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    Although it’s an uphill battle under current case law, counsel for pretrial detainees may be able to challenge prosecutors’ use of jail-recorded phone calls between the defendant and their attorney by taking certain advance measures, say Jim McLoughlin and Fielding Huseth at Moore & Van Allen.

  • How NJ Worker Status Ruling Benefits Real Estate Industry

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    In Kennedy v. Weichert, the New Jersey Supreme Court recently said a real estate agent’s employment contract would supersede the usual ABC test analysis to determine his classification as an independent contractor, preserving operational flexibility for the industry — and potentially others, say Jason Finkelstein and Dalila Haden at Cole Schotz.

  • 3 Policyholder Tips After Calif. Ruling Denying D&O Coverage

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    A California decision from June, Practice Fusion v. Freedom Specialty Insurance, denying a company's claim seeking reimbursement under a directors and officers insurance policy for its settlement with the Justice Department, highlights the importance of coordinating coverage for all operational risks and the danger of broad exclusionary policy language, says Geoffrey Fehling at Hunton.

  • Opinion

    Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism

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    As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.

  • Opinion

    High Court Made Profound Mistake In Tossing Purdue Deal

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to throw out Purdue Pharma's Chapter 11 plan jeopardizes a multistate agreement that would provide approximately $7 billion in much-needed relief to help fight the opioid epidemic, with states now likely doomed to spend years chasing individual defendants across the globe, says Swain Wood at Morningstar.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Piercing FEMA Authority Is Not Insurmountable

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    While the Federal Emergency Management Agency's discretionary authority continues to provide significant protection from claims under the Administrative Procedure Act, Loper Bright is a blow to the argument that Congress gave FEMA unfettered discretion to administer its own programs, says Wendy Huff Ellard at Baker Donelson.

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