Appellate

  • July 16, 2025

    Pittsburgh Defense Atty Suspended After Soliciting 'Teen' Decoy

    A Pittsburgh criminal defense attorney agreed to have his law license suspended after he was convicted and sentenced to up to seven years in state prison for soliciting sex from what he thought was a 15-year-old girl, according to an order filed Wednesday with Pennsylvania's Supreme Court.

  • July 16, 2025

    4th Circ. Upends Gated Community's Win In Fair Housing Row

    The owner of several assisted-living group homes for seniors won a second chance Tuesday to press claims that his Maryland gated community is illegally refusing to let him open a new home there, with the Fourth Circuit ruling that a reasonable jury could find violations of the federal Fair Housing Act.

  • July 16, 2025

    8th Circ. Sends Part Of OptumRx Pricing Fight To Arbitration

    The Eighth Circuit partially reversed a ruling Wednesday that denied pharmacy benefits manager OptumRx's bid to send a drugstore's proposed class action over generics prescription reimbursements to arbitration, finding that OptumRx waived arbitration as to three claims, but an arbitrator must decide the fate of two recently pleaded claims.

  • July 16, 2025

    Nonprofits Taking Immigrant Legal Aid Fight To DC Circ.

    Nonprofit groups that are trying to stop the U.S. Department of Justice from cutting off funding to four programs that provide legal information to noncitizens are taking their fight with the Trump administration to the D.C. Circuit after a federal judge killed their lawsuit.

  • July 16, 2025

    Pharmacy Benefit Managers Say Ohio Can't Recast Suit

    The state of Ohio can't "recast its complaint on appeal" in order to convince the Sixth Circuit that its enforcement suit accusing two pharmacy benefit managers of working to raise the cost of prescription drugs belongs in state court, those managers have told the appellate court.

  • July 16, 2025

    Trump Taps Ex-Thomas, Kavanaugh Clerk For 3rd Circ.

    President Donald Trump announced on social media Wednesday that he has chosen a Catholic University of America law professor, who is currently serving in the White House Counsel's office and has clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, to serve on the Third Circuit.

  • July 16, 2025

    2nd Circ. Backs Argentina In Bondholders' $360M Debt Suit

    Argentine debtholders claiming the country owes them more than $360 million in improperly withheld payments lost their case before the Second Circuit on Wednesday, which ruled that the bonds' governing documents prohibited the lawsuits.

  • July 16, 2025

    Bojangles Managers Ask To Redo Cert. After 4th Circ. Setback

    Managers at the fast-food chain Bojangles asked a North Carolina federal judge Wednesday to certify more than a dozen subclasses in their wage and hour case, arguing that there's still a path forward after the Fourth Circuit sent them back to the drawing board on certification.

  • July 16, 2025

    8th Circ. Backs Enhanced Sentence In SD Carjacking Case

    The Eighth Circuit ruled on Wednesday that a man convicted of aiding and abetting a carjacking and various firearms charges cannot have his nearly 20-year prison term overturned after being given a sentence enhancement.

  • July 16, 2025

    Fla. Panel Reverses Evidence Suppression In Drug Case

    A Florida state appeals panel on Wednesday reversed a lower court and held that evidence from a search warrant in a drug possession case should be allowed at trial, finding that police were justified in suspecting the defendant's home contained evidence.

  • July 16, 2025

    Cornell Workers Urge 2nd Circ. Remand Suit Justices Revived

    Cornell University workers urged the Second Circuit to remand their sweeping class action alleging retirement plan mismanagement to New York federal court, arguing that the lower court should decide whether to hold a jury trial on a claim that the U.S. Supreme Court revived in April.

  • July 16, 2025

    Penske Tells 5th Circ. To Ax Freight Broker Negligence Case

    Trucking services giant Penske Logistics LLC and an affiliate told the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday that the family of a man killed in a 2018 Texas collision cannot revive their wrongful death suit seeking to hold Penske liable for negligently hiring the unsafe motor carrier that caused the accident.

  • July 16, 2025

    Split 7th Circ. Backs NCAA In Eligibility Rule Antitrust Suit

    A split Seventh Circuit on Wednesday overturned a decision granting a University of Wisconsin football player another year of eligibility, finding that the college athlete hasn't shown he is likely to succeed on his claim that the National Collegiate Athletic Association's five-year rule restrains competition in violation of federal antitrust laws.

  • July 16, 2025

    Mass. Judges To Mull Dismissals Amid Defender Pay Standoff

    Nearly two months after many court-appointed attorneys in Massachusetts stopped accepting new cases over what they say is poor pay, a solution still appears elusive, even as judges will soon start hearing motions to dismiss cases under an emergency order issued by a state high court justice.

  • July 16, 2025

    Justice Kavanaugh Pauses 8th Circ.'s Voting Rights Ruling

    Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Wednesday administratively paused an Eighth Circuit decision to vacate two North Dakota tribes' challenge to two of the state's voting laws, pending the outcome of a forthcoming petition to the full high court.

  • July 16, 2025

    DOJ Tells 9th Circ. TPS Cancellation Delay Can't Stand

    The U.S. Department of Justice maintained that the Ninth Circuit should vacate a California federal judge's order postponing its termination of temporary protected status for Venezuelans, based on the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling curtailing nationwide injunctions.

  • July 16, 2025

    9th Circ. Tosses Atty-Farmer's Suit Over USDA Organic Label

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday upheld a U.S. Department of Agriculture rule allowing farm collectives in the U.S. and other countries to be certified as "organic" under one certificate and not inspected annually, tossing an attorney-turned-Oregon hazelnut farmer's suit alleging Turkish growers were defrauding the system.

  • July 16, 2025

    States Push To Keep Nationwide Block On Birthright Order

    A coalition of states told a Massachusetts federal court Tuesday that nothing less than a nationwide injunction can provide complete relief in the states' case against President Donald Trump's executive order targeting birthright citizenship.

  • July 16, 2025

    NBA Bolsters Case For Justices To Review VPPA Scope

    The NBA is amplifying its push for the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Second Circuit decision that revived a Video Privacy Protection Act suit against the league for sharing user data, saying appellate courts have splintered on the issue since it filed its March petition.

  • July 16, 2025

    Flowers Foods Pushes Justices To Take Up Arbitration Case

    Flowers Foods pressed the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to take up a case in which the Tenth Circuit decided to keep a distributor's overtime suit out of arbitration, urging the justices to cure a deep circuit split once and for all.

  • July 16, 2025

    NC Rec Center Immune In Overheating Wrongful Death Suit

    A North Carolina state appeals panel on Wednesday cleared a Scotland County recreational center in a suit alleging that its negligence led to the death from overheating of a basketball player, finding that the center is entitled to governmental immunity.

  • July 16, 2025

    Charity Care Is Not Unconstitutional Taking, NJ Justices Rule

    The New Jersey Supreme Court on Wednesday held that a state requirement to treat patients regardless of the patient's ability to pay does not amount to unconstitutional per se or regulatory taking, backing a lower court's decision that dismissed a group of Garden State hospitals' challenge to the requirement.

  • July 16, 2025

    Biz Seeks To Drive Ga. Law Firm Fee Fight Out Of Arbitration

    A former client of Herman Jones LLP urged a Georgia state appeals court to overturn a trial judge's decision to send a lawsuit over legal fees to arbitration, arguing that the law firm waived arbitration and the trial court should have decided a pending anti-SLAPP motion before ruling on the firm's bid to arbitrate.

  • July 16, 2025

    2nd Circ. Revives TM Suit Over Chinese Speaker Shipment

    The Second Circuit has reinstated a trademark case from speaker manufacturer Altec Lansing over another company's purchase of speakers with Altec's branding from a Chinese company, saying Altec had created a genuine dispute over the nature of the sale.

  • July 16, 2025

    Cheesesteak Maker Gets 2 Mos. Sliced From Prison Sentence

    A member of the family behind the popular Tony Luke's cheesesteak shop in South Philadelphia was re-sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison, marking a two-month reduction of the original term he'd received for paying employees under the table.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Enviro To Mid-Law

    Author Photo

    Practitioners leaving a longtime government role for private practice — as when I departed the U.S. Department of Justice’s environmental enforcement division — should prioritize finding a firm that shares their principles, values their experience and will invest in their transition, says John Cruden at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • Independent Contractor Rule Up In The Air Under New DOL

    Author Photo

    In several recent court challenges, the U.S. Department of Labor has indicated its intent to revoke the 2024 independent contractor rule, sending a clear signal that it will not defend the Biden-era rule on the merits in anticipation of further rulemaking, say attorneys at Jackson Lewis.

  • Why Trade Cases May Put Maple Leaf Deference On Review

    Author Photo

    When litigation challenging the president’s trade actions reaches the Federal Circuit, the court will have to reevaluate the Maple Leaf standard in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 Loper Bright decision limiting Chevron-like deference to cases involving statutory provisions in which Congress delegated discretionary authority to the executive branch, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • A Look At Probabilistic Tracing After High Court's Slack Ruling

    Author Photo

    Recent decisions following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Slack v. Pirani have increased the difficulty of pleading Securities Act claims for securities issued in direct listings by rejecting the use of statistical probabilities to establish that share purchases were traceable to a challenged registration statement, says Jonathan Richman at Brown Rudnick.

  • Legal Ethics Considerations For Law Firm Pro Bono Deals

    Author Photo

    If a law firm enters into a pro bono deal with the Trump administration in exchange for avoiding or removing an executive order, it has an ethical obligation to create a written settlement agreement with specific terms, which would mitigate some potential conflict of interest problems, says Andrew Altschul at Buchanan Angeli.

  • How To Address FCA Risk After 4th Circ. Ruling On DEI Orders

    Author Photo

    Following the Fourth Circuit's ruling in National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education v. Trump, which freed the administration to enforce executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs, government contractors should take stock of potentially unlawful DEI programs, given their heightened risk under the False Claims Act, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Del. Dispatch: Open Issues After Corp. Law Amendments

    Author Photo

    Recent amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law represent a significant change in the future structuring of boards and how the First State will approach conflicted transactions, but Delaware courts may interpret the amendments narrowly, limiting their impact, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Series

    Playing Football Made Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    While my football career ended over 15 years ago, the lessons the sport taught me about grit, accountability and resilience have stayed with me and will continue to help me succeed as an attorney, says Bert McBride at Trenam.

  • What Del. Supreme Court LKQ Decision Means For M&A Deals

    Author Photo

    The Delaware Supreme Court's recent decision in LKQ v. Rutledge greatly increases the enforceability of forfeiture-for-competition provisions, representing an important affirmation of earlier precedent and making it likely that such agreements will become more common in M&A transactions, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • 10 Arbitrations And A 5th Circ. Ruling Flag Arb. Clause Risks

    Author Photo

    The ongoing arbitral saga of Sullivan v. Feldman, which has engendered proceedings before 10 different arbitrators in Texas and Louisiana along with last month's Fifth Circuit opinion, showcases both the risks and limitations of arbitration clauses in retainer agreements for resolving attorney-client disputes, says Christopher Blazejewski at Sherin and Lodgen.

  • How High Court's Cornell Decision Will Affect ERISA Suits

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Cunningham v. Cornell, characterizing prohibited transaction exemptions as affirmative defenses, sets the bar very low for initiating Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation, and will likely affect many plan sponsors with similar service agreements, says Carol Buckmann at Cohen & Buckmann.

  • Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

    Author Photo

    The first quarter of 2025 was filled with the refinement of old theories in the property and casualty space, including in vehicle valuation, time to seek appraisal and materials depreciation, says Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler.

  • 2nd Circ. Ruling May Aid Consistent Interpretation Of ADA

    Author Photo

    In Tudor v. Whitehall Central School District, the Second Circuit joined the majority of circuits by holding that an employee's ability to perform their job without an accommodation does not disqualify them from receiving one, marking a notable step toward uniform application of the Americans with Disabilities Act nationwide, says Michelle Grant at Wilson Elser.

  • EPA's Proposed GHG Reform Could Hinder Climate Regulation

    Author Photo

    The Trump administration will reconsider the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's landmark 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding, which could leave the U.S. federal government with no statutory authority whatsoever to regulate climate change or greenhouse gas emissions, says David Smith at Manatt.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: The Value Of Unified State Licensing

    Author Photo

    Texas' proposal to become the latest state to license paraprofessional providers of limited legal services could help firms expand their reach and improve access to justice, but consumers, attorneys and allied legal professionals would benefit even more if similar programs across the country become more uniform, says Michael Houlberg at the University of Denver.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Appellate archive.