Appellate

  • July 10, 2024

    Nassar Sex Abuse Law Not Retroactive, Mich. Justices Say

    The Michigan Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that a legislative change to extend civil suit deadlines for certain victims of sexual assault as minors does not apply retroactively, finding that claims from a man who said he was assaulted by a priest in the 1990s were untimely.

  • July 10, 2024

    Houston Attys Escape Defamation Suit Over Sex Assault Case

    A Texas appeals court said a group of Houston attorneys could escape a defamation suit brought by a man accused of sexual assault by one of their clients, writing that he did "not even raise a scintilla of evidence" that the attorneys knew statements they made to the media about their client's case were false.

  • July 10, 2024

    Energy Cos., States Seek Review Of Calif. Emissions Decision

    Industry groups and a coalition of states led by Ohio are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a D.C. Circuit ruling upholding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's approval of a waiver letting California set greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles and run a zero-emission vehicles program.

  • July 10, 2024

    Florida Court Overturns $2M Med Mal Arbitration Award

    A Florida appeals court on Wednesday effectively vacated an arbitration award of more than $2 million in a suit accusing a hospital of causing a stroke patient's death due to alleged malpractice, saying proposed expert testimony regarding the patient's life expectancy should've been admitted.

  • July 10, 2024

    Judge Newman Faces More Hurdles In Bid To End Suspension

    With the dismissal of Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's lawsuit against her colleagues over her suspension, experts say she faces significant challenges in securing a different outcome on appeal or persuading the court's other judges to let her hear cases again.

  • July 10, 2024

    Attys Bolt In Groups 'All The Time,' Colo. Judge Says

    A Colorado judge hearing the appeal of an attorney who lost a jury trial in which she was accused of trying to lure colleagues away from a well-known regional personal injury firm noted Wednesday that lawyers commonly leave their firms in groups.

  • July 10, 2024

    ​GOP Bombards Agencies With Demands After Chevron's End

    Republican leaders of major congressional committees Wednesday demanded details from dozens of agencies on policies suddenly shrouded in uncertainty after U.S. Supreme Court conservatives overturned the so-called Chevron doctrine, which for 40 years gave regulators flexibility in rulemaking and advantages in related litigation.

  • July 10, 2024

    FCC To Fine Telecom Involved In Universal Service Challenge

    The Federal Communications Commission is moving forward with a $100,000 fine against an Ohio-based telecommunications company over late paperwork with the Universal Service Administration.

  • July 10, 2024

    4th Circ. Says Parole Entry Did Not Interrupt Residency Status

    The Fourth Circuit ruled that a Ghanaian national retained his status as a lawful permanent resident and is therefore eligible for U.S. citizenship, even though border officials refused to admit him into the country following a misdemeanor conviction for embezzlement.

  • July 10, 2024

    'Wrong In Every Way': 11th Circ. Judges Rip VRA Ruling

    A trio of Eleventh Circuit judges castigated their colleagues Wednesday for refusing to revisit a decision upholding an allegedly discriminatory Georgia electoral system, charging that their "novel, dramatic, and wrong" conclusions have made Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act "a dead letter" within the circuit.

  • July 10, 2024

    3rd Circ. Questions Authority Of Fish Management Councils

    The Third Circuit on Wednesday grappled with whether the "Fishery Management Councils" that set plans and limits for ocean fisheries are merely advisers to the commerce secretary or if they're empowered enough for their members to be subject to Senate confirmation, with one judge suggesting that the panels are essentially "toothless."

  • July 10, 2024

    Mont. High Court Weighs Youths' Right To Sue In Climate Case

    The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday wrestled with whether to revive state law provisions that bar the consideration of greenhouse gas emissions in permitting decisions that were struck down by a lower court judge, querying both sides whether the youth plaintiffs had standing to sue.

  • July 10, 2024

    Washington Justices To Tackle CARES Act Eviction Split

    Washington's Supreme Court has agreed to review whether the CARES Act eviction notice only applies to tenants who are late on rent, and not to violent tenants targeted by landlords for quick removal.

  • July 10, 2024

    10th Circ. Now Seems Unsure 'Tiger King' Violated Copyright

    A Tenth Circuit panel that cited the U.S. Supreme Court's Warhol decision in holding that Netflix Inc. could not dodge a copyright complaint for including a funeral video clip in its "Tiger King" docuseries sounded more skeptical about the plaintiffs' arguments during a rehearing Wednesday, grilling counsel about why the short video was not fair use.

  • July 10, 2024

    Wash. Justices To Review Worker's Asbestos Exposure Row

    Washington's highest court agreed to review whether the deliberate intention exception in the state's Industrial Insurance Act prevented a worker from asserting personal injuries against his former employer's successor over a claim that his mesothelioma was caused by employment-related asbestos exposure.

  • July 10, 2024

    NJ Panel Says Tax Amendment Challenge Had No Real Claim

    A New Jersey state appeals court on Wednesday tossed a challenge to an amendment blocking certain appeals from being litigated in the state's tax court, reasoning that parties can still fight tax matters in trial court.

  • July 10, 2024

    NJ Justices OK Class Waivers Sans Arbitration Mandates

    Class action waivers don't require a mandatory arbitration provision to be enforceable, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, while also warning that waivers deemed unconscionable for other reasons may be invalidated.

  • July 10, 2024

    9th Circ. Says Nev. Call Center Agents' Bootup Warrants Trial

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday revived, for a second time, call center agents' collective action alleging the time spent turning on and off their computers before their shifts is payable under the Fair Labor Standards Act, finding that to be a factual issue that should be resolved through a jury trial.

  • July 10, 2024

    Nike Wins Another Look At TM Atty Fees Ruling At 3rd Circ.

    The Third Circuit on Wednesday undid a $5 million attorney fee award to a Pennsylvania clothing manufacturer that sued Nike Inc. for trademark infringement, ordering a federal trial court to look more closely at the specifics of the case to determine if the outcome was truly "exceptional."

  • July 10, 2024

    Bang Energy Drink Co. Ex-CEO Urges DQ Of Ch. 11 Judge

    The former CEO of the company that makes Bang energy drinks urged the disqualification of a Florida federal bankruptcy judge and called for an investigation, alleging that the judge committed misconduct in the company's Chapter 11 case, according to a complaint filed with the Eleventh Circuit.

  • July 10, 2024

    Margolis Edelstein Fights Bid To Revive Malpractice Suit

    An attorney representing Margolis Edelstein told the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday that an insurer's malpractice suit against the law firm shouldn't be revived as the firm's purported negligence wasn't the reason the insurer settled an underlying dispute for $1.2 million.

  • July 10, 2024

    7th Circ. Won't Renew Honeywell DEI Video White Bias Suit

    The Seventh Circuit refused Wednesday to revive a former Honeywell engineer's claims he was unlawfully fired after he declined to watch a diversity, equity and inclusion training film that he claimed vilified white people, ruling he was only making assumptions since he never watched the video.

  • July 10, 2024

    Teamsters Lose 3rd Circ. Fight Over Belated Wage Grievance

    The Third Circuit on Wednesday issued a rare opinion declining to enforce a union's arbitration win, saying a Teamsters unit waited too long to challenge a cemetery operator's read of their new contract's raise language.

  • July 10, 2024

    Ocasio-Cortez Seeks Impeachment Of Justices Thomas, Alito

    New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez filed articles of impeachment against U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito on Wednesday following a year of revelations about their repeated failures to disclose the acceptance of luxury travel and gifts, refusals to recuse in certain cases and other purported ethics violations.

  • July 10, 2024

    2nd Circ. Won't Rethink Arbitration Denial In ERISA Suit

    The Second Circuit declined to reconsider its May ruling that a group of financial services companies can't compel individual arbitration of a proposed class action accusing them of overcharging an employee stock ownership plan, rejecting one company's argument that the panel unfairly displayed "hostility to arbitration."

Expert Analysis

  • What Have We Learned In The Year Since Warhol?

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    In the almost year since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith, which was widely seen as potentially chilling to creative endeavors, seven subsequent decisions — while illuminating to some extent — do not indicate any trend toward a radical departure from prior precedents in fair use cases, says ​​​​​​​Jose Sariego at Bilzin Sumberg.

  • The Practical Effects Of Justices' Arbitration Exemption Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries, that a transportation worker need not work in the transportation industry to be exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act, may negatively affect employers' efforts to mitigate class action risk via arbitration agreement enforcement, say Charles Schoenwetter and Eric Olson at Bowman and Brooke.

  • Binance Ruling Spotlights Muddled Post-Morrison Landscape

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    The Second Circuit's recent decision in Williams v. Binance highlights the judiciary's struggle to apply the U.S. Supreme Court's Morrison v. National Australia Bank ruling to digital assets, and illustrates how Morrison's territorial limits on the federal securities laws have become convoluted, say Andrew Rhys Davies and Jessica Lewis at WilmerHale.

  • Practical Pointers After Fed. Circ. Double-Patenting Decision

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    With the Federal Circuit recently denying a full court review of In re: Cellect, a decision regarding obviousness-type double-patenting, affected patent family holders should evaluate their rights through both patent prosecution and future litigation lenses to minimize risks, say Austin Lorch and Jeff Wolfson at Haynes Boone.

  • Sorting Circuit Split On Foreign Arbitration Treaty's Authority

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    A circuit court split over whether the New York Convention supersedes state law barring arbitration in certain disputes — a frequent issue in insurance matters — has left lower courts to rely on conflicting decisions, but the doctrine of self-executing treaties makes it clear that the convention overrules state law, says Gary Shaw at Pillsbury.

  • Corp. Transparency Act Could Survive 11th Circ. Several Ways

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    If the Eleventh Circuit upholds an Alabama federal court’s injunction against the Corporate Transparency Act, the anti-money laundering law could persist as a narrower version that could moot some constitutional challenges, but these remedies would likely generate additional regulatory or statutory ambiguities that would result in further litigation, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Del. Match.com Ruling Maintains Precedent In Time Of Change

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    Despite speculation that the Delaware Supreme Court could drive away corporations if it lowered the bar for business judgment review in its Match.com stockholder ruling, the court broke its recent run of controversial precedent-busting decisions by upholding, and arguably strengthening, minority stockholder protections against controller coercion, say Renee Zaytsev and Marc Ayala at Boies Schiller.

  • The Future Of BIPA Insurance Litigation After Visual Pak

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    A recent Illinois appellate court decision, National Fire Insurance v. Visual Pak, may have altered the future of insurance litigation under the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act by diametrically opposing a prominent Seventh Circuit ruling that found insurance coverage for violations of the act, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Macquarie Ruling Raises The Bar For Securities Fraud Claims

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week in Macquarie Infrastructure v. Moab Partners — holding that a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule does not forbid omissions in company disclosures unless they render other statements false — is a major setback for plaintiffs pursuing securities fraud claims against corporations, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Patent Lessons From 8 Federal Circuit Reversals In March

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    A number of Federal Circuit patent decisions last month reversed or vacated underlying rulings, providing guidance regarding the definiteness of a claim that include multiple limitations of different scopes, the importance of adequate jury instruction, the proper scope of the precedent, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.

  • NC Rulings Show Bankruptcy Isn't Only For Insolvent Debtors

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    Two recent rulings from a North Carolina bankruptcy court show that lack of financial distress is not a requirement for bankruptcy protection, particularly in the Fourth Circuit, but these types of cases can still be dismissed for other reasons, say Stuart Gordon and Alexandria Vath at Rivkin Radler.

  • A Look At Ex Parte Seizures 8 Years Post-DTSA

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    In the eight years since the Defend Trade Secrets Act was enacted, not much has changed for jurisprudence on ex parte seizures, but a few seminal rulings show that there still isn’t a bright line on what qualifies as extraordinary circumstances warranting a seizure, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Series

    Whitewater Kayaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Whether it's seeing clients and their issues from a new perspective, or staying nimble in a moment of intense challenge, the lessons learned from whitewater kayaking transcend the rapids of a river and prepare attorneys for the courtroom and beyond, says Matthew Kent at Alston & Bird.

  • 10 Years After Alice, Predictability Debate Lingers

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    A decade after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Alice ruling, critics continue to argue that the subject matter eligibility framework it established yields inconsistent results, but that contention is disproved by affirmance data from the Federal Circuit, district courts and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, say Dennis Abdelnour and David Thomas at Honigman.

  • Cannabis Ruling Lights Path For Bankruptcy Protection

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    A recent Massachusetts bankruptcy appellate court ruling in Blumsack v. Harrington leaves the door open for those employed in the cannabis industry to seek bankruptcy relief where certain conditions are met, but rescheduling marijuana as a Schedule III drug may complicate matters, say Jane Haviland and Kathryn Droumbakis at Mintz.

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