Appellate

  • November 08, 2024

    Gov't Union Continues Organizing Push For DOJ Attys

    Attorneys in the U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights and environment divisions are stepping up their efforts to organize with the National Treasury Employees Union, the union confirmed Friday, as federal workers brace for coming changes under President-elect Donald Trump's new administration.

  • November 08, 2024

    NJ Appeals Panel Rejects Convicted Ex-Atty's Bid For Relief

    The New Jersey Appellate Division turned down on Friday a former attorney's bid for review of her conviction on participating in an $873,000 mortgage fraud scheme, in which she claimed she was barred from the full range of cross-examination at trial that she should have had the right to.

  • November 08, 2024

    3rd Circ. Unsure Progressive Can Undo Car Value Suit Cert.

    A Third Circuit panel on Friday grappled with whether an adjustment that Progressive Specialty Insurance Co. did every time it calculated the value of a totaled vehicle was enough to warrant class certification for a lawsuit claiming the adjustment was unfair, or if classwide treatment was inappropriate when each class member could have a different outcome of that assessment.

  • November 08, 2024

    Mass. Hay Farm Not Eligible For Ag Tax Break, Court Affirms

    A Massachusetts land parcel that is used for growing and harvesting hay is not eligible for a reduced tax assessment as agricultural land because not enough of the parcel is devoted to the haying operation, the state Court of Appeals affirmed Friday.

  • November 08, 2024

    DC Judge Freezes Election Subversion Case Against Trump

    A D.C. federal judge on Friday wiped out the schedule in the case accusing President-elect Donald Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, granting a postelection request from the special counsel's office prosecuting the case.

  • November 08, 2024

    Mass. Justices Order Return Of Failed Engagement Ring

    Massachusetts' highest court on Friday told a jilted bride seeking to hold on to a $70,000 Tiffany diamond engagement ring that she must return it to her former fiancé, calling it quits on a 65-year-old precedent concerning who gets to keep a ring after a breakup.

  • November 07, 2024

    Man Gets 2 Yrs. For Illegally Accessing Ginsburg's Health Info

    A former healthcare industry worker who was accused of illegally accessing U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's healthcare records and posting them online was sentenced Thursday in Virginia federal court to two years in prison, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

  • November 07, 2024

    7th Circ. Affirms Warrantless Use of Surveillance Cameras

    The Seventh Circuit is standing by its decision that putting a pole up to observe someone's home without a warrant doesn't trample their Fourth Amendment rights because it doesn't constitute a search.

  • November 07, 2024

    3rd Circ. Says Tainted Bayer Antifungals Clearly 'Worth Less'

    Four of the nine named plaintiffs in a proposed class action over Bayer's 2021 recall of potentially benzene-tainted antifungal sprays can revive their claims against the company on the grounds that they'd paid for an effectively worthless product, a Third Circuit panel ruled Thursday.

  • November 07, 2024

    Trans Patients Say Fla. Ban On Care Should Be Bias Tested

    A proposed class of transgender individuals asking for the reversal of a ruling blocking Florida's ban on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care told the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday that hostile discrimination analysis of statutes applies to classes beyond those recognized as "suspect" or "quasi-suspect."

  • November 07, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Questions Gov't Analysis For Omani Nail Duties

    A Federal Circuit panel wrestled Thursday with an Omani steel nail producer's claims that the U.S. Department of Commerce used distorted data to calculate its anti-dumping duties, with judges contemplating whether the alleged agency error was an innocuous one.

  • November 07, 2024

    Flagstar Customer Asks 6th Circ. To Revive Overdraft Fee Suit

    A Flagstar Bank customer has urged the Sixth Circuit to revive her class claims alleging the bank charged surprise overdraft fees, arguing that a Michigan district court failed to follow the "settled rules" dictating that ambiguous contract terms should be interpreted against the drafter.

  • November 07, 2024

    11th Circ. Affirms Judgment Against Fired Ga. Tech Coach

    The Eleventh Circuit declined to revive longtime women's basketball coach MaChelle Joseph's discrimination and retaliation claims against Georgia Tech, concluding Thursday that Title IX does not provide an implied right of action for sex discrimination in employment.

  • November 07, 2024

    ACLU Asks 11th Circ. To Back Ga. Deputy's Trans Health Win

    The full Eleventh Circuit shouldn't roll back a transgender deputy's win in her lawsuit challenging a Georgia county's refusal to pay for gender-affirmation surgery, the American Civil Liberties Union and legal groups argued Thursday, saying the U.S. Supreme Court's Bostock decision made clear that such policies violate federal law.

  • November 07, 2024

    9th Circ. Finds No Jurisdiction In LG Chem Battery Suit

    The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a suit against LG Chem Ltd. over a lithium-ion battery used in an e-cigarette that allegedly burned a California man, finding that the lower court was correct in holding that it had no jurisdiction over the case.

  • November 07, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Questions Expert's Background In 4G Patent Case

    A Federal Circuit judge suggested Thursday that the court might vacate a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision partly invalidating a Sisvel 4G wireless patent challenged by Honeywell and others, saying the board relied on an expert who may not have the necessary qualifications.

  • November 07, 2024

    Net Neutrality Foes See 6th Circ. Clearing Path To End Rules

    Recent arguments in the Sixth Circuit over the Federal Communications Commission's controversial net neutrality restrictions didn't give a definitive indication of how judges will decide the issue, but the rule's opponents are buoyed by questions that appeared at times to lean in their favor.

  • November 07, 2024

    Sutter Health Could Face Retrial On Antitrust Claims In March

    Sutter Health is headed back to trial after the Ninth Circuit said "highly relevant" evidence was excluded from the 2022 trial where the hospital chain defeated claims that it had driven up the cost of insurance, and the court overseeing the matter says March is the earliest it can do.

  • November 07, 2024

    Wash. High Court Picks Stephens As Next Chief Justice

    Washington State Supreme Court justices voted Wednesday to elevate Debra L. Stephens as the court's next chief justice, with the change set to take effect in January.

  • November 07, 2024

    Alaska Flyers Lodge Emergency 9th Circ. Bid To Halt Merger

    Flyers and travel agents hoping to block Alaska Airlines' $1.9 billion merger with Hawaiian Airlines are asking the Ninth Circuit for an emergency halt to any further integration between the companies while they appeal a district court's dismissal of their suit, telling the judges consumers will be hurt if the merger continues.

  • November 07, 2024

    Teamsters Tell 10th Circ. To Nix Yellow's Contract Claims

    The Tenth Circuit must uphold a district court's decision to dismiss Yellow Corp.'s $137 million lawsuit against the Teamsters, the union said, arguing the business didn't exhaust the grievance process under a contract and can't claim that making such an effort would have been pointless.

  • November 07, 2024

    Fla. Counties Say Notice Was Insufficient In $5B Bond Deal

    A group of Florida counties and tax collectors asked the Florida Supreme Court Thursday to reverse a decision that found they could not reopen a bond validation judgment issuing $5 billion in bonds for renewable energy and hurricane mitigation projects, arguing they were not given proper notice of the bond validation hearing.

  • November 07, 2024

    7th Circ. Sends Refuge Power Line Fight Back To Wis. Judge

    A Seventh Circuit panel scrapped stayed preliminary injunctions that temporarily blocked a power transmission line from crossing the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, directing a Wisconsin federal judge to determine if conservation groups' request for permanent relief is warranted or even possible with the line now built.

  • November 07, 2024

    11th Circ. Revives Project Veritas' CNN Defamation Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit reversed the dismissal of Project Veritas' defamation lawsuit against CNN on Thursday, saying the group's claim was plausibly alleged against the news network over an anchor's on-air characterization of why the organization was suspended from Twitter, the social media website now named X.

  • November 07, 2024

    Ariz. Textile Launderer Denied Manufacturing Tax Break

    An Arizona company that launders, sanitizes and rents textiles to the healthcare industry was correctly denied a use tax exemption because it was not a manufacturing or processing operation eligible for the break, an Arizona appeals court said Thursday.

Expert Analysis

  • The Rise Of State And Local Environmental Leadership

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    While Congress is deadlocked, and a U.S. Supreme Court with a hostility toward the administrative state aggressively dismantles federal environmental oversight, state and local governments are stepping up with policies to shape a more sustainable future for all species, says Jonathan Rosenbloom at Albany Law School.

  • Questions Linger About DTSA's Scope After Motorola Ruling

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    The Seventh Circuit’s recent ruling in Motorola v. Hytera, which held that the Defend Trade Secrets Act applies extraterritorially, does not address whether an act that furthers misappropriation must be committed by the defendant in order to satisfy the law's extraterritoriality requirement, say Ilissa Samplin and Grace Hart at Gibson Dunn.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Slowing Down AI In Medical Research

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision overturning the Chevron doctrine may inhibit agencies' regulatory efforts, potentially slowing down the approval and implementation of artificial intelligence-driven methodologies in medical research, as well as regulators' responses to public health emergencies, say Ragini Acharya and Matthew Deutsch at Husch Blackwell.

  • What High Court TM Rulings Tell Us About Free Speech

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    Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings show tension between free speech and trademark law, highlighting that while political mockery is protected, established brands may be forced to adapt to evolving cultural values, says William Scott Goldman at Goldman Law Group.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Uncertainty In Scope Of ITC Oversight

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    The U.S. International Trade Commission's long-standing jurisprudence on some of the most disputed and controversial issues is likely to be reshaped by the Federal Circuit, which is no longer bound by Chevron deference in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, say Kecia Reynolds and Madeleine Moss at Paul Hastings.

  • 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.

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