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Appellate
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July 08, 2024
3rd Circ. Doubts SEC Properly Served Ponzi Scheme Suspect
The Third Circuit on Monday appeared skeptical of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's bid to maintain a default judgment against a Swiss resident accused of operating a $1.4 million Ponzi scheme, peppering the agency with questions about how the complaint was served.
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July 08, 2024
Baseless Lawsuit Rule A 'Catch-22' For Texans, 5th Circ. Told
Those that are labeled vexatious litigants under a Texas statute meant to restrict baseless lawsuits are stuck in a "catch-22" if they seek to file legitimate litigation, a group of Texans told the Fifth Circuit on Monday.
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July 08, 2024
Clinic Is Liable For Botched Operations, NC Justices Told
A patient claiming she underwent unnecessary and flawed spinal surgery at the hands of a defrocked doctor urged the North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday to let stand a ruling that the practice where he worked and its physicians can be held liable for her treatment.
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July 08, 2024
Senate Confirms 7th Circ. Judge GOP Slammed For Backlog
The Senate voted 47-43 on Monday evening to confirm U.S. District Judge Nancy L. Maldonado to the Seventh Circuit.
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July 08, 2024
Federal Circuit Doubts Impropriety Of $4K H-1B Fraud Fee
A Federal Circuit panel seemed unpersuaded Monday by an argument from software companies that a $4,000 fraud fee for H-1B visa petitions does not apply to noncitizens in the U.S. seeking to change their nonimmigrant visa status to H-1B.
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July 08, 2024
Texas Anesthesia Co. Can't Pause Or Appeal Suit, FTC Says
The Federal Trade Commission urged a Texas federal court not to pause its suit accusing U.S. Anesthesia Partners Inc. of a monopolistic "roll-up" of Lone Star State anesthesia practices, arguing the company can't appeal an order refusing to toss the case against it.
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July 08, 2024
Justices Told To Ignore 'Hopeless' Challenge To Antitrust Test
A group of wholesalers who say the makers of 5-Hour Energy illegally favored Costco in distributing the energy drink shots told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to reject the drink-maker's certiorari petition, saying it asks the justices to take on the role of fact-finders.
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July 08, 2024
8th Circ. Won't Review Immigration Hardship Determination
A split Eighth Circuit panel held Monday that it can't review whether a Mexican man's U.S. citizen children will experience extreme hardship if he's removed, saying the underlying decision denying him removal relief is discretionary and therefore shielded from judicial review.
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July 08, 2024
9th Circ. Denies Northrop Retirees' Bid For New Judge
A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday shot down Northrop Grumman pensioners' bid to have their proposed ERISA class action tried before another judge, after two different appellate court panels overturned a lower court judge's two previous dismissals in the matter.
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July 08, 2024
11th Circ. Revives Fla. Worker's Retaliation Claim
The Eleventh Circuit partially revived a retaliation suit brought by a Florida construction worker who claims he was harassed for being Cuban and unable to speak English and threatened and assaulted after reporting the behavior, before being fired by a company that said it found him sleeping on the job.
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July 08, 2024
9th Circ. Revives Liability Claims In Welder's Injury Suit
The Ninth Circuit has mostly reversed a summary judgment order that freed a hoist maker and maintenance company from product liability and negligence claims by a welder who was injured when the hoist came loose and struck him in the head.
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July 08, 2024
DraftKings Hiding Ball On Noncompete Law, 1st Circ. Told
A former DraftKings executive fighting a noncompete so he can work for rival sports-betting upstart Fanatics has told the First Circuit his ex-employer is overlooking the importance of a California law that could unwind the restrictive covenant.
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July 08, 2024
Mich. Justices Back Funeral Costs Imposed Years After Murder
The Michigan Supreme Court said Monday that it is not unconstitutional to apply current restitution laws to old crimes, finding that restitution awards do not run afoul of constitutional prohibitions on retroactively making the consequences of a crime harsher.
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July 08, 2024
Trump Allies Push For Fani Willis DQ In Election Case
A pro-Donald Trump think tank has thrown its support behind the former president's bid at the Georgia Court of Appeals to have a trial court's decision reversed and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis disqualified from prosecuting Trump and 18 co-defendants over interference in the 2020 election.
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July 08, 2024
DC Circ. Supports NLRB Order Against Puerto Rico Hospital
The National Labor Relations Board rightly found that a hospital in Puerto Rico violated federal labor law by unilaterally slashing workers' hours, the D.C. Circuit ruled, saying the hospital can't excuse its actions with claims about financial effects from the pandemic.
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July 08, 2024
Rite Aid Says Elixir Buyer In Contempt Over Liability Dispute
Bankrupt pharmacy chain Rite Aid has asked a New Jersey bankruptcy judge to find the purchaser of its prescription benefits subsidiary in contempt, saying the buyer is defying his orders by refusing to assume $200 million of the subsidiary's liabilities.
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July 08, 2024
UnitedHealth's Cross-Plan Offsetting Affirmed By 8th Circ.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed Monday a Minnesota federal judge's decision to toss a suit from patients insured by UnitedHealth Group alleging a billing practice known as cross-plan offsetting violated federal benefits law, finding the lower court properly concluded the patients hadn't sufficiently established injury.
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July 08, 2024
House Hearing Postponed For Trump's NY Prosecutors
The House Judiciary Committee's hearing with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and top prosecutor Matthew Colangelo on former President Donald Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts has been postponed.
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July 08, 2024
1st Circ. Nominee Cut Teeth As 'Victim-Centered' Prosecutor
Maine Superior Court Justice and First Circuit nominee Julia Lipez spent most of her legal career prosecuting federal human trafficking cases, an experience former colleagues say demonstrates her sense of fairness and a sharp focus on the well-being of victims.
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July 08, 2024
The Biggest Patent Rulings Of 2024: A Midyear Report
The Federal Circuit issued its first en banc patent decision since 2018, a circuit judge's suspension was solidified and courts shed further light on foreign damages and skinny labels. Here's a look back at these rulings and other top patent decisions from the first half of 2024.
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July 08, 2024
US Supreme Court Term In Review: What You Need To Know
Judicial deference, agency courts, presidential immunity, abortion and social media moderation were just some of the issues the U.S. Supreme Court considered in its latest term.
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July 08, 2024
Biden Says Reelection Crucial To Supreme Court Reform
President Joe Biden told congressional Democrats his reelection is crucial to bringing about "real" reforms to the U.S. Supreme Court in a letter Monday rejecting calls for him to back out of the presidential race.
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July 05, 2024
Antitrust Partner In Fatal Crash Remembered As A Mentor
Present and past colleagues this week remembered Molly Donovan, a partner at antitrust boutique Bona Law PC who died in a tragic accident earlier this month, as a powerhouse with an intricate understanding of antitrust matters who always maintained a positive outlook no matter what the status of a case.
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July 05, 2024
Judge Says Michigan Not Immune From Enbridge's Line 5 Suit
A federal judge ruled on Friday that Michigan state officials can't quash a lawsuit from Enbridge Energy LP aimed at ending their efforts to shut down a U.S.-Canada pipeline that traverses the Great Lakes State.
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July 05, 2024
9th Circ. Backs Remand Of Cedars-Sinai Patient Data Suits
The Ninth Circuit held Friday that a trio of proposed class actions accusing Cedars-Sinai of improperly sharing patients' personal information with tech companies indeed belong in California state court, agreeing with a lower court that the health provider wasn't acting at the direction of the federal government.
Expert Analysis
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One Contract Fix Can Reduce Employer Lawsuit Exposure
A recent Fifth Circuit ruling that saved FedEx over $365 million highlights how a one-sentence limitation provision on an employment application or in an at-will employment agreement may be the easiest cost-savings measure for employers against legal claims, say Sara O'Keefe and William Wortel at BCLP.
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What 11th Circ. FCRA Ruling Means For Credit Furnishers
Credit furnishers should revisit their internal investigation and verification procedures after the Eleventh Circuit declined last month in Holden v. Holiday to impose a bright-line rule that only purely factual or transcription errors are actionable under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, say Diana Eng and Michael Esposito at Blank Rome.
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High Court Injunction Case Could Shake Up Fee-Shifting Rules
In agreeing to review a Virginia case rendered statutorily moot before final judgment, the U.S. Supreme Court could finally settle the question of if — and when — a preliminary injunction can win attorney fees for a prevailing party, but all possible answers could disrupt fee-shifting schemes written into major laws, says Laurens Wilkes at Winston & Strawn.
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Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content
From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.
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The State Of Play In DEI And ESG 1 Year After Harvard Ruling
Almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, attorney general scrutiny of environmental, social and governance-related efforts indicates a potential path for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to be targeted, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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Patent Lessons From 4 Federal Circuit Reversals In April
Four Federal Circuit decisions in April that reversed or vacated underlying rulings provide a number of takeaways, including that obviousness analysis requires a flexible approach, that an invalidity issue of an expired patent can be moot, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.
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CFPB Poised To Up The Ante After Supreme Court Victory
When the U.S. Supreme Court emphatically ruled last week that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure did not violate the Constitution, the agency boasted that it was "here to stay," signaling that it is moving full steam ahead with its regulatory, enforcement and supervisory agenda, says Jim Sandy at McGlinchey Stafford.
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2nd Circ. Ruling Affirms NY Law's Creditor-Friendly Approach
The Second Circuit’s recent ruling in 245 Park Member v. HNA International provides creditors with some reason for optimism that debtors in New York may face rejection in court for aiming to keep creditors at arm’s length by transferring personal assets into an LLC, says Jeff Newton at Omni Bridgeway.
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When Oral Settlements Reached In Mediation Are Enforceable
A recent decision by the New Jersey Appellate Division illustrates the difficulties that may arise in trying to enforce an oral settlement agreement reached in mediation, but adherence to certain practices can improve the likelihood that such an agreement will be binding, says Richard Mason at MasonADR.
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Series
Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer
While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.
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In Debate Over High Court Wording, 'Wetland' Remains Murky
Though the U.S. Supreme Court's decision limiting the Clean Water Act’s wetlands jurisdiction is now a year old, Sackett v. EPA's practical consequences for property owners are still evolving as federal agencies and private parties advance competing interpretations of the court's language and methods for distinguishing wetlands in lower courts, says Neal McAliley at Carlton Fields.
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Navigating Title VII Compliance And Litigation Post-Muldrow
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Muldrow v. St. Louis has broadened the scope of Title VII litigation, meaning employers must reassess their practices to ensure compliance across jurisdictions and conduct more detailed factual analyses to defend against claims effectively, say Robert Pepple and Christopher Stevens at Nixon Peabody.
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How CFPB Credit Card Rules Slot Into Broader Considerations
Swirling legal challenges against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent rulemaking concerning credit card late fees raise questions about how regulated entities should respond to the bureau's rules — and how quickly they should act, say Caitlin Mandel and Elizabeth Ireland at Winston & Strawn.
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Perspectives
Public Interest Attorneys Are Key To Preserving Voting Rights
Fourteen states passed laws restricting or limiting voting access last year, highlighting the need to support public interest lawyers who serve as bulwarks against such antidemocratic actions — especially in an election year, says Verna Williams at Equal Justice Works.
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Insurer Quota-Sharing Lessons From $112M Bad Faith Verdict
In Indiana GRQ v. American Guarantee and Liability Insurance, an Indiana federal jury recently issued a landmark $112 million bad faith verdict, illustrating why insurers must understand the interplay between bad faith law and quota-sharing before entering into these relatively new arrangements, say Jason Reichlyn and Christopher Sakauye at Dykema.