Appellate

  • November 25, 2024

    DOJ Says Realtor Commissions Deal Is No Antitrust Shield

    The U.S. Department of Justice warned the National Association of Realtors that changes to broker commission rules agreed to in a settlement with home sellers does not shield the industry from government antitrust scrutiny.

  • November 25, 2024

    7th Circ. Says Insurers' Billing Dispute Belongs In Arbitration

    An arbitrator must decide whether prior arbitral awards issued in a billing dispute between Nationwide insurers and a CNA unit preclude a new arbitration proceeding between the parties, the Seventh Circuit ruled, saying the court's precedent required that outcome.

  • November 25, 2024

    TD Ameritrade Urges High Court To Reject Patent Case

    TD Ameritrade said there is no reason for the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Federal Circuit decision in its favor in high-stakes litigation over computerized banking patents, pushing back at arguments that the justices should look at the circuit court's one-line orders in patent cases.

  • November 25, 2024

    BigLaw Backs Barnes & Thornburg In Ga. Malpractice Appeal

    More than two dozen law firms with a footprint in Georgia have told the state Supreme Court that a former client's legal malpractice claims against Barnes & Thornburg LLP were rightfully dismissed, arguing the doctrine of judgmental immunity has protected attorneys in the state for honest judgment calls for 150 years.

  • November 25, 2024

    DC Circ. Won't Rehear Allowing H-1B Spousal Work Permits

    The District of Columbia Circuit has denied a petition to reconsider its decision upholding an Obama-era program allowing some spouses of highly skilled foreign workers to obtain work permits.

  • November 25, 2024

    Attys Fight Discovery Sanctions In Bob Dylan Abuse Suit

    An attorney for two solo practitioners sanctioned for not turning over discovery material in a now-abandoned sexual assault suit against Bob Dylan told Second Circuit judges Monday that "lawyers are not their clients," arguing that the pair never personally disregarded a court order or instructed their client to do so.

  • November 25, 2024

    Cornell Workers Tell Justices To Nix 2nd Circ. ERISA Reading

    A group of Cornell University workers told the U.S. Supreme Court the Second Circuit improperly looked beyond federal benefits law to back the tossing of their lawsuit alleging their retirement plans were mismanaged, arguing the statute's prohibited transaction provision requires plan sponsors to show they deserve an exemption.

  • November 25, 2024

    Justices Nix Removal Relief After Cannabinoid Conviction

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition from a Mexican citizen and U.S. resident seeking relief from a Board of Immigration Appeals order which determined his deportation from the country was justified due partly to a Texas conviction for possessing a synthetic cannabinoid.

  • November 25, 2024

    Justices Won't Hear Takings Clause Claim For Wrecked House

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a woman's petition seeking to review a Fifth Circuit decision that held McKinney, Texas, did not need to compensate her for destroying her home while resolving a hostage situation with an armed fugitive.

  • November 25, 2024

    Jack Smith Asks To Dismiss Trump Cases

    Special Counsel Jack Smith on Monday moved to drop the federal prosecutions of President-elect Donald Trump in D.C. and Florida, citing longstanding Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president while insisting that the government "stands fully behind" the merits of the charges.

  • November 25, 2024

    Justices Pass On Ex-Atty's Puerto Rico Bribery Appeal

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the bribery convictions of a former attorney who solicited and accepted payments from an environmental contractor to influence three Puerto Rican mayors and helped the contractor secure government contracts worth millions of dollars.

  • November 25, 2024

    High Court Refuses To Review FDA Cigarette Warning Rule

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said that it won't take up a challenge to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule requiring larger warnings on cigarette boxes, in a suit brought by tobacco companies.

  • November 25, 2024

    Justices Reject Patent Case Challenging Newman Suspension

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to hear an appeal by a company that owns a background check patent invalidated for claiming only an abstract idea and that argued it was deprived of a fair hearing at the Federal Circuit due to the suspension of Judge Pauline Newman.

  • November 25, 2024

    Justices Turn Away $10M Tanker Seizure Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will not review a petition asking it to resolve if courts are bound by "hard-and-fast" rules limiting their inquiry into whether a property can be seized to enforce a maritime debt, an issue the petitioner argued affected "fundamental principles of admiralty law."

  • November 25, 2024

    Justices Turn Away Suit Over Data Extraction Award

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to take up a petition asking it to resolve whether a court or an arbitrator should decide the preclusive effect of a prior judgment, in a case stemming from a soured data extraction services contract involving a mortgage industry data analytics firm.

  • November 25, 2024

    Justices Won't Review Mich. Gun Range Ban

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a proposed gun range's challenge to a Michigan town's zoning denial, denying its petition over Second Amendment protections for firearm training.

  • November 24, 2024

    Full Fed. Circ. To Rethink AI Contractor's Win In $376M Fight

    The full Federal Circuit agreed Friday to rehear a high-profile decision that revived an artificial intelligence company's protest over its exclusion from a $376.4 million procurement, seeking to clarify who counts as an "interested party" that can protest contract awards.

  • November 22, 2024

    Del Monte's 'Fruit Naturals' Label Not Deceptive, 9th Circ. Says

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday refused to revive a California woman's proposed class action accusing Del Monte Foods of falsely advertising fruit cups as being "natural" despite containing synthetic preservatives, saying a reasonable consumer would know to read the products' back label to confirm the ingredients.

  • November 22, 2024

    Split DC Circ. Punts On FINRA's Constitutionality

    A partially divided D.C. Circuit panel on Friday blocked the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority from removing Alpine Securities Corp. from its membership rolls while the corporation sues in federal court to challenge the agency's constitutionality, which the appeals court declined to remark on.

  • November 22, 2024

    Pam Bondi's 'Greatest Hits' As Florida Attorney General

    In her eight years as attorney general of Florida, Pam Bondi — who has been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump as attorney general — took on pill mills and telemarketing scams targeting the state's large elderly population, while also leading GOP state efforts to battle the Obama administration.

  • November 22, 2024

    Retirement Contributions Found Not Disposable In Ch. 13

    A split Ninth Circuit on Friday held that voluntary contributions to employer-managed retirement plans are not disposable income under Chapter 13 bankruptcy, reversing a lower court's decision that required a debtor to include $484 in monthly retirement contributions in her disposable income.

  • November 22, 2024

    Taco Bell's 'Inconsistent' Stance Revives Fla. Fall Suit

    A Florida state appellate court on Friday reversed a ruling that tossed a slip-and-fall injury lawsuit against Taco Bell, citing the restaurant's "logically inconsistent" position admitting that a customer ignored a freshly mopped restroom floor but proceeded to dispute that the floor was actually wet.

  • November 22, 2024

    Texas Justices Say Court Bungled Ruling In Abortion Case

    The Texas Supreme Court said Friday a lower appellate court tried to "prematurely drag the judiciary into highly contentious and politicized debates" around abortion without analyzing a key standing issue, jeopardizing Planned Parenthood's and other abortion rights groups' bid to invalidate the controversial Texas Heartbeat Act.

  • November 22, 2024

    11th Circ. Panel Weighs Remanding Florida Trans Health Fight

    The Eleventh Circuit on Friday appeared unlikely to affirm a lower court's ruling to invalidate a Florida state law banning Medicaid payments for gender-affirming medical care, with two judges on the panel asking attorneys for specifics about additional analysis of discriminatory factors on a potential remand.

  • November 22, 2024

    High Court Bar's Future: Sullivan & Cromwell's Morgan Ratner

    Morgan L. Ratner has emerged as a leader of the U.S. Supreme Court bar's next generation, and she attributes her ascent to brilliant mentors, a laid-back argument style, an aversion to overconfidence and a firm commitment to clear principles in every case — even if that means reluctantly telling the chief justice, as she once did, that a hypothetical cat stuck in a tree shouldn't be saved.

Expert Analysis

  • Racing Patents To The Fed. Circ.: Collateral Estoppel Lessons

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    As more and more parties find themselves in two different forums addressing the same issues and then competing in a race to the Federal Circuit, certain strategies can help despite unanswered questions on when Patent Trial and Appeal Board determinations trigger collateral estoppel, say attorneys at Akin.

  • Nvidia Supreme Court Case May Not Make Big Splash

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    The skeptical tenor of the justices' questioning at oral argument in Nvidia v. Ohman Fonder suggests that the case is unlikely to alter the motion to dismiss pleading standard in securities class actions, as some had feared, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Circus Arts Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing circus arts has strengthened my ability to be more thoughtful, confident and grounded, all of which has enhanced my legal practice and allowed me to serve clients in a more meaningful way, says Bailey McGowan at Stinson.

  • Purse-Case Scenarios: 'MetaBirkin' Appeal Tests TM Rights

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    A federal court's finding that "MetaBirkin" nonfungible tokens infringed on Hermes' iconic Birkin bag imagery is now on appeal in the Second Circuit, and the order will have a lasting effect on how courts balance trademark rights and the First Amendment, say attorneys at Venable.

  • 3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less

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    Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.

  • 6th Circ. Ruling Prevents Disability Insurer Overreach

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    The Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in McEachin v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance offers disability insurance claimants guidance on how they might challenge misapplications of policy limitations for mental illness when a medical condition accounts for their disability, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Unclear Criteria, Data Rights, Conflicts

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    Liam Bowers at MoFo examines three recent decisions from the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims examining the use of unstated evaluation criteria, an agency's investigation of its own data rights and unequal access to information about an organizational conflict of interest.

  • The Bar Needs More Clarity On The Discovery Objection Rule

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    Almost 10 years after Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 was amended, attorneys still seem confused about what they should include in objections to discovery requests, and until the rules committee provides additional clarity, practitioners must beware the steep costs of noncompliance, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Law Office.

  • Foreclosing Lenders Still Floating In Murky Legal Waters In NY

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    The New York foreclosure landscape remains in disarray after the state's highest court last month declined to weigh in on whether legal changes from 2022 that severely curtailed lenders' ability to bring successive foreclosure cases were retroactive, says Brian Rich at Barclay Damon.

  • In Terror Case, DC Circ. Must Weigh Justices' Twitter Ruling

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    When the D.C. Circuit hears oral argument in AstraZeneca UK v. Atchley, how the court interprets the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Twitter v. Taamneh will have a significant impact on future claims brought under the Anti-Terrorism Act and Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, say attorneys at Lewis Baach.

  • Series

    Being A Navy Reservist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving this country in uniform has not only been one of the greatest honors of my life, but it has also provided me with opportunities to broaden my legal acumen and interpersonal skills in ways that have indelibly contributed to my civilian practice, says Phillip Smith at Weinberg Wheeler.

  • So You Want To Move Your Law Practice To Canada, Eh?

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    Google searches for how to move to Canada have surged in the wake of the U.S. presidential election, and if you’re an attorney considering a move to the Great White North, you’ll need to understand how the practice of law differs across the border, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.

  • 3 Policyholder Lessons From NY Bad Faith Ruling

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    A New York appellate court's recent decision finding that Rockefeller University alleged viable bad faith claims against its insurers reinforces the principle that insurers may not elevate their own economic interests over those of their insureds, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • In SF Water Case, Justices Signal How Loper May Be Applied

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    Skeptical questions from U.S. Supreme Court justices during oral argument in San Francisco v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offer hints of how the court intends to apply limits on agency regulatory autonomy established last term in Loper Bright, says Karen Cullinane at Goldberg Segalla.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: November Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses six federal court decisions that touch on Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and when individual inquiries are needed to prove economic loss.

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