Appellate

  • March 13, 2025

    Mich. High Court Unsure Of GOP Role In Poll Worker Parity

    Michigan Supreme Court justices mulled whether the Republican Party has standing to seek better representation of its party in the election workforce on Thursday while hinting mootness could present a wrinkle in the two-year-old case.

  • March 13, 2025

    Cavanagh Selected As Mich. Supreme Court's Chief Justice

    Justice Megan K. Cavanagh will become the Michigan Supreme Court's chief justice when Justice Elizabeth T. Clement steps down next month, the court announced Thursday. 

  • March 13, 2025

    Colo. Panel Keeps Workers' Comp Law Out Of Contractor Suit

    An independent contractor cannot use Colorado's workers' compensation law to limit the damages awarded to a colleague for his negligence claim over an on-the-job injury, a state appeals panel ruled Thursday, saying that the two worked together, but not for each other.

  • March 13, 2025

    6th Circ. Won't Rehear Ex-Electric Co. Exec's Severance Suit

    The Sixth Circuit will not rethink its panel decision upholding the dismissal of a severance suit brought by American Electric Power Services Corp.'s former chief digital officer who claimed he was shortchanged on his way out the door, according to a Thursday order.

  • March 13, 2025

    Rink Can't Escape Skater's Party Injury Claim, Ill. Panel Says

    An Illinois skating rink was incorrectly handed a pre-trial win over accusations that its failure to keep a floor supervisor on duty during a backward-skating round caused a man's injury during a birthday party, a state appellate panel said Wednesday.  

  • March 13, 2025

    Full 4th Circ. Urged To Rethink Drug Price-Fixing Class Action

    The Fourth Circuit's dismissal of a proposed class action accusing drug companies of conspiring to inflate the price of a drug for Huntington's disease has deepened a circuit split on proving injury under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a group of reimbursement recovery entities has said in asking the full court to rethink the ruling.

  • March 13, 2025

    Colo. Appeals Court Affirms $2.6M Award To Car Crash Victim

    A Colorado Court of Appeals panel on Thursday declined to throw out a jury's $2.6 million economic damages award to a car accident victim following arguments that her experts didn't explicitly state her medical expenses were of "reasonable value," finding the jury had enough information to reach their decision.

  • March 13, 2025

    9th Circ. Affirms Ex-Uber Exec's Conviction Over Data Breach

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday affirmed a former Uber security executive's conviction for attempting to cover up a data breach from government investigators, rejecting his challenges to the jury instructions and strength of the evidence.

  • March 13, 2025

    Del.'s Divisive Corporate Law Rework Passes In State Senate

    Divisive amendments to Delaware's general corporation law cleared the state Senate Thursday with multiple questions but little debate and without dissenting votes, and will now be sent to the House amid warnings that failure to approve could weaken the state's standing as a top corporate charter hub.

  • March 13, 2025

    Mich. Justices Struggle With Line-Drawing For Rental Use

    Michigan Supreme Court justices on Thursday said they were struggling with where to draw the line for when homes can be rented short-term as property owners along a Lake Michigan neighborhood urged the state's top court to reverse a lower court's decision that said a restrictive covenant barred all vacation rentals.

  • March 13, 2025

    Swimsuit Pics App Maker Can't Revive Suit Against Facebook

    California appellate justices on Wednesday refused to revive an app developer's contract breach suit alleging Facebook rescinded its commitment to provide third-party developers with access to user data, rendering his app for finding users' swimsuit photos unworkable, after concluding Facebook's terms expressly said it could limit developers' access to data.

  • March 13, 2025

    5th Circ. Sides With NLRB On Reconsidered Exxon Ruling

    The National Labor Relations Board didn't overstep by wiping out and rethinking a decision involving an Exxon Mobil unit after learning a member had a stake in the company, the Fifth Circuit said, enforcing the board's ruling that the company sabotaged negotiations with a union.

  • March 13, 2025

    5th Circ. Asks If Enforcement Delay Affects CTA Challenge

    The Fifth Circuit has asked for supplemental briefing in a challenge against the Corporate Transparency Act, asking whether the case is affected by the U.S. Treasury Department's recent decision to suspend enforcement of reporting rules for domestic companies.

  • March 13, 2025

    Solicitor General Pick, 2 More DOJ Noms Go To Full Senate

    The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted out of committee the nomination of President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, Dean John Sauer, to be solicitor general and two other nominees for major U.S. Department of Justice roles, all along party lines.

  • March 12, 2025

    Calif. Asks Justices To Ax Fuel Groups' Clean Air Waiver Suit

    California asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to uphold the D.C. Circuit's ruling that biofuel and fossil fuel industry players don't have standing to challenge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Act waiver allowing the Golden State to set standards limiting greenhouse gas emissions for vehicles.

  • March 12, 2025

    7th Circ. Revives Suit By Law Professor Disciplined Over Exam

    The Seventh Circuit on Wednesday revived a retaliation claim from a University of a law school professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago who was disciplined for including a redacted racist slur on an exam, saying the professor has plausibly alleged that his academic speech is protected by the First Amendment.

  • March 12, 2025

    Phish Fans' Mellow Vibe Undercuts Injury Claims, Judge Hints

    A Washington state appeals court expressed skepticism Wednesday that Phish and Live Nation could have seen foreseen assaults that injured two concertgoers at an outdoor show, with one judge suggesting the jam band's vibes are more in tune with the mellow atmosphere of a Grateful Dead show than a raucous rock concert.

  • March 12, 2025

    Del. Justices Told Conflicts Tainted AstraZeneca Co.'s $3B Sale

    A stockholder class attorney told Delaware's Supreme Court on Wednesday that a vice chancellor never addressed the undisclosed conflicts cited in a Court of Chancery suit accusing AstraZeneca PLC of lining up a conflicted, underpriced $3 billion sale of clinical stage biopharmaceutical venture Viela Bio Inc.

  • March 12, 2025

    11th Circ. Won't Revive Trans Kid's Parents' Suit Against School

    Two Eleventh Circuit judges faced off on the merits of the substantive due process test Wednesday in a lengthy ruling that declined to revive a suit claiming school officials violated parents' rights when they allowed a teenager to express their gender identity at school.

  • March 12, 2025

    Wells Fargo Can't Force Adviser's Widow To Arb., Panel Finds

    Wells Fargo can't force a deceased employee's widow to arbitrate her claims that she never received certain stipulated benefits after her husband's death because the widow never agreed to arbitrate those claims, a California state appeals court has determined.

  • March 12, 2025

    Labcorp Warns Fed. Circ. Of 'Balkanization' In Prenatal IP Row

    Labcorp, one of the world's largest chains of clinical lab providers, told the full Federal Circuit that a loss it incurred there over a patent tied to a $384 million judgment in Texas was the result of the "balkanization" of the court's patent obviousness jurisprudence.

  • March 12, 2025

    Law360 Cheat Sheet: Novartis' Fight Over Generic Entresto

    Novartis has led a wide-ranging litigation campaign to block generic versions of its bestselling cardiovascular drug Entresto that has involved multidistrict litigation, trips to several circuit courts and cases against the federal government. Here, Law360 breaks down how the various cases intersect and what's still playing out.

  • March 12, 2025

    Women Attys, AGs Urge Justices To Protect Provider Choice

    Women attorney groups and a group of state attorneys general urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject South Carolina's attempt to stop Medicaid patients from seeing Planned Parenthood healthcare providers, saying in an amicus brief Wednesday that patients have a right to choose their healthcare providers and have a private right of action to enforce that right.

  • March 12, 2025

    Trump Admin Seeks To End ACA Access For 'Dreamers'

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday proposed a regulation that would do away with the Biden administration's rule allowing recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to qualify for Affordable Care Act coverage.

  • March 12, 2025

    Panel Decries Judge's Watergate Remarks, Axes $2M Verdict

    A Florida appeals court on Wednesday vacated a $2 million verdict in a slip-and-fall suit against Walmart, saying the trial court's comments that allegedly missing video evidence was akin to Nixon's actions in the Watergate scandal signaled his preconceived notion that the company improperly destroyed evidence.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Coaching Little League Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While coaching poorly played Little League Baseball early in the morning doesn't sound like a good time, I love it — and the experience has taught me valuable lessons about imperfection, compassion and acceptance that have helped me grow as a person and as a lawyer, says Alex Barnett at DiCello Levitt.

  • UK Lawyers Can Access Broad US Discovery To Win Cases

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    Given its breadth, U.S. discovery can be a powerful tool in litigation in the U.K. and other jurisdictions outside the U.S., and a survey of recent cases indicates that discovery requests made in the U.S. are likely to be granted — with many applications even proceeding without contest, say lawyers at Miller & Chevalier.

  • 7 Employment Contracts Issues Facing DOL Scrutiny

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    A growing trend of U.S. Department of Labor enforcement against employment practices that limit workers' rights and avoid legal responsibility shines a light on seven unique contractual provisions that violate federal labor laws, and face agressive litigation from the labor solicitor, says Thomas Starks at Freeman Mathis.

  • Ruling Shows High Court Willing To Limit Immigration Review

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Bouarfa v. Mayorkas is the latest demonstration of the court’s readiness to limit judicial review in the immigration space, a notable break from other recent decisions that expanded judicial review of agency decisions in other areas, says Mark Fleming at WilmerHale.

  • 5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2025

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    Lawyers and their clients must be prepared to navigate an evolving litigation funding market in 2025, made more complicated by a new administration and the increasing overall cost of litigation, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.

  • Managing Litigation Side-Switching During 2nd Trump Admin

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    Now that the new presidential administration is in place, the government will likely switch positions in a number of pending cases, and stakeholders should employ strategies to protect their interests, say attorneys at Covington.

  • High Court Unlikely To Expand FSIA In Holocaust Asset Fight

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    Not surprisingly for a court where the majority are strict textualists, the U.S. Supreme Court justices appear poised to rule in favor of Hungary in Republic of Hungary v. Simon, reaffirming the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act as a narrow exception to jurisdiction, say attorneys at Lewis Baach.

  • The Fed. Circ. In 2024: 5 Major Rulings To Know

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    In 2024, the Federal Circuit provided a number of important clarifications to distinct areas of patent law – including design patent obviousness, expert testimony admissions and patent term adjustments – all of which are poised to have an influence going forward, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Rethinking Litigation Risk And What It Really Means To Win

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    Attorneys have a tendency to overestimate litigation risk before summary judgment and underestimate risk after it, but an eight-stage litigation framework can clarify risk at different points and help litigators reassess what true success looks like in any particular case, says Joshua Libling at Arcadia Finance.

  • Mass Arbitration Procedures After Faulty Live Nation Ruling

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    Despite the Ninth Circuit's flawed reasoning in Heckman v. Live Nation, the exceptional allegations of collusive conduct shouldn't be read to restrict arbitration providers that have adopted good faith procedures to ensure that consumer mass arbitrations can be efficiently resolved on the merits, says Collin Vierra at Eimer Stahl.

  • Lessons From Two New Year's Eve Uptier Exchange Decisions

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    On the last day of 2024, two different courts issued important decisions relating to non-pro rata uptier exchanges — and while they differ, both rulings highlight that transactions effected in reliance on undefined terms in debt agreements come with increased risk, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Public Corruption Enforcement In 2024 Has Clues For 2025

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    If 2024 activity is any indication, the U.S. Supreme Court will likely continue to rein in expansive prosecutorial theories of fraud in the year to come, but it’s harder to predict what the new administration will mean for public corruption prosecutions in 2025, says Cathy Fleming at Offit Kurman.

  • Issues To Watch In 2025's ERISA Litigation Landscape

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    Whether 2024’s uptick in new Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases will continue this year will likely depend on federal courts’ resolution of several issues, including those related to excessive fees, defined contribution plan forfeitures, and pleading standards for ERISA-prohibited transaction claims, say attorneys at Groom Law.

  • Patent Ruling Sheds Light On Printed Matter Doctrine

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    Patent attorneys should pay attention to the claim language highlighted in Ioengine v. Ingenico, where the Federal Circuit held that program code was not printed matter, but essentially instructions or content, and therefore not subject to the printed matter doctrine for patent challenges, says Irah Donner at Manatt.

  • Calif. Justices' Options In Insurance Exhaustion Case

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    Fox Paine v. Twin City Fire Insurance may serve as the California Supreme Court's opportunity to firmly establish precedent with respect to a strict adherence to excess insurance policies' exhaustion provisions when the language is clear and explicit, says Aiden Spencer at Langsam Stevens.

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