Appellate

  • October 16, 2024

    11th Circ. Says No Claim For Taking Until Permit Is Denied

    The Eleventh Circuit ruled Wednesday that Fane Lozman — houseboat owner, activist and thorn in the side of the Riviera Beach, Florida, city government — cannot yet bring his claims for a regulatory taking of his property against the city because he has not applied for a permit or zoning variance.

  • October 16, 2024

    En Banc DC Circ. Will Revisit Campaign Finance Appeal

    The full D.C. Circuit will revisit an appeal implicating the court's authority to review the Federal Election Commission's decisions on campaign finance complaints when those decisions rest on commissioners' so-called prosecutorial discretion.

  • October 16, 2024

    Banks Ditch Exchange's Boycott Conspiracy Suit At 2nd Circ.

    The Second Circuit on Wednesday rejected a small trading exchange's effort to revive its claims that several major banks conspired to shut it out of the credit default swap market, saying the exchange failed to plausibly allege that the banks' conduct was the result of an unlawful agreement or conspiracy.

  • October 16, 2024

    5th Circ. Pauses Block Of Texas Election Law

    The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday pressed pause on a San Antonio judge's order blocking part of a controversial Texas election law, writing that a change in law less than three weeks before voters will cast their ballots will cause undue confusion during the election.

  • October 16, 2024

    Teacher's Defamation Suit Can Proceed, NJ Court Says

    A New Jersey teacher's claim that an Olympic fencer defamed her in social media posts about an incident in class involving a student's hijab can move forward, a state appellate court ruled Tuesday, finding the teacher adequately detailed facts that could constitute actual malice.

  • October 16, 2024

    Monsanto's Appellate Bid To Stop Seattle PCB Trial Flops

    A Washington appellate commissioner won't overrule a lower court's decision to forge ahead with a pending Monsanto PCB poisoning trial, rejecting the company's request to pause until the state Supreme Court decides a similar case, concluding that she would be improperly "substituting" her judgment for the trial court's by pausing the case.

  • October 16, 2024

    NC Panel Won't Reignite Duke Energy Case Over House Fire

    A split panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals declined to revive a liability suit brought against Duke Energy Corp. and a contractor it hired to install new meters at its customers' homes after one of those contractors allegedly caused a bed to catch fire leading to $130,000 in damage.

  • October 16, 2024

    Mich. Panel Sinks Inventor's Atty Malpractice Appeal

    A Michigan appellate panel has held that the inventor of a swim training device did not prove he would have built a successful custom swim paddle business had his attorney secured him a patent, affirming the dismissal of a legal malpractice suit against the inventor's patent attorney and firm.

  • October 16, 2024

    Justices Question EPA's Authority For 'Vague' SF Water Permit

    The U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments on Wednesday appeared genuinely torn about what to make of San Francisco's challenge to a Clean Water Act permit issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which the city argues is impermissibly vague and difficult to comply with.

  • October 16, 2024

    Justices Won't Review Tax Scam Co-Conspirator's Sentence

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the more than eight-year prison sentence for one of the men who conspired with a Canfield, Ohio defense attorney to perpetrate a tax refund scam that defrauded the U.S. Internal Revenue Service out of $1.3 million.

  • October 16, 2024

    Fraud Probe Spoils Crop Insurance Case, 6th Circ. Rules

    A Sixth Circuit panel on Tuesday affirmed dismissal of two Michigan farmers' claims against the federal government and a private crop insurer over claims of loss that have been stuck in limbo during a crop-insurance fraud investigation. 

  • October 16, 2024

    NY Urges Sotomayor Not To Block Broadband Price Cap Law

    New York is fighting the telecommunications industry's effort to halt its new law capping broadband prices for low-income residents, telling U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to reject a petition that would stay the law's implementation pending a forthcoming certiorari bid challenging the law.

  • October 16, 2024

    AAM, Alvogen Back Sun Pharma In Double Patenting Row

    A trade group representing generic-drug makers, a generic-drug company and a plant-breeding technology business have all thrown their support behind Sun Pharmaceutical Industries' bid for the full Federal Circuit to take a closer look at the issue of double patenting.

  • October 16, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Restores Patent Fight Between LED Light Cos.

    A small Utah company that claims to have developed novel LED lights persuaded the Federal Circuit on Wednesday to keep its patent lawsuit alive after a Los Angeles judge used an "improper construction" of words to allow a different company that sells light bulbs to slip out of the suit.

  • October 16, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Affirms Samsung's PTAB Wins Over LED Patents

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday upheld the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's decision to invalidate the vast majority of two Lynk Labs LED patents, but wasn't ready to address a larger issue from a third, related case.

  • October 16, 2024

    Trump Mostly Denied 'Speculative' Jan. 6 Document Bids

    A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday largely denied Donald Trump's request for documents from a slew of federal agencies as he defends against election interference charges, calling the motion mostly "speculation."

  • October 16, 2024

    EPA Defends Rejection Of Smog Rule Reconsideration Pleas

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told the D.C. Circuit it reasonably rejected petitions by U.S. Steel Corp. and Hybar LLC to reconsider its so-called Good Neighbor Plan to curb cross-state ozone pollution after courts stayed the rule for some affected states.

  • October 16, 2024

    DC Circ. Urged To Let Feds Fix Pipeline Safety Rules

    A pipeline industry group urged a D.C. Circuit panel to reconsider its August decision throwing out a handful of new safety standards for gas transmission pipelines, warning that federal regulators' implementation of the court's mandate could lead to millions of dollars of unnecessary repair costs for pipeline operators.

  • October 16, 2024

    Bipartisan Judgeships Bill In House Keeps Gaining Support

    A Republican on the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday urged the House to pass his bipartisan bill to add 66 new and temporary judgeships to address the "overwhelming caseloads" in the federal courts.

  • October 16, 2024

    Prosecutor's Office Seeks Order For NJ AG To Defend It

    The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office urged the New Jersey appellate court Wednesday to order the state attorney general's office to defend and indemnify it in a lawsuit stemming from an internal affairs investigation of a police official.

  • October 16, 2024

    Justices Won't Block EPA Power Plant Rule

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rebuffed pleas to block implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants while it's being challenged in court, but three justices indicated they had concerns with the rule's legality.

  • October 16, 2024

    Feds Say EMTALA Trumps Idaho Abortion Ban In Emergencies

    A legal fight over a federal law governing emergency medical care and Idaho's strict abortion ban is back in the Ninth Circuit where the federal government argued that the ban conflicts with the federal statute, but only in narrow circumstances requiring emergency abortions to stabilize a pregnant woman.

  • October 16, 2024

    4th Circ. Affirms Judgment In Foreclosure Bid-Rigging Case

    The Fourth Circuit backed a North Carolina federal court and tossed part of an appeal by a real estate company founder and others of a jury verdict that they rigged bids in foreclosure auctions in violation of state and federal antitrust laws.

  • October 15, 2024

    Would-Be Wash. Justices Butt Heads On High Court's Record

    A municipal judge running for an open seat on the Washington State Supreme Court criticized the high court's bench during a candidate forum Tuesday for not doing enough to support trial courts statewide, drawing pushback from both his opponent and a sitting justice who's seeking re-election unopposed.

  • October 15, 2024

    Qualcomm Milked 'Weak Patents' For Monopoly, 9th Circ. Told

    An attorney for a proposed class of cellphone buyers urged the 9th Circuit Monday to revive antitrust claims against Qualcomm, saying it used "weak patents" to secure licensing agreements that forced companies to give up their right to challenge the patents, although one judge questioned whether the plaintiffs had waived that argument.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Challenging Prosecutors' Use Of Defendants' Jail Phone Calls

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    Although it’s an uphill battle under current case law, counsel for pretrial detainees may be able to challenge prosecutors’ use of jail-recorded phone calls between the defendant and their attorney by taking certain advance measures, say Jim McLoughlin and Fielding Huseth at Moore & Van Allen.

  • How NJ Worker Status Ruling Benefits Real Estate Industry

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    In Kennedy v. Weichert, the New Jersey Supreme Court recently said a real estate agent’s employment contract would supersede the usual ABC test analysis to determine his classification as an independent contractor, preserving operational flexibility for the industry — and potentially others, say Jason Finkelstein and Dalila Haden at Cole Schotz.

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