Appellate

  • November 07, 2024

    Feds Say Fla. Atty Can't Shake COVID Relief Fraud Conviction

    In a case involving a Florida lawyer serving a 75-month sentence for a COVID-19 loan fraud scheme, federal prosecutors are arguing that the trial judge was correct to allow a witness to testify that the defendant had talked about having another co-conspirator killed.

  • November 07, 2024

    Louisiana Says EPA Usurped State Power In Pollution Row

    The state of Louisiana told the Fifth Circuit that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has no authority to invalidate a two-year compliance deadline extension the state granted to a neoprene manufacturer, which is being sued by the agency. 

  • November 07, 2024

    NC Panel Affirms Axing Sex Abuse Suit As Sanction For Delay

    A North Carolina appeals panel found in a precedential ruling that a trial court was right to toss a man's sex abuse suit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh as an appropriate sanction for his counsel having "deliberately and unreasonably delayed service of process." 

  • November 07, 2024

    Trump's Victory Muddles NY Sentencing: 'No Playbook Here'

    The fate of President-elect Donald Trump's criminal conviction in New York remains unclear following his resounding electoral victory Tuesday night, as last-minute motions, a pending decision on presidential immunity and appeals may derail or delay a punishment slated to be handed down before Thanksgiving.

  • November 06, 2024

    Judiciary Panel Spurns Broadcasts, But More Pressure Looms

    Despite support from a jurist who televised a mass murderer's trial, the lead rulemaking body for federal criminal cases voted Wednesday against loosening limits on courtroom broadcasts, but members exchanged sharply conflicting views and predicted that digital age pressure will keep rising.

  • November 06, 2024

    Chicago Pol Urges Narrow Reading Of False Statement Law

    The U.S. Supreme Court should narrowly interpret the federal statute barring people from using false statements to influence certain financial institutions because backing the government's broad reading could expose borrowers to criminal liability that was never intended, former Chicago alderman Patrick Daley Thompson argued Wednesday.

  • November 06, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Mulls Whether Billable Hour Tech Can Be Patented

    The Federal Circuit is set to decide whether a LexisNexis program that helps attorneys track their billable hours is stepping on another company's intellectual property or if that company is simply trying to patent the noninventive concept of keeping time using a computer.

  • November 06, 2024

    10th Circ. Backs Colorado Age Limits For Gun Buyers

    A Tenth Circuit panel on Tuesday upheld a Colorado law establishing 21 as the minimum age to buy and sell guns in the state, concluding that age restrictions for buying guns don't have to line up with the age of majority.

  • November 06, 2024

    9th Circ. Says No New Trial For Tesla Investors' Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday ruled that a lower court didn't err in denying Tesla investors' request for a new trial regarding their $12 billion claim over Elon Musk's 2018 tweets that he had "funding secured" to take the electric car giant private, saying there were no improper instructions given to the jury.

  • November 06, 2024

    Fla. Can't Reclaim Medicaid Payments On Immigrant Care

    A Florida appeals court on Wednesday reaffirmed a previous decision that the state Agency for Health Care Administration cannot claw back asserted overpayments of Medicaid funds hospitals received for emergency services provided to eligible unauthorized immigrants, ruling in the class action that a statutory change did not overrule the decision but merely clarified the law.

  • November 06, 2024

    Alaska Asks 9th Circ. To Roll Back Ringed Seal Protections

    The state of Alaska called on the Ninth Circuit to overturn a district court's refusal to eliminate Endangered Species Act protections for Arctic ringed seals, arguing the federal government failed to properly credit new information that raised serious questions about the necessity for continuing protections.

  • November 06, 2024

    Venue For Fla. County Suit Against Funder Getting New Look

    A Florida appellate court ruled Wednesday that Palm Beach County can't use the "sword-wielder" exception to deny a funding agency's choice of court in a lawsuit over the authority to levy property taxes, saying the agency has proved it's a governmental entity entitled to a home venue privilege.

  • November 06, 2024

    3rd Circ. Mulls Mootness In Boy Scouts Ch. 11 Plan Appeals

    Questions over whether equitable and statutory mootness foreclose challenges to the Boy Scouts of America's bankruptcy took center stage Wednesday during arguments before the Third Circuit, with the judges and parties involved noting the impact that changing the Chapter 11 plan that's already in effect could have on thousands of sexual abuse survivors.

  • November 06, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Panel Irked By Confusion In Check Patent Case

    An irritated Federal Circuit panel criticized attorneys for the United Services Automobile Association and PNC Bank on Wednesday for a lack of clarity on which issues reached a final judgment in their nine-figure patent dispute, with one judge telling them, "You both should be embarrassed."

  • November 06, 2024

    1st Circ. Tells Immigration Board To Rethink Torture Definition

    The First Circuit has ordered the Board of Immigration Appeals to reconsider denying removal relief for a man wanted for murder in Jamaica, finding that the board incorrectly assumed that direct police participation was needed to back his fear of torture.

  • November 06, 2024

    Netflix Jury Will Hear Victim ID Evidence In 'Our Father' Trial

    An Indiana federal judge ruled Wednesday that Netflix Inc. can't exclude evidence of third-party statements in a suit accusing the entertainment giant of wrongly revealing the identities of the biological children of a rogue fertility doctor in the "Our Father" documentary, saying the statements were not inadmissible hearsay.

  • November 06, 2024

    5th Circ. Chides Texas For Clashing Insurance Law Messages

    A Fifth Circuit judge Wednesday told the state of Texas it was "having its cake and eating it too" by arguing it didn't plan to enforce a law governing certain disclosures between vision insurers and optometrists while simultaneously fighting off a temporary injunction enjoining the law from going into effect.

  • November 06, 2024

    2nd Circ. Revives Authors' Breach Claim Against McGraw Hill

    The Second Circuit has partially restored a breach of contract claim from a would-be class action that alleged McGraw Hill shortchanged textbook authors on royalties from e-book sales, saying there was merit to one of their arguments relating to contract language.

  • November 06, 2024

    10th Circ. Backs Asset Freeze In Forex Exec's Latest Bid

    A foreign exchange asset manager lost his bid to overturn a lower court's decision that froze his assets and ordered him to pay $510,000 in legal bills in a dispute with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, with a panel of the 10th Circuit finding it does not have jurisdiction to reverse the ruling.

  • November 06, 2024

    Feds Fight Philly Injection Site Group's 3rd Circ. Appeal

    The U.S. Department of Justice has urged the Third Circuit to preserve its win in preventing an overdose prevention organization from opening a supervised safe-injection site in Philadelphia, arguing that a lower court correctly ruled that the group is not a religious organization eligible for federal protection.

  • November 06, 2024

    Justices Eye Narrowing Disclosure Rules In Meta Investor Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court seemed poised Wednesday to hand Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. a narrow victory in a case tied to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, as justices put up a range of hypothetical scenarios to try to pin down when exactly a company needs to disclose to investors that a past event could cause future damage to its business.

  • November 06, 2024

    Maritime Commission Seeks To Ax Refusal To Deal Challenge

    The Federal Maritime Commission is asking the D.C. Circuit to toss an ocean carrier industry challenge to federal rules for carrier practices, arguing that the World Shipping Council hasn't shown it has standing to contest the regulations.

  • November 06, 2024

    GOP Will Get A Crack At The Judiciary, But First, Lame Duck

    With a little more than two months left in the Biden administration following Republicans' capture of the White House and Senate on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Durbin intends to confirm "every possible nominee" before time runs out on this Congress.

  • November 06, 2024

    Contractor Seeks Redo In Guatemala Power Plant Award Fight

    A contractor on an ill-fated Guatemalan power plant construction project urged the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to reconsider its decision refusing to vacate an arbitral award favoring the plant's owner, saying the panel failed to properly consider "clear evidence" of corruption tarnishing the underlying contract.

  • November 06, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Panel Skeptical Of GeoComply Anti-Spoofing Patent

    Judges on the Federal Circuit appeared unlikely to reverse a district court's dismissal of GeoComply's patent infringement suit against its geolocation competitor XPoint Wednesday, repeatedly telling GeoComply's attorney that its anti-location spoofing patent seemed to be largely built around conventional programming.

Expert Analysis

  • Navigating The Bankruptcy Terrain After Purdue Pharma

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma is having a significant impact on bankruptcies, with recent cases addressing nonconsensual third-party releases and opt-out mechanisms, and highlighting strategies practitioners can employ to avoid running afoul of the decision, say Brett Axelrod and Agostino Zammiello at Fox Rothschild.

  • 5 Considerations For Obviousness-Type Double Patenting

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent denial of certiorari for In re: Cellect highlights the current state of obviousness-type double patenting based on that case and another recent Federal Circuit decision, including that ODP is not fatal, that divisional applications are protected from ODP and more, says Fabian Koenigbauer at Ice Miller.

  • How To Avoid Risking Arbitration Award Confidentiality In NY

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    Though a Second Circuit decision last year seemed to create a confidentiality safe harbor for arbitration awards that had no ongoing compliance issues, a recent New York federal court ruling offers further guidance on the meaning of "ongoing compliance issues," says Matthew Iverson at Nelson Mullins.

  • How Project 2025 Could Upend Federal ESG Policies

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    If implemented, Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's policy playbook for a Republican presidential administration, would likely seek to deploy antitrust law to target ESG initiatives, limit pension fund managers' focus to pecuniary factors and spell doom for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate rule, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • E-Signature Best Practices For Employers After Calif. Ruling

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    In Garcia v. Stoneledge Furniture, a California appellate court found an arbitration agreement invalid after an employee raised doubts about the authenticity of its e-signature, underscoring the importance of employers implementing additional measures to verify the authenticity of electronically signed documents, say Ash Bhargava and Reece Bennett at Atkinson Andelson.

  • Patent Lessons From 7 Federal Circuit Reversals In August

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    The Federal Circuit’s seven vacated or reversed cases from August provide helpful clarity on obviousness-type double patenting, written description and indefiniteness, and suggest improved practices for petitioners and patent owners in inter partes review, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.

  • Smith's New Trump Indictment Is Case Study In Superseding

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    Special counsel Jack Smith’s recently revised Jan. 6 charges against former President Donald Trump provide lessons for prosecutors on how to effectively draft superseding indictments in order to buttress or streamline their case, as necessary, says Jessica Roth at Cardozo Law School.

  • Key Insurance Implications Of Hawaii's Historic GHG Ruling

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    In Aloha Petroleum v. National Union Fire Insurance, the Hawaii Supreme Court became the first state court to classify greenhouse gasses as pollutants barred from insurance coverage, a ruling likely to be afforded great weight by courts across the country, say Scott Seaman and Gar Lauerman at Hinshaw & Culbertson.

  • Use The Right Kind Of Feedback To Help Gen Z Attorneys

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    Generation Z associates bring unique perspectives and expectations to the workplace, so it’s imperative that supervising attorneys adapt their feedback approach in order to help young lawyers learn and grow — which is good for law firms, too, says Rachael Bosch at Fringe Professional Development.

  • What To Expect As Worker Bias Suit Heads To High Court

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    The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, which concerns how courts treat discrimination claims brought by majority group plaintiffs, and its decision could eliminate the background circumstances test, but is unlikely to significantly affect employers' diversity programs, say Victoria Slade and Alysa Mo at Davis Wright.

  • Opinion

    Congress Can And Must Enact A Supreme Court Ethics Code

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    As public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court dips to historic lows following reports raising conflict of interest concerns, Congress must exercise its constitutional power to enact a mandatory and enforceable code of ethics for the high court, says Muhammad Faridi, president of the New York City Bar Association.

  • What To Make Of Dueling Corporate Transparency Act Rulings

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    Although challenges to the Corporate Transparency Act abound — as highlighted by recent federal court decisions from Alabama and Oregon taking opposite positions on its constitutionality — the act is still law, so companies should comply with their filing requirements or face the potential consequences, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Perspectives

    Pop Culture Docket: Justice Lebovits On Gilbert And Sullivan

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    Characters in the 19th century comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan break the rules of good lawyering by shamelessly throwing responsible critical thought to the wind, providing hilarious lessons for lawyers and judges on how to avoid a surfeit of traps and tribulations, say acting New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits and law student Tara Scown.

  • New TCPA Rule Faces Uncertain Future Post-Loper Bright

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    The Federal Communications Commission's new rule aiming to eliminate lead generators' use of unlawful robocalls is now in doubt with the U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision, and the Eleventh Circuit's Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC is poised to be a test case of the agency's ability to enforce the Telephone Consumer Protection Act post-Chevron, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • 6th Circ. Preemption Ruling Adds Uncertainty For Car Cos.

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    Automakers and their suppliers need uniformity under the law to create sufficient scale and viable markets — but the Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Fenner v. General Motors creates more uncertainty around the question of when state law consumer claims related to violations of federal vehicle emissions and fuel economy standards are preempted, say attorneys at Sidley.

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