Appellate

  • 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.

  • November 22, 2024

    Texas Supreme Court Sends 130-Car Pileup Suit To Trial 

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday denied a petition from several defendants involved in a fatal 130-car ice storm pileup in Fort Worth to temporarily stay an upcoming trial date, teeing up the trial to begin in January, almost four years after the tragedy.

  • November 22, 2024

    Service Fees Not 'Incidental' To Debt Collection, 11th Circ. Told

    Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC urged the Eleventh Circuit on Friday to reverse two Florida lower court judgments finding it violated debt collection practices with a fee to process phone or internet payments, saying it's not an illegal "incidental" charge because the borrower is paying for an optional service.

  • November 22, 2024

    Calif. Panel Affirms Six Flags' Trial Win In Coaster Injury Case

    Six Flags isn't liable for a woman's injury after her hand was crushed by a railing while waiting to get on the Twisted Colossus roller coaster, California appellate justices said Thursday, finding the park didn't have a heightened duty of care since she was injured before she got on the ride.

  • November 22, 2024

    Texas Panel Says Gender-Affirming Surgery Suit Too Late

    A Texas appellate court has backed a counselor's win in a lawsuit from a former client who came to regret undergoing a double mastectomy following the counselor's recommendation for gender-affirming surgery, finding the claims were time-barred.

  • November 22, 2024

    Nissan Automatic Brake Classes Dismantled By 6th Circ.

    A Sixth Circuit panel vacated class certification Friday for Nissan drivers who say their cars' automatic braking system activates unnecessarily, finding the trial judge failed to grapple with software upgrades that may have fixed the alleged flaw for some of the class vehicles.

  • November 22, 2024

    Feds Slam Utah High Court Case Over Fed. Land Ownership

    The federal government called on the Supreme Court to reject Utah's attempt to file a complaint accusing it of unconstitutionally hoarding and profiting from public lands in the state, saying the justices should decline to exercise original jurisdiction over the matter.

  • November 22, 2024

    EEOC Backs Rehab Worker's Retaliation Case At 10th Circ.

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Friday urged the Tenth Circuit to revive an occupational therapist's lawsuit claiming a colleague inappropriately touched her and that she was fired after she reported the co-worker's harassment, arguing the trial court used the wrong standard when it tossed her retaliation claim.

  • November 22, 2024

    Senior Dem Asks Schumer For Votes On Circuit Court Picks

    Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Friday pushed back against a deal Democrats and Republicans cut earlier this week that obligates Democrats to forgo votes on four appellate picks.

  • November 22, 2024

    Mich. Justices Want To Know If 3M Water Challenge Is Moot

    The Michigan Supreme Court ordered additional briefing Friday in 3M Co.'s challenge to regulations on PFAS in drinking water to address whether subsequent regulatory changes made 3M's lawsuit moot, echoing a focal point of last week's oral arguments in the case. 

  • November 22, 2024

    Federal Circuit Backs Philip Morris' Electronic Pipe IP Win

    The Federal Circuit on Friday refused to revive claims in an electronic pipe patent that was challenged by Philip Morris, backing a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that language in the patent could be found in older patent paperwork.

  • November 22, 2024

    Bondi Vowed Trump Payback. Ex-Colleagues Aren't Worried.

    U.S. attorney general nominee Pam Bondi is an outspoken ally of President-elect Donald Trump and vowed during the campaign that his "prosecutors will be prosecuted," but people who've worked with her say she's well qualified to serve as the nation's top cop and downplayed concerns that she would politicize the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • November 22, 2024

    Texas Justices Say Paxton Can Duck Whistleblower Suit Depo

    The Texas Supreme Court said Friday that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton doesn't have to sit for a deposition in the long-running employment retaliation suit brought by his former top deputies, partially agreeing with his contention there are no longer any factual disputes in the case.

  • November 22, 2024

    Newsom Names Appellate Judges In SF And Orange County

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom has tapped two long-tenured trial court judges for positions on the state's appellate benches, one in San Francisco, the other in Orange County.

  • November 22, 2024

    1st Circ. Affirms Volvo Win In Dealers' Maintenance Pay Suit

    The First Circuit affirmed a pretrial win granted to Volvo in a suit brought by two dealerships claiming the carmaker was underpaying them for maintenance they perform under prepaid service plans.

  • November 22, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Won't Rethink Toppling Tire Verdict

    The Federal Circuit has declined to rethink a ruling last month that upended what was once a multimillion-dollar jury verdict in a decadelong tire design dispute, rejecting the argument that the judges "overlooked and misapprehended Illinois law" on the matter of "litigation privilege."

  • November 22, 2024

    High Court To Review Legality Of FCC's Subsidy Fees

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to review whether fees collected to support the Federal Communications Commission's array of telecom subsidy programs for low-income consumers, schools and rural healthcare run afoul of constitutional limits on taxing authority.

  • November 22, 2024

    Lender Can't Arbitrate Fired Worker's Suit Over Cancer Leave

    A California appeals court upheld a trial court's order that a mortgage lender cannot arbitrate a worker's suit alleging she was wrongfully fired after a cancer diagnosis, ruling the former employee cast enough doubt about the signature on the deal to keep her case in court.

  • November 22, 2024

    1st Circ. Backs Auction For Bankrupt Farmer's Milk Quota

    The First Circuit has affirmed a Puerto Rico regulator's ability to order the sale of a dairy farmer's milk quota despite his pending bankruptcy, ruling the action wasn't blocked by a stay blocking actions that can affect a bankruptcy estate.

  • November 22, 2024

    Trump Sentencing Halted To Weigh President-Elect's Immunity

    The New York state judge who oversaw Donald Trump's hush money trial officially canceled his Nov. 26 sentencing date Friday to weigh the impact of his new status as president-elect, pushing briefing into December.

  • November 22, 2024

    High Court Quietly Pulls Meta Case Without A Ruling

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday set aside a Meta Platforms Inc. case that sought to narrow the types of risk disclosures corporations need to make to investors, saying that the court shouldn't have taken up the case in the first place.

  • November 21, 2024

    DOJ Fights High Court Review Of Kickback Law, Jury's Role

    The U.S. Supreme Court need not review a Fifth Circuit decision upholding the convictions of three healthcare professionals accused of taking part in a $40 million kickback scheme, the federal government has told the justices in a brief.

  • November 21, 2024

    9th Circ. Told $500K To Huizar Not Intended As Bribe

    A real estate developer convicted of bribing former Los Angeles City Councilor José Huizar with $500,000 for help overcoming challenges to a downtown project asked the Ninth Circuit for a new trial, arguing Thursday the lower court erroneously excluded evidence showing the developer didn't know the money would be used as a bribe.

Expert Analysis

  • Considering Chevron's End Through A State Tax Lens

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    States took the lead in encouraging Chevron's demise, turning away from Chevron-type deference in state tax administration ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, a trend likely to accelerate as courts take a more active role in interpreting tax laws, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Curious Case Of FTC's Amicus Brief In Teva Fed. Circ. Appeal

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    Attorneys at BCLP explore the Federal Trade Commission's backing of Amneal's Orange Book-delisting efforts on Teva ahead of a key Federal Circuit hearing in a case between the two pharmaceutical companies, and wonder if the FTC amicus brief indicates a future trend, especially in the next administration.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • When 'Patented' Goes Beyond Inventorship In False Ad Cases

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    The Federal Circuit's recent false advertising holding in Crocs v. Effervescent is significant because it offers a nuanced yet realistic understanding of what false claims about a product's status as "patented" can mean, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • 2nd Circ. Hostile Workplace Ruling Widens Arbitration Pitfalls

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision, affirming the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act applies to a worker whose workplace hostility claims arose before the law’s 2022 enactment, widens the scope of the law — and the risks of unenforceable arbitration agreements for employers, say attorneys at Hinshaw.

  • 2nd Circ. Maxwell Ruling Adds To Confusion Over NPA Reach

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision upholding Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction made an analytical leap in applying plea agreement precedent to a nonprosecution agreement, compounding a circuit split and providing lessons for defense counsel, say attorneys at Kropf Moseley.

  • The Fed. Circ. In October: Aetna And License-Term Review

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision that Aetna's credit card licensing agreement with AlexSam did not give the insurer immunity from patent infringement claims serves to warn licensees to read their contracts carefully, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Recent Developments In Insurance Coverage For FCA Claims

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    As the U.S. Department of Justice continues its vigorous False Claims Act enforcement, companies looking to their insurers to help defray the costs of an investigation or settlement should note recent decisions on which types of policies cover FCA claims, which policy periods apply and which portions of FCA-related losses are covered, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Boosting Confidence In Pennsylvania's Election System

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    As Election Day nears, Pennsylvania is facing an intense flurry of litigation, including an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court centered on mail-in and provisional ballots, but the state's election system is robust, and attorneys from all practice areas have an important role to play in ensuring confidence in and access to our election system, says Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie.

  • Takeaways From The IRS' Crypto Doc Summons Win

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    A recent First Circuit decision holding that taxpayers do not have a Fourth Amendment reasonable expectation of privacy in cryptocurrency transaction records should prompt both taxpayers and exchanges to take stock of past transactions and future plans, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • A Novel Expansion Of Alien Tort Statute In 9th Circ.

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    The Ninth Circuit's Doe v. Cisco rehearing denial allows a new invocation of the Alien Tort Statute to proceed, which could capture the U.S. Supreme Court's attention, and has potentially dramatic consequences for U.S. companies doing business with foreign governments, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

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    Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.

  • Series

    Being An Artist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My work as an artist has highlighted how using creativity and precision together — qualities that are equally essential in both art and law — not only improves outcomes, but also leads to more innovative and thoughtful work, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.

  • Reading Tea Leaves In Fed. Circ. Deep Dive On Review Scope

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    Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer investigates why a recent Federal Circuit opinion spent six pages explaining its unsurprising conclusion on proper scope of review — that no deference need be afforded to the trial court in a case dismissed for failure to state a claim.

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