Appellate

  • March 24, 2025

    4th Circ. Halts Removal Of PFAS Suits Against 3M

    The Fourth Circuit agreed on Monday to halt a panel's split decision allowing 3M to remove to federal court lawsuits brought by Maryland and South Carolina alleging environmental contamination from forever chemicals, while it considers their request for rehearing.

  • March 24, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Cuts $2.6M From $10M Car Wash Patent Verdict

    The Federal Circuit on Monday cut nearly $2.6 million from an over $10 million verdict against Wash World Inc. for infringing a rival's car wash patent, saying that part of the award involved products unrelated to the patent, but refused to undo the infringement finding.

  • March 24, 2025

    Justices Asked To Weigh Mississippi Ban On Medical Pot Ads

    The owner of a Mississippi medical marijuana company has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a First Amendment challenge to the state's ban on cannabis advertisements, which was recently upheld by the Fifth Circuit.

  • March 24, 2025

    NC Justices Set Preservation Rule For Bids To Undo Verdicts

    The former CEO of a high-speed knitting machine manufacturer failed to preserve key arguments at the trial court in his efforts to undo a jury's $3 million award against him for self-dealing, North Carolina's highest court said Friday, using his case to endorse preservation requirements for parties asking a judge to overturn a jury verdict.

  • March 24, 2025

    IRS Abused Its Power In Levy Suit, Justices Told

    A New Jersey woman should be allowed to continue challenging her tax debt in a property seizure hearing after the IRS withheld her tax refunds and dropped its levy pursuit, business and tax groups told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, saying the agency had abused its power.

  • March 24, 2025

    NFL Blew Chance To Keep Atty Fees, Ex-Player Tells 5th Circ.

    Former NFL player Michael Cloud, whose award of disability benefits by the league was reversed in 2023, told the Fifth Circuit that the league had forfeited its chance to reverse the awarding of attorney fees and should have its second attempt thrown out.

  • March 24, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Reverses PTAB Decision On Logistics Patent App

    The Federal Circuit ruled Monday that it disagreed with how the Patent Trial and Appeal Board interpreted legal precedent on prior art, telling it to take another look at a patent application covering early online innovations in the freight transit sector that was filed more than two decades ago.

  • March 24, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Talent Agency's Litigation Coverage Bid

    United Talent Agency isn't entitled to coverage from Markel American Insurance Co. in an underlying lawsuit alleging the talent company poached a rival's clients, the Ninth Circuit has said, finding the underlying claims involved "willful acts" by United Talent that block coverage under the California Insurance Code.

  • March 24, 2025

    Colo. Justices Say ABA Standards Don't Trump State's Rules

    The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday affirmed disciplinary sanctions against a lawyer who unloaded expletives at school staff in the presence of his minor client, finding in an opinion that the American Bar Association's standards for lawyer sanctions are "an important guiding authority" but don't override Colorado's own rules.

  • March 24, 2025

    Retired 1st Circ. Judge Boudin Dies At 85

    Retired First Circuit Judge Michael Boudin, whose notable opinions during nearly three decades on the appeals court included a finding that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional, died Monday at 85 following a long struggle with Parkinson's disease, his nephew confirmed.

  • March 24, 2025

    7th Circ. Backs Denial Of Atty Fees In Union Trusteeship Case

    An Illinois federal judge did not abuse his discretion by failing to award attorney fees to a broadcasters union local after its fight with the national union over a trusteeship, a Seventh Circuit panel ruled Monday, holding that the judge substantiated his decision.

  • March 24, 2025

    Texas High Court Revives Developer's Floodplain Takings Suit

    The Texas Supreme Court has said a developer can again argue at trial court that Houston's new floodplain system thwarted its planned community and amounted to a regulatory taking, even though the ordinance was a valid exercise of police power.

  • March 24, 2025

    Colo. Justices Take Subcontractor's Forfeit For Excess Case

    The Colorado Supreme Court will consider whether a construction company that allegedly overstated how much it was owed from a project to build a new Denver rail line forfeited its ability to pursue any remedy for that $12.7 million claim, in a case involving a novel interpretation of a public works law.

  • March 24, 2025

    Deadline In Removal Review Cases Not Rigid, High Court Told

    A Jamaican drug dealer ordered deported by U.S. immigration authorities who is seeking shelter in the country for fear of torture back home was joined by the U.S. government on Monday in telling the U.S. Supreme Court that his court challenge to a deportation order was not precluded by federal law, and was timely.

  • March 24, 2025

    Judges Question T-Mobile Over Skipping Jury Trial

    Judges from the D.C. Circuit on Monday questioned why T-Mobile and Sprint didn't exercise their right to challenge the Federal Communications Commission's $92 million combined fine for selling subscriber locations in a jury trial, suggesting that option may have been more fruitful than paying the fine and going to appellate court.

  • March 24, 2025

    Gorsuch, Alito Say Confrontation Clause Issue Merits A Look

    Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito called Monday for the U.S. Supreme Court to reexamine what accusations can be introduced at trial without cross-examination, saying a conviction resting on a pre-arraignment form shows that current legal frameworks have strayed from the traditional intent surrounding the confrontation clause.

  • March 24, 2025

    3rd Circ. Upholds No-Coverage Ruling For PNC's $106M Loss

    PNC Bank NA can't get coverage for a more than $106 million judgment it paid over underlying claims that a bank PNC acquired had mismanaged certain trust accounts, the Third Circuit ruled, finding a provision that barred coverage for wrongful acts occurring before an acquisition was applicable.

  • March 24, 2025

    Reed Smith Accused Of Interference In $102M Award Fight

    The purported new owners of Eletson Holdings Inc., a reorganized international shipping group, have urged the Second Circuit to nix Reed Smith's appeal challenging the law firm's removal as counsel for the company's prebankruptcy shareholders in an enforcement action, saying the former owners declined the opportunity to intervene and that their counsel cannot intervene on their behalf.

  • March 24, 2025

    Trump Asks High Court To Halt Fed. Workers' Reinstatement

    The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to pause a California federal court order reinstating tens of thousands of probationary federal workers who were fired from six agencies, arguing the band of nonprofit groups that obtained the order have no standing to challenge the firings.

  • March 24, 2025

    High Court Won't Weigh In On NLRB's Partial Closure Order

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a Sixth Circuit decision that found a bulk food delivery contractor illegally closed a terminal in Kentucky after a union organizing drive, leaving in place the National Labor Relations Board's decision against the company.

  • March 24, 2025

    NC High Court OKs Fee Suit Over Campus COVID Closures

    The North Carolina Supreme Court has kept alive a proposed class action over student fees paid to public universities whose campuses shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding sovereign immunity doesn't bar the students' breach of contract claims.

  • March 24, 2025

    Justices Turn Away 2 NLRB Loper Bright Review Cases

    The U.S. Supreme Court won't disturb rulings by the Ninth and Sixth circuits that upheld losses for a pair of employers before the National Labor Relations Board, rejecting two petitions for review Monday that invoked last year's Loper Bright decision.

  • March 24, 2025

    NC Justices Back Permit Approval For Disputed Asphalt Plant

    North Carolina's highest court reversed a lower court's ruling that a contested permit to build an asphalt plant in Ashe County should not have been issued, ruling that the company looking to develop the facility had properly submitted its application even if it didn't have state approval for the project at the time.

  • March 24, 2025

    Dog Toy Maker Appeals Injunction In Jack Daniel's TM Dispute

    The maker of a poop-themed dog toy that mimics Jack Daniel's bottles is appealing a permanent injunction that an Arizona federal court entered after finding the company tarnished the whiskey-maker's brand by associating it with feces.

  • March 24, 2025

    Justices Won't Hear Peanut Truck Co.'s Excise Tax Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will not hear a Georgia company's case arguing the IRS wrongly denied it an excise tax exemption for the special trucks it makes for peanut farming, letting stand an Eleventh Circuit ruling.

Expert Analysis

  • What Employment Bias Litigation Looks Like After Muldrow

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    Nine months after the U.S. Supreme Court created an undemanding standard for discrimination claims in Muldrow v. St. Louis, Eric Schnapper at the University of Washington discusses how the Title VII litigation landscape has changed and what to expect moving forward.

  • The 7th Circ.'s Top 10 Civil Opinions Of 2024

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    Attorneys at Jenner & Block examine the most significant decisions issued by the Seventh Circuit in 2024, and explain how they may affect issues related to mass arbitration, consumer fraud, class certification and more.

  • Royal Canin Ruling Won't Transform Removal Jurisdiction

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Royal Canin USA v. Wullschleger means that federal district courts must now remand whenever an amended complaint excises grounds for federal jurisdiction — but given existing litigation strategy and case law trends, this may ultimately preserve, rather than alter, the status quo, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: Nov. And Dec. Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses five federal court decisions and identifies practice tips from cases involving takings clause violations, breach of contract with banks, life insurance policies, employment and automobile defects.

  • Mentorship Resolutions For The New Year

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    Attorneys tend to focus on personal achievements or career milestones when they set yearly goals, but one important area often gets overlooked in this process — mentoring relationships, which are some of the most effective tools for professional growth, say Kelly Galligan at Rutan & Tucker and Andra Greene at Phillips ADR.

  • Algorithm Price-Fixing Ruling May Lower Antitrust Claims Bar

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    A Washington federal court's refusal to dismiss Duffy v. Yardi Systems, an antitrust case over rent prices allegedly inflated by revenue management software, creates an apparent split in the lower courts over how to assess such claims, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • What Insurers Should Know About AI Use In Litigation

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    As the use of artificial intelligence in litigation evolves, insurers should note standing court orders, instances of judges utilizing AI to determine policy definitions and the application of evidentiary standards to expert evidence that incorporates AI, says Sarah Abrams at Baleen Specialty.

  • 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.

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