Appellate

  • October 08, 2024

    Convicted Fla. Atty Suspended Over Theft In Court Clerk Post

    The Florida Supreme Court has suspended the law license of the onetime clerk of courts for Jefferson County after he was convicted of grand theft and sentenced to 18 months behind bars.

  • October 08, 2024

    Doctor Wants New Trial In $16.4M Suit Over Patient's Suicide

    A doctor urged the Georgia Court of Appeals on Tuesday to order a new trial in a $16.4 million wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of a man who died by suicide after being prescribed an antidepressant that can cause suicidal tendencies, particularly after the consumption of alcohol.

  • October 08, 2024

    Justices Divided Over 'Prevailing Party' Status For Atty Fees

    The U.S. Supreme Court appeared noncommital on Tuesday while grappling with what constitutes a "prevailing party" for the purpose of awarding attorney fees in civil rights lawsuits, a question that has broad implications for both government agencies and legal advocacy groups.

  • October 08, 2024

    DOL Tells 5th Circ. Decision On Tip Rule Is Too Broad

    The U.S. Department of Labor urged a Fifth Circuit panel to update its decision striking down the department's 2021 rule on tipped wages, saying the opinion is too broad and it should focus on a provision that two restaurant groups challenged.

  • October 08, 2024

    1st Circ. Eyes Revival Of Welch's Execs' Pension Fight

    The First Circuit appeared receptive Tuesday to former Welch's executives who are seeking to revive a suit claiming they were shortchanged by a supplemental retirement plan, with two judges pointing out conflict-of-interest disputes on appeal that the lower court left unaddressed.

  • October 08, 2024

    Mass. High Court Won't Loosen Bail Rules In Rape Cases

    Massachusetts' highest court ruled Tuesday that a provision in state law allowing judges to deny bail to defendants charged with crimes involving physical force applies to rape cases, rejecting an argument on behalf of an accused serial rapist seeking release from custody.

  • October 08, 2024

    9th Circ. Affirms Atty Fee Reduction In Cathode Suit

    A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel on Monday upheld a lower court's decision to cut more than $2 million from plaintiff's firm Cooper & Kirkham's $3.45 million fee award in a multidistrict litigation settlement over alleged cathode ray tube price-fixing litigation.

  • October 08, 2024

    Ga. Firm Says 'Right To Petition' At Stake In HOA Row

    An Atlanta-area real estate law firm urged the Georgia Court of Appeals Tuesday to stand by a trial court's decision to kill a lawsuit filed by two property owners who lost to the firm in court some 17 years ago.

  • October 08, 2024

    Contractors Tell 5th Circ. They Belong In Border Wall Suit

    Border wall construction firms urged the Fifth Circuit to insert them into Texas' suit challenging the Biden administration's border wall spending plan, saying they were barred from the case even though it threatens their financial rights under their old contracts.

  • October 08, 2024

    Trump Held Back FBI's 2nd Kavanaugh Probe, Report Says

    The FBI's follow-up investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation process in September 2018 was restrained by the Trump White House, according to a report released by a Democratic senator on Tuesday.

  • October 07, 2024

    9th Circ. Eyes 'Justiciability' Of Ex-Rabobank Exec's OCC Row

    A Ninth Circuit panel Monday signaled doubts about a former Rabobank executive's challenge to enforcement proceedings that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency abruptly abandoned last year, flagging key mootness concerns while still expressing some unease with the agency's handling of the matter.

  • October 07, 2024

    Black La. Residents Urge Overhaul On Discriminatory Land Use

    A Fifth Circuit judge asked attorneys for a Louisiana parish Monday whether they believe local government officials could continue racial discrimination for "eternity" because an allegedly discriminatory land-use plan was passed a decade ago without widespread concern.

  • October 07, 2024

    9th Circ. Asked To Take Another Look At 'Patent Misuse' Case

    Atrium Medical Corp. has urged the full Ninth Circuit to reconsider a panel ruling siding with rival medical product maker C.R. Bard in a $52.8 million lawsuit over patent royalty provisions, saying the panel "inappropriately dispensed with the evidence adduced below and the district court's fact-finding."

  • October 07, 2024

    Justices Set To Review Feds' Suit Over 'Ghost Gun' Exception

    The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments Tuesday over whether "ghost gun" assembly kits and their accessories, which are unserialized and untraceable, can be considered firearms and therefore subject to licensing requirements under the Gun Control Act of 1968.

  • October 07, 2024

    Texas Tells Panel It Had Three Months To Meet EPA Standards

    A Fifth Circuit panel questioned whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's determination that the Lone Star State was violating air quality standards merited review yet, asking if the state could petition before the agency meted out sanctions for the alleged violations during oral arguments Monday.

  • October 07, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Questions If Safer OxyContin Profits Came From IP

    An attorney for Purdue Pharma didn't seem to find much purchase at the Federal Circuit on Monday as he argued that the company's patents for abuse-deterrent OxyContin weren't obvious, claiming other companies had ample opportunity to reach a solution and failed to do so.

  • October 07, 2024

    5th Circ. Casts Doubt On SEC's Updated Short-Selling Rules

    A Fifth Circuit panel on Monday appeared skeptical of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's arguments for maintaining two regulations aiming to bolster transparency around short selling in the marketplace, with one judge asking whether the agency was "having cake and eating it too," by claiming that the rules were not interconnected in a way that was fatally flawed.

  • October 07, 2024

    NJ Justices Skeptical Philly Archdiocese Subject To NJ Courts

    New Jersey Supreme Court justices on Monday appeared skeptical that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is subject to Garden State courts in a lawsuit claiming a former priest sexually abused a teenager at the former priest's Jersey Shore house decades ago, questioning whether it was being asked to extend personal jurisdiction to where it hasn't gone before.

  • October 07, 2024

    9th Circ. Revives Asylum App Denied Over Alleged Plagiarism

    The Ninth Circuit revived an asylum application from an Indian national allegedly persecuted for his membership in a Sikh separatist political party, saying an immigration judge incorrectly denied the application based on its general similarities with other Indian nationals' asylum applications.

  • October 07, 2024

    Missed Deadline Ends Ga. Nightclub's Appeal Of Atty DQ

    The Georgia Court of Appeals said it won't hear a challenge to a Fulton County judge's decision to disqualify a lawyer from a property dispute after it was revealed the attorney advised one of the defendants to carry out alleged property destruction central to the case.

  • October 07, 2024

    Merck Immune For 'Inflated' Vax Claims To FDA, 3rd Circ. Says

    A divided Third Circuit panel inoculated Merck from claims that it tried to prevent competition by making inflated declarations to federal regulators about its mumps vaccine, with the majority ruling Monday that because Merck convinced federal regulators it had extended the vaccine's long-term potency, those assertions can't have been an anticompetitive "sham."

  • October 07, 2024

    Miss. Can't Use Federal Law To Squelch Pot Ads, 5th Circ. Told

    A Fifth Circuit panel on Monday pushed attorneys for a Mississippi medical marijuana business and state officials to articulate when it is acceptable for governments to restrain commercial speech as it pertains to conduct that is illegal under federal law, but regulated under state law.

  • October 07, 2024

    Pa. Supreme Court Snapshot: Mask Taxes, Pride Month Post

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court during its October argument session will weigh whether retailers improperly collecting sales tax on face masks, which were exempted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, amounts to "commerce" that could trigger the state's consumer protection law. ​

  • October 07, 2024

    Mich. Supreme Court Snapshot: Insulin Prices, Disney Audit

    The Michigan Supreme Court's first oral argument session of the 2024-25 term promises to be a busy one, involving an investigation into Eli Lilly's insulin prices with big implications for the scope of Michigan's consumer protection law and Disney's appeal of an order to turn over decades-old uncashed checks to the state treasurer.

  • October 07, 2024

    Decision In Jurisdictional Case 'Outlier,' High Court Told

    An attorney representing Royal Canin USA Inc. and Nestlé Purina PetCare Co. on Monday told the U.S. Supreme Court that a jurisdictional decision in a case over prescription dog food is both an "extreme outlier" and goes against more than a hundred years of precedent.

Expert Analysis

  • 7th Circ. Rulings Offer Employee Vaccine Exemption Guidance

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    Dawn Solowey and Samantha Brooks at Seyfarth explain how two recent Seventh Circuit rulings in Passarella v. Aspirus and Bube v. Aspirus could affect litigation involving employee vaccine exemptions, and discuss employer best practices for handling accommodation requests that include both religious and secular concerns.

  • The Fed. Circ. In August: Secret Sales And Public Disclosures

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    Two recent Federal Circuit rulings — Sanho v. Kaijet and Celanese International v. ITC — highlight that inventors should publicly and promptly disclose their inventions, as a secret sale will not suffice as a disclosure, and file their patent applications within a year of public disclosure, say Sean Murray and Jeremiah Helm at Knobbe Martens.

  • The State Law Landscape After Justices' Social Media Ruling

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    Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent NetChoice ruling on social media platforms’ First Amendment rights, it’s still unclear if state content moderation laws are constitutional, leaving online operators to face a patchwork of regulation, and the potential for the issue to return to the high court, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Employers Should Not Neglect Paid Military Leave Compliance

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    An August decision from the Ninth Circuit and the settlement of a long-running class action, both examining paid leave requirements under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, are part of a nationwide trend that should prompt employers to review their military leave policies to avoid potential litigation and reputational damage, says Bradford Kelley at Littler.

  • Unpacking Jurisdiction Issues In 3rd Circ. Arbitration Ruling

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    The Third Circuit's recent ruling in George v. Rushmore Service Center could be interpreted to establish three principles regarding district courts' jurisdiction to enter arbitration-related orders under the Federal Arbitration Act, two of which may lead to confusion, says David Cinotti at Pashman Stein.

  • Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

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    Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.

  • How NJ Temp Equal Pay Survived A Constitutional Challenge

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    The Third Circuit recently gave the New Jersey Temporary Workers' Bill of Rights a new lease on life by systematically dismantling multiple theories of the act's unconstitutionality brought by staffing agencies hoping to delay their new equal pay and benefits obligations, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.

  • What We Know From Early Cyberinsurance Rulings

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    Recent cyber disruption incidents, like the Crowdstrike outage and the CDK Global cyberattack this summer, highlight the necessity of understanding legal interpretations of cyberinsurance coverage — an area in which there has been little litigation thus far, say Peter Halprin and Rebecca Schwarz at Haynes Boone.

  • 6th Circ. Ruling Highlights Complexity Of ERISA Preemption

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    The Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in Standard Insurance v. Guy — that the defendant couldn't collect his mother’s life insurance after being convicted of murdering his parents — illustrates how courts must engage in mental gymnastics to avoid the broad reach of Employee Retirement Income Security Act preemption, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • Strategies To Defend Against Healthcare Nuclear Verdicts

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    The healthcare industry is increasingly the target of megaclaims, particularly those alleging medical malpractice, but attorneys representing providers can use a few tools to push back on flimsy litigation and reduce the likelihood of a nuclear verdict, says LaMar Jost at Wheeler Trigg.

  • 5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond

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    As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.

  • Series

    After Chevron: SEC Climate And ESG Rules Likely Doomed

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    Under the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Loper Bright, without agency deference, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure and environmental, social and governance rules would likely be found lacking in statutory support and vacated by the courts, says Justin Chretien at Carlton Fields.

  • Assessing Whether Jarkesy May Limit FINRA Prosecutions

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Jarkesy v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, holding that civil securities fraud defendants are entitled to jury trials, may cause unpredictable results when applied to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority prosecutions, say Barry Temkin and Kate DiGeronimo at Mound Cotton.

  • The Bank Preemption Ripple Effects After Cantero, Flagstar

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    The importance of federal preemption for financial institutions will only increase as technology-driven innovations evolve, which is why the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Cantero v. Bank of America and vacatur of Kivett v. Flagstar Bank have real modern-day significance for national banks, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

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