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Appellate
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August 02, 2024
Patients Ink $1M Deal To Settle Pharmacy Data-Breach Claims
A home-delivery pharmacy service struck by a data breach in 2021 has agreed to pay $1 million to settle a class action brought by plaintiffs whose personal information was compromised, according to a Friday filing.
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August 02, 2024
Paper Cos. Challenge Superfund Liability At 6th Circ.
International Paper Co. and Weyerhaeuser Co. on Thursday asked the Sixth Circuit to reverse a Michigan federal judge who found that they can be sued for future cleanup costs of a Michigan Superfund site.
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August 02, 2024
3rd Circ. Backs Ex-NJ Firefighter's $50M Drug Fraud Sentence
The Third Circuit backed the eight-year prison sentence handed to a former New Jersey firefighter convicted for his role in a $50 million healthcare fraud scheme, rejecting his argument he was wrongly punished for taking his case to trial.
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August 02, 2024
4 ERISA Excessive Health Fee Suits To Watch
The Third Circuit will decide whether to revive a suit from MetLife workers alleging their pharmacy benefits were mismanaged, while suits proceed in district court against Wells Fargo and Johnson & Johnson alleging they violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act via high drug costs a pharmacy benefit manager charged workers. Here, Law360 looks at four cases involving claims that employers violated ERISA by charging high healthcare costs — including for prescription drugs — that attorneys are watching.
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August 02, 2024
Colo. Appeals Panel Rejects Lower Tax Rate For Hospital
A Colorado rehabilitation hospital should be classified as a commercial property for tax purposes because it was predominantly designed for its services and not for residency, a state appeals court said, reversing a state assessment board.
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August 02, 2024
8th Circ. Says Mining Co. Can't Escape Peruvians' Claims
The Eighth Circuit refused to overturn a ruling greenlighting litigation filed by more than 1,400 Peruvian nationals against U.S. billionaire Ira Rennert and his holding company The Renco Group seeking to hold them liable for alleged lead poisoning tied to a smelting and refining complex in rural Peru.
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August 02, 2024
Full 6th Circ. Won't Allow Worker's Experts Back In Injury Suit
The full Sixth Circuit won't review a panel's decision to toss two expert witnesses a former Marathon Petroleum Co. LP barge worker relied on to support his claims that the company's failure to render prompt and proper treatment contributed to his worsening health.
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August 02, 2024
2nd Circ. OKs 33 Months For Ex-DOJ Paralegal's Video Leaks
In an unpublished opinion Friday, the Second Circuit upheld a former U.S. Department of Justice paralegal's 33-month sentence for helping her gang-affiliated son expose two associates who cooperated with a law enforcement probe into a 2018 robbery.
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August 02, 2024
Mich. Judge DQ'd Over 'Disdain' Of Ineffective-Counsel Claims
A Michigan state judge showed bias in favoring a criminal defendant's trial counsel who had previously clerked for the court, a state appeals court found Thursday, disqualifying the judge from presiding over the defendant's ineffective-assistance of counsel hearing.
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August 02, 2024
Mich. AG Says Enbridge 6th Circ. Rehearing Bid Is Meritless
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is fighting Enbridge Energy's bid for a full Sixth Circuit rehearing on a decision to send a challenge to its Line 5 pipeline back to state court, saying none of the company's arguments against remand are viable.
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August 02, 2024
Manhattan DA Slams Trump's 'Regurgitated' Recusal Bid
The Manhattan district attorney pilloried Donald Trump's renewed request for the judge overseeing his hush money case to recuse himself, branding it a "regurgitated" attempt to rehash issues the court already decided without any new facts — besides Kamala Harris' presidential bid.
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August 02, 2024
DC Circ. Rejects Speech Rights Challenge To DMCA
A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday knocked down a challenge to a provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that bars circumventing digital locks on copyrighted material, ruling that the law is in line with the First Amendment.
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August 02, 2024
Land Sale Deals Allowed In Colo. Eminent Domain Dispute
A Colorado appeals court ruled against the city of Westminster in its eminent domain action, ruling that three comparable sales contracts and an adjacent land parcel's $51.5 million purchase and sale contract can be admitted as evidence in a valuation trial.
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August 02, 2024
DC Circ. Says Precedent Allows H-1B Spousal Work Permits
The D.C. Circuit on Friday upheld an Obama-era program authorizing some spouses of highly skilled foreign workers to get work permits, rejecting a challenge from an organization of former IT workers who say they are being displaced by temporary visa holders.
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August 02, 2024
Plumbing Co. Sales Reps Owed OT, 1st Circ. Affirms
A group of more than 600 sales representatives at a Massachusetts-based plumbing and HVAC wholesaler are eligible for overtime pay, the First Circuit concluded on Thursday, affirming a lower court's finding on a Fair Labor Standards Act complaint brought by the government.
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August 02, 2024
Geico Auto Policy Doesn't Cover HPV Claim, 8th Circ. Says
Geico doesn't have to cover a woman's claim that she contracted HPV during sexual encounters in a policyholder's car, the Eighth Circuit ruled Friday, saying the woman's injuries did not arise out of the "use" of the vehicle as required by the auto policy.
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August 02, 2024
11th Circ. Reopens Emory Suit Over Sex Assault Hearing
Emory University must face a male student's suit claiming he was mistreated during a hearing about sexual assault accusations against him, the Eleventh Circuit ruled, saying he'd provided enough details to suggest the school's sexual misconduct policy created an implied contract between them.
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August 02, 2024
4th Circ. Says Upcoming 50th Birthday Didn't Affect Benefits
An administrative law judge was right to find a worker who suffers from a series of mental health issues isn't owed Social Security disability benefits, the Fourth Circuit said, agreeing that the worker's upcoming 50th birthday didn't strengthen her claim.
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August 01, 2024
Roberta Kaplan's New Firm Nabs 2 Attys From Former Firm
Kaplan Martin LLP, the firm co-founded in June by intrepid litigator Robbie Kaplan, announced Thursday that two seasoned attorneys are joining as partners from Kaplan's previous firm, Hecker Fink LLP.
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August 01, 2024
11th Circ. Affirms Zurich Needn't Pay Judgment Against Agent
In a pair of opinions issued Thursday, the Eleventh Circuit revived a copyright claim by Compulife but rejected the software company's bid to force Zurich American Insurance Co. to pay for a judgment against an insurance agent who allegedly helped three others misappropriate the company's trade secrets.
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August 01, 2024
Monsanto Wants Wash. Justices To Deny PCB Tort Petition
Monsanto Co. has urged Washington state's highest court to deny three schoolteachers' request for review of a recent appellate court decision overturning their $185 million win in a chemical poisoning trial, saying the plaintiffs haven't met their burden to show the case warrants the justices' attention.
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August 01, 2024
Mich. Ruling Ushers In Sweeping Paid Leave, Wage Changes
The Michigan Supreme Court raised the minimum wage and dramatically expanded the number of employers who must soon provide workers with paid sick leave in a blockbuster end-of-term ruling Wednesday that adds new compliance burdens and potential liability for employers, attorneys told Law360.
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August 01, 2024
Mich. Justices Uphold Tighter Manure Discharge Regs
A split Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld state regulators' increased protective permit conditions for animal feeding operations and said challengers to those conditions must fully exhaust administrative appeals before they can bring the issue to court.
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August 01, 2024
Ohio Judge Must Add Overhead-Door Patent Owner To IP Suit
An Ohio federal judge must attach Cold Chain LLC to patent infringement litigation its licensee has filed against companies tied to commercial trucking, the Federal Circuit held Thursday.
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August 01, 2024
Ohio Justices Reject Rival Utility Co.'s Rate Plan Challenge
The Supreme Court of Ohio unanimously rejected a rival electricity generator's argument that AEP Ohio was illegally subsidizing its competitive electric generation services with money paid by non-generation customers in its service territory, upholding a state utility regulator's approval of its rate plan.
Expert Analysis
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3 Infringement Defenses To Consider 10 Years Post-Nautilus
In the 10 years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s influential Nautilus ruling, the spirit of the “amenable to construction” test that the opinion rejected persists with many patent litigators and judges, so patent infringement defense counsel should always consider several key arguments, says John Vandenberg at Klarquist Sparkman.
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NY Ruling Paves A Court Payment Shortcut For More Creditors
A recent New York state appeals court ruling expands access to an expedited statutory procedure for court enforcement of promissory notes or unconditional guaranties, allowing more creditors to minimize the risk of potentially challenging litigation on threshold issues, says Alexander Levi at Friedman Kaplan.
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9th Circ. COVID 'Cure' Case Shows Perks Of Puffery Defense
The Ninth Circuit's March decision in a case surrounding a company's statements about a potential COVID-19 cure may encourage defendants to assert puffery defenses in securities fraud cases, particularly in those involving optimistic statements about breakthrough drugs that are still untested, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.
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After Years Of Popularity, PAGA's Fate Is Up In The Air
The last two years held important victories for plaintiff-side employment attorneys in California Private Attorneys General Act litigation at the trial and appellate court levels, but this hotbed of activity will quickly lose steam if voters approve a ballot measure in November to enact the California Fair Pay and Employer Accountability Act, says Paul Sherman at Kabat Chapman.
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3 Recent Decisions To Note As Climate Litigation Heats Up
Three recent rulings on climate-related issues — from a New York federal court, a New York state court and an international tribunal, respectively — demonstrate both regulators' concern about climate change and the complexity of conflicting regulations in different jurisdictions, say J. Michael Showalter and Robert Middleton at ArentFox Schiff.
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Trending At The PTAB: Real Party In Interest And IPR
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s recent Luminex v. Signify decision, finding a complaint seeking indemnification may be treated as a public demand sufficient to establish a real party-in-interest, shows that the board continues to apply a broad and expansive definition to that term, say Yicong (Eve) Du and Yieyie Yang at Finnegan.
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Perspectives
Justices' Repeat Offender Ruling Eases Prosecutorial Hurdle
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week in Brown v. U.S., clarifying which drug law applies to sentencing a repeat offender in a federal firearms case, allows courts to rely on outdated drug schedules to impose increased sentences, thus removing a significant hurdle for prosecutors, says attorney Molly Parmer.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: May Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from automobile insurance to securities — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including circuit-specific ascertainability requirements and how to conduct a Daubert analysis prior to class certification.
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Perspectives
Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys
As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.
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The Fed. Circ. In May: The Printed Matter Doctrine's Scope
The Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Ioengine v. Ingenico, which addressed the scope of the printed matter doctrine as applied to transmitted data or program code, restores the doctrine’s status as a relatively narrow part of patent law, say Jeremiah Helm and Sean Murray at Knobbe Martens.
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CFPB's Expanding Scope Evident In Coding Bootcamp Fine
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent penalty against a for-profit coding bootcamp that misrepresented its tuition financing plans is a sign that the bureau is seeking to wield its supervisory and enforcement powers in more industries that offer consumer financing, say Jason McElroy and Brandon Sherman at Saul Ewing.
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Fintech Compliance Amid Regulatory Focus On Sensitive Data
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent, expansive pursuit of financial services companies using sensitive personal information signals a move into the Federal Trade Commission's territory, and the path forward for fintech and financial service providers involves a balance between innovation and compliance, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.
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5th Circ. Bond Claim Ruling Shows Creditors Must Be Vigilant
In Raymond James & Associates v. Jalbert, the Fifth Circuit recently held that the bankruptcy debtor's indemnification obligations were discharged by the confirmed plan because the indemnified party failed to speak up, demonstrating that creditors must proactively protect their rights, says Joshua Lesser at Bradley Arant.
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4 Arbitration Takeaways From High Court Coinbase Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's May 23 decision in Coinbase v. Suski, which provides clarity to parties faced with successive contracts containing conflicting dispute resolution provisions, has four practical impacts for contracting parties to consider, say Charles Schoenwetter and Eric Olson at Bowman and Brooke.
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Fed. Circ. Scrapping Design Patent Tests Creates Uncertainty
The Federal Circuit last week discarded established tests for proving that design patents are invalid as obvious, leaving much unknown for design patent applicants, patentees and challengers, such as what constitutes analogous art and how secondary references will be considered and applied, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.