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Appellate
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October 21, 2024
Mazda Buyers Ask 9th Circ. To Revive Water Pump Defect Suit
Counsel for a group of Mazda vehicle owners urged the Ninth Circuit on Monday to reinstate their putative class action alleging that Mazda sedans and SUVs contain a design defect that results in leaky water pumps, saying a district court judge wrongly found fault with their engineering expert's report and tossed the case.
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October 21, 2024
Nissan Fights Uphill To Undo Cert. In Sunroof Defect Fight
Ninth Circuit judges on Monday doubted Nissan's bid to undo an order certification of a class of drivers who allege the Japanese carmaker sold vehicles with panoramic sunroofs that are prone to shattering, telling Nissan's counsel the appeal appears to challenge the claims' merits, and not whether they could be resolved classwide.
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October 21, 2024
Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG Want DC Circ. FERC Ruling Redo
Backers of liquefied natural gas projects on Texas' Gulf Coast are asking the D.C. Circuit to revisit a panel ruling that vacated their Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reauthorization orders, with Rio Grande LNG LLC saying that the flawed ruling threatens to halt its $18 billion project and put its future at "grave risk."
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October 21, 2024
2nd Circ. Axes Claims Victoria's Secret Mogul Aided Epstein
The Second Circuit on Monday refused to revive a suit accusing billionaire developer and Victoria's Secret tycoon Leslie Wexner, his wife and four of their organizations of facilitating Jeffrey Epstein's sexual assault of a minor, finding the appeal improperly raised new arguments.
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October 21, 2024
9th Circ. Judge Slams 'Reprehensible' Policy In Jail Death
A Ninth Circuit judge on Monday blasted a healthcare contractor's policy that denied hospital treatment for a woman in a Washington jail who died from a ruptured intestine, but nevertheless questioned if a $24 million punitive damage jury award was excessive.
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October 21, 2024
Disbarred Conn. Atty Owed $52K In Fees, Appeals Court Told
An attorney disbarred for making false claims in a judicial recusal motion is seeking $52,100 in fees derived from a State Farm car accident settlement and various other sources, telling the Connecticut Appellate Court on Monday that a trial judge improperly weighed the fees during her later discipline case.
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October 21, 2024
NJ Transit Keeps Win In Suit Over Worker Assault
A New Jersey state appeals court has tossed a lawsuit alleging that New Jersey Transit Rail Operations Inc. failed to prevent a homeless woman from attacking an agency electrician at a subway station, saying there was insufficient evidence the agency violated any standards regarding reasonably safe workplace conditions.
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October 21, 2024
NC Justices Revive Challenge To Hospital Competition Law
The North Carolina Supreme Court has ordered a trial court to reassess an optical surgeon's suit challenging the state's healthcare competition law over claims that the certificate of need statute violates the constitution by blocking him from using his own operating room.
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October 21, 2024
9th Circ. Doubts Calif. City Can Sue Over Housing Mandates
A Ninth Circuit panel expressed skepticism Monday that Huntington Beach, California, has standing to sue the state in federal court over California's housing mandates because it's an autonomous charter city, with one judge saying the city "is not some free floating entity that gets to do whatever it wants."
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October 21, 2024
11 House Dems Back DOI In Offshore Lease Challenge
A coalition of House Democrats are supporting the U.S. Department of the Interior in a petroleum industry challenge to a 2024-2029 offshore oil and gas leasing program, telling the D.C. Circuit the federal government isn't required to "make decisions with blinders on."
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October 21, 2024
3rd Circ. Urged To Rethink $60M Moroccan Hotel Award Fight
An investment group wants the Third Circuit to reconsider its decision reviving a dispute over the enforcement of a $60 million arbitral award favoring the current owner of a luxury hotel in Casablanca, saying the ruling is unprecedented and disregards well-established Delaware law.
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October 21, 2024
Colo. Justices Ask City To Explain How Theft Law Is Valid
The Colorado Supreme Court has ordered a Denver suburb and its municipal court to elucidate why a city ordinance, that imposes harsher petty theft penalties than those under state law, should not have been found unconstitutional or preempted by state statute.
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October 21, 2024
Justices Told Newman's Suspension Preventing Fair Hearings
The owner of a background check patent that was found invalid for claiming only an abstract idea has told the U.S. Supreme Court that it was deprived of a fair hearing at the Federal Circuit due to the suspension of Judge Pauline Newman.
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October 21, 2024
6th Circ. Won't Force Arbitration Of Kellogg 401(k) Fee Suit
The Sixth Circuit on Monday revived a proposed class action against a Kellogg Co. subsidiary alleging mismanagement of an employee 401(k) plan, finding a Michigan federal court wrongly tossed the suit in favor of arbitration in April 2023.
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October 21, 2024
Colo. Tenants Facing Eviction Are Entitled To Jury Trials
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday that tenants in the state have a right to jury trials in eviction actions filed by their landlords if factual disputes exist in the case.
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October 21, 2024
1st Astroworld Trial Pushed As Travis Scott Drops Appeal
Rapper Travis Scott has dropped his bid for settlement information from several Astroworld plaintiffs, telling a Texas appellate court that the first plaintiffs scheduled to have their day in court will no longer be heading to trial this week.
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October 21, 2024
DC Circ. Unsure Right Law Used To Challenge Alaska LNG Project
Two conservation groups faced a skeptical D.C. Circuit panel on Monday in their challenge to the U.S. Department of Energy's reapproval of a $44 billion liquefied natural gas project in Alaska.
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October 21, 2024
9th Circ. Probes Bargaining Order Limits In 1st Cemex Review
In the first court challenge to the National Labor Relations Board's landmark Cemex ruling, the Ninth Circuit grappled Monday with whether the labor board's new standard for issuing bargaining orders complies with a framework the U.S. Supreme Court set out more than 50 years ago.
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October 21, 2024
Ga. Justices Told To Reject Election Board's 'Power Grab'
A former Georgia Republican lawmaker who successfully blocked a slate of controversial new election rules in the Peach State urged the state supreme court Monday not to reimpose the measures just weeks before Election Day while an appeal plays out.
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October 21, 2024
2nd Circ. Won't Revive $500M Plunge Suit Against Wells Fargo
The Second Circuit on Monday refused to revive a proposed class action accusing Wells Fargo of causing a Chicago fund manager to lose at least $500 million by wrongfully forcing the liquidation of its mutual fund and other investments, finding that the district court was correct in dismissing the suit entirely.
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October 21, 2024
3M Asks 2nd Circ. To Keep Vermont PFAS Case In Fed Court
3M Co. is asking the Second Circuit to reverse an order remanding a suit by the state of Vermont over "forever chemical" contamination back to state court, saying that it filed for removal as soon as it learned that the claims involved products from a facility that made products for the military.
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October 22, 2024
Post-Dobbs Ballot Questions May Spell Litigation With No End
A record-setting number of abortion-related constitutional ballot questions this year has unleashed a wave of litigation over reproductive rights in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs decision. But they may just be the start of the legal battles over the ballot measures.
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October 22, 2024
The State Supreme Court Races To Watch In November
With dozens of states holding elections next month for more than 80 seats on their courts of last resort, a number of races could prove critical for the courts' ideological balances and important cases relating to abortion, voting rights and possibly even the outcome of the presidential election.
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October 21, 2024
5th Circ. Asked To Nix Insurer's $2.2M Assault Coverage Win
A group of Texas trial lawyers urged the Fifth Circuit to reverse a Texas federal court's order permitting a bar's insurer to pay only its $1 million limit for a $3.2 million personal injury judgment, arguing the underlying plaintiffs made a valid presuit settlement demand.
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October 21, 2024
9th Circ. Revives Atty's ADA Suit Against Calif. Bar
The State Bar of California may not have sovereign immunity that would allow it to duck an attorney's federal lawsuit claiming it failed to provide him with adequate disability accommodations during a bar exam amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ninth Circuit said Monday.
Expert Analysis
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How Corner Post Affects Enviro Laws' Statutes Of Limitations
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board has helped to alter the fundamental underpinnings of administrative law — and its plaintiff-centric approach may have implications for some specific environmental laws' statutes of limitations, say Chris Leason and Liam Martin at Gallagher and Kennedy.
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Jarkesy May Thwart Consumer Agencies' Civil Penalty Power
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy not only implicates future SEC administrative adjudications, but those of other agencies that operate similarly — and may stymie regulators' efforts to levy civil monetary penalties in a range of consumer protection enforcement actions, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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Ohio's New Citation Rules Could Cure 'The Bluebook Blues'
The Ohio Supreme Court recently revised its writing manual to streamline citation format in legal briefs and opinions, deviating from Bluebook style, and encouraging lawyers and judges to draft cleaner documents that will give the substance of their legal arguments more persuasive power, say L. Bradfield Hughes and Chance Conaway at Porter Wright.
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9th Circ. Ruling Flags Work Harassment Risks Of Social Media
The recent Ninth Circuit ruling in Okonowsky v. Garland, holding an employer could be liable for a co-worker's harassing social media posts, highlights new challenges in technology-centered and remote workplaces, and underscores an employer's obligation to prevent hostile environments wherever their employees clock in, say Jennifer Lada and Phillip Schreiber at Holland & Knight.
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Trump's Best Hush Money Appeal Options Still Likely To Fail
The two strongest potential arguments former President Donald Trump could raise in appealing his New York hush money conviction seem promising at first, but precedent strongly suggests they will still ultimately fail — though, of course, Trump's unique position could lead to surprising results, says former New York Supreme Court Justice Ethan Greenberg, now at Anderson Kill.
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Tips For Tax Equity-Tax Credit Transfers That Pass IRS Muster
Although the Internal Revenue Service has increased its scrutiny of complex partnership structures, which must demonstrate their economic substance and business purpose, recent cases and IRS guidance together provide a reliable road map for creating legitimate tax equity structures, say Ian Boccaccio and Michael Messina at Ryan Tax.
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7th Circ. Ruling Sheds Light On Extraterritoriality In IP Law
A recent Seventh Circuit decision involving the Defend Trade Secrets Act, allowing for broader international application of trade secrets laws, highlights a difference in how trade secrets are treated compared to other areas of intellectual property law, say Armin Ghiam and Maria Montenegro-Bernardo at Hunton.
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Opinion
Texas Judges Ignored ERISA's Core To Stall Fiduciary Rule
Two recent rulings from Texas federal courts, which rely on a plainly wrong reading of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to effectively strike a forthcoming rule that would impose functional fiduciary duties onto sellers of investment services, may expose financially unsophisticated 401(k) participants to peddlers of misleading advice, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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2nd Circ. Ruling Reaffirms Short-Swing Claims Have Standing
The Second Circuit's recent ruling in Packer v. Raging Capital reversing the dismissal of a shareholder's Section 16(b) derivative suit seeking to recover short-swing profits for lack of constitutional standing settles the uncertainty of the district court's decision, which could have undercut Congress' intent in crafting Section 16(b) in the first place, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?
A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.
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Insurance Lessons From 11th Circ. Ruling On Policy Grammar
The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in ECB v. Chubb Insurance, holding that missing punctuation didn't change the clear meaning of a professional services policy, offers policyholder takeaways about the uncertainty that can arise when courts interpret insurance policy language based on obscure grammatical canons, say Hugh Lumpkin and Garrett Nemeroff at Reed Smith.
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How High Court Ruling Is Shaping Homelessness Policies
The U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson to allow enforcement of local ordinances against overnight camping is already spurring new policies to manage homelessness, but the court's ruling does not grant jurisdictions unfettered power, say Kathryn Kafka and Alex Merritt at Sheppard Mullin.
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DOJ Paths To Limit FARA Fallout From Wynn's DC Circ. Win
After the D.C. Circuit’s recent Attorney General v. Wynn ruling, holding that the government cannot compel retroactive registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the U.S. Department of Justice has a few options to limit the decision’s impact on enforcement, say attorneys at MoFo.
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Series
Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.
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Series
After Chevron: Challenges Loom For PBGC Actions
After Loper Bright, two recent actions taken by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. already under scrutiny seem destined to be challenged and resolved under the new standard of judicial deference, which will greatly affect employers with potential withdrawal liability exposure, say Robert Perry and David Pixley at Jackson Lewis.