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Appellate
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June 28, 2024
NC Justices Revive Black Property Owners' Bias Suit
The North Carolina Supreme Court vacated a lower court's dismissal of discrimination claims brought by Black property owners against the city of Kinston alleging that the city targeted Black-owned buildings for condemnation while preserving white-owned buildings as historical, ruling Friday that the lower court applied the wrong legal standard.
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June 28, 2024
4th Circ. Backs Bank's Win In Black Worker's Bias Suit
The Fourth Circuit on Friday declined to reinstate a lawsuit that a Black former manager brought against a bank accusing it of firing her because she complained about racial bias, saying she failed to rebut the company's argument that she was let go because of her poor performance.
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June 28, 2024
Chevron Reversal's Impact In Trade Cases Likely Limited
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Friday overturning Chevron deference is expected to have wide-ranging impacts, but its effect may be less harsh on international trade litigation where the field is virtually clear of cases invoking the now-defunct standard.
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June 28, 2024
DC Circ. Panel Rejects Mich. Tribe's Casino Land Trust Bid
A D.C. appellate court panel on Friday rejected a Michigan tribe's bid to compel the federal government to take land into trust for a casino venture outside Detroit, saying the court is not convinced that the tribe's proposal to channel a portion of the profits into the tribal community's unmet needs is lawful.
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June 28, 2024
Tulsa Fights Prisoners' Bids To Join Jurisdiction Row
The city of Tulsa is fighting bids by nearly a dozen people incarcerated within the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to intervene in a challenge by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation over tribal jurisdiction, arguing that the federal district court first must consider the municipality's motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
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June 28, 2024
Legal Tech Co. Seeks Arbitration Of ESOP Row At 11th Circ.
A legal technology company is urging the Eleventh Circuit to back arbitration of workers' claims that they lost $35.4 million when their employee stock ownership plan bought undervalued company shares, arguing that the lower court misstepped by finding that the agreement flouted rights under federal benefits law.
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June 28, 2024
Jan. 6 Ruling May Help Accused Rioters, But Not Trump
Experts said Friday that while the U.S. Supreme Court's decision narrowing the use of obstruction of Congress charges could have implications for hundreds of people accused of storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the same count against former president Donald Trump remains buoyed by facts alleged in his election interference indictment.
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June 28, 2024
Texas Justices Scrap $26M Verdict In Honda Seat Belt Suit
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday handed American Honda Motor Co. Inc. a post-trial win, vacating a $26 million verdict for a woman who was paralyzed after a crash in 2015, saying the evidence she presented was not enough to rebut a presumption of nonliability under Texas law.
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June 28, 2024
EPA Coal Ash Rules Are Nothing New, DC Circ. Rules
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was enforcing existing rules rather than illegally issuing new ones when it rejected requests by power companies to extend a deadline to comply with regulations governing the cleanup of coal-ash waste facilities, a D.C. Circuit panel ruled Friday.
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June 28, 2024
9th Circ. Backs Mining Co.'s Defeat Of Driver's FMLA Suit
The Ninth Circuit upheld a mining company's jury win over a truck driver's lawsuit claiming he was fired because he took time off after a workplace injury, saying Friday that employers don't have to rely on medical evidence to challenge a doctor's diagnosis under federal medical leave law.
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June 28, 2024
Mich. EMTs Did Not Prove Immunity Over False Death Declaration
A Michigan Court of Appeals panel says first responders who declared a 20-year-old woman with cerebral palsy dead only for a funeral home embalmer to discover she was still breathing after having been placed in a body bag have not yet proven they are immune from liability, restoring a dismissed lawsuit.
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June 28, 2024
Buchanan Ingersoll Can't Dump Harrisburg Incinerator Row
A Pennsylvania appellate court won't let Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC exit long-running litigation over a trash incinerator project that sent the state's capital city into financial distress, ruling Friday that there was still ambiguity about whether the law firm's advice had been correct.
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June 28, 2024
Firm Asks $460K In Fees After $8K Awarded In Copyright Case
A Seattle-based intellectual property firm is seeking $460,000 in attorney fees for its defense of a software company client battling copyright and patent infringement allegations brought by a leadership consultant, despite the client's losing an $8,000 judgment on one claim.
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June 28, 2024
5th Circ. Tosses Texas Health System's COVID-19 Suit
The largest nonprofit health system in Texas cannot get coverage for COVID-19-related business interruption losses it said totaled over $192 million, the Fifth Circuit affirmed, highlighting previous circuit precedent establishing that COVID-19 does not cause "physical loss or damage."
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June 28, 2024
Chevron Ruling No Sea Change For Tax Court, Judge Says
The U.S. Tax Court will continue to rely on the IRS and Treasury's expertise in the tax code following the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision to overturn the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine that directed courts to defer to federal agencies' interpretations of ambiguous law, a judge said Friday.
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June 28, 2024
Bannon Can't Dodge Prison In Contempt Appeal
Steve Bannon must go to prison Monday, according to a U.S. Supreme Court order Friday rejecting the former Trump White House chief strategist's bid to stave off his four-month sentence for contempt of Congress.
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June 28, 2024
Nixed Purdue Ch. 11 Plan May Leave States Ready For A Fight
State attorneys general across the country could be gearing up for more opioid-related litigation against the Sackler family after the U.S. Supreme Court wiped out a $5.5 billion third-party release for the owners of bankrupt drugmaker Purdue Pharma LP, experts told Law360.
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June 28, 2024
High Court Enters July With 3 Rulings To Go
In a rare move, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue opinions into the beginning of July as the court tries to clear its merits docket of three remaining cases dealing with presidential immunity, whether governments can control social media platforms' content moderation policies and the appropriate deadline to challenge agency action.
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June 28, 2024
Iowa Supreme Court Approves 6-Week Abortion Ban
The Iowa Supreme Court narrowly ruled Friday that the state can enforce a law restricting abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, finding the state has a "legitimate interest in protecting unborn life," according to the majority opinion.
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June 28, 2024
Justices Limit Fed. Use Of Obstruction Charge In Jan. 6 Cases
The U.S. Supreme Court limited Friday the U.S. Department of Justice's use of an obstruction of Congress statute against defendants accused of storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, ruling the law enacted in the wake of an accounting scandal requires the obstructive act must somehow impair the availability or integrity of official documents or proceedings.
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June 28, 2024
Supreme Court Strikes Down Chevron Deference
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned a decades-old precedent that instructed judges about when they could defer to federal agencies' interpretations of law in rulemaking, depriving courts of a commonly used analytic tool and leaving lots of questions about what comes next.
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June 28, 2024
Supreme Court Backs Oregon City's Anti-Camping Laws
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Oregon city's anti-camping ordinances Friday against a challenge from homeless residents who allege the laws penalize them for being homeless.
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June 27, 2024
Biden, Trump Spar On Abortion Access In The Wake Of Dobbs
The U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs decision upending Americans' access to abortion care made an early appearance at Thursday night's presidential debate, with President Joe Biden lamenting the end of Roe v. Wade and former President Donald Trump taking credit for handing the issue of abortion rights "back to the states."
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June 27, 2024
Biden Takes Dig At 'Convicted Felon' Trump In 1st Debate
President Joe Biden referred to former President Donald Trump as a "convicted felon" during Thursday's presidential debate, while Trump suggested that Biden could be criminally prosecuted after leaving office.
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June 27, 2024
Freedmen Heir Has Standing In Land Leasing Row, Court Says
A descendant of those enslaved by the Cherokee Nation can challenge the federal government's alleged restriction on funds from early 20th century land allotments, a D.C. Circuit judge said, arguing that she suffered a cognizable injury due to the Interior Department's failure to provide an accounting of the transactions.
Expert Analysis
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TTAB Ruling Raises Foreign-Language Mark Questions
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's recent decision to cancel the Veuve Olivier registration due to its similarity to Veuve Clicquot brings new focus to the treatment of foreign terms and the doctrine of foreign equivalents, say attorneys at Finnegan.
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A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System
As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.
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What A Louisiana Ruling Means For Pipeline Crossings
After a Louisiana appeals court's recent ruling on a conflict between two pipeline projects, operators and developers should review pipeline crossings to ensure that they occur at safe distances — and keep in mind the value of crossing agreements for protecting both sides in case of a dispute, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.
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Examining Illinois Genetic Privacy Law Amid Deluge Of Claims
After a federal court certified an Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act class action in August, claims under the law have skyrocketed, so employers, insurers and others that collect health and genetic information should ensure compliance with the act to limit litigation risk, say attorneys at Squire Patton.
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Opinion
Climate Change Shouldn't Be Litigated Under State Laws
The U.S. Supreme Court should reverse the Hawaii Supreme Court's October decision in Honolulu v. Sunoco that Hawaii could apply state law to emissions generated outside the state, because it would lead to a barrage of cases seeking to resolve a worldwide problem according to 50 different variations of state law, says Andrew Ketterer at Ketterer & Ketterer.
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Del. Ruling Highlights M&A Deal Adviser Conflict Disclosures
The Delaware Supreme Court recently reversed the Court of Chancery's dismissal of challenges to Nordic Capital's acquisition of Inovalon, demonstrating the importance of full disclosure of financial adviser conflicts when a going-private merger seeks business judgment rule review, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Key Antitrust Class Certification Questions Remain Unclear
The U.S. Supreme Court, by recently rejecting certiorari in Visa v. National ATM, turned down the opportunity to clarify how to analyze disputed evidence bearing on the certification of antitrust class actions, leaving the applicable standards unclear instead of resolving this split of authority, says Jonathan Berman at Jones Day.
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E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data
Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.
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What's Notable In JAMS' New Mass Arbitration Rules
The Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services’ recently released guidelines, coming on the heels of similar American Arbitration Association amendments, suggests that mass arbitrations will remain an efficient means for consumers to vindicate their rights against companies, say Jonathan Waisnor and Brandon Heitmann at Labaton Keller.
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Fostering Employee Retention Amid Shaky DEI Landscape
Ongoing challenges to the legality of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs are complicating efforts to use DEI as an employee retention tool, but with the right strategic approach employers can continue to recruit and retain diverse talent — even after the FTC’s ban on noncompetes, says Ally Coll at the Purple Method.
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'Fat Leonard' Case Shows High Bar For Rescinding Guilty Plea
Prosecutors’ recent move in the “Fat Leonard” bribery case, supporting several defendants’ motions to withdraw their guilty pleas, is extremely unusual – and its contrast with other prosecutions demonstrates that the procedural safeguards at plea hearings are far from enough, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.
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Justices Clarify FAA But Leave Behind Important Questions
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Bissonnette v. LePage firmly shuts the door on any argument that the Federal Arbitration Act's Section 1 exemption is limited to transportation workers whose employers transport goods on behalf of others, but two major issues remain unresolved, say Joshua Wesneski and Crystal Weeks at Weil.
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Is The Digital Accessibility Storm Almost Over?
Though private businesses have faced a decadelong deluge of digital accessibility complaints in the absence of clear regulations or uniformity among the courts, attorneys at Epstein Becker address how recent federal courts’ pushback against serial Americans with Disabilities Act plaintiffs and the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed government accessibility standards may presage a break in the downpour.
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Rebuttal
Double-Patenting Ruling Shows Terminal Disclaimers' Value
While a recent Law360 guest article seems to argue that the Federal Circuit’s Cellect decision last year robs patent owners of lawful patent term, the ruling actually identifies how terminal disclaimers are the solution to the problem of obviousness-type double patenting, say Jane Love and Robert Trenchard at Gibson Dunn.
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Series
Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.