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Appellate
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July 31, 2024
11th Circ. Revives Suit Over Ga. City's Ouster Of White Manager
A white ex-city manager of a small Georgia city who was fired after a new administration allegedly vowed to replace him with a Black person will get another shot at pressing his racial discrimination claims as the Eleventh Circuit gave the case new life Wednesday.
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July 31, 2024
Fed. Circ. Sees No Disclosure In Private Sale Of Laptop Ports
A "private" sale of some 15,000 laptop ports doesn't count as "a public disclosure," as far as patent law is concerned, the Federal Circuit ruled Wednesday, affirming a patent board panel's earlier ruling.
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July 31, 2024
Trade Secrets Cases To Watch In 2024: A Midyear Report
A Virginia appellate court reversed a historic $2 billion trade secrets verdict in a closely watched case, and the Seventh Circuit emphasized that the federal trade secrets law applies to conduct abroad, expanding the damages landscape. Here are some of the most notable trade secrets cases to watch for the rest of 2024.
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July 31, 2024
After Sackett, A Colorado Town Grapples With Its Wetlands
Residents of a small town in Colorado have been left to spar over the fate of its wetlands in the wake of Sackett v. EPA, highlighting how the court's curtailment of Clean Water Act protections has placed local, state and tribal governments in a regulatory vacuum.
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July 31, 2024
Justices Urged To Review Airline Price-Fixing Deal Payout
Two class members in a long-running airline price-fixing suit are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a secondary distribution of over $5 million in settlement money, saying unclaimed funds should have been sent to state treasuries, not class counsel.
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July 31, 2024
Pipeline Cos. Can Join FERC Approval Fight
Companies behind a liquefied natural gas facility in Sonora, Mexico, and the Saguaro Connector Pipeline that will help serve it can weigh in on a challenge of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approvals for the pipeline, the D.C. Circuit said Wednesday.
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July 31, 2024
Meadows Appeal May Help Clarify Immunity Ruling, Attys Say
Legal scholars told Law360 on Wednesday that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows' recent request to have the U.S. Supreme Court weigh in on whether his Georgia election interference case should be moved to federal court provides the justices with an opportunity to clarify key aspects of their recent presidential immunity ruling.
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July 31, 2024
Inhaler Patents 'Must Be' In Orange Book, Teva Tells Fed. Circ.
Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. urged the Federal Circuit to upend a lower court decision ejecting inhaler device patents from an important government database, arguing that the delisting, won by Amneal Pharmaceuticals Inc. in an infringement lawsuit, ignores broad protection envisioned under intellectual property law.
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July 31, 2024
Historical Association Backs Tribes In SunZia Power Line Row
The National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers is asking the Ninth Circuit to intervene in a challenge by a coalition of Native American tribes and environmentalists seeking to block SunZia Transmission from routing a 520-mile power line through important cultural and historical sites in the San Pedro Valley.
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July 31, 2024
Metal Recycler Loses Contract Fight With Shredder Co.
The Fourth Circuit on Wednesday ruled against a North Carolina metal recycler in its bid to hold a heavy-equipment maker liable for backing out of a deal to sell a shredder, with the court reasoning that the recycler never signed paperwork to solidify the deal.
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July 31, 2024
Mich. Justices Ask, Again, If Auto Reforms Cover Old Policies
The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday asked parties in a crash insurance dispute to address a question on which it had already heard arguments earlier this year: whether no-fault reforms enacted in 2019 apply to preexisting policies or just to those issued after the reforms took effect.
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July 31, 2024
Jury Instruction Error Kills $21M Verdict Over Noncompete
Three former employees of a consulting group who jumped to a competitor in 2016 were let off the hook for a $21 million jury verdict Wednesday by an intermediate Massachusetts appellate court over a prejudicial error in jury instructions.
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July 31, 2024
Wash. Court To Rethink Gas Chain's Tax Duty On Fuel Cards
A Washington state appeals court said it would reconsider its May decision that a Pacific Northwest gas station chain that issued fuel cards to customers must pay the state business and occupation tax when holders of those cards purchase gas from other participating gas station chains.
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July 31, 2024
NJ Clinic Immune From Personal Injury Claims, Panel Rules
A New Jersey appellate panel has backed the dismissal of a patient's lawsuit alleging that she was seriously injured by a slip and fall at a Garden State health clinic, ruling that the clinic is immune from the suit because it is a nonprofit organized to provide charitable health education services.
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July 31, 2024
Antitrust Group Backs Naval Engineers' No-Poach Case
An advocacy group that supports robust enforcement of antitrust laws has urged the Fourth Circuit to revive a case from former naval engineers accusing military shipbuilders of using secret "no-poach" agreements to avoid competing for workers.
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July 31, 2024
10th Circ. Finds Plenty To Prove Colo. Doctor's COVID Fraud
A Tenth Circuit panel has affirmed fraud convictions for a former Colorado physician, concluding that there was a wealth of evidence to find him guilty of swindling government COVID-19 aid programs and spending the money on himself.
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July 31, 2024
Cities, States Weigh Homeless Policies Post-Grants Pass
In the weeks since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an Oregon city's camping ban doesn't amount to cruel and unusual punishment of its unhoused residents, municipal and state governments are rethinking their approach to homeless encampments and weighing newfound authority.
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July 31, 2024
5th Circ. Pause Spells Doom For DOT Airline Fees Rule
The Fifth Circuit gave the airline industry a temporary reprieve from a new U.S. Department of Transportation rule requiring carriers to more clearly disclose add-on fees upfront, a decision that stands to embolden opponents of the Biden administration's more aggressive consumer-focused policies.
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July 31, 2024
Ga. Panel Strikes Sanctions Without Day In Court In HOA Row
A Georgia Court of Appeals panel said Wednesday a Fulton County trial judge wrongly entered sanctions against a woman without holding a hearing after she failed to attend depositions with an Alpharetta homeowners association.
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July 31, 2024
$7.5M Verdict Over Burger King Fall Axed And Retrial Ordered
A Florida appeals court on Wednesday wiped out a $7.5 million verdict in favor of a man who slipped and fell in a Burger King bathroom, saying a new trial is warranted to correct the trial court's mistake of letting his expert change his opinion midtrial.
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July 31, 2024
NC Defense Attys Say Virus Law Case Can 'Unsettle' Immunity
A North Carolina defense attorney group asked to jump into a medical malpractice suit in the state's high court Wednesday, offering what it described as a warning that if a decision stands on a COVID-19 law, immunity from lawsuits will be "unsettled."
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July 31, 2024
Age Limits On Owning Senior Units Unlawful, NJ Panel Says
A New Jersey appellate panel on Wednesday backed a lower court's finding that a Garden State municipality's ordinance limiting property ownership in senior housing communities to those 55 years old or older violated the federal Fair Housing Act and state Law Against Discrimination, holding that both statutes prohibit discrimination based on familial status.
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July 31, 2024
Minn. Shopping Center's $97M Value Upheld By State Justices
A Minnesota shopping center was correctly valued for tax purposes at nearly $97 million, the state Supreme Court said Wednesday, rejecting the property owner's argument that the valuation should consider a calculation of effective rent instead of market rent.
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July 31, 2024
Honesty Worries Justify Gas Co. Worker Firing, 4th Circ. Says
The Fourth Circuit upheld a Baltimore gas company's win over a former mechanic's lawsuit alleging he was unlawfully terminated for taking medical leave because of a diabetes-related condition, ruling Wednesday that suspicions of dishonesty provided a credible reason for letting him go.
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July 31, 2024
Pa. Court Says Mail-In Ballot Images Are Public Records
Scanned copies of Pennsylvanians' absentee and mail-in ballots are public records subject to the state's Right-to-Know Law, even though copies of votes cast in person are not, a state appellate court ruled Wednesday.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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Series
Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.
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3rd Circ.'s Geico Ruling May Encourage Healthcare Arbitration
The Third Circuit's recent decision in Geico v. Mount Prospect, finding that claims under New Jersey's Insurance Fraud Prevention Act can be arbitrated, strengthens arbitration as a viable alternative to litigation, even though it is not necessarily always a more favorable forum, say Khaled Klele and Jessica Osterlof at McCarter & English.
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How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case
The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.
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One Contract Fix Can Reduce Employer Lawsuit Exposure
A recent Fifth Circuit ruling that saved FedEx over $365 million highlights how a one-sentence limitation provision on an employment application or in an at-will employment agreement may be the easiest cost-savings measure for employers against legal claims, say Sara O'Keefe and William Wortel at BCLP.
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What 11th Circ. FCRA Ruling Means For Credit Furnishers
Credit furnishers should revisit their internal investigation and verification procedures after the Eleventh Circuit declined last month in Holden v. Holiday to impose a bright-line rule that only purely factual or transcription errors are actionable under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, say Diana Eng and Michael Esposito at Blank Rome.
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High Court Injunction Case Could Shake Up Fee-Shifting Rules
In agreeing to review a Virginia case rendered statutorily moot before final judgment, the U.S. Supreme Court could finally settle the question of if — and when — a preliminary injunction can win attorney fees for a prevailing party, but all possible answers could disrupt fee-shifting schemes written into major laws, says Laurens Wilkes at Winston & Strawn.