Appellate

  • July 17, 2024

    NJ Casino Must Face Demoted Slots Director's Bias Suit

    A New Jersey appellate panel Wednesday restored a former Resorts Casino Hotel employee's disability discrimination and retaliation lawsuit, finding that it was unclear if he was disabled after he suffered severe burns in an explosion aboard his boat.

  • July 17, 2024

    Split 5th Circ. Allows Limits On Arlington Donation Boxes

    A split Fifth Circuit upheld an Arlington, Texas, ordinance regulating the placement of donation boxes, writing that the regulation is content-neutral and tailored in a way that gives local charities the ability to collect donations through other means, even if it limits box locations.

  • July 17, 2024

    Many AI Patent Eligibility Issues Still Hazy After Guidance

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's new guidance on patent eligibility for inventions involving artificial intelligence provides some helpful details for patent applicants, but attorneys say it leaves unanswered questions that will likely require court decisions or legislation to sort out.

  • July 17, 2024

    Producer Petitions 2nd Circ. To Revive Blacklisting Suit

    A Broadway producer accusing an actor and stage workers union of unlawfully blacklisting him following a labor dispute over a musical has asked the Second Circuit for another chance to revive the claims.

  • July 17, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Tells ParkerVision To Close Fla. Case Before Appeal

    The Federal Circuit has ordered ParkerVision and Qualcomm to make a Florida federal judge explicitly end counterclaims in long-running infringement litigation between the two before continuing with ParkerVision's appeal.

  • July 17, 2024

    Del. Gov. Signs Hotly Contested Corp. Law Amendments

    Delaware Gov. John Carney signed into law on Wednesday state code amendments allowing corporations to cede some governance rights to stockholders, as well as some state corporate oversight to other jurisdictions.

  • July 17, 2024

    9th Circ. Scrubs Dismissal In Plant-Based Huggies Wipes Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday partially reinstated a suit alleging that Kimberly Clark Corp.'s baby wipes mislead consumers into thinking they're made entirely from plant products, saying the district court wrongly considered the back label when dismissing claims regarding certain products.

  • July 17, 2024

    Pa. Justices OK Zoning Decision To Allow Suburban Hospital

    A zoning officer for a Pittsburgh suburb was within state law to issue a "use permit" that would allow the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to build near a rival network's existing hospital, even if that permit punted on making sure the plan conformed with other zoning rules, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

  • July 17, 2024

    Too Few Respondents Doomed Plywood Duties, Fed. Circ. Told

    The U.S. Department of Commerce brought a series of unfavorable trade court remands upon itself by selecting only two respondents in its investigation of Chinese hardwood plywood, a company fighting to keep its 0% rate told the Federal Circuit on Wednesday.

  • July 17, 2024

    9th Circ. Says Egypt Law Unsuited For Wash. Worker Case

    The Ninth Circuit said on Tuesday that Washington employment law applies to a worker's wrongful termination claims against Fivos Inc., stymieing the worker's attempt to apply Egyptian labor law because she had worked from the country.

  • July 17, 2024

    6th Circ. To Review 2 Standards In FirstEnergy's Cert. Fight

    The Sixth Circuit indicated Wednesday that it would have to examine the applicability of two different class certification standards in a securities suit by FirstEnergy investors, as the company insisted there was no proof its statements influenced stock prices, and that purported omissions didn't factor into the mix.

  • July 17, 2024

    Fight Over Liberace's Rhinestone Piano Reaches Boston Jury

    A lawyer for Gibson Guitars' charitable arm told a Boston federal jury Wednesday that a music store has refused to return a rhinestone-encrusted grand piano once used by Liberace, wrongly claiming it was given as a gift.

  • July 17, 2024

    Yet Another Patent Owner Wants High Court To Review Alice

    A small Alabama company that claims to have invented a new way of "processing returned mail" is the latest to complain to the U.S. Supreme Court about the state of patent eligibility law after the company was unable to enforce its patent against the U.S. Postal Service.

  • July 17, 2024

    Fed. Gov't Can't Slip Suit Over Affordable Housing Loan

    A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge has refused to dismiss a company's suit alleging the federal government violated a loan agreement and now owes the company for the taking of its property.

  • July 17, 2024

    ICE Doesn't Have To Reveal Sources, 2nd Circ. Says

    An Ecuadorian man couldn't convince the Second Circuit to toss out a removal order based on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer's failure to explicitly explain how the agency learned he wasn't a U.S. citizen.

  • July 17, 2024

    Ex-Genentech Worker Seeks Revival Of 401(k) Investment Suit

    A former Genentech employee asked the Ninth Circuit to reopen his proposed class action alleging the biotechnology company kept unwise investment options in its 401(k) plan for years, arguing a trial court applied an erroneously high standard when it tossed the claim.

  • July 17, 2024

    Md. Justices Say Amazon Insurer Can Pursue Subrogation

    An insurer for Amazon can continue to pursue subrogation against subcontractors for a Baltimore warehouse construction project, the Maryland Supreme Court unanimously ruled, after the insurer said it covered Amazon for over $50 million worth of damage caused by severe weather.

  • July 17, 2024

    Ohio Justices Enforce $30M Police Brutality Judgment

    The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the city of East Cleveland to pay upwards of $30 million to satisfy a judgment in favor of a man who won a jury verdict finding that police officers wrongfully detained him and caused serious injuries in the process.

  • July 17, 2024

    Ministerial Exception Ends Buddhist's ADA Suit At 9th Circ.

    The Ninth Circuit backed the dismissal Wednesday of a former Buddhist apprentice's suit claiming his temple failed to accommodate his PTSD, knocking down arguments that the menial work he completed in his role prevented his claims from being nullified by a ministerial exception to anti-bias law.

  • July 17, 2024

    Death Threats Not Enough For 2nd Circ. To OK Asylum

    The Second Circuit on Wednesday rejected an asylum application from a Nepali man who claimed to be fleeing political persecution from Maoist partisans, unconvinced that the threats against his life were serious enough.

  • July 17, 2024

    Split Pa. Justices Let Billing Co. Sue Workers' Comp Insurers

    A pharmacy billing agency can move ahead with its lawsuit against insurers who refused to pay for medications for workers' compensation patients, but only because the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania was evenly divided Wednesday over whether the insurers had waffled on arguing that the courts lacked jurisdiction.

  • July 17, 2024

    Families Push To Revive Suits Over Harvard Body Part Thefts

    Plaintiffs in a dozen lawsuits seeking to hold Harvard University liable after a former medical school morgue manager was charged with stealing and selling body parts have told a Massachusetts Appeals Court that a lower court judge got it wrong when he found that the school has legal immunity.

  • July 17, 2024

    6th Circ. Skeptical About Nixing Diver's Harassment Verdict

    The Sixth Circuit appeared inclined Wednesday to uphold a $58,000 verdict awarded to a commercial diver who accused an environmental cleanup company of subjecting her to harassment and belittlement, with several judges expressing doubt about superseding the jury's conclusion. 

  • July 17, 2024

    After #MeToo, Report Suggests Judiciary Workplace Reforms

    A report released on Wednesday makes 34 suggested reforms for the federal judiciary to better protect its approximately 30,000 employees, including clerks, building off changes made following the #MeToo movement.

  • July 17, 2024

    Chamber Of Commerce Urges Justices To Limit RICO's Reach

    Business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are urging the U.S. Supreme Court not to extend the scope of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act to include personal injury-related claims in civil suits, in a case over alleged false advertisement of hemp-derived CBD products.

Expert Analysis

  • Mid-2024 FCA Enforcement And Litigation Trends To Watch

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    Reviewing notable False Claims Act trends and enforcement efforts in the last year and a half reveals that healthcare is a key enforcement priority for the U.S. Department of Justice, and the road ahead may bring clarification on Anti-Kickback Statute causation and willfulness standards, along with increased focus on private equity, cybersecurity and self-disclosure, say attorneys at Epstein Becker.

  • 2nd Circ. Eminent Domain Ruling Empowers Municipalities

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    The Second Circuit's recent decision in Brinkmann v. Town of Southold, finding that a pretextual taking does not violate the Fifth Amendment's takings clause, gives municipalities a powerful tool with which to block unwanted development projects, even in bad faith, say James O'Connor and Benjamin Sugarman at Phillips Lytle.

  • Opinion

    SEC Doesn't Have Legal Authority For Climate Disclosure Rule

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    Instead of making the required legal argument to establish its authority, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosure rule hides behind more than 1,000 references to materiality to give the appearance that its rule is legally defensible, says Bernard Sharfman at RealClearFoundation.

  • Breaking Down 4th Circ. Pendent Appellate Jurisdiction Ruling

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    As illustrated by the Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Elegant Massage v. State Farm, denying class certification and granting a motion to dismiss, federal appellate courts continue to struggle with defining the scope of pendent appellate jurisdiction — or jurisdiction over nonfinal orders below, says Joan Steinman at the Chicago-Kent College of Law.

  • What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.

  • Patent Damages Jury Verdicts Aren't Always End Of The Story

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    Recent outcomes demonstrate that patent damages jury verdicts are often challenged and are overturned approximately one-third of the time, and successful verdict challenges typically occur at the appellate level and concern patent validity and infringement, say James Donohue and Marie Sanyal at Charles River.

  • Justices' Title VII Ruling Requires Greater Employer Vigilance

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Muldrow v. St. Louis ruling expands the types of employment decisions that can be challenged under Title VII, so employers will need to carefully review decisions that affect a term, condition or privilege of employment, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • End Of Acquitted Conduct Sentencing Can Spark More Reform

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    The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s recent end to factoring acquitted conduct into federal sentences could signal the start of a more constitutionally sound advisory scheme, but Congress and the Supreme Court must first authorize the commission to resolve two constitutional errors baked into its guidelines, say Mark Allenbaugh at SentencingStats.com and Alan Ellis at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.

  • NY Tax Talk: Primary Function Is Key Analysis For Sales Tax

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    Two sales tax cases recently decided by New York's Appellate Division illustrate why both taxpayers and the state's Department of Revenue subscribe to the primary function test, a logical way to determine whether business transactions are subject to sales tax, say Elizabeth Cha and Jeremy Gove at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    Mark Johnson and Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler discuss notable insurance class action decisions from the first quarter of the year ranging from salvage vehicle titling to rate discrimination based on premium-setting software.

  • Why High Court May Have Rejected IP Obviousness Appeal

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    Attorneys at Womble Bond analyze possible reasons the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Vanda Pharmaceuticals' request to review the Federal Circuit’s reasonable expectation of success standard for determining obviousness, including that the court was unpersuaded by the company's argument that Amgen v. Sanofi places a bind on drug developers.

  • Opinion

    Time To Fix NYC's Broken Property Assessment System

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    A New York appellate court's decision to revive Tax Equity Now New York v. City of New York may force the city to revamp its outdated and unfair real estate tax assessment system, which could be fixed with a couple of simple changes, says Seth Feldman at Romer Debbas.

  • Ill. Justices' Ruling Answers Corporate Defamation Questions

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    The Illinois Supreme Court's recent unanimous decision in Project44 v. FourKites provides needed certainty and direction for lower courts considering defamation cases involving communications to corporate officers from third parties outside the corporation, which could result in fewer unwarranted motions to dismiss in trial courts and nonmeritorious appeals, says Phillip Zisook at Schoenberg Finkel.

  • As Arbitrator Bias Claims Rise, Disclosure Standards Evolve

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    The growth in post-award challenges based on arbitrators' alleged conflicts of interest has led to the release of new guidance and new case law on the topic — both supporting the view that professional familiarity alone does not translate to a lack of impartiality, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • 6th Circ. Bias Ruling Shows Job Evaluations Are Key Defense

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    In Wehrly v. Allstate, the Sixth Circuit recently declined to revive a terminated employee’s federal and state religious discrimination and retaliation claims, illustrating that an employer’s strongest defense in such cases is a documented employment evaluation history that justifies an adverse action, says Michael Luchsinger at Segal Mccambridge.

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