Appellate

  • July 28, 2026

    Trump Asks Supreme Court To Upend $83M Carroll Verdict

    President Donald Trump urged the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to wade in and overturn a jury's $83.3 million verdict finding he defamed writer E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of a decades-old sexual assault, pointing to the justices' decision giving presidents sweeping immunity for official acts.

  • July 28, 2026

    Randy Quaid Loses Bid To Undo $3.5M Calif. Property Ruling

    Actor Randy Quaid and his wife cannot overturn a $3.5 million judgment awarded to a California couple who bought a Santa Barbara property that once belonged to the Quaids, an appeals court ruled Tuesday, finding substantial evidence supporting claims that the Quaids' false ownership assertions damaged the property's marketability.

  • July 28, 2026

    NJ Nursing Home On Hook For Hypothermia Death Verdict

    A New Jersey appellate panel on Tuesday affirmed a $450,000 jury verdict against a nursing home accused of negligently keeping a resident's room like an "icebox," which caused her death from hypothermia, saying the verdict was supported by sufficient evidence.

  • July 28, 2026

    1st Circ. Asked To Save Mayer Brown $21M Fee Bid In RI Suit

    The American Trucking Associations told the First Circuit that its attorneys at Mayer Brown LLP reasonably justified their request for $21 million in fees and costs after securing "substantial" wins in long-running litigation over Rhode Island's truck tolling program, disputing a district court's determination that the trucking trade group wasn't actually a "prevailing party."

  • July 28, 2026

    States Back Guam Group In High Court Disposal Permit Fight

    A coalition of states has told the U.S. Supreme Court that the U.S. Air Force must comply with separate, complementary environmental laws over its permit renewal application to detonate expired munitions in Guam, arguing the laws have distinct aims.

  • July 28, 2026

    Colo. Panel Questions If Concert Easement Appeal Is Moot

    A Colorado Court of Appeals panel Tuesday largely sidestepped the underlying statutory questions in a mountain town's appeal over the dismissal of its case seeking condemnation of an easement over a concert series, instead pondering why they were being asked to rule on the appeal at all.

  • July 28, 2026

    1st Circ. Wary Of Reinstating 'Fork In The Road' Suit

    A First Circuit judge on Tuesday questioned the repercussions of a court nixing the Trump administration's deferred-resignation program more than a year after federal workers accepted the buyouts. 

  • July 28, 2026

    Climate Change Suit Must Proceed, Boulder Tells High Court

    The city and county of Boulder, Colorado, have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to let stand a Colorado Supreme Court decision allowing their climate change tort against Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy to proceed, arguing that the justices shouldn't short-circuit the state court proceedings.

  • July 28, 2026

    Mass. Justices Affirm New Trial In '93 Murder Case

    Massachusetts' highest court ruled Tuesday that a decades-old murder conviction based on eyewitness testimony cannot stand, citing new DNA evidence and other information that called into question the reliability of a key witness.

  • July 28, 2026

    Wash. Panel Upholds DoorDash's $14.5M Insurance Penalty

    DoorDash must pay $14.5 million in taxes and penalties for failing to pay its Dashers' industrial insurance premiums each quarter from 2017 to 2019, Washington appellate judges ruled Tuesday, finding the Dashers were covered workers under state law since their personal labor was the essence of their contracts.

  • July 28, 2026

    DC Circ. Backs EPA's Pollution Review Regulation Process

    A D.C. Circuit panel sided with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in its fight with environmental groups challenging rules for determining whether modifications to major pollution sources trigger new review, holding Tuesday the rule is neither inconsistent with the Clean Air Act nor arbitrary and capricious.

  • July 28, 2026

    Cannabis User Urges 8th Circ. To Rehear Gun Case

    A man convicted of possessing a pistol while using marijuana is urging the Eighth Circuit to rehear his case, arguing that its prior decision to uphold his guilt conflicts with the appeals court's prior ruling requiring the government to prove that a person's drug use caused their dangerous behavior.

  • July 28, 2026

    11th Circ. Weighs Waiver In $12.2M Solar Farm Coverage Case

    An Eleventh Circuit panel grappled Tuesday with whether Zurich American Insurance Co. should be freed from a $12.2 million verdict finding it shortchanged a Georgia solar farm's storm damage claim, with one judge seeming to side with the farm's argument that a waiver of a flood deductible was possible.

  • July 28, 2026

    No COVID Immunity For Mich. Hospitals In Malpractice Revival

    Just because a motion is unopposed doesn't mean it should be granted, Michigan appellate judges said in a published opinion Tuesday, reversing a trial court's decision that the Pandemic Health Care Immunity Act shielded Beaumont Hospital Farmington Hills from a medical malpractice suit.

  • July 28, 2026

    3rd Circ. Upholds Alecto Health's Small-Biz Ch. 11 Plan

    The Third Circuit affirmed Tuesday that hospital owner Alecto Healthcare Services' streamlined Chapter 11 and the resulting plan confirmation withstood an appeal by a creditors' group.

  • July 28, 2026

    2nd Circ. Says Racist Mass Shooter Can Face Death Penalty

    The Second Circuit has determined that the federal government can seek the death penalty for a white supremacist, Payton S. Gendron, who murdered 10 Black people and wounded three others during a May 2022 mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, that he partly livestreamed.

  • July 28, 2026

    8th Circ. Keeps Some Claims Alive In Jail Macing Suit

    The Eighth Circuit has partially revived a lawsuit brought by four incarcerated people in a St. Louis jail, finding that guards at the facility should not be granted complete qualified immunity from claims that they used excessive force.

  • July 28, 2026

    4th Circ. Says DOL Can Argue In Lockheed Pension Suit

    A Fourth Circuit panel granted the U.S. Department of Labor's request to participate in oral arguments for a Lockheed Martin Corp. appeal challenging a Maryland federal judge's refusal to dismiss a proposed class action challenging a $9 billion pension risk transfer.

  • July 28, 2026

    Pa. Panel Narrows Test For Tax Exemption On Charities' Land

    A Pennsylvania appeals court panel held Tuesday that the Salvation Army was wrongly denied a real estate tax exemption for an outdoor retreat by the organization, saying that the entire property was operated in keeping with the group's charitable mission.

  • July 28, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Won't Rethink Expert Decision In Microsoft Case

    The Federal Circuit has turned down Microsoft's request that it revisit a panel's decision that reopened the damages amount issue in a patent infringement case brought against the tech giant by Israeli company Exafer Ltd.

  • July 28, 2026

    Court Is In Session Whenever A Judge Says It Is, 6th Circ. Told

    Court is wherever and whenever a judge says it is, counsel for a Detroit judge told a Sixth Circuit panel Tuesday, arguing that subjecting a student to a mock arrest and trial because she fell asleep during a field trip was within his jurisdiction.

  • July 28, 2026

    High Court Asked To Take Another Settled Expectations Case

    E-learning company Kahoot Inc. is pushing the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its challenge to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's practice of using settled expectations as a reason to deny patent reviews, marking the second petition before the high court on the issue.

  • July 28, 2026

    1st Circ. Skeptical That JPMorgan AI Tool Broke Mass. Law

    A First Circuit panel appeared doubtful Tuesday that an artificial intelligence-powered applicant screening tool used by JPMorgan Chase & Co. constituted the kind of lie detector test that Massachusetts law bars employers from using in interviews. 

  • July 28, 2026

    Texas Panel Says Sysco Can't Arbitrate Driver Injury Claim

    A Texas appeals court on Tuesday found that Sysco USA I Inc. cannot compel arbitration in a delivery driver's injury suit, as the driver is exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act as a transportation worker.

  • July 28, 2026

    340B Appellate Cases To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2026

    Drugmakers are pressing appellate judges in the back half of 2026 to strike down state laws blocking them from restricting 340B contract pharmacy arrangements. Law360 Healthcare Authority has the cases to watch.

Expert Analysis

  • Solar's Momentum At Mid-2026 Will Help It Overcome Snags

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    The rapid expansion of U.S. solar development in the first half of 2026 is likely to continue its pace, even amid ongoing shifts in federal trade policy and supply chain regulations, obstacles to permitting reform, and an increasing divide between states enacting policies to encourage or stymie project development, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • How Justices Stayed Off The Geofence In Location Data Case

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent Chatrie v. United States decision reaffirms Fourth Amendment protections for location data but avoids more complicated questions about geofence warrants, say attorneys at Adams Duerk.

  • Remote Work Rulings Show ADA Fights Hinge On Process

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    Two opposite outcomes in recent Fifth Circuit and D.C. federal court cases underscore that the legality of denying employees' disability accommodation requests for remote work depends less on broad policy and more on how it's applied, says Paul Sweeney at Ice Miller.

  • Fed Autonomy Rests On Narrow Exception After Justices Rule

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Trump v. Cook and Trump v. Slaughter expand presidential removal power while temporarily preserving the Federal Reserve’s independence, but there is uncertainty about which of the Fed’s authorities fall within the court’s narrow monetary-policy exception, says Keith Bradley at Squire Patton.

  • Series

    Being A Magician Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I've developed as a lifelong magician have translated directly into tangible benefits in the courtroom because performing magic and trying cases both live at the intersection of psychology, storytelling, timing and disciplined rehearsal, says Mark Dombroff at Fox Rothschild.

  • How Litigants Are Testing Conversion Therapy Ruling's Scope

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    Litigants are already using the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Chiles v. Salazar ruling, which applied strict scrutiny to Colorado’s conversion therapy ban, to challenge laws limiting algorithmic rental pricing, artificial intelligence-based discrimination and anti-union employer speech, and courts must soon decide Chiles’ First Amendment limits, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

  • How Justices' TPS Ruling Affects Workforce Planning

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent holding in Mullin v. Doe that courts lack jurisdiction to review temporary protected status determinations greenlights the end of TPS for thousands of Syrian and Haitian nationals, and means employers must reevaluate TPS-designees' employability while avoiding discriminatory document practices, says attorney Richard Herman.

  • How Pfizer Won Fed. Circ. Patent Dispute By 1 Carbon Atom

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    The Federal Circuit's recent refusal to revive a patent in Enanta Pharmaceuticals v. Pfizer over an alleged typo creating a one-atom difference in a COVID-19 treatment application hands defendants a template for potentially converting a triable fact question into an early dispositive ruling, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • What To Know Before Justices Rule In Title IX Employee Case

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    The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to decide whether Title IX protections extend to employees alleging sex discrimination in Crowther v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, which could have significant implications for higher education institutions and their employees, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Fed. Circ. Ruling Highlights The Cost Of Incorrect Inventorship

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Fortress Iron v. Digger Specialties, affirming that a fencing company's patents were invalid due to a missing co-inventor, is a reminder that confirming correct inventorship should be a critical part of every patent invalidity workup, say attorneys at Neal Gerber.

  • Future Of Fed Independence Shaky After Justices' Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Trump v. Cook preserved the Federal Reserve's formal independence but could invite the president to remove board members with just modest protections, leaving the central bank's autonomy uncertain and potentially setting up fresh clashes over other agencies, says Steven Schwinn at the University of Chicago.

  • Series

    Mich. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

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    The second quarter brought several notable financial services law developments to Michigan, including a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on state tax foreclosures, progress on a money transmission modernization bill package, and continued legislative momentum on cryptocurrency and mortgage lending, say attorneys at Dykema.

  • Justices' Ruling Alters Playing Field For State Subpoena Suits

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Davenport will spark more federal court challenges to state subpoenas, but procedural defenses will block some merits decisions, so plaintiffs must carefully time and manage parallel federal and state proceedings, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • Looking At Drake's Diss Track Appeal Through An IP Lens

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    Though Drake's pending Second Circuit appeal over UMG's promotion of Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" is formally about defamation, it shows that IP considerations can help identify records showing how a work traveled, which may guide courts when deciding context, says attorney Abdul Abdullahi.

  • Series

    Bass Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Landing a trophy striped bass and closing a big deal both require cultivating the patience to finesse — not force — your way to desired outcomes, changing course when your old approach isn’t working and learning from the ones that got away, says Jon Ruiss at Alston & Bird.

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