Appellate

  • October 14, 2026

    US Backs Alaska In High Court Fight Over Plane Forfeiture

    The federal government has told the U.S. Supreme Court that Alaska is well within its right to confiscate "instrumentalities of crime" and the state's attempted forfeiture of an 83-year-old bush pilot's $95,000 plane for transporting a six-pack of beer to a dry village wasn't excessive.

  • October 14, 2026

    FirstEnergy Beats 3rd Circ. Appeal In Fatal Catwalk Fall Suit

    The mother of a construction worker killed by a collapsing catwalk can't sue the former operator of a Pennsylvania power plant because she hadn't shown FirstEnergy Corp. retained sufficient control over a demolition contractor to share liability, a split Third Circuit panel ruled Wednesday.

  • October 14, 2026

    Fla. Can Seek Death Penalty After Improper Waiver, Panel Says

    A Florida appeals court on Wednesday denied a defendant's bid to reconsider a ruling that allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty against him, finding that a death penalty waiver filed in his initial murder case had been improperly applied to a later superseding indictment.

  • October 14, 2026

    9th Circ. Blocks Calif. Law Requiring Fed Agents To Show IDs

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday reversed the implementation of a California law requiring federal agents to display identification, saying the Trump administration is "certain to succeed" on its argument that the state statute violates the U.S. Constitution's supremacy clause.

  • October 14, 2026

    Mass. Top Court Rejects Trade Secret Harm 'Presumption'

    Massachusetts' highest court on Wednesday declined to rule that a strong trade secrets case can establish a presumption of irreparable harm and entitle the owner of the secrets to a preliminary injunction.

  • October 14, 2026

    Litigation Funding Partners Clash Over Shift In Del. High Court

    Priority Pre-Settlement Funding LLC and Brett K. Findler urged the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday to revive claims accusing Findler's former business partner of quietly shifting their litigation-finance business into hedge funds the partner controlled, while the other side argued Findler knew about the new structure, agreed to it and helped put it in place.

  • October 14, 2026

    Panel Won't Revive Doctor's MedMal Suit Against Emory

    A Georgia appeals court declined Wednesday to reinstate a doctor's lawsuit against Emory Healthcare, ruling that the doctor's bankruptcy proceedings didn't extend the state's five-year deadline for bringing medical malpractice claims.

  • October 14, 2026

    Ohio High Court Raises Bar For Preindictment Delay Claims

    The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that prosecutors did not illegally delay charges when they brought a homicide charge against a father nearly 16 years after his daughter died, in an opinion that undid decades of case law in the state.

  • October 14, 2026

    Jenzabar Investors Ask Del. Justices To Revive $55M Suit

    Jenzabar Inc. and former members of New Media Investors II LLC, an investment vehicle formed to hold Jenzabar securities, clashed before the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday over whether the investors can revive their suit seeking roughly $55.25 million tied to the higher education software company's stock warrants, even though the investment vehicle was canceled in 2017.

  • October 14, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Upholds Patent Denial In SAWS-Bias Challenge

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday swiftly upheld the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decision to deny an inventor's internal combustion engine patent application after he argued his constitutional rights were violated when his case was sent to the USPTO's controversial, now-discontinued Sensitive Application Warning System, or SAWS, program.

  • October 14, 2026

    11th Circ. Says Fla. Can Enforce Social Media Teen Ban

    The Eleventh Circuit has ruled that Florida can enforce its restrictions on social media for children, vacating and reversing a preliminary injunction that blocked the state's enforcement.

  • October 14, 2026

    Trade Court Can Order Refunds Without Suits, Fed. Circ. Told

    A subset of importers shouldn't be required to file suits at the U.S. Court of International Trade to receive refunds for tariffs paid that were deemed unlawful by the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a technology trade organization told the Federal Circuit.

  • October 14, 2026

    Pa. County Urges Appeals Court To Revive Climate Suit

    A Pennsylvania county's lawsuit that accuses oil companies of concealing the impacts of fossil fuels on climate change isn't preempted by federal law and should be revived, a state appellate court heard Wednesday.

  • October 14, 2026

    Trustee Asks 1st Circ. To Nix Shuttered Bank Owner's Claims

    A Puerto Rico federal court properly dismissed claims against a trustee appointed to administer the receivership of a shuttered online bank suspected of facilitating tax evasion and money laundering, he told the First Circuit, saying he's entitled to 11th Amendment immunity because he was sued in his official capacity.

  • October 14, 2026

    Ga. Justices Zero In On Precedent In Election Board Battle

    The Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday considered whether a decades-old state high court ruling allows Fulton County officials to reject two of the county Republican Party's nominees for the local election board, hinting that precedent could support the county's power to turn away the would-be board members.

  • October 14, 2026

    Full Fed. Circ. Won't Review Brick Duty Definition Holding

    The Federal Circuit said Wednesday that it won't reconsider its determination that the U.S. Court of International Trade properly found duty orders on certain heat-resistant bricks lack specific chemical makeup parameters, despite a claim the ruling ran afoul of precedent and will cause "devastating harm."

  • October 14, 2026

    Judge Questions Limits On National Guard Deployment

    Tensions rose in a D.C. federal courthouse Wednesday when a federal appeals court judge asked the government what the limiting principle is in the president calling up the National Guard.

  • October 14, 2026

    Ga. Justices Deem Fire Fee Illegal, Back $30M In Refunds

    A Georgia county must issue more than $30 million worth of refunds and interest to property owners to whom it charged a fire protection fee, the state's high court affirmed Wednesday, finding the fee constituted an unauthorized tax.

  • October 14, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Won't Revive UPL Patent, But Rejects Sanctions

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday refused to bring back an agricultural fungicide patent owned by UPL Ltd. that was invalidated at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, but also shot down a bid to sanction the Indian agrochemicals company.

  • October 14, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Affirms Toss Of Hulu Digital Advertising Patent Suit

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday upheld a California federal judge's decision dismissing a suit brought by a patent-holding company accusing streaming giant Hulu of infringing patents covering advertising in digital media, finding the patent claims cover an abstract idea and lack an inventive concept.

  • October 14, 2026

    Feds Fight Top Court Review Of Ex-Defender's Sex Bias Suit

    The federal judiciary has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a former assistant public defender's petition challenging its internal complaint process for workplace sex harassment, arguing the questions she presented weren't properly preserved in the lower courts.

  • October 14, 2026

    Ga. Atty Disbarred After Guilty Plea In Police Report Scheme

    The Georgia Supreme Court Wednesday disbarred a personal injury lawyer who pled guilty for his part in a scheme using stolen accident reports to find clients and financially benefit from settlement money.

  • October 14, 2026

    US Urges 4th Circ. To Reverse Afghan Families Entry Orders

    The Trump administration urged the Fourth Circuit to reinstate a travel ban on families seeking to join Afghan refugees granted asylum in the United States, arguing a lower court lacked authority to override the State Department's decision.

  • October 14, 2026

    1st Circ. Rejects Brown U. Prof's Challenge To Deportation

    The First Circuit has said it lacks jurisdiction to review a Brown University professor's deportation and five-year ban on trying to return to the United States, affirming a Massachusetts district judge's dismissal of her habeas petition.

  • October 14, 2026

    Voting Groups Tell High Court To Block Citizenship Proof Rule

    A number of voting rights groups are urging the Supreme Court to reject the Republican National Committee's bid to undo a Ninth Circuit ruling over two Arizona voting laws, saying the RNC failed to show that documentary proof of citizenship is necessary to vote by mail and in presidential elections.

Expert Analysis

  • What's Next For Prediction Markets If States Win At High Court

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    While the Supreme Court hasn't taken up a prediction market case yet, a high court win for the states in their quest to regulate the exchanges would likely mean a wave of state legislature bills and regulatory guidance arriving on different timelines, rather than a single uniform transition, says Howard Herndon at Bradley Arant.

  • 3rd Circ. Ruling Shows ADA Limits Amid Worker Misconduct

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    In Hileman v. West Penn Allegheny Health System, the Third Circuit recently rejected a wrongful termination claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act, illustrating that disability and leave laws don't automatically insulate employees from the consequences of prior workplace misconduct, say attorneys at Bond Schoeneck.

  • AI Meeting Recaps Pose New Discovery And Privilege Risks

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    The New York City Bar Association’s recent ethics opinion, cautioning attorneys not to record nonclient conversations with artificial intelligence tools, reflects an emerging view that AI meeting recaps are now a distinct business record category, meaning counsel should set meeting-level controls and apply framework-level updates, says William Wright at Faegre Drinker.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: September Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses six recent rulings involving pecuniary loss in false price comparison advertising, privity in an insurance fee class, antitrust standing, immigration class representatives, retirement beneficiary class commonality, and Rule 23(f) appeals in Fair Labor Standards Act claims.

  • Florida Condo Ruling Offers Tips For Contractor Lien Disputes

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    A recent Florida appellate decision, holding condo owners may challenge liens placed on their units, despite not being party to the underlying disputed agreement their association struck with contractors, offers lessons on lien enforcement to both contractors and condo owners, say attorneys at Adams & Reese.

  • BIA Ruling Could Make Immigration Bond A Catch-22

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    A recent Board of Immigration Appeals decision refining the way immigration judges assess flight risk, when read broadly, could create a circular rule under which a noncitizen can be treated as a flight risk because they have too few ties to the U.S., but also because they have too many, says Georgianna Pisano Goetz at the National Immigrant Justice Center.

  • 8th Circ. Ruling Raises Bar For Seeking Disability Benefits

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    The Eighth Circuit's recent ruling in Post v. Bisignano signals that claimants seeking Social Security disability benefits may need to offer convincing proof of functional restrictions beyond their treating doctors' opinions and illustrates that the court's proclaimant jurisprudence no longer prevails, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • Series

    Playing Bid Whist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    As a child, I viewed bid whist as a family tradition and a source of friendly card game competition, but as a lawyer, I see it as a tool that has helped me cultivate skills like communication, teamwork, risk assessment and composure, says Keyonn Pope at Riley Safer.

  • Teva, Wyeth Show How Claimed Advances Shape Enablement

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    Two recent Federal Circuit decisions involving method-of-treatment claims — Teva v. Eli Lilly and Wyeth v. AstraZeneca — reached opposite enablement outcomes from strikingly similar procedural postures, but a closer comparison of the cases reveals a three-step framework for understanding the court's reasoning, says Kendall Gurule at Polsinelli.

  • Opinion

    Calif. Bill Goes Too Far In Trying To Regulate Attorney AI Use

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    California’s first-in-the-nation act regulating how attorneys and arbitrators use generative artificial intelligence will likely soon become law, but read broadly, the provisions may dissuade lawyers from employing AI at all, thereby depriving them of key work tools, says Joshua Wurtzel at Schlam Stone.

  • Wis. Coverage Ruling Rejects Strict Ensuing Loss Test

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    In Cincinnati Insurance v. Ropicky, the Wisconsin Supreme Court recently examined the relationship between an insurance policy's construction defect exclusion and ensuing loss exception, providing policyholders support in claiming that an additional cause may produce covered damage despite an excluded condition being part of the loss sequence, says Alexander Hopkins at SDV Fenchurch.

  • The Preemption Gap In Prediction Market High Court Petitions

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    The Supreme Court is considering three certiorari petitions following a split in prediction market litigation between the Third and Ninth circuits, but one of the petitions would not allow the court to reach the express preemption question, which would leave the dispute half-resolved, says Jordan Garman at Withers.

  • 5th Circ. Embedding Decision Could Recast Copyright Claims

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    The Fifth Circuit's decision in Emmerich v. Particle Media addresses decades of ambiguity surrounding whether embedded content can constitute copyright infringement, potentially affecting how defense counsel fight against such claims, say attorneys at Greenberg Glusker.

  • A Texas Ruling May Offer Guidance On Freight Broker Liability

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport removed federal preemption defenses to freight broker negligent-selection claims, and a July verdict in Texas against C.H. Robinson raised further questions about how brokers can achieve compliance — but another recent Texas decision involving Home Depot may offer some answers, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.

  • 9th Circ. Ruling Raises Bar For Arbitration Pacts Via Email

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent holding in Rickes v. Thermo Fisher that the mere delivery of an email doesn't establish an employee's assent to the arbitration agreement underscores that rollout processes should both give employees notice of the agreement and create evidence of their assent, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

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