Appellate

  • May 01, 2024

    DC Circ. Scrutinizes Social Welfare In Tribe's Land Trust Bid

    The D.C. Circuit on Wednesday grappled with whether a Native American tribe's bid to compel the federal government to take land into trust for a casino venture would promote tribe members' social welfare, as one judge sounded wary of such a move's repercussions.

  • May 01, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Revives WDTX Patent Suit Tossed Over Standing

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday reversed a decision by Western District of Texas Judge Alan Albright that a company suing Zebra Technologies Corp. for patent infringement lacked constitutional standing, holding instead that the plaintiff retained patent rights under a loan agreement.

  • May 01, 2024

    Pa. Court Upholds University Cop's Firing Over Racist Posts

    A Pennsylvania appeals court scrapped the reinstatement Wednesday of a Kutztown University police officer who was fired for sharing racist and offensive posts on his personal Facebook page, ruling that the arbitrator who gave him his job back improperly ignored anti-bias laws.

  • May 01, 2024

    No Relief For Fla. Adviser Convicted In $80M Trading Scam

    The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the conviction of a Florida investment adviser who bilked more than $80 million from the hundreds of people he persuaded to invest in a fraudulent company, after concluding he was not in custody when he made statements to the police.

  • May 01, 2024

    9th Circ. Slams Door On Kids' Climate Case

    The Ninth Circuit ordered an Oregon federal judge Wednesday to immediately dismiss a closely watched suit by young adults against the federal government over the effects of climate change, saying its earlier order to end the matter could not be brushed off.

  • May 01, 2024

    Split 2nd Circ. Backs Arbitration Denial In ERISA Suit

    A divided Second Circuit panel ruled Wednesday that a group of financial services companies can't compel individual arbitration of a proposed class action accusing them of overcharging an employee stock ownership plan, saying that doing so would prevent a plan participant from seeking planwide remedies authorized by federal benefits law.

  • May 01, 2024

    Meta's Privacy Fight With FTC Paused For High Court Ruling

    The D.C. Circuit has pressed pause on Meta's bid to block the Federal Trade Commission from pursuing modifications to the parties' $5 billion privacy settlement to await the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in a case challenging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house courts.

  • May 01, 2024

    3rd Circ. Flags Bayer's Knowledge Of Tainted Fungal Spray

    A proposed class of consumers who bought tainted Bayer antifungal sprays said they should have standing to sue because they didn't get the "benefit of the bargain" — and a Third Circuit panel questioned Wednesday if Bayer's separate suit blaming a supplier made the consumers' case for them.

  • May 01, 2024

    Oil Drilling Workers Urge High Court Not To Review PPE Suit

    The Third Circuit's view that time putting on and taking off personal protective equipment becomes compensable if the gear is integral and indispensable to employees' work actually aligns with a Second Circuit's standard, oil rig workers told the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday.

  • May 01, 2024

    Del. Justices Reverse Toss Of $7.3B Inovalon Deal Challenge

    Delaware's top court on Wednesday reversed a Chancery Court dismissal of stockholder challenges to the $7.3 billion go-private sale of Inovalon Holdings Inc. to Nordic Capital, saying that the lower court wrongly concluded that minority investors were adequately informed about the deal and special committee conflicts of interest.

  • May 01, 2024

    Eateries Note 'Fatal' Concession By Insurer In NC COVID Row

    Cincinnati Insurance Co. made a "fatal" concession when it argued that "physical loss" merely requires "some sort of dispossession," a group of 16 restaurants told the North Carolina Supreme Court, urging it to reinstate their COVID-19 coverage win that got reversed on appeal. 

  • May 01, 2024

    6th Circ. May Unbuckle Supplier From Seat Belt Parts Contract

    One Sixth Circuit judge seemed prepared Wednesday to free a supplier from a court order to continue fulfilling a seat belt system manufacturer's orders, indicating that he didn't think the terms of the companies' contract obligated them to each other long-term.   

  • May 01, 2024

    Georgia Co. Says City Must Pay $5M For Road Project Delays

    A Georgia paving company that sued the city of Smyrna for $5 million in damages after it allegedly pushed a multimillion-dollar road construction project past its completion deadline urged the Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday to overturn a trial court ruling that freed the city from its claims.

  • May 01, 2024

    Ohio Justices Say Workers' Comp Appeal Didn't Expire

    The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed an injured Whirlpool Corp. worker to continue his appeal of an order denying him additional workers' compensation coverage, saying the state Industrial Commission's five-year limit on jurisdiction doesn't apply to his appeal in state court.

  • May 01, 2024

    5th Circ. Judge Skeptical Of Medicare Drug 'Price-Setting'

    A Fifth Circuit judge on Wednesday sharply criticized the Biden administration's Medicare drug pricing program, characterizing it as government "price-setting" and questioning "what possible procompetitive justification" there can be for penalizing companies that don't participate.

  • May 01, 2024

    Tribe Fires Back At Feds' Brief In Enbridge Pipeline Row

    The Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians has called on the Seventh Circuit to reject in part the federal government's position in an appeal over the future of Enbridge Energy's controversial Line 5 oil pipeline.

  • May 01, 2024

    DC Circ. Torn Over FERC's San Francisco Power Order

    D.C. Circuit judges were undecided as to what Congress intended when it grandfathered certain consumers into a power-carrying agreement between San Francisco and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in 1992, with the company arguing Wednesday that a recent regulatory order would allow far more consumers into the deal than it was meant for.

  • May 01, 2024

    NBA Vet Eyes Bail As Healthcare Rap Passed To 2nd Circ.

    A former Detroit Pistons point guard is seeking to delay the start of his 18-month prison sentence for his alleged role in a scheme to defraud the NBA's healthcare plan while he argues to the Second Circuit that improper jury instructions tainted his trial.

  • May 01, 2024

    Kramer Levin Boosts Appellate, Litigation Team With DOJ Atty

    Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP has hired an appellate attorney from the U.S. Department of Justice, who joins the firm's litigation department as partner and will also serve as deputy chair of the firm's U.S. Supreme Court and appellate litigation practice, the firm announced Wednesday.

  • May 01, 2024

    Federal Prosecutor Confirmed As Illinois District Judge

    The Senate voted 54-44 on Wednesday to confirm Assistant U.S. Attorney Georgia N. Alexakis as a U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Illinois.

  • May 01, 2024

    Army Corps Says Taking Over Fla. CWA Permits Is No Problem

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday told the D.C. Circuit that, following a lower court's decision to strip Florida of its authority to administer a Clean Water Act permitting program, it has already taken over the work and expects no serious issues.

  • May 01, 2024

    5th Circ. Wants Texas Injunction Ruling In CFPB Late Fee Case

    In a late Tuesday twist, the Fifth Circuit has sent a banking industry lawsuit over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 credit card late fee rule back to Texas federal court, saying it doesn't want to be the first to decide whether the rule should be blocked from taking effect later this month.

  • April 30, 2024

    5th Circ. Nixes Software Co.'s $1.6B Win In IBM Contract Row

    The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday reversed a Texas federal court's $1.6 billion ruling against IBM, finding that Houston-based software company BMC lost out to IBM "fair and square" when IBM fulfilled a request by their mutual client AT&T to replace BMC's software in AT&T's mainframe with IBM's.

  • April 30, 2024

    2nd Circ. Revives Commerzbank RMBS Suit Against US Bank

    The Second Circuit on Tuesday revived part of a nearly decade-old Commerzbank AG lawsuit brought against U.S. Bank NA over its role as a trustee on a slew of pre-2008 crisis RMBS trusts, sending some of the German bank's previously dismissed claims back to district court for a "closer inspection."

  • April 30, 2024

    Tech. Orgs Deny Being 'Apple's Puppets' In Watch Ban Fight

    A group of technology industry groups claimed they are "not Apple's puppets" as they seek to back the company in its Federal Circuit appeal of the U.S. International Trade Commission's ban on imports of Apple Watch models capable of monitoring blood oxygen levels.

Expert Analysis

  • NJ Ruling Offers Road Map To Fight Dishonored Check Claims

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    As ATM and mobile check deposits become more common, a New Jersey state appellate court’s recent ruling in Triffin v. Neptune shows that issuers can rely on copies of checks to defend against claims that checks were wrongfully dishonored after being electronically deposited, say attorneys at Sherman Atlas.

  • 4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best

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    As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.

  • A Look At Recent Challenges To SEC's Settlement 'Gag Rule'

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    Though they have been unsuccessful so far, opponents of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's so-called gag rule, which prevents defendants from denying allegations when settling with the SEC, are becoming increasingly vocal and filing more challenges in recent years, say Mike Blankenship and Regina Maze at Winston & Strawn.

  • How 3 Unfolding Cases Could Affect The Energy Industry

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    Three judicial decisions now in the pipeline — Texas' challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's methane regulations, Delaware's climate suit against big energy companies, and a case before the Supreme Court of Texas on royalty lease interpretation — could have important implications for the energy industry, say Michelle Scheffler and Rachael Cox at Skadden.

  • Conn. Bankruptcy Ruling Furthers Limitation Extension Split

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    A recent Connecticut bankruptcy court decision further solidifies a split of authority on whether Bankruptcy Rule 9006(b) may be used to extend the limitations period, meaning practitioners seeking to extend should serve the motion on all applicable parties and, where possible, rely on the doctrine of equitable tolling, says Shane Ramsey at Nelson Mullins.

  • How Purdue Pharma High Court Case May Change Bankruptcy

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling in Purdue Pharma may be the death of most third-party releases in Chapter 11 cases, and depending on the decision’s breadth, could have much more far-reaching effects on the entire bankruptcy system, say Brian Shaw and David Doyle at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Series

    Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • Fears About The End Of Chevron Deference Are Overblown

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    While some are concerned about repercussions if the U.S. Supreme Court brings an end to Chevron deference in the Loper and Relentless cases this term, agencies and attorneys would survive just fine under the doctrines that have already begun to replace it, say Daniel Wolff and Henry Leung at Crowell & Moring.

  • What A Post-Chevron Landscape Could Mean For Labor Law

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Chevron deference expected by the end of June, it’s not too soon to consider how National Labor Relations Act interpretations could be affected if federal courts no longer defer to administrative agencies’ statutory interpretation and regulatory actions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Perspectives

    Context Is Everything In Justices' Sentencing Relief Decision

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    In the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Pulsifer v. U.S. decision, limiting the number of drug offenders eligible for sentencing relief, the majority and dissent adopted very different contextual frames for interpreting the meaning of “and” — with the practical impact being that thousands more defendants will be subject to severe mandatory minimums, says Douglas Berman at Moritz College of Law​​​​​​​.

  • Opinion

    The SEC Is Engaging In Regulation By Destruction

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent use of regulation by enforcement against digital assets indicates it's more interested in causing harm to crypto companies than providing guidance to the markets or protecting investors, says J.W. Verret at George Mason University.

  • Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs

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    Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.

  • Studying NY, NJ Case Law On Employee Social Media Rights

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    While a New Jersey state appeals court has twice determined that an employee's termination by a private employer for social media posts is not prohibited, New York has yet to take a stand on the issue — so employers' decisions on such matters still need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, say Julie Levinson Werner and Jessica Kriegsfeld at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • A 5th Circ. Lesson On Preserving Indemnification Rights

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent decision in Raymond James & Associates v. Jalbert offers an important lesson for creditors and parties to indemnification agreements: If a debtor has indemnified a creditor, the creditor should consider participating in the bankruptcy case to avoid being deemed to have forfeited its indemnification rights, say Dania Slim and Alana Lyman at Pillsbury.

  • ShapeShift Fine Epitomizes SEC's Crypto Policy, And Its Flaws

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    A recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission order imposing a fine on former cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift for failing to register as a securities dealer showcases the SEC's regulation-by-enforcement approach, but the dissent by two commissioners raises valid concerns that the agency's embrace of ambiguity over clarity risks hampering the growth of the crypto economy, says Keith Blackman at Bracewell.

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