Law360 Names 2024's Top Attorneys Under 40

By Lakshna Mehta

Law360 is pleased to announce the Rising Stars of 2024, our list of 158 attorneys under 40 whose legal accomplishments belie their age.

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Analysis

Loper Bright Is Shaking Up Dozens Of Regulatory Fights

By Hannah Albarazi

In the two weeks since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference, the landmark decision has emerged as a live issue in dozens of administrative challenges, with federal courts already pausing agency regulations expanding LGBTQ+ rights in education and healthcare and with a wave of parties seeking to use the new decision to win their cases.

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Analysis

7 Gender-Affirming Care Cases To Watch In 2024's 2nd Half

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a constitutional challenge by the federal government to Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors, while other appeals courts are weighing the constitutionality of states' and employers' restrictions on gender dysphoria treatment. Here are seven cases involving gender-affirming care access that attorneys will be tracking in the second half of the year.

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Fed. Circ. To PTAB Detractor: Didn't We Do This Already?

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit seemed confused Friday by Arbor Global Strategies' argument that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board was acting outside the Administrative Procedure Act when it invalidated the company's processor module patent claims, since they'd tackled that question in an earlier precedential opinion.

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Ex-DOJ Atty Clark Can't Move Ethics Case To Federal Court

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday threw out a bid from former Trump administration lawyer Jeffrey Clark to transfer his attorney discipline case to federal court, saying the embattled attorney attempted to remove the ethics charges too late.

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6th Circ. Delays FCC's Net Neutrality Effective Date

By Christopher Cole

The Sixth Circuit on Friday delayed the effective date of the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules by two weeks to give the court more time to consider an indefinite hold on the regulations during a legal challenge.

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Roundup

Off The Bench: NCAA Loses, Favre Wobbles, NFL Fights Back

By Elaine Briseño

In this week's Off The Bench, the Third Circuit enlivens the debate over whether college athletes can be considered employees, the Fifth Circuit is skeptical of Brett Favre's defamation suit and the NFL disputes claims of racism.

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AbbVie Brings Atty-Client Privilege Fight To Supreme Court

By Emily Sawicki

Drugmaker AbbVie has set its sights on the U.S. Supreme Court, asking justices to weigh in on a discovery battle over what it believes are privileged attorney-client communications relating to a "sham" Pennsylvania patent case.

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Split DC Circ. Backs NLRB Bargaining Order Against NY Hotel

By Beverly Banks

A divided D.C. Circuit panel on Friday upheld a National Labor Relations Board decision finding that a Brooklyn hotel's operator illegally refused to bargain with a union over economics until noneconomic issues were settled, finding the board's bargaining order was proper under federal labor law.

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DC Circ. Upholds FCC Approval Of SpaceX Satellite Plan

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. Circuit panel Friday affirmed a Federal Communications Commission license authorizing SpaceX to deploy thousands of its Starlink satellites, rejecting challenges from satellite TV provider Dish Network LLC and advocacy group DarkSky International.

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Fed. Circ. Upholds Natera's Injunction In Cancer Test IP Fight

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit on Friday upheld a preliminary injunction barring NeoGenomics Laboratories Inc. from selling certain cancer tests while a North Carolina federal court decided whether they infringed Natera Inc. patents.

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Fed. Circ. Probes Case With Apple Watch Import Ban At Stake

By Ryan Davis

In a case that could lead to a U.S. International Trade Commission import ban on the Apple Watch amid a patent dispute with AliveCor, Federal Circuit judges asked both companies Friday why a patent office tribunal that invalidated the patents didn't see evidence from the ITC case.

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2nd Circ. Revives 'Whole Wheat Flour' Cracker Label Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

Advertising which emphasized "organic whole wheat flour" in a box of crackers when white flour was the primary ingredient was misleading and "arguably false," according to the Second Circuit, which revived a lawsuit accusing Back to Nature Foods Co. of tricking its customers.

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2nd Circ. Rejects Electronics Co.'s COVID $100M Loss Appeal

By Ganesh Setty

A manufacturer of electronics components cannot continue to seek coverage for the over $100 million in losses it said it suffered because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Second Circuit ruled Friday, agreeing with a Connecticut federal court that any attempt by the manufacturer to amend its claims would be futile.

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Analysis

Expect NCAA To Dig In Heels On Employee Status After Ruling

By David Steele

Even after Thursday's Third Circuit ruling clearing a path for college athletes to be considered employees, experts say the NCAA's record of litigating to the hilt on other athletes' rights matters portends a long road ahead before the issue is clarified.

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FTC Says Abandoned Novant Deal Moots Lower Court Loss

By Hayley Fowler

The Federal Trade Commission is looking to unravel a North Carolina federal judge's order allowing Novant's planned $320 million hospital merger to advance after it subsequently abandoned the deal, telling the Fourth Circuit the appeal is moot and the order should be vacated.

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CFPB Takes Its 5th Circ. Lumps To Advance Late Fee Rule Suit

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has told the Fifth Circuit that it won't appeal a three-judge panel's decision forcing it defend its $8 credit card late fee rule in Texas rather than Washington, D.C., a move that could expedite the agency's efforts to free the rule from a lower-court injunction.

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Texas DA Tells 5th Circ. He's Immune In Border Law Fight

By Britain Eakin

Texas District Attorney Bill Hicks told the Fifth Circuit its June decision finding another district attorney immune from a suit over changes to the state's election code means he should be shielded from a challenge to the Lone Star State's migrant arrest law.

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FirstEnergy Denied 6th Circ. Appeal In Doc Dispute

By Jessica Corso

Scandal-plagued utility company FirstEnergy Corp. lost another attempt to shield internal investigation documents from a class of investors as well as its former CEO on Friday when an Ohio federal judge denied the company's request to appeal the dispute to the Sixth Circuit on a "logically fallacious" premise.

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Zimmer Biomet Owes Despite Expired Patents, 7th Circ. Says

By Celeste Bott

Zimmer Biomet Holdings shouldn't have stopped paying royalties on knee replacement devices it developed using an orthopedic surgeon's various patents after those patents expired, the Seventh Circuit said Friday, backing a lower court's decision affirming an arbitration ruling in favor of the surgeon's estate.

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10th Circ. Tosses Prof's Conviction In 'China Initiative' Case

By Hailey Konnath

A split Tenth Circuit panel has reversed the conviction of a former University of Kansas professor accused of hiding the fact that he was pursuing a job in China, ruling that prosecutors hadn't offered enough evidence to prove that his omission was material to any federal agency funding decision.

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11th Circ. Ends Widow's Crash Suit Against Trucking Broker

By Chart Riggall

The widow of a man killed in a collision with a tractor trailer won't be able to press her negligent selection claim against the company that hired the trucker and his carrier after the Eleventh Circuit this week backed a district court's ruling that federal transportation law preempts her case.

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Payments To Ex-Wife Should Be Deductible, 11th Circ. Told

By Jack McLoone

A Georgia man told the Eleventh Circuit on Friday that his payments to his ex-wife as part of a marital settlement should qualify as alimony and therefore be deductible from his federal income taxes, asking the court to reverse a U.S. Tax Court decision.

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Texas Lethal Injections Criminal Matter, Says Appeals Court

By Spencer Brewer

A split Texas appeals court panel found that a state district court should have dismissed two death row inmates' suit because it did not have jurisdiction, with the majority saying Friday that any case seeking an injunction that could stay an execution falls under the jurisdiction of criminal courts.

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Texas Assistant DA Blew Whistle A Day Late, Panel Finds

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas appeals court tossed a suit filed by a former assistant district attorney who says he was fired for blowing the whistle on alleged kickbacks and other illegal acts by his colleagues, finding in a Friday opinion that the whistleblower filed his complaint one day past the deadline.

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Texas Panel Revives Woman's Acupuncture Burn Suit

By Madeline Lyskawa

A Texas court of appeals revived a suit accusing an acupuncturist of providing negligent suction cup treatment that left a woman with second-degree burns, finding the woman should be provided additional time to fix her deficient medical expert report.

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Texas City Escapes Suit Over 2014 Toby Keith Concert

By Catherine Marfin

A state appeals court wrote that a south Texas city can escape a lawsuit brought by the promoters of a Toby Keith concert held at a city building, writing that the city didn't waive governmental immunity because the contract was verbal.

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Analysis

Biggest Illinois Decisions Of 2024: A Midyear Report

By Celeste Bott

State and federal courts have handed down rulings so far this year that limited the reach of a federal bribery law commonly used to prosecute Illinois corruption, laid out a framework to challenge so-called mootness fees and clarified the scope of Illinois defamation and antitrust law. Here's a look at some of the biggest Illinois decisions in the first half of 2024.

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Pa. Drive-In Dinged For Sleepovers In No-Campground Zone

By Matthew Santoni

A Pennsylvania drive-in movie theater's "overnight passes" for guests to stay after a late-night showing or for multiple days of a movie marathon effectively made the theater into a campground and ran afoul of township zoning ordinances, a state appellate court ruled Friday.

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Del. Court Finds 1 Of 6 Bylaws Invalid But All Unenforceable

By Leslie A. Pappas

Only one of six contested advance-notice bylaws that Florida pharma company AIM Immuno Tech Inc. adopted in response to an activist shareholder's proxy contest is actually invalid but none remain enforceable because the board adopted them primarily to thwart the shareholder's challenge, Delaware's Supreme Court has ruled.

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Apollo Seeks Chancery Toss Of Stockholder Pact Challenge

By Jeff Montgomery

Pointing in part to a pending Delaware law that would allow corporate directors to cede some board powers to big stockholders, Apollo Global Management Inc. has asked a Delaware vice chancellor to dismiss a suit challenging its own stockholder pact.

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NC Justices Asked To Take Up 'Double Odor' Pot Test Appeal

By Jonathan Capriel

Police should not be able to establish probable cause to search a vehicle based on the smell of cannabis and a perceived "cover scent," such as cologne, according to a petition filed to the North Carolina Supreme Court which described this kind of conduct as a "stealthy encroachment" on constitutional rights.

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Package Plea Deals Need More Scrutiny, Mich. Justices Say

By Danielle Ferguson

The Michigan Supreme Court said Friday that package plea bargains deserve more analysis due to the potential for co-defendants to pressure each other into taking a deal, with two justices sharply dissenting and cautioning the decision would increase trial court workloads and discourage prosecutors from offering deals.

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Retired MSU Law Profs' Fraud Claims Get Tossed

By Carolyn Muyskens

Two ex-law professors can't sue their former employer for allegedly not honoring a benefits agreement because the law school ceased to exist when it merged with Michigan State University, a Michigan Court of Appeals panel ruled Thursday.

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Analysis

Biggest Washington Decisions Of 2024: A Midyear Report

By Rachel Riley

The first half of 2024 in Washington courts was punctuated by a fizzled startup's $72 million trial win against The Boeing Co., and Monsanto Co.'s appellate reversal of a $185 million verdict in one of a series of high-profile PCB poisoning cases. Here is a closer look at some of the biggest decisions in Washington state and federal courts in the first half of 2024.

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Analysis

Biggest Colorado Decisions Of 2024: A Midyear Report

By Daniel Ducassi

The U.S. Supreme Court's quick reversal of Colorado justices' decision removing former President Donald Trump from the state's ballots and a Boulder County judge's ruling clearing the way for landmark climate litigation about major oil companies rank among the most important decisions affecting Colorado so far this year.

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Conn. Justices Avoid Entanglement Issues In Rabbi Land Row

By Aaron Keller

The Connecticut Supreme Court on Friday agreed that a property dispute between the Chabad Lubavitch of Western and Southern New England Inc. and a Stamford rabbi belongs before a private religious panel, settling the case on arbitration principles and declining to analyze broader entanglement questions.

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Conn. Justices Say Town Can Tax Hospital's Property

By Sanjay Talwani

Personal property of a Connecticut hospital owned by Hartford HealthCare is taxable, the state Supreme Court said Friday, reversing a trial court opinion and ruling that Hartford's acquisition of the hospital negated a tax exemption for charitable entities.

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Conn. Landlord Loses COVID-Era Lease Fight With Eatery

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut landlord did not tender an "unequivocal ultimatum" booting an eatery from a parcel of property, an appellate panel ruled Friday, finding that since the landlord vacillated between kicking the tenant off its Wallingford land and accepting payments, a 2020 eviction notice had no effect.

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Accidental Death Ruling Shows ERISA Review Standard's Pull

The Eleventh Circuit’s recent accidental death insurance ruling in Goldfarb v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance illustrates how an arbitrary and capricious standard of review in Employee Retirement Income Security Act denial-of-benefits cases creates a steep uphill battle for benefit claimants, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

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Series

After Chevron: Creating New Hurdles For ESG Rulemaking

The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision, limiting court deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, could have significant impacts on the future of ESG regulation, creating new hurdles for agency rulemaking around these emerging issues, and calling into question current administrative actions, says Leah Malone at Simpson Thacher.

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Series

In The CFPB Playbook: Making Good On Bold Promises

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure in the second quarter cleared the way for the bureau to resume a number of high-priority initiatives, and it appears poised to charge ahead in working toward its aggressive preelection agenda, say Andrew Arculin and Paula Vigo Marqués at Blank Rome.

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7th Circ Joins Trend Of No CGL Coverage For Structural Flaws

The Seventh Circuit, which recently held potential structural instability did not count as property damage under a construction company's commercial general liability policy, joins a growing consensus that faulty work does not implicate coverage without tangible and present damage to the project, say Sarah Abrams at Baleen Specialty, and Elan Kandel and James Talbert at Bailey Cavalieri.

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Series

After Chevron: USDA Rules May Be Up In The Air

The Supreme Court's end of Chevron deference may cause more lawsuits against U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations, like the one redefining "unfair trade practices" under the Packers and Stockyards Act, or a new policy classifying salmonella as an adulterant in certain poultry products, says Bob Hibbert at Wiley.

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Series

After Chevron: 7 FERC Takeaways From Loper Bright

Following the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the Chevron doctrine, it's likely that the majority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's orders will not be affected, but the commission has nonetheless lost an important fallback argument and will have to approach rulemaking more cautiously, says Norman Bay at Willkie Farr.

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JD Vance's Wife Leaves Munger Tolles As Campaign Launches

By Aaron Keller

Usha Chilukuri Vance, the wife of vice presidential candidate J. D. Vance, has resigned as a litigator at Munger Tolles & Olson LLP, her now-former law firm told Law360 on Monday afternoon, presumably to trade her Washington, D.C.- and San Francisco-based litigation career for the campaign trail.

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Trump Running Mate Is Foe Of DOJ 'Political Prosecutions'

By Courtney Bublé

Donald Trump announced Monday that his running mate will be Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, who over the last year has gone after the U.S. Department of Justice and Attorney General Merrick Garland for what he deems are political prosecutions of the former president.

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Many Attorneys Of Color Are Feeling Used

By Aebra Coe

Many lawyers of color say they are included in their law firm's client pitches but are not assigned to the resulting work, pointing to some firms' "window dressing" approach to diversity and inclusion, according to a report reviewed by Law360 Pulse that will be released publicly on Tuesday.

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Firms Fall Short On Occupancy Goals Amid Downsizing Trend

By Xiumei Dong

U.S. law firms have been working to reduce the amount of office space allocated per attorney. Despite these efforts, a recent report by the real estate services company Savills Inc. found that the average square footage per attorney still remains higher than the occupancy ratios most firms aim for.

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Trump Classified Docs Case Canned Over Special Counsel Law

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal judge on Monday tossed the criminal case against former President Donald Trump over his allegedly illegal retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, ruling that the appointment of a special prosecutor for the case is unconstitutional.

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Clark Hill Breaks Into Atlanta With 8 Taylor English Attys

By Emily Johnson

International law firm Clark Hill PLC has made its first foray into Atlanta, announcing Monday that it has brought on eight lawyers from Taylor English Duma LLP, including a former real estate practice co-chair and former employment practice chair, to help establish the new outpost, its 29th office.

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Seyfarth Adds 5-Atty Labor Team From Hunton In Calif., Texas

By Lynn LaRowe

Seyfarth Shaw LLP announced Monday that it has brought on a five-member team of labor and employment lawyers who previously practiced with Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP.

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Judge DQ'd From Young Thug's Trial Over Ex Parte Convo

By Chart Riggall

The judge presiding over the Atlanta racketeering trial of rapper Young Thug has been booted from the case over charges that he held a closed-door meeting with prosecutors and a key witness, accusations that ended with the musician's attorney being placed into handcuffs last month.

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Judge Says Attys Must Hash Out Conflict In Twitter Row

By Emily Sawicki

A California federal judge has rebuked both sides of a suit alleging Twitter violated federal labor laws amid a mass layoff in late 2022, ordering lead attorneys to attend a meet and confer session in August to work through ongoing conflicts that have arisen since the claims were filed in April 2023.

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Dow Chemical Seeks Recusal After Settlement Offer Gaffe

By Ryan Harroff

The Dow Chemical Co. asked an Ohio federal judge to recuse himself from a trade secrets suit brought by a Cleveland technology firm accusing it of misappropriating confidential information to recreate the firm's copyrighted software after the tech company showed the court a settlement offer without Dow Chemical's approval.

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JetBlue-Spirit Flyers Seek $20M Atty Fees Following DOJ Win

By Lauren Berg

The private plaintiffs who challenged the failed JetBlue-Spirit merger asked a Massachusetts federal judge to award their counsel at least $20 million in fees, saying they "substantially contributed" to the U.S. Department of Justice successfully squashing the deal and are the prevailing party in their case.

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No Sanctions For Milberg In Visa, Mastercard MDL

By Andrea Keckley

A New York federal judge on Friday declined to order sanctions against Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman LLC after the firm admitted to mistakenly registering fraudulent clients in long-running multidistrict litigation that accused Visa and Mastercard of charging improper merchant fees.

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Opinion

Post-Chevron, Good Riddance To The Sentencing Guidelines

The U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the Chevron doctrine may signal the end of the U.S. sentencing guidelines, which is good news given that they have accomplished the opposite of Congress’ original intent to bring certainty, proportionality and uniformity to sentencing, say attorneys Mark Allenbaugh, Doug Passon and Alan Ellis.

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Series

After Chevron: A Sea Change For Maritime Sector

The shipping industry has often looked to the courts for key agency decisions affecting maritime interests, but after the U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright ruling, stakeholders may revisit important industry questions and coordinate to bring appropriate challenges and shape rulemaking, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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Series

After Chevron: Impact On CFPB May Be Limited

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo is likely to have a limited impact on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's regulatory activities, and for those who value due process, consistency and predictability in consumer financial services regulation, this may be a good thing, says John Coleman at Orrick.

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A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates

Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.

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