Justices Revive NRA's Free Speech Claims Against NY Official

By Abraham Gross

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the National Rifle Association can proceed with certain claims in its lawsuit alleging that a former New York state official violated the gun rights group's free speech protections by pressuring financial institutions to cut ties with it.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Justices Back Ariz. Execution Despite Trial Lawyer's Miscues

By Jeff Overley

Three decades after an Arizona man fatally bludgeoned a friend, a young girl and a grandmother, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ended his efforts to escape execution, finding that a trial lawyer's incomplete illustration of the man's psychologically damaging experiences doesn't merit leniency.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

High Court Calls For 2nd Circ. Redo In BofA Preemption Fight

By Jon Hill

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a Second Circuit decision that freed Bank of America NA from class action litigation brought over a New York escrow interest law, ruling that the circuit court wasn't "nuanced" enough in finding the law preempted for national banks.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Chief Justice Roberts Declines Senate Democrats Meeting

By Courtney Bublé

Chief Justice John Roberts declined the invitation from two top Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the high court's ethics in light of the controversy surrounding the flags flown outside Justice Samuel Alito's homes.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

Here's What Comes Next After Trump's Conviction

By Phillip Bantz

Donald Trump's forthcoming appeal of his historic conviction Thursday in the New York hush money case could include challenges to the state's evidence and jury instructions, but it's unlikely the case will be resolved before Election Day.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Donald Trump Convicted Of All 34 Counts In NY Trial

By Frank Runyeon, Rachel Scharf, Stewart Bishop and Elliot Weld

Former President Donald Trump was convicted by a Manhattan jury Thursday of 34 felonies over a plot to illegally sway the 2016 presidential election in his favor by concealing hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.

Verdict attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

3 Things To Watch In SF's High Court Water Standards Case

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted San Francisco's request that it review the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to incorporate narrative pollution standards in a Clean Water Act permit, throwing into question the use of a common permitting feature.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fed. Circ. Revives Contract Breach Claim Against The US Mint

By Rae Ann Varona

The Federal Circuit on Thursday revived a coin processor's contention that the U.S. Mint breached a contract to pay for mutilated coins the agency redeemed, saying the U.S. Court of Federal Claims incorrectly concluded the processor failed to state a claim.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Apple Tells Fed. Circ. Albright Set Transfer Bar Too High

By Adam Lidgett

Apple has asked the Federal Circuit to overrule U.S. District Judge Alan Albright in Texas after he refused to transfer patent litigation against it to the Northern District of California, saying the decision flouted Fifth Circuit precedent.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ex-BigLaw Atty Fights 10-Year Sentence In OneCoin Case

By Andrea Keckley

A former Locke Lord LLP partner urged the Second Circuit Wednesday to ax his 10-year prison sentence and conviction for laundering around $400 million in proceeds from the global OneCoin cryptocurrency scam, saying the case was contaminated by perjury and errors at the trial court level.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Slapping Groping Patient Isn't Protected Action, 4th Circ. Says

By Irene Spezzamonte

A former certified nursing assistant at a nursing home operator didn't show that smacking the hand of a patient whom she alleged groped her constituted protected activity under West Virginia law, a Fourth Circuit panel ruled Thursday, affirming the company's win in a lower court.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

5th Circ. Says WWII Art Transfer Is Act Of Foreign Gov't

By Henrik Nilsson

The Fifth Circuit said it's not its job to determine whether a Netherlands art foundation wrongly transferred to the United States an 18th-century painting once seized by Nazi Germany, upholding the dismissal of a suit filed by a Jewish art collector's heir over the 1949 transfer.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ill. Made 'Big Concession' In 3M PFAS Suit, 7th Circ. Judge Says

By Celeste Bott

A Seventh Circuit judge observed Thursday that the state of Illinois made a "big concession" in its suit accusing 3M of polluting local waters with toxic "forever chemicals" when the state said 3M could avoid liability if Illinois can't prove contamination came exclusively from a particular facility.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Christian Teacher Appeals Pronoun Case To 7th Circ.

By Amanda Ottaway

An evangelical teacher who lost his job after he objected to using gender-affirming names and pronouns for his transgender students is asking the Seventh Circuit to take another look at his religious bias case.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Removal In Child Porn Case Used Wrong Law, 8th Circ. Says

By Alyssa Aquino

The Eighth Circuit threw out a removal order against a man convicted of possessing child pornography, finding that while the offense could warrant removal, immigration officers had brought the case under the wrong law. 

Decision attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

9th Circ. Says Cannabis Co. Can Retry Suit Over Lamp Fire

By Jonathan Capriel

A Washington cannabis company whose Spokane Valley growing facility was burned down, allegedly due to faulty indoor grow lamps, will get one last shot at suing the company which made the lights, the Ninth Circuit ruled, warning the cannabis company to be "mindful" when filing.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Full 9th Circ. Won't Rehear Immigration Attys' Privacy Row

By Britain Eakin

The full Ninth Circuit on Thursday declined a request from a filmmaker and two immigration attorneys to rehear a panel decision finding that a purportedly covert government surveillance program tracking journalists and advocates tied to a migrant caravan didn't harm them.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

9th Circ. Reopens Mandatory Security Check Wage Fight

By Gina Kim

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday largely revived a proposed wage class action by a subcontractor who sought to be paid for undergoing mandatory security checks and vehicle inspections at a solar project site, following the California Supreme Court's ruling that found the time to be compensable as "hours worked."

Memorandum attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Enviro Groups Launch Fresh Alaska LNG Fight In 9th Circ.

By Keith Goldberg

Environmental groups on Thursday petitioned the Ninth Circuit to overturn federal approvals for the Alaska liquefied natural gas project covering impacts on endangered and threatened species, the latest court challenge lodged against the $43 billion project.

Petition attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

SF Fed Lacked Good Reason To Deny Account, 9th Circ. Told

By Rae Ann Varona

An Idaho trade fintech urged the Ninth Circuit to revive its bid for a master account, saying the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco denied its application despite foreign banks potentially accessible to terrorists having access to the U.S. financial system.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

SEC Cites High Court CFPB Ruling In Market Surveillance Suit

By Carolina Bolado

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has told the Eleventh Circuit that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision finding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure is constitutional should sink a challenge from broker-dealer firms seeking to escape paying for a market surveillance tool.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

11th Circ. Backs Navy Win In National Origin Harassment Case

By Madeline Lyskawa

An Eleventh Circuit panel refused to revive a former Naval employee's lawsuit alleging he faced harassment as a result of his Nigerian descent, holding a Florida federal judge did not err in finding he failed to establish harassment that was sufficiently severe or pervasive. 

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Real Estate Investor Beats Niece's Suit Over Fall At LA Home

By Jonathan Capriel

Real estate investor and philanthropist Stanley Black can't be held liable for injuries suffered by his niece when she tripped and fell on the driveway of his Sunset Boulevard mansion, a California state appeals court has ruled, saying there's no evidence of defects on the driveway she walked on many times before.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Pipe Co. Says Appeals Court Erred In Indemnity Claim Waiver

By Catherine Marfin

A steel pipe manufacturer asked Texas' Supreme Court to scrap an appellate court ruling it waived its ability to challenge a trial court order requiring it to defend another manufacturer in a multimillion-dollar suit over faulty pipes, saying the appellate panel should have concluded the company was challenging the decision.

Petition attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Pa. Court Blocks State's Recall Over Cannabis Vape Additives

By Matthew Santoni

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has permanently blocked the state Department of Health from enforcing a 2022 recall of medical cannabis products containing certain additives, on the grounds that the department's reversal on the additives' approval was a "de facto regulation" that was enacted without the proper procedures.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Jersey Shore Motel Loses Condemnation Fight With Town

By Isaac Monterose

A New Jersey borough properly used eminent domain to take over a local 50-room motel where it plans to provide parking and electric vehicle charging, a New Jersey appellate panel ruled.

Decision attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Dollar General Gets To Close Door On Injury Suit

By Mike Curley

The Georgia Court of Appeals has shut down a patron's suit against Dollar General Store alleging she injured her hand closing a faulty door, saying the hazard was not hidden, she had as much knowledge of it as employees, and she'd negotiated the door successfully earlier the same day.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Mich. Supreme Court To Hear Town Benefits Breach Case

By MJ Koo

The Michigan Supreme Court has said it will consider whether a village was entitled to coverage for damages it incurred in lawsuits from former employees who sued after the village decided to stop providing lifetime healthcare benefits, ordering oral arguments on an insurer's challenge to a state court's ruling.

4 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Gas Station Chain Owes Wash. Tax For In-Network Sales

By Maria Koklanaris

A Pacific Northwest gas station chain that issued fuel cards to customers must pay the Washington state business and occupation tax when holders of those cards purchase gas from other participating gas station chains, a Washington appeals court panel found, partially upholding the trial court.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Colo. Justice Says Outside Watchdog Key For Judicial Ethics

By Daniel Ducassi

A Colorado Supreme Court justice said Thursday that third-party oversight of judges' conduct was crucial to maintaining the public's trust in the legal system, speaking as part of an American Bar Association panel that touched on recent controversies, including those involving U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his wife.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

The Fed. Circ. In May: The Printed Matter Doctrine's Scope

The Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Ioengine v. Ingenico, which addressed the scope of the printed matter doctrine as applied to transmitted data or program code, restores the doctrine’s status as a relatively narrow part of patent law, say Jeremiah Helm and Sean Murray at Knobbe Martens.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

3rd Circ.'s Geico Ruling May Encourage Healthcare Arbitration

The Third Circuit's recent decision in Geico v. Mount Prospect, finding that claims under New Jersey's Insurance Fraud Prevention Act can be arbitrated, strengthens arbitration as a viable alternative to litigation, even though it is not necessarily always a more favorable forum, say Khaled Klele and Jessica Osterlof at McCarter & English.

Decision attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: May Lessons

In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from automobile insurance to securities — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including circuit-specific ascertainability requirements and how to conduct a Daubert analysis prior to class certification.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

CFPB's Expanding Scope Evident In Coding Bootcamp Fine

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent penalty against a for-profit coding bootcamp that misrepresented its tuition financing plans is a sign that the bureau is seeking to wield its supervisory and enforcement powers in more industries that offer consumer financing, say Jason McElroy and Brandon Sherman at Saul Ewing.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Perspectives

Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys

As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Orrick Leads List Of Top Law Firms For Women, Diversity

By Aebra Coe

Talent strategies firm Seramount released its latest list of the 45 best law firms for women and diversity this week, with the 2024 cohort of winners showing strides over previous years in representation, advancement and benefits for lawyers who are women or from other underrepresented groups.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Houston Judge's Vast Display Reflects 25 Years On Bench

By Catherine Marfin

Along the hallways leading to U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison's Houston courtroom hang hundreds of notes, photos, thank-you cards and other correspondence, serving as a kind of interactive scrapbook of Judge Ellison's 25 years on the bench.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

In Rarity, 1 Party's Judges Gain 100% Control Of Circuit Bench

By Jeff Overley

At the First Circuit, the judges' robes are all black, but the judges are all blue. It's a new and unusual instance of one political party's judicial picks controlling each active seat on a federal appeals court, and the Democratic dominance could prove magnetic for ideologically charged litigation.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Orrick's $8M Deal To End Data Breach Claims Nears Prelim OK

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge indicated Friday that she'll preliminarily approve Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP's $8 million deal to end putative class claims over a 2023 data breach that purportedly exposed personal information for 638,000 individuals, but said the "very broad" scope of the settlement's release "raised my eyebrows."

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Smith Gambrell Faces Slimmed Data Breach Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A California federal judge has trimmed the claims a proposed class of data breach victims brought against international law firm Smith Gambrell & Russell LLP, leaving the firm to face claims of negligence, invasion of privacy and violation of the California Unfair Competition Law.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

Blockbuster Summer: 10 Big Issues Justices Still Must Decide

By Katie Buehler

As the calendar flips over to June, the U.S. Supreme Court still has heaps of cases to decide on issues ranging from trademark registration rules to judicial deference and presidential immunity. Here, Law360 looks at 10 of the most important topics the court has yet to decide.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

Del. Chancellor Questions 'Rush' To Amend Corporation Law

By Jeff Montgomery

Weeks before the Delaware State Bar Association sent state lawmakers a draft bill explicitly allowing corporations to broadly cede some governance rights to chosen stockholders, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of Delaware Chancery Court made an unprecedented, direct appeal to think twice.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Trump Condemns NY Trial As Verdict Echoes In DC

By Rachel Scharf

A day after his conviction on 34 felony counts, former president Donald Trump on Friday attacked the Manhattan jury's verdict in a lengthy speech that mischaracterized multiple elements of the case as the decision reverberated through Washington, D.C.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Trump's New York Prosecutors Called To House Hearing

By Courtney Bublé

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, demanded on Friday that Manhattan prosecutors appear for a hearing on June 13 on the prosecution of former President Donald Trump, who was convicted on Thursday of 34 felonies.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Disbarring Giuliani Would 'Protect The Public,' DC Panel Says

By Alison Knezevich

A Washington, D.C., attorney ethics panel agreed Friday that Rudy Giuliani's role in former President Donald Trump's attempt to overturn Pennsylvania's presidential election in 2020 amounted to misconduct "of the utmost seriousness," and that disbarring him would "protect the public, the courts, and the integrity of the legal profession."

Report attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Texas Judge Opts Not To Recuse And Tosses Chamber Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A Texas federal judge has thrown out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's suit seeking to block the Federal Trade Commission from implementing a ban on noncompete clauses because a different plaintiff was first to file, adding he declined to recuse himself because no companies in his stock portfolio were parties in the case.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Illinois Strengthens Atty Ethics Rules For Harassment, Bias

By Celeste Bott

The Illinois Supreme Court has announced that the state's professional conduct rules for attorneys have been amended to deem the act of engaging in harassment or discrimination as professional misconduct, and not just in the event a court or administrative agency finds that a lawyer violated a law prohibiting such actions.

Notice attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DOJ Looks To End A Legacy Of Bias In Sex Assault Cases

By Hannah Albarazi

The U.S. Department of Justice says that legal fallacies and misogynistic stereotypes often lead prosecutors to decline to charge alleged perpetrators of sexual violence, but new guidance from the department is pushing prosecutors to give more credence to victims and see that their claims are more thoroughly investigated.

Memorandum attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Brewer Attorneys & Counselors, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and attorneys Eugene Volokh and Alan Morrison lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the National Rifle Association can proceed with certain claims in the gun rights group's lawsuit against a former New York state official.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

The Top In-House Hires Of May

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the last full month of spring included high-profile appointments at Southwest, Hormel and UnitedHealth. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from May.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Off The Bench: NCAA Transfers Freed, Atty Plays Cards Right

By David Steele

In this week's Off the Bench, the NCAA agrees to more historic rule changes while experts examine its post-House settlement future, and a patent lawyer looks back at his transformation into a poker champion.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »