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Appellate
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May 15, 2024
Toss Of Bonus Bias Claim Too Short On Details, 5th Circ. Says
The Fifth Circuit has reinstated a Hispanic salesman's claim that he was denied $160,000 in bonuses by a construction contractor out of racial bias after he was fired, ruling the lower court didn't adequately explain why it nixed that allegation.
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May 15, 2024
In Hush Money Case, Jury May Choose To Keep Silent, Too
Though Donald Trump's gag order violations have earned him a threat of jail time, First Amendment experts say jurors in the New York case will likely be free to speak their mind afterward if they want to — a dynamic that in rare instances has led to posttrial controversy.
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May 14, 2024
5th Circ. Nixes Catholic Abuse Claimants' Ch. 11 Appeal
Sex abuse claimants removed from a Catholic archdiocese's bankruptcy unsecured creditors committee don't have grounds for an appeal because they couldn't show the removal was a sanction on them that cost the claimants anything, the Fifth Circuit said.
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May 14, 2024
Ga. DA Asks Justices To Dismiss Open Records Suit
A Georgia district attorney on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court of Georgia to overturn a trial court's denial of her motion to dismiss a lawsuit accusing her of illegally withholding records and destroying others in an effort to avoid disclosure, arguing district attorneys are exempt from Georgia's Open Records Act.
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May 14, 2024
DOI Urges High Court To Uphold Seminole Gambling Compact
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to deny a petition by two casino operators seeking to undo a sports gambling compact between the state of Florida and the Seminole Tribe, arguing that such agreements may include provisions that address matters off tribal lands.
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May 14, 2024
4th Circ. Says Attempted Child Sex Abuse Warrants Removal
The Fourth Circuit approved the deportation of a man convicted of attempting to sexually abuse a child, ruling Tuesday that the attempted offense qualified as child abuse crime warranting removal.
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May 14, 2024
DC Circ. Affirms Toss Of Muslim Family's Airport Search Suit
The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday upheld the dismissal of a Muslim family's lawsuit alleging they endured unconstitutionally intrusive treatment on an international trip that evinced they had been wrongly placed on a terrorist watchlist, finding that the lower court correctly leaned on a confidential declaration from an FBI agent in tossing the case.
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May 14, 2024
9th Circ. Denies Tribes, Enviro Groups' Power Line Stay Bid
The Ninth Circuit has denied an emergency request by two Native American tribes and a couple of conservation groups to stay an Arizona federal judge's order that allows work to continue on a $10 billion power line.
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May 14, 2024
Seattle Public Defender's $7M Employment Win Wiped Out
The Washington Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled a former King County public defender could not bring a hostile work environment claim over a client's harassing behavior that persisted after she stopped representing him, erasing her $7 million jury win.
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May 14, 2024
5th Circ. Expresses Doubt On Nasdaq Board Diversity Rules
Lawyers for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Nasdaq Stock Market LLC faced a barrage of questions from the full Fifth Circuit on Tuesday, with judges wondering whether rules requiring corporations to disclose board diversity information would open the door to investor questions on religious practices, political beliefs or Taylor Swift fandom.
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May 14, 2024
RFK Jr. Fights Uphill To Get Vax Censorship Block At 9th Circ.
A Ninth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Tuesday of granting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. an injunction in his case alleging Google violated his First Amendment rights by removing certain YouTube videos doubting the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines, with two judges saying his arguments lack evidence.
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May 14, 2024
NC State Fights Cancer Patient's Presuit Building Access
North Carolina State University is pressing the state appeals court to find it is insulated from an "unusual" order allowing a former graduate student worker diagnosed with cancer to inspect a campus building that tested high for levels of carcinogens.
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May 14, 2024
Hospitals Liable For Failing To Admit Killer, Pa. Justices Told
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court was reminded Tuesday, during oral arguments over whether someone can be officially treated at a hospital without filling out an application, that the case before them concerned a man who killed his girlfriend after he was turned away despite claiming homicidal and suicidal impulses.
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May 14, 2024
Mo. Court Says Chiropractor Must Face Broken Ribs Suit
A Missouri appellate panel on Tuesday revived a suit accusing a chiropractor of negligently breaking a patient's ribs during a treatment session, saying the patient's two medical experts plausibly opined that the chiropractor used excessive force.
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May 14, 2024
The PREP Immunity Question Won't Be Decided Yet
The Federal Circuit opted Tuesday not to say whether a 2005 public health law provides any legal immunity in a patent dispute between rival manufacturers of COVID-19 test swabs, leaving the thorny question unanswered.
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May 14, 2024
Mich. Biz Attys Back State's Securities Fraud Enforcement Bid
Members of Michigan's state bar association have urged the state's highest court to adopt a U.S. Supreme Court test for determining whether promissory notes are securities, in support of an effort by the state securities regulator to bring an enforcement action against a condominium developer accused of failing to pay back investors.
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May 14, 2024
Norwich, Bausch Ask Fed. Circ. To Rethink Xifaxan IP Ruling
Alvogen's Norwich Pharmaceuticals unit and Bausch Health have launched bids for the Federal Circuit to rehear a case in which it affirmed a Delaware federal court's decision preventing the release of a generic version of Bausch's blockbuster diarrhea and brain disease drug, Xifaxan, until 2029.
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May 14, 2024
5th Circ. Judge Says 'Race Science' Not For Courts To Decide
A Fifth Circuit judge wondered Tuesday whether Galveston County was asking the courts to engage in "race science" as the en banc court weighs whether multiracial or multiethnic voters facing redistricting are protected under the Voting Rights Act.
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May 14, 2024
Ga. Atty Disbarred For Trying To Steal $3M Settlement
The Georgia Supreme Court announced Tuesday that an Atlanta-area elder law and real estate attorney was disbarred because he conspired with online fraudsters to try to steal a $3 million settlement from an insurance company to its policyholder.
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May 14, 2024
Trump Attys Trying To Delay Paying Sanctions, Mich. Says
Michigan officials and the city of Detroit say former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell and other attorneys should be penalized with another round of sanctions for apparently attempting to put off paying a hefty sanctions award imposed in a lawsuit challenging the state's 2020 presidential election results.
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May 14, 2024
Ind. Panel Agrees Hospital Can't Be Liable If Doctors Aren't
An Indiana appeals court has refused to reinstate a woman's vicarious liability claim against Indiana University Health North Hospital Inc. in a suit alleging its staff failed to properly diagnose her sepsis, holding the hospital can't be held liable for the conduct of agents who have already been released from liability.
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May 14, 2024
Texas Justices Leave Cities' Franchise-Fee Suit Tossed
The Texas Supreme Court has refused to vacate a lower appeals court's order that allowed Hulu, Disney and Netflix to escape a lawsuit from 31 municipalities claiming the streaming platforms are required to pay 5% state franchise fees, holding that the municipalities have other remedies available.
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May 14, 2024
Boeing Can't Beat Rival's Trade Secrets Claim, 11th Circ. Hints
Counsel for Boeing attempted to convince the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday that a rival aircraft company's bid to claim unjust enrichment amid a long-running U.S. Air Force contract fight should be barred by contract language that waived claims for damages stemming from Boeing's allegedly underhanded bidding tactics.
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May 14, 2024
Texas Think Tank Tells 5th Circ. It's Owed Climate Pledge Info
The Texas Public Policy Foundation told the Fifth Circuit that it should be allowed access to the names of federal officials involved in creating the Biden administration's climate pledge, arguing the federal government cannot rely on a disclosure exemption designed to protect personal privacy to withhold such information.
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May 14, 2024
Ex-Tesla Worker Urges 9th Circ. To Revive Whistleblower Suit
A former Tesla employee who says he was fired for reporting unlawful activity asked the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to revive his Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower claim, saying those claims aren't arbitrable, and a lower court erred when it dismissed them based on an arbitrator's findings regarding his other claims against Tesla.
Expert Analysis
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Payment Provision Lessons From NJ Construction Ruling
A New Jersey appellate court's decision in Bil-Jim v. Wyncrest, holding that an American Institute of Architects contract was not an installment contract, highlights both the complexities of statute of limitations calculations and the significant consequences that can arise from minor differences in contract language, say Mitchell Taraschi and Zac Brower at Connell Foley.
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The Fed. Circ. In February: A Reminder On Procedure Rule 28
Because the Federal Circuit does not often issue a sua sponte precedential order emphasizing an important rule of practice, it is useful to look at how the court applied the restrictions of appellate procedure Rule 28 in Promptu v. Comcast last month, and in cases that preceded it, say Jeremiah Helm and Sean Murray at Knobbe Martens.
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SC Ruling Reinforces All Sums Coverage Trend
A South Carolina state court's recent ruling in Covil v. Pennsylvania National is the latest in a series of decisions, dating back to the 2016 New York Court of Appeals ruling in Viking Pump, that reject insurers' pro rata allocation argument, further supporting that all sums coverage is required whenever a loss could be covered under a policy in any other year, say Raymond Mascia and Thomas Dupont at Anderson Kill.
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A Defense Strategy For Addressing Copyright Fee-Shifting
Permissive fee-shifting under Section 505 of the Copyright Act poses unique challenges for copyright defendants, carrying an outsize impact on the economic incentive structure in copyright litigation, but relying on a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure may offer a potential solution by allowing defendants to recover attorney fees, say Hugh Marbury and Molly Shaffer at Cozen O'Connor.
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Opinion
Neb. Justices Should Weigh IRC Terms In Dividend Tax Case
Nebraska’s highest court, which will hear oral arguments in Precision CastParts v. Department of Revenue on April 1, should recognize that the Internal Revenue Code provides key clues to defining “dividends received or deemed to be received,” and therefore limits Nebraska’s tax on foreign-sourced corporate income, says Joseph Schmidt at Ryan.
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Contract Disputes Recap: Facts Differ But Same Rules Apply
Zachary Jacobson and Sarah Barney at Seyfarth examine two decisions illustrating that reliance on a technicality may not save an otherwise untimely appeal, and that enforcement of commercial terms and conditions under a federal supply schedule contract may be possible.
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Del. Supreme Court Insurance Ruling Aids In Defining 'Claim'
The recent Delaware Supreme Court decision in Zurich v. Syngenta, finding that a presuit letter did not constitute a claim for insurance purposes, sets out a three-factor test to help policyholders distinguish when a demand rises to the level of a claim, says Lara Langeneckert at Barnes & Thornburg.
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Series
Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.
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Judge-Shopping Policy Revisal May Make Issue Worse
The Judicial Conference at its March meeting unveiled a revised policy with the stated goal of limiting litigants’ ability to judge-shop in patent cases, but the policy may actually exacerbate the problem by tying the issue to judge-shopping in polarizing political cases, making reform more difficult, say Robert Niemeier and William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.
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2nd Circ. Baby Food Ruling Disregards FDA's Expertise
The Second Circuit's recent decision in White v. Beech-Nut Nutrition, refusing to defer litigation over heavy metals in baby food until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration weighs in on the issue, provides no indication that courts will resolve the issue with greater efficiency than the FDA, say attorneys at Phillips Lytle.
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Where 9th Circ. Lowe's Ruling Leaves PAGA Jurisprudence
Leah Kennedy and Carolyn Wheeler at Katz Banks discuss the legal landscape and controlling precedent around the Private Attorneys General Act that led to the Ninth Circuit's Johnson v. Lowe's decision last month on individual PAGA wage claims, and explore the open questions that it leaves.
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Opinion
5th Circ. NFL Disability Ruling Turns ERISA On Its Head
The Fifth Circuit's March 15 ruling in Cloud v. NFL Player Retirement Plan upheld the plan's finding that an NFL player was not entitled to reclassification because he couldn't show changed circumstances, which is contrary to the goal of accurate Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims processing, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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How Fieldwood Ch. 11 Ruling Bolsters Section 363 Confidence
The Fifth Circuit’s recent ruling in Fieldwood Energy’s Chapter 11 cases, which clarified that challenges to integral aspects of a bankruptcy sale are statutorily moot under Section 363(m) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, should bolster the confidence of prospective purchasers in these sales, say attorneys at V&E.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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2nd Circ.'s Binance Locus Test Adds Risk For Blockchain Cos.
The Second Circuit’s recent use of the irrevocable liability test to rule a class action may proceed against decentralized crypto exchange Binance heightens the possibility that other blockchain-based businesses with domestic customers and digital infrastructure will find themselves subject to U.S. securities laws, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.