Appellate

  • April 09, 2024

    Mo. Gets OK To Execute Man Repped By Flat-Fee Lawyers

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to halt the looming execution of a convicted murderer who claimed that his attorneys' flat-fee contracts incentivized them to push him to plead guilty before they secured promises from prosecutors not to pursue a death sentence.

  • April 09, 2024

    Court OKs Decision Clearing Contractor Of Missed IP Deadline

    A patent docketing contractor used by major remote law firm FisherBroyles can't be held liable for a "clerical mistake" that led to a missed patent application deadline and then a neurosurgeon's lawsuit potentially seeking nearly $102 million, with a Georgia appeals court affirming a lower court decision that the surgeon never should have relied on those dates in the first place.

  • April 09, 2024

    Ariz. High Court Restores Civil War-Era Abortion Ban

    The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday revived the state's nearly 160-year-old abortion ban, concluding that a far more recent law that had allowed abortion through 15 weeks of pregnancy did not replace the older prohibition.

  • April 09, 2024

    7th Circ. Allows Casino Workers To Appeal Class Cert. Denial

    The Seventh Circuit granted Casino Queen workers' request to immediately challenge a trial court's refusal to certify a class in their suit alleging that company executives charged their employee stock ownership plan $170 million for shares that ended up being worthless.

  • April 09, 2024

    Trump Loses 2nd Appellate Bid To Pause NY Criminal Trial

    A New York state appellate judge refused Tuesday to delay Donald Trump's upcoming criminal hush-money trial while the former president challenges a gag order, just one day after a different appeals judge declined to halt the trial due to supposed jury pool bias.

  • April 09, 2024

    California Can Set Own Emissions Standards, DC Circ. Says

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Act waiver that allows California to set its own greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles and run a zero-emission vehicles program, rejecting challenges filed by red states and industry groups.

  • April 08, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Says Law Taken Out Of Context In IP Fraud Defense

    U.S. Circuit Judge Todd Hughes on Monday told the attorney for the owner of a patent enforcement company that his attempt to beat a contempt order for his client involved reading a key rule out of context.

  • April 08, 2024

    Feds Tell Justices Trump's Immunity Bid Would Upset Framers

    Former President Donald Trump's claim to absolute presidential immunity from criminal charges related to official acts contradicts the text and intent of the U.S. Constitution and would've been "anathema" to the document's framers, special counsel John L. "Jack" Smith told the U.S. Supreme Court late Monday.

  • April 08, 2024

    7th Circ. Won't Demolish Obama Center Approval

    Federal agencies properly reviewed the environmental impacts of building the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago's Jackson Park, the Seventh Circuit ruled Monday, once again rejecting opponents' attempts to stop construction of the campus set to open in 2026.

  • April 08, 2024

    Sex Life Had No Place In Sex Harassment Trial, 9th Circ. Told

    An ex-Behemoth worker asked the Ninth Circuit on Monday to order a new trial after a jury rejected his sexual harassment and hostile work environment suit against the video game company, arguing the district court erroneously allowed jurors to hear about his sex life and vulgar speech.

  • April 08, 2024

    Film Producer To Take $5.7M 9th Circ. Award Fight To Justices

    An investor in a failed venture to develop a "revolutionary" chemical-manufacturing technology has said he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether a $5.7 million arbitral award issued to the venture's founders was properly enforced by the Ninth Circuit.

  • April 08, 2024

    Citibank Can't Dodge Liability After Escrow Theft

    A Washington state appeals court said Monday that Citibank and a predecessor lender can't avoid liability after an escrow agent allegedly embezzled nearly $1 million from a real estate company's refinancing deals, in an opinion that said the trial court failed to correctly apply controlling case law still "good" after 70 years.

  • April 08, 2024

    Idaho Land Deal Would Sustain Legacy Of Pollution, Tribes Say

    A group of Idaho tribes is urging the Ninth Circuit to uphold a lower court ruling granting a partial win in their challenge to a land transfer for a fertilizer plant's expansion, arguing that if allowed to go forward, it would continue a decadeslong legacy of contamination for their communities.

  • April 08, 2024

    Attys Have Duty To Defend Judges, ABA President Says

    The American Bar Association's president on Monday warned that attacks on judges and the U.S. court system have skyrocketed in recent years and urged lawyers to stand up for the judicial process by defending judges who are unjustly criticized.

  • April 08, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Won't Touch ITC's Sonos Ruling

    Neither Google nor its legal foe at speaker brand Sonos was able to persuade the Federal Circuit on Monday to change a mixed holding from the U.S. International Trade Commission that allowed some redesigned Google Home products to stay on the market.

  • April 08, 2024

    Mich. Regulators' Fraud Fears Are 'Nonsense,' Developer Says

    A real estate developer has told Michigan's high court that the state is raising unfounded concerns that Michigan will become a haven for fraudsters if the top court does not adopt a federal judicially created test to determine when an investment is a security, telling the justices Michigan's own securities law is controlling.

  • April 08, 2024

    11th Circ. Wants To Brief Standing In DHS Parole Policy Suits

    The Eleventh Circuit on Monday directed Florida and the federal government to offer their perspectives on whether a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision reviving the Biden administration's immigration enforcement priorities bears on the state's ability to mount a legal challenge to the administration's migrant parole programs.

  • April 08, 2024

    9th Circ. Urged To Revive J&J, Bausch Talc False Ad Suit

    An attorney for a proposed class alleging they were misled by Johnson & Johnson and Bausch Health about their talc products' safety urged a Ninth Circuit panel on Monday to revive the suit, saying a lower court erred in finding his clients needed to point to specific advertisements that misled them.

  • April 08, 2024

    High Court Creating DEI Headwinds, Colo. AG Says

    Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said Monday that the state's major losses last year in cases involving gay rights and prosecuting threatening speech were part of what he views as a trend at the U.S. Supreme Court of hampering efforts to increase diversity, equity and inclusion.

  • April 08, 2024

    Norton, Quinn Emanuel Rip Contempt Order In $600M IP Case

    A more than $600 million judgment against NortonLifeLock for infringing Columbia University patents, based partly on a contempt finding against its former law firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, is "indefensible" and cannot stand, the company and the firm have told the Federal Circuit.

  • April 08, 2024

    9th Circ. Doubts Quick Section 230 Appeal In Casino App Suits

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Monday of weighing in on whether the Communications Decency Act's Section 230 shields Google, Apple and Meta from consolidated multidistrict litigation over allegedly illicit "social casino" game apps on their platforms, with two judges saying that the interlocutory appeal is "premature" and "confusing."

  • April 08, 2024

    6th Circ. Upholds Partial Award In ESOP Liability Dispute

    The Sixth Circuit on Monday upheld a lower court's finding that an insurance firm was obligated to pay some costs spent defending a consulting firm's stock valuation work, based on a finding that costs weren't completely covered under the insurer's professional liability policy exclusion.

  • April 08, 2024

    Teamsters Benefits Row Isn't Arbitrable, Sysco Tells 7th Circ.

    An Indiana federal judge correctly held that a Sysco distribution center in Indianapolis didn't have to arbitrate a dispute with a Teamsters local over workers' entitlement to early retirement benefits, the company has told the Seventh Circuit, asking the appellate court to uphold the judge's ruling. 

  • April 08, 2024

    Texas Wants Save Of DHS Parole Program Reconsidered

    A Texas-led coalition of states that lost a district court challenge to the Biden administration's parole program for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela wants a reconsideration of the decision denying the coalition's bid to invalidate the program, saying the court wrongly concluded it lacked standing.

  • April 08, 2024

    Tribes Say Army Corps Mistakes Their Claims In 5th Circ. Row

    Two Native American tribes and a conservation group have told the Fifth Circuit that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and an Enbridge Inc. unit have intentionally mischaracterized their claims in litigation seeking to challenge the agency's permit authorization for a major oil terminal on Texas' Gulf Coast.

Expert Analysis

  • How Clients May Use AI To Monitor Attorneys

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Artificial intelligence tools will increasingly enable clients to monitor and evaluate their counsel’s activities, so attorneys must clearly define the terms of engagement and likewise take advantage of the efficiencies offered by AI, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.

  • What 3rd Circ. Gets Wrong About Arbitration Enforcement

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    The Third Circuit and other courts should correct their current law, exemplified by the Third Circuit's recent decision in Henry v. Wilmington Trust, requiring a motion to dismiss based on an arbitration clause because it conflicts with the Federal Arbitration Act, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and — with regard to the improper-venue approach — U.S. Supreme Court precedent, says David Cinotti at Pashman Stein.

  • Series

    The Pop Culture Docket: Judge D'Emic On Moby Grape

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    The 1968 Moby Grape song "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" tells the tale of a fictional defendant treated with scorn by the judge, illustrating how much the legal system has evolved in the past 50 years, largely due to problem-solving courts and the principles of procedural justice, says Kings County Supreme Court Administrative Judge Matthew D'Emic.

  • The Key To Defending Multistate Collective FLSA Claims

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    Federal circuit courts are split on the reach of a court's jurisdiction over out-of-state employers in Fair Labor Standards Act collective actions, but until the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to review the question, multistate employers should be aware of a potential case-changing defense, say Matthew Disbrow and Michael Dauphinais at Honigman.

  • Perils Of Incorporation By Reference At The Federal Circuit

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision backing a Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruling against Medtronic illustrates the perils of arguments through incorporation by reference, which can result in waiver of arguments and an adverse decision on appeal, says Ryan Hagglund at Loeb & Loeb.

  • Series

    Performing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The discipline of performing live music has directly and positively influenced my effectiveness as a litigator — serving as a reminder that practice, intuition and team building are all important elements of a successful law practice, says Jeff Wakolbinger at Bryan Cave.

  • 5th Circ. Ruling Sets Bostock, Faith Exemption Up For Review

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    The Fifth Circuit's Braidwood v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission decision could tee up U.S. Supreme Court review of whether employing an individual to whose protected class the employer objects infringes on the employer's religious beliefs, potentially narrowing LGBTQ worker protections from the high court's 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision, says Adam Grogan at Bell Law.

  • Breaking Down High Court's New Code Of Conduct

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    The U.S. Supreme Court recently adopted its first-ever code of conduct, and counsel will need to work closely with clients in navigating its provisions, from gift-giving to recusal bids, say Phillip Gordon and Mateo Forero at Holtzman Vogel.

  • Trump NY Fraud Trial Shows Civil, Criminal Case Differences

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    Former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial currently unfolding in New York provides a reminder that civil bench trials can be just as damaging, if not more so, than criminal prosecutions, due to several key elements of civil litigation procedure, says retired attorney David Moskowitz.

  • High Court's Chevron Review May Be A Crypto Game-Changer

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    The outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court's review of the Chevron doctrine in its pending Loper v. Raimondo case will potentially usher in a paradigm shift in cryptocurrency regulation, challenging agency authority and raising hopes for a recalibrated approach that favors judicial interpretation, says Sylvia Favretto at Mysten Labs.

  • 7 Critical Copyright And AI Questions Courts Need To Address

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    U.S. courts have yet to rule on many copyright issues regarding generative artificial intelligence technologies, so developers and users should consider several questions when evaluating risks, developing risk mitigation plans and making decisions about particular use cases, say John Delaney and Sean West at Perkins Coie.

  • How Purdue High Court Case Will Shape Ch. 11 Mass Injury

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent arguments in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma, addressing the authority of bankruptcy courts to approve nonconsensual third-party releases in Chapter 11 settlement plans, highlight the case's wide-ranging implications for how mass injury cases get resolved in bankruptcy proceedings, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.

  • Why E-Commerce Tools Are Under Fire Amid Privacy Lawsuits

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    As lawsuits try to shoehorn new technologies into decades-old privacy laws never intended for the digital age, e-commerce tools and the companies that use them are increasingly at risk, and retailers should act now to minimize their potential exposure, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • How New Expert Rules Are Already Changing Court Decisions

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    Though not formally effective until last week, some courts have been relying for several years on amended federal rules clarifying judges’ gatekeeping role, so counsel should be prepared to justify their expert witnesses’ methodologies and expect additional motion practice on expert testimony admissibility, say Colleen Kenney and Daniel Kelly at Sidley.

  • Opinion

    Legal Profession Gender Parity Requires Equal Parental Leave

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    To truly foster equity in the legal profession and to promote attorney retention, workplaces need to better support all parents, regardless of gender — starting by offering equal and robust parental leave to both birthing and non-birthing parents, says Ali Spindler at Irwin Fritchie.

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