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Appellate
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May 14, 2024
7th Circ. Seems Wary Of Jurisdiction Over Union Fund Misuse
Two Seventh Circuit judges on Tuesday pressed the U.S. Department of Labor to address how much authority individual employers had as part of an allegedly mismanaged multiemployer benefit fund, saying the question is crucial to determine whether the agency properly won a federal court injunction.
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May 14, 2024
Tort Report: Mass Tort Settlements Beset By Crooked Claims
Fraud attempts during the settlement claims process for class actions and mass torts highlighted by a new report and an $82 million verdict in a drunk driving crash suit lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.
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May 14, 2024
Mich. AG Says Eli Lilly 'Cherry-Picking' Enforcement Data
Michigan's attorney general has hit back against Eli Lilly's arguments that recent consumer protection law recoveries show her office is not being hampered in its investigations, as she seeks subpoenas in a probe of the pharmaceutical giant's pricing for an insulin drug.
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May 14, 2024
States, Elec. Co-Op Seek To Block EPA Power Plant GHG Rule
A group of 25 red states and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association asked the D.C. Circuit to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from implementing its new power plant greenhouse gas emissions rule while they challenge its legality.
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May 14, 2024
DC Circ. Upholds EPA's Renewable Fuel Standards
A divided D.C. Circuit panel upheld on Tuesday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's renewable fuel standards for 2020, 2021 and 2022, rejecting renewable fuel producers' claims the standards are too low, and petroleum refiners' contentions that they are too high.
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May 14, 2024
White House Continues To Back Adeel Mangi For 3rd Circ.
The White House is standing by Adeel Mangi's nomination for the Third Circuit despite the path to confirmation being unclear and the vast opposition he's been facing.
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May 14, 2024
Ex-Squire Patton Atty Among Latest Calif. Judges Sworn In
California got two new appellate court judges and elevated another one on Tuesday morning as a state commission unanimously approved and swore in the three people nominated by Gov. Gavin Newsom, including a onetime Squire Patton Boggs LLP attorney.
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May 14, 2024
Keep It Short, And Other Advice From Fed. Circ. Judges
Six Federal Circuit judges counseled a packed room of attorneys on Tuesday about the most common ways to ruin their own cases, such as talking too much at oral argument, adding additional citations and attacking judges or opposing counsel.
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May 14, 2024
Delays Justified Dismissing Malpractice Suit, Firms Tell NJ Panel
Two New Jersey law firms said a lower court got it right when it threw out malpractice claims against them due to the plaintiffs' failure to comply with discovery demands, arguing on Tuesday to a New Jersey state appeals court that the plaintiffs' delay in producing discovery and filing amended complaints was prejudicial.
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May 14, 2024
Ga. Justices Wary Of Gov't Listening To Atty-Client Calls
The Georgia Supreme Court seemed inclined during oral arguments Tuesday to find that a man convicted of assault had his Sixth Amendment rights violated because a detective and a prosecutor listened to his jailhouse phone calls with his attorney.
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May 14, 2024
Pa. Justices Vexed By DA Funding In Kleinbard Bill Dispute
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court seemed to want more information Tuesday about the source of the former Lancaster County district attorney's "program funds" before wading into whether the DA had the discretion to spend those funds on Kleinbard LLC's legal fees rather than asking his county commissioners for approval.
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May 14, 2024
Scooter Rider Not A 'Pedestrian' In PIP Suit, NJ Justices Affirm
An electric scooter operator who was struck by an automobile is not entitled to personal injury protection benefits under his auto policy, a unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed Tuesday, saying the operator does not fall within the definition of "pedestrian" for purposes of the state's No-Fault Act.
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May 14, 2024
9th Circ. Rejects Bid For Full Rehearing In Oak Flat Dispute
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday rejected a bid by an Apache nonprofit for a full judge en banc rehearing in an effort to block a copper mining company from destroying an Indigenous religious site in central Arizona known as Oak Flat, setting up the case for a U.S. Supreme Court appeal.
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May 14, 2024
Feds Say Bannon Must Start Prison Term After Losing Appeal
Prosecutors asked a District of Columbia federal judge Tuesday to order Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon to begin his four-month prison sentence for defying a congressional subpoena, now that the D.C. Circuit has rejected his appeal.
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May 14, 2024
$330M Romania Award Must Be Enforced, DC Circ. Says
The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday refused to overturn a ruling enforcing a $330 million arbitral award against Romania based on a pair of decisions issued by Europe's highest court, saying a federal district judge was obligated under U.S. law to enforce the award.
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May 13, 2024
11th Circ. Says Class Attys Self-Dealt In $35M TCPA Settlement
The Eleventh Circuit on Monday dismissed a proposed $35 million settlement of a class action alleging GoDaddy.com violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending unwanted marketing texts, saying the deal may have come by through nefarious means.
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May 13, 2024
'This Is America,' Not A Copyright Case, 2nd Circ. Says
Second Circuit judges shut down an appeal from a Miami rapper who says the 2018 hit Childish Gambino song "This Is America" bit off the flow from his 2016 record "Made In America," agreeing with a New York federal judge that the less successful rapper never protected the composition of his older song with a copyright.
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May 13, 2024
Jackson, Sotomayor Would Have Taken Up Jury Pool Dispute
U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor dissented Monday from the other justices' refusal to review a case in which a defendant and his counsel were excluded from attending initial juror qualification in his capital murder case, calling the circumstances "significant and certworthy."
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May 13, 2024
FTC Can't Modify $5B Meta Privacy Deal, DC Circ. Told
Meta Platforms Inc. told the D.C. Circuit on Monday that the Federal Trade Commission lacks the ability to unilaterally modify a $5 billion privacy settlement, contending that the courts are the ones responsible for enforcing the agreement.
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May 13, 2024
SEC Tells 3rd Circ. Coinbase Can't Force Crypto Rulemaking
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has told the Third Circuit that it already "reasonably explained" why it denied Coinbase's petition for crypto rulemaking and that it shouldn't have to retool its policy priorities just because crypto firms find it challenging to comply with existing laws.
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May 13, 2024
Challenger Says Ga. Justice Is 'Working The Refs'
Georgia Supreme Court candidate John Barrow accused his incumbent opponent on Monday of "working the refs" and capitalizing on the prospect that Barrow could face discipline for running on a platform that is stridently in favor of abortion rights in his bid for a seat on the state's highest court.
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May 13, 2024
Wall Fraud Conviction Affirmed Despite Juror-Prosecutor Tie
The Second Circuit on Monday affirmed the conviction of a Colorado man found to have siphoned online donations meant to fund a Southern border wall, saying the fact that a federal prosecutor had mentored a juror's daughter didn't warrant vacating the conviction.
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May 13, 2024
'Grinch' Is Not A Protected Class, HHS Tells 4th Circ.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has urged the Fourth Circuit to reject a chemist's discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation claims, arguing that "Grinch" is not a protected class and federal law doesn't protect an individual "from not being well-liked in the workplace."
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May 13, 2024
Fla. Court Upholds Apt. Complex's Win In Wrongful Death Suit
The mother of an autistic 6-year-old girl who drowned in a river near her Tampa, Florida, home can't sue the apartment complex for not putting up a fence, a state appeals court ruled, saying there was nothing unusually dangerous about that waterway.
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May 13, 2024
6th Circ. Backs Toss Of Private Security Co.'s Stolen Info Suit
A Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals panel has sided with a private security company accused of partnering with a similar business and stealing trade secrets so it could flourish while the other one wilted, saying the plaintiff failed to support its allegations.
Expert Analysis
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5 Employer Actions Now Risky After Justices' Title VII Ruling
Last week in Muldrow v. St. Louis, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that harm didn't have to be significant to be considered discriminatory under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, making five common employer actions vulnerable to litigation, say Kellee Kruse and Briana Scholar at The Employment Law Group.
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Series
Being An Equestrian Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Beyond getting experience thinking on my feet and tackling stressful situations, the skills I've gained from horseback riding have considerable overlap with the skills used to practice law, particularly in terms of team building, continuing education, and making an effort to reset and recharge, says Kerry Irwin at Moore & Van Allen.
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7th Circ. Mootness Fee Case May Curb Frivolous Merger Suits
On April 15, the Seventh Circuit in Jorge Alcarez v. Akorn Inc. mapped out a framework for courts to consider mootness fees paid to individual shareholders after the voluntary dismissal of a challenge to a public company merger, which could encourage objections to mootness fees and reduce the number of frivolous merger challenges filed, say attorneys at Skadden.
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4 Ways To Refresh Your Law Firm's Marketing Strategy
With many BigLaw firms relying on an increasingly obsolete marketing approach that prioritizes stiff professionalism over authentic connection, adopting a few key communications strategies to better connect with today's clients and prospects can make all the difference, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law.
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What 3rd Circ. Trust Ruling Means For Securitization Market
Mercedes Tunstall and Michael Gambro at Cadwalader break down the Third Circuit's March decision in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. National Collegiate Master Student Loan Trust, as well as predict next steps in the litigation and the implications of the decision for servicers and the securitization industry as a whole.
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9th Circ. Ruling Puts Teeth Into Mental Health Parity Claims
In its recent finding that UnitedHealth applied an excessively strict review process for substance use disorder treatment claims, the Ninth Circuit provided guidance on how to plead a Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act violation and took a step toward achieving mental health parity in healthcare, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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Using Rule 23(f) To Review Class Certification Orders
Since plaintiffs on average are prevailing in certifying a class more often than not, the best-positioned class action defendants are those prepared to pursue relief under Rule 23(f) well before the district court issues its certification decision, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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Perspectives
Justices' Forfeiture Ruling Resolves Nonexistent Split
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in McIntosh v. U.S., holding that a trial court’s failure to enter a preliminary criminal forfeiture order prior to sentencing doesn’t bar its entry later, is unusual in that it settles an issue on which the lower courts were not divided — but it may apply in certain forfeiture disputes, says Stefan Cassella at Asset Forfeiture Law.
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Opinion
SC's Courts Have It Wrong On Amazon Marketplace Sales Tax
The South Carolina Supreme Court should step in and correct the misguided change in tax law effectuated by lower court rulings that found Amazon owes state sales tax for marketplace sales made prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Wayfair v. South Dakota decision in 2018, says Hayes Holderness at the University of Richmond.
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What Have We Learned In The Year Since Warhol?
In the almost year since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith, which was widely seen as potentially chilling to creative endeavors, seven subsequent decisions — while illuminating to some extent — do not indicate any trend toward a radical departure from prior precedents in fair use cases, says Jose Sariego at Bilzin Sumberg.
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The Practical Effects Of Justices' Arbitration Exemption Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries, that a transportation worker need not work in the transportation industry to be exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act, may negatively affect employers' efforts to mitigate class action risk via arbitration agreement enforcement, say Charles Schoenwetter and Eric Olson at Bowman and Brooke.
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Binance Ruling Spotlights Muddled Post-Morrison Landscape
The Second Circuit's recent decision in Williams v. Binance highlights the judiciary's struggle to apply the U.S. Supreme Court's Morrison v. National Australia Bank ruling to digital assets, and illustrates how Morrison's territorial limits on the federal securities laws have become convoluted, say Andrew Rhys Davies and Jessica Lewis at WilmerHale.
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Practical Pointers After Fed. Circ. Double-Patenting Decision
With the Federal Circuit recently denying a full court review of In re: Cellect, a decision regarding obviousness-type double-patenting, affected patent family holders should evaluate their rights through both patent prosecution and future litigation lenses to minimize risks, say Austin Lorch and Jeff Wolfson at Haynes Boone.
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Sorting Circuit Split On Foreign Arbitration Treaty's Authority
A circuit court split over whether the New York Convention supersedes state law barring arbitration in certain disputes — a frequent issue in insurance matters — has left lower courts to rely on conflicting decisions, but the doctrine of self-executing treaties makes it clear that the convention overrules state law, says Gary Shaw at Pillsbury.
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Corp. Transparency Act Could Survive 11th Circ. Several Ways
If the Eleventh Circuit upholds an Alabama federal court’s injunction against the Corporate Transparency Act, the anti-money laundering law could persist as a narrower version that could moot some constitutional challenges, but these remedies would likely generate additional regulatory or statutory ambiguities that would result in further litigation, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.