Appellate

  • August 30, 2024

    Md. Supreme Court Reinstates Adnan Syed Murder Conviction

    A divided Maryland Supreme Court on Friday reinstated the decades-old murder conviction of Adnan Syed, whose case received renewed attention after being featured on the "Serial" podcast.

  • August 30, 2024

    Mich. Justices Reject College Students' COVID Refund Appeal

    The Michigan Supreme Court said Friday it won't revive college students' lawsuits seeking refunds over the switch to virtual instruction during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, cementing wins for three universities.

  • August 30, 2024

    5th Circ. Rejects SEC Whistleblower Award Calculation Appeal

    The Fifth Circuit on Friday rejected petitions by two whistleblowers who allege that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shortchanged them after they helped to uncover purportedly the largest fraud in Texas history, by a company that was driven into bankruptcy.

  • August 30, 2024

    NC Justices Scrap Mogul's Bid To Block Financial Overseer

    The North Carolina Supreme Court blocked a bid by convicted insurance mogul Greg Lindberg to stave off a takeover of his finances as part of a legal battle with an insurer seeking to collect a $524 million arbitration award.

  • August 30, 2024

    UPS Gets NLRB Info Request Redo From 11th Circ.

    The Eleventh Circuit reversed on Friday part of a National Labor Relations Board ruling that UPS illegally refused to provide information to the Teamsters, directing the board to analyze the company's argument that the parties' contract precluded the union's request for workers' phone numbers.

  • August 30, 2024

    Whistleblower Seeks 2nd Bid At $690M Claim In DC Circ.

    A whistleblower denied up to $690 million, or 30%, of the $2.3 billion collected in an Internal Revenue Service offshore voluntary disclosure program asked for a D.C. Circuit panel to rehear his case Friday, saying its original opinion included numerous mistakes and misunderstandings.

  • August 30, 2024

    Texas Justices Won't Hear Truck Co.'s $1M Tax Exemption Bid

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday denied a freight transportation company's request for the justices to consider whether the company is exempt from state franchise tax and owed a roughly $1 million refund.

  • August 30, 2024

    Door-Maker Demands $10M In Excess Insurance At 4th Circ.

    A door manufacturer pressed the Fourth Circuit to force an insurer to hand over $10 million in excess coverage in connection with a $39.5 million shareholder settlement over alleged lies to investors, arguing Friday that the matter was unrelated to other litigation and counts as a separate claim.

  • August 30, 2024

    Uber Owes Drivers Duty Of Care In Rider Match, 9th Circ. Says

    A Ninth Circuit panel said Friday that Uber Technologies Inc. can't dodge liability after one of its drivers was murdered in a carjacking, finding rideshare companies have a duty to their drivers to use reasonable care to match them with riders.

  • August 30, 2024

    Midyear Report: Texas Legislation To Watch Ahead Of 2025

    Texas lawmakers are scheduled to convene in January, and both the Texas House and Senate are already busy preparing to introduce new legislation.

  • August 30, 2024

    Parents Unhurt By Indigenous Child Law, Minn. Justices Told

    A coalition of Native American nonprofits is asking the Minnesota Supreme Court to dismiss a challenge by foster parents to the Indian Child Welfare Act in a custody dispute over two Red Lake Nation children, arguing that the parents have not been injured by the law's preference for Indigenous foster homes.

  • August 30, 2024

    Favre Cites Palin-NYT In Push To Reverse Defamation Ruling

    Attorneys for former NFL quarterback Brett Favre asked the Fifth Circuit to consider a recent ruling granting Sarah Palin a new libel trial against the New York Times when it considers reviving his case against fellow NFL great turned sports pundit Shannon Sharpe.

  • August 30, 2024

    AGs Ask 11th Circ. To Back Fla. Under-21 Gun Sale Law

    A group of 21 attorneys general Friday filed an amicus brief with the Eleventh Circuit urging the appeals court to reaffirm a panel decision upholding a Florida law that banned the sale of firearms by people under 21.

  • August 30, 2024

    Conn. Chief Justice Pick Has Already Shaped The Courts

    When Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced that he had selected state Supreme Court Justice Raheem L. Mullins, 46, to serve as chief justice, he highlighted Justice Mullins' seven years of service on the state high court and noted that his nominee has written about 70 majority opinions.

  • August 30, 2024

    Experts Give Karen Read's Double Jeopardy Claim Slim Odds

    Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman whose murder case garnered national attention before ending in a mistrial, could struggle to convince a state appellate court that jurors coming forward to say they unanimously voted to acquit her on some charges is enough to trigger double jeopardy, experts told Law360.

  • August 30, 2024

    Mich. Supreme Court Shuts Down COVID Closure Suits

    Michigan's top court turned away gyms and food-service businesses seeking payment for state-imposed closures and restrictions on their businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, rejecting the businesses' appeals Friday.

  • August 30, 2024

    Ex-DOJ Atty Clark Says New Trump Indictment Bolsters Case

    Special counsel Jack Smith's superseding indictment of former President Donald Trump over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election sets a new precedent that should end ethics charges leveled against Trump administration Department of Justice attorney Jeffrey Clark, according to Clark's latest arguments.

  • August 30, 2024

    COVID Excused Facility From Some Bargaining, 6th Circ. Says

    A Michigan nursing home that became critically understaffed when COVID-19 hit could offer temporary hazard pay and hire nonunion temporary workers without bargaining with its workers' union because of the emergency circumstances, but it needed to bargain over the effects of hiring the temps, the Sixth Circuit held.

  • August 30, 2024

    NJ Panel Unswayed By Cop Training Co.'s Political Bias Suit

    A Garden State appellate panel on Friday declined to revive a police training company's civil rights suit against the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller, reasoning that the firm's claim that it was targeted for political reasons is not a cause of action.

  • August 30, 2024

    7th Circ. Will Look At 2-Step Cert. In Eli Lilly Age Bias Suit

    The Seventh Circuit said it would take up a midsuit appeal from Eli Lilly challenging a lower court's ruling granting collective certification to a sales representative in her age discrimination lawsuit, backpedaling from an order in July that declined to take up the dispute because of its incomplete record.

  • August 30, 2024

    Mich. Justices Won't Weigh In On Income Tax Cut's Duration

    The Michigan Supreme Court will not review a lower appeals court's decision that found a revenue-triggered cut to the state's income tax rate in 2023 was in effect for only one year, the justices said Friday.

  • August 29, 2024

    PNC Asks 4th Circ. To Reconsider HELOC 'Offset' Ban Ruling

    PNC Bank has asked the Fourth Circuit to take another look at its ruling that extended the "offset" provision of the Truth in Lending Act, which prevents banks from using funds held in deposit accounts to offset credit card debt without the consumer's consent, to home equity lines of credit.

  • August 29, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Gives Philips Another Chance In Networking IP Row

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday ordered the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to take another look at arguments from Dutch electronics giant Philips seeking to keep a networking patent alive, deciding that the board was "too conclusory" the first time.

  • August 29, 2024

    Pa. Justices To Examine Axing Of 'Red Book' Drug Pricing

    The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has agreed to review a decision tossing the "Red Book" pricing values used by the state's Bureau of Workers' Compensation to calculate reimbursement for prescription drug costs.

  • August 29, 2024

    Jury Clears Ore. Hospital That Implanted FDA-Flagged Mesh

    A state jury cleared an Oregon hospital system and a surgeon of liability Wednesday over a patient's claims that prolapse mesh was implanted almost two weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered its maker to stop selling it.

Expert Analysis

  • After Years Of Popularity, PAGA's Fate Is Up In The Air

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    The last two years held important victories for plaintiff-side employment attorneys in California Private Attorneys General Act litigation at the trial and appellate court levels, but this hotbed of activity will quickly lose steam if voters approve a ballot measure in November to enact the California Fair Pay and Employer Accountability Act, says Paul Sherman at Kabat Chapman.

  • 3 Recent Decisions To Note As Climate Litigation Heats Up

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    Three recent rulings on climate-related issues — from a New York federal court, a New York state court and an international tribunal, respectively — demonstrate both regulators' concern about climate change and the complexity of conflicting regulations in different jurisdictions, say J. Michael Showalter and Robert Middleton at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Trending At The PTAB: Real Party In Interest And IPR

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    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s recent Luminex v. Signify decision, finding a complaint seeking indemnification may be treated as a public demand sufficient to establish a real party-in-interest, shows that the board continues to apply a broad and expansive definition to that term, say Yicong (Eve) Du and Yieyie Yang at Finnegan.

  • Perspectives

    Justices' Repeat Offender Ruling Eases Prosecutorial Hurdle

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week in Brown v. U.S., clarifying which drug law applies to sentencing a repeat offender in a federal firearms case, allows courts to rely on outdated drug schedules to impose increased sentences, thus removing a significant hurdle for prosecutors, says attorney Molly Parmer.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: May Lessons

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    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.

  • Perspectives

    Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys

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    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.

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

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    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.

  • CFPB's Expanding Scope Evident In Coding Bootcamp Fine

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    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.

  • Fintech Compliance Amid Regulatory Focus On Sensitive Data

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent, expansive pursuit of financial services companies using sensitive personal information signals a move into the Federal Trade Commission's territory, and the path forward for fintech and financial service providers involves a balance between innovation and compliance, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.

  • 5th Circ. Bond Claim Ruling Shows Creditors Must Be Vigilant

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    In Raymond James & Associates v. Jalbert, the Fifth Circuit recently held that the bankruptcy debtor's indemnification obligations were discharged by the confirmed plan because the indemnified party failed to speak up, demonstrating that creditors must proactively protect their rights, says Joshua Lesser at Bradley Arant.

  • 4 Arbitration Takeaways From High Court Coinbase Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's May 23 decision in Coinbase v. Suski, which provides clarity to parties faced with successive contracts containing conflicting dispute resolution provisions, has four practical impacts for contracting parties to consider, say Charles Schoenwetter and Eric Olson at Bowman and Brooke.

  • Fed. Circ. Scrapping Design Patent Tests Creates Uncertainty

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    The Federal Circuit last week discarded established tests for proving that design patents are invalid as obvious, leaving much unknown for design patent applicants, patentees and challengers, such as what constitutes analogous art and how secondary references will be considered and applied, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.

  • Series

    Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.

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

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    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.

  • How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case

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    The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.

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