Appellate

  • March 11, 2024

    DC Circ. Mulls Tax-Exempt Status For Ayahuasca Church

    A D.C. Circuit panel on Monday pushed counsel for an Iowa church that uses the psychedelic substance ayahuasca in its ceremonies to explain why the Internal Revenue Service erred in denying it tax-exempt status.

  • March 11, 2024

    FERC Says Nixing Power Market Revision Was Right Move

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday defended its rejection of a regional grid operator's revision of its capacity market rules due to competition worries, telling the D.C. Circuit that utility giant Entergy Inc. has no basis to challenge the decision.

  • March 11, 2024

    Firefighter Denied Promotion After Bender Loses Bias Suit

    The Second Circuit won't revive a Black firefighter's suit alleging his race cost him a promotion, ruling Monday that he failed to overcome the department's argument that the job offer was yanked because he was found half-naked at a Dunkin' store following a night of drinking.

  • March 11, 2024

    5th Circ. Revives Dish's Bid To Take Down Arabic TV Site

    The Fifth Circuit has revived Dish Network's suit against a German resident for sharing Arabic-language programming pirated from Dish after finding the defendant purposefully advertises to viewers in the United States.

  • March 11, 2024

    Designer Says USPTO's F-Bomb TM Refusal Is Retaliatory

    An artist and clothing designer who wants to register the F-bomb as a trademark told the Federal Circuit on Monday that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is retaliating against him for his role in overturning a ban on immoral or scandalous marks, saying the USPTO is inventing reasons to deny his application.

  • March 11, 2024

    Ga. Panel Finds $43M Trust Not On Hook For Legal Fees

    The Georgia Court of Appeals rejected a request from beneficiaries of a $43 million furniture fortune, finding on Monday that the trust's ex-trustees should not be saddled with attorney fees and litigation costs while the trust's beneficiaries sued them for allegedly mishandling the trust and overpaying themselves.

  • March 11, 2024

    Covington Holdout Drops SEC Cyberattack Appeal

    The anonymous Covington & Burling LLP client who objected to a demand that they reveal themselves to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a victim of a 2020 hack on the law firm agreed on Monday to drop the appeal of the subpoena enforcement action.

  • March 11, 2024

    SEC Can't Rely On 'Flawed' Ruling To Avoid Retrial, Atty Says

    A Connecticut lawyer facing retrial in a securities fraud case told the First Circuit that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission can't lean on a summary judgment finding that was also flawed.

  • March 11, 2024

    Trump Wants NY Trial Paused As Justices Weigh Immunity

    Donald Trump asked a New York judge to pause his hush-money case to await a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a separate case on whether he is shielded from criminal charges by presidential immunity.

  • March 11, 2024

    Corps Says Groups Can't Show Dredging Permit Was Flawed

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and an Enbridge Inc. unit told the Fifth Circuit that several groups challenging a permit issued for dredging and construction for the expansion of a major oil terminal on Texas's Gulf Coast may want a different outcome but can't show any permitting decisions were flawed.

  • March 11, 2024

    7th Circ. Won't Reinstate Ex-Cops' Retaliation Suit

    The Seventh Circuit refused to revive allegations that an Illinois city pushed out a police officer who complained about a colleague's sexual comments and a lieutenant who asked for a different shift because of sleep apnea, saying a trial court was right to toss the claims.

  • March 11, 2024

    Mich. Justices Tell Panel To Revisit 'Robotic' Tax Ruling

    A Michigan appellate panel must reconsider its decision to uphold the denial of a man's principal-residence tax exemption under the Michigan Supreme Court's order to gather more information about the evidence the tax tribunal considered, revisiting a decision one appellate judge labeled "robotic acceptance" of the government's evidence.

  • March 11, 2024

    Pfizer Defeats French Group's Bid For Vax Docs At 2nd Circ.

    The Second Circuit said Monday that Pfizer doesn't need to give a French nonprofit the communications between its CEO and the European Commission's president related to a COVID-19 vaccine development agreement, ruling the materials are irrelevant to a jurisdictional issue in the group's legal challenge to the pact in France.

  • March 11, 2024

    Split 11th Circ. Won't Revive Doctor's Equal Pay Suit

    A split Eleventh Circuit panel backed the dismissal of a female obstetrician's suit claiming a hospital gave a male doctor better opportunities to earn bonus pay, saying the medical center put forward enough proof showing the male doctor's experience justified the difference.

  • March 11, 2024

    Insurance Worker Wants Full 11th Circ. Rethink In ADA Suit

    A former insurance worker urged the full Eleventh Circuit to rethink the company's win in her lawsuit accusing the business of abruptly firing her to sidestep healthcare costs related to her multiple sclerosis, saying there's evidence her disability played a role in her termination.

  • March 08, 2024

    Inside The Climactic Clash Over Skyrocketing MDL Caseloads

    A seven-year showdown over the nation's swelling docket of ultra-high-stakes consumer suits is hurtling toward its moment of truth, as a judicial oversight panel weighs impassioned input from big-name attorneys and judges endorsing everything from sweeping overhauls to the tiniest of tweaks.

  • March 08, 2024

    2 Calif. Union Dues Cases Echo Janus Ruling, 9th Circ. Told

    An attorney for an anti-union think tank urged the Ninth Circuit on Friday to revive a pair of lawsuits alleging his public sector employee clients' constitutional rights were violated by union dues being collected against their will, likening the cases to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 2018 Janus ruling.

  • March 08, 2024

    Republican Group Fights ND Tribe's High Court Privilege Bid

    The Republican Governors Public Policy Committee is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a ruling that determined state lawmakers are immune from civil discovery in federal courts, arguing that two North Dakota tribes' challenge to the decision could have a "chilling effect" on federal judges.

  • March 08, 2024

    Stock Schemer Gets 5 Years For Fraud After 2nd Circ. Remand

    A New York federal judge on Friday re-sentenced a former registered broker to five years in prison for his role in a boiler room pump-and-dump scheme that targeted unwitting elderly investors after the Second Circuit found one year in prison "substantively unreasonable."

  • March 08, 2024

    Justices Urged To Take Up 'Who Decides' Arbitration Question

    An international arbitration scholar has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve whether a court or an arbitrator should decide a dispute's proper venue in cases involving nonsignatories to an arbitration agreement, an issue that's arisen in antitrust litigation over National Association of Realtor rules.

  • March 08, 2024

    Mich. Court Can't Shush Library Whistleblower, Panel Says

    A Michigan appeals court has revived a former library director's whistleblower suit alleging she was fired for questioning whether the library could use public funds to pay for a board member's godson to open a restaurant on the premises, saying she reported ongoing conduct which is considered protected activity.

  • March 08, 2024

    Split NC High Court Reopens Embattled Realty Firm

    The North Carolina Supreme Court has temporarily lifted a business shutdown order on MV Realty amid the state's claims that the company imposed predatory fees, with a dissenting justice fearing that unshackling it could put homeowners at risk of losing their homes.

  • March 08, 2024

    SEC's Climate Regs Face Multipronged Courtroom Attack

    The future of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's long-awaited corporate climate disclosure regulations is up in the air as the agency stares down lawsuits challenging its authority to promulgate the rules, with even more parties threatening to force the agency to defend its decision in court for years.

  • March 08, 2024

    Lizzo, WME's Win Upheld In Calif. COVID Force Majeure Fight

    California appellate justices upheld Lizzo, Ellie Goulding and William Morris Endeavor Entertainment LLC's win against an organizer's breach suit over COVID-19 cancellations, finding the artists could keep their secured deposits under the contracts' force majeure provision as they showed they were ready to perform but for the force majeure event.

  • March 08, 2024

    SF Giants Don't Owe Penalties To Stadium Staff For Late Pay

    The San Francisco Giants defeated claims that they owed ballpark concessionaires accrued wages after each work assignment, as a California state appeals court ruled that an amendment to a termination pay law retroactively nullified a worker's claims. 

Expert Analysis

  • Del. Dispatch: Lessons From Failed ETE-Williams Merger

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    Attorneys at Fried Frank delve into the Delaware Supreme Court's recent decision in Energy Transfer v. Williams to highlight the major monetary consequences of a failed merger, and show why merger agreement drafting and factual context are of utmost importance.

  • Opinion

    Justices Should Nix Section 230 Immunity For Tech

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    The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to decide two new cases that present another opening to curtail the broad immunity enjoyed by tech company-owned social media platforms under Section 230, and it's long past time for online publishers to be treated the same as traditional ones, says Douglas Mirell at Greenberg Glusker.

  • Ga. Ruling A Win For Plaintiffs Injured By Older Products

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    The Georgia Supreme Court's recent opinion in Ford Motor Co. v. Cosper gives plaintiffs the assurance that even if they are injured by older products, they can still bring claims under state law if the manufacturer used a design that it knew, or should have known, created a risk of substantial harm, says Rob Snyder at Cannella Snyder.

  • How Justices' Disclosure Ruling May Change Corp. Filings

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    In the upcoming Macquarie Infrastructure v. Moab Partners case, the U.S. Supreme Court will resolve a circuit split over whether a company may be sued for private securities fraud if they fail to disclose certain financial information in public filings, which may change the way management analyzes industry risks and trends for investors, says Paul Kisslinger at Lewis Brisbois.

  • How Ill. Supreme Court Could Shape Statutory Violation Cases

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    In Fausett v. Walgreens, the Illinois Supreme Court will take up the question of whether a violation of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act satisfies the injury-in-fact requirement, and any outcome could significantly change the litigation landscape in Illinois, say Donald Patrick Eckler and Joshua Zhao at Freeman Mathis.

  • Class Action Defense: Don't Give Up On Bristol-Myers Squibb

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    Federal appellate court decisions in the six years since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Bristol-Myers Squibb show that it's anyone's ballgame in class action jurisdictional arguments, so defendants are encouraged to consider carefully whether, where and when arguing lack of specific personal jurisdiction may be advantageous, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Pro Bono Work Is Powerful Self-Help For Attorneys

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    Oct. 22-28 is Pro Bono Week, serving as a useful reminder that offering free legal help to the public can help attorneys expand their legal toolbox, forge community relationships and create human connections, despite the challenges of this kind of work, says Orlando Lopez at Culhane Meadows.

  • High Court Bakery Driver Case Could Limit Worker Arbitration

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    Employers that require arbitration of worker claims under the Federal Arbitration Act should closely follow Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries as it goes before the U.S. Supreme Court, which could thoroughly expand the definition of “transportation workers” who are exempt from compulsory arbitration and force companies to field more employee disputes in court, says Nick Morisani at Phelps Dunbar.

  • Reconstruction-Era Laws Show Jan. 6 Cases Are Not Political

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    The renewed use of Reconstruction-era laws in indictments stemming from the Jan. 6 insurrection demonstrates that these statutes serve as a bulwark against erosion of the federal system, and provides a counterpoint to the public accusations that certain prosecutions are politically motivated, say Solomon Shinerock and Annika Conrad at Lewis Baach.

  • Series

    Playing In A Rock Cover Band Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing in a classic rock cover band has driven me to hone several skills — including focus, organization and networking — that have benefited my professional development, demonstrating that taking time to follow your muse outside of work can be a boon to your career, says Michael Gambro at Cadwalader.

  • Grayscale Win Over SEC May Finally Herald Spot Bitcoin ETPs

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    While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to approve any exchange-traded product based on spot bitcoin prices, a recent D.C. Circuit order that the SEC revisit Grayscale Investments’ application to offer shares in such a fund may signify the beginning of the end to the crypto industry's long quest to establish these products, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Series

    The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Espinosa On 'Lincoln Lawyer'

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    The murder trials in Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” illustrate the stark contrast between the ethical high ground that fosters and maintains the criminal justice system's integrity, and the ethical abyss that can undermine it, with an important reminder for all legal practitioners, say Judge Adam Espinosa and Andrew Howard at the Colorado 2nd Judicial District Court.

  • Lessons On Arbitration Carveouts From Diddy-Diageo Suit

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    After Sean "Diddy" Combs brought a racial discrimination suit in New York state court against Diageo, the company has been unable to compel arbitration under its distribution agreement with Combs, underscoring the importance of narrowly tailoring arbitration carveouts for injunctive relief, says Rosanne Felicello at Felicello Law.

  • How Del. 'Arising Out Of' Ruling May Affect Insurance Cases

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    The Delaware Supreme Court decision in Ace American Insurance v. Guaranteed Rate focused on a professional services exclusion, but the ruling has wide-ranging application in insurance coverage disputes involving any exclusions that employ "arising out of" or similar prefatory language, say Keith McKenna and Maria Brinkmann at Cohen Ziffer.

  • Clues On High Court Outcome In CFPB Constitutionality Case

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    At oral argument in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America, a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court appeared to have significant reservations with finding the bureau's funding mechanism unconstitutional, which likely means the CFPB will continue on its path set back in 2010, says Jim Sandy at McGlinchey Stafford.

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