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Appellate
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September 03, 2024
8th Circ. Says Union Pacific Must Face Color Vision Bias Suit
The Eighth Circuit revived a former Union Pacific conductor's lawsuit alleging he was unlawfully fired after failing a color vision test, ruling Tuesday that a lower court erroneously said his participation in a defunct class action couldn't save his claims.
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September 03, 2024
EPA Should Have Rethought Smog Plan, DC Circ. Told
U.S. Steel Corp. told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was obligated to rethink its plan to reduce smog-forming emissions across several states once courts partially blocked the plan's implementation, saying those decisions vindicate arguments that the rule can't be legally crafted.
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September 03, 2024
Advocates Urge 8th Circ. To Keep Iowa Arrest Law Blocked
Immigration lawyers and advocates for domestic violence survivors slammed Iowa's defense of a state law authorizing the arrest of immigrants who reentered the country after deportation, telling the Eighth Circuit that the immigrants may have obtained humanitarian protections after removal.
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September 03, 2024
9th Circ. Rejects Tax Lien Pro Rata Share In Bankruptcy Sale
The bankruptcy court is not authorized to use the pro rata method to allocate proceeds between the IRS and an estate with a tax lien for unpaid taxes and penalties, the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday, saying there is nothing in bankruptcy law that explicitly allows this approach.
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September 03, 2024
Gov't Backs 9th Circ. Bid To Revive Invisalign Monopoly Case
The U.S. Department of Justice has told the Ninth Circuit that a lower court applied the wrong standard when tossing a pair of class actions accusing the maker of Invisalign of monopolizing markets for clear dental aligners and teeth scanners.
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September 03, 2024
Apartment Co. Asks 9th Circ. To Toss NLRB Wage Talk Ruling
An Arizona property management company has urged the Ninth Circuit to reverse a National Labor Relations Board decision finding the company unlawfully fired a worker who talked about wages, joining a chorus of employers arguing the labor agency is unconstitutionally structured.
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September 03, 2024
Debtor's Late-Filing Case Should Be Reviewed, Justices Told
Tax experts urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit decision that found late-filed returns prevented a taxpayer from discharging his federal tax debt in bankruptcy, saying the case reflects a decades-long debate that has split the circuits three ways.
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September 03, 2024
Criminal Lawyers Group Backs YSL Atty In Contempt Appeal
The American Board of Criminal Lawyers told the Georgia Supreme Court that one of its fellows, an attorney defending rapper Young Thug in a racketeering trial, shouldn't have been held in contempt for refusing to divulge to a state judge how he learned about the judge's improper meeting with prosecutors and a key witness.
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September 03, 2024
Ex-Teacher Asks 7th Circ. To Revive Bias Fight Over Pronouns
An evangelical teacher urged the Seventh Circuit to revive his religious bias lawsuit alleging he was unlawfully fired for refusing to use transgender students' gender-affirming names and pronouns, arguing a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision backs keeping his case in court.
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September 03, 2024
Split 5th Circ. Dissolves La. Voting Consent Decree
An 11-member majority of the Fifth Circuit dissolved a 30-year-old voting consent decree over how justices are elected to Louisiana's highest court, finding in a split en banc opinion that the state has "satisfied its obligations."
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September 03, 2024
NJ Judiciary Expands Public Access To Briefs, Hearings
The New Jersey judiciary will begin livestreaming oral arguments before the Superior Court's Appellate Division and posting briefs for the Appellate Division and the state Supreme Court online in September, according to an announcement Tuesday.
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September 03, 2024
4th Circ. Affirms Father-Son Duo's COVID Fraud Conviction
The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday refused to walk back the convictions of a father-son duo who were found guilty of fraudulently obtaining $1.7 million in COVID-19 relief funds, finding there was sufficient evidence to bolster the guilty verdicts and the trial court did not otherwise make a mistake in allowing their prior counsel to be questioned at trial.
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September 03, 2024
DC Circ. Rejects EPA's 'New' Boiler Emission Limits
The D.C. Circuit said Tuesday that a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule regulating emissions from boilers used at industrial plants, universities and hospitals improperly classified some sources as "new" even though they existed before the regulations were proposed.
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September 03, 2024
Justices Urged To Revive Movie Site TM Suit Against BofA
The Tenth Circuit employed "an analysis devoid of context whose conclusions contradicted themselves" when it found Bank of America Corp. had not infringed a movie website owner's trademark with its virtual assistant "Erica," the site owner has told the U.S. Supreme Court.
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September 03, 2024
Texas Judge On Joining New Statewide Appellate Court
As he moves from his seat as the first jurist to sit on the Lone Star State's 480th District Court bench to a place on Texas' newly created Fifteenth Court of Appeals, Justice Scott Field is well-prepared to "hit the ground running."
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September 03, 2024
Texas Justice On Moving To The New 15th Appeals Court
This month, Texas business courts gavel in for the first time and a newly created appellate court, the Fifteenth District, will begin accepting business court appeals as well as disputes on appeal that include the Lone Star State or a state entity as a party.
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September 01, 2024
Jackson Sees No 'Reason' To Not Enforce High Court Ethics
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said Sunday that she's seen no "persuasive reason" why members of the nation's highest court shouldn't be held to an enforceable code of conduct, becoming the second justice to publicly endorse proposed ethics reform following a year of heightened public scrutiny.
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August 30, 2024
Pa. Court Affirms Ex-Eagle's $43.5M Knee Injury Verdict
Former Philadelphia Eagles team captain Chris Maragos gets to keep the $43.5 million he won in a medical malpractice trial over doctors' treatment of a knee injury that ended his playing career, after a state appeals panel on Friday ruled that the jury verdict was supported by the evidence.
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August 30, 2024
Pa. County's Voting Machine Inspections Cost It $1M In Fees
A Pennsylvania county whose commissioners violated a court order by allowing outside inspectors to access its voting machines should pay Dominion Voting Systems and the Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth more than $1 million in legal fees as part of the state supreme court's sanctions, an appellate judge recommended Friday.
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August 30, 2024
Vets, Attys Urge Supreme Court To Topple Feres Doctrine
Veterans groups and lawmakers contend it's "high time" for the U.S. Supreme Court to scrap its 74-year-old doctrine prohibiting military service members and their families from suing the U.S. for negligence, arguing the vague rule has left soldiers with fewer rights than prisoners and noncitizens.
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August 30, 2024
Full Fed. Circ. Urged To Review PTAB Estoppel Rule Case
A Federal Circuit ruling that Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions can render patent claims invalid in later U.S. Patent and Trademark Office proceedings is "contrary to the patent laws and congressional intent," a patent owner said Friday seeking rehearing in a case that could increase scrutiny of some patents.
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August 30, 2024
$100M Deal Finally Ends MoneyGram Unclaimed Property Fight
Delaware will be giving back more than $100 million from uncashed MoneyGram checks to the states where they were bought after finally reaching a settlement with 29 other states that took the matter all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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August 30, 2024
Don't Halt Smelter Pollution Suit For Appeal, 8th Circ. Told
Hundreds of Peruvian citizens urged the Eighth Circuit on Thursday not to pause a 17-year-old pollution case for a high court appeal requested by the billionaire owner of a smelter, arguing that the justices were unlikely to overturn rulings allowing the case to proceed.
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August 30, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Double Software Co.'s $13.5M Trade Secret Win
The Ninth Circuit on Friday affirmed a lower court's denial of a request by software company Proofpoint Inc. for exemplary damages that could have doubled its $13.5 million trade secret theft verdict, ruling that any error the district court made in denying the damages is harmless.
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August 30, 2024
Partnership Can't Save Premature Tax Court Appeal, Feds Say
The IRS is urging the Eleventh Circuit to throw out a Tax Court appeal that a partnership formed by two former Atlanta Braves players filed over a slashed $47.6 million conservation easement deduction, since the appeal was improperly filed before a final decision was entered.
Expert Analysis
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NY Ruling Paves A Court Payment Shortcut For More Creditors
A recent New York state appeals court ruling expands access to an expedited statutory procedure for court enforcement of promissory notes or unconditional guaranties, allowing more creditors to minimize the risk of potentially challenging litigation on threshold issues, says Alexander Levi at Friedman Kaplan.
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9th Circ. COVID 'Cure' Case Shows Perks Of Puffery Defense
The Ninth Circuit's March decision in a case surrounding a company's statements about a potential COVID-19 cure may encourage defendants to assert puffery defenses in securities fraud cases, particularly in those involving optimistic statements about breakthrough drugs that are still untested, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.
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After Years Of Popularity, PAGA's Fate Is Up In The Air
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.
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3 Recent Decisions To Note As Climate Litigation Heats Up
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.
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Trending At The PTAB: Real Party In Interest And IPR
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.
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Perspectives
Justices' Repeat Offender Ruling Eases Prosecutorial Hurdle
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.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: May Lessons
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.
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Perspectives
Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys
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.
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The Fed. Circ. In May: The Printed Matter Doctrine's Scope
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.
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CFPB's Expanding Scope Evident In Coding Bootcamp Fine
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.
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Fintech Compliance Amid Regulatory Focus On Sensitive Data
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.
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5th Circ. Bond Claim Ruling Shows Creditors Must Be Vigilant
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.
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4 Arbitration Takeaways From High Court Coinbase Ruling
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.
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Fed. Circ. Scrapping Design Patent Tests Creates Uncertainty
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.
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Series
Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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.