Appellate

  • May 08, 2024

    Arendi Seeks Revival Of Google, Oath IP Rows At Fed. Circ.

    Arendi SARL has urged the Federal Circuit to revive its two data system patent lawsuits alleging infringement by Google and Oath Holdings, arguing in part that the lower court erred when it failed to find the patents eligible.

  • May 08, 2024

    Mich. Justices Unsure New Mandate Altered Old Auto Policies

    Michigan Supreme Court justices appeared divided Wednesday over whether an overhaul of the state's compulsory car insurance scheme affected pre-existing policies or applied only to policies issued after the reforms went into effect.   

  • May 08, 2024

    Split 6th Circ. Says Digital Media TM Case Has To Stay In Tenn.

    The Sixth Circuit on Wednesday held that a trademark fight between two companies that digitally preserve home movies, photos and other media will have to play out in a Tennessee federal court, after the panel split over how many customers are enough to extend jurisdiction in the trademark dispute.

  • May 08, 2024

    Black & Decker's Stud Finder Patent Win Gets Fed. Circ. OK

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday upheld a decision clearing Stanley Black & Decker Inc. in a stud finder patent suit by rival Zircon Corp., backing the U.S. International Trade Commission's finding that Zircon didn't show it has a domestic industry of products protected by the patents.

  • May 08, 2024

    6th Circ. Questions FERC's Moves On Ohio Utility Grid Perk

    A Sixth Circuit panel on Wednesday questioned the role of a rate perk given to transmission companies for choosing to join a regional transmission organization as it weighed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's decision to yank the incentive for several Ohio utilities while preserving it for others.

  • May 08, 2024

    Lyft Driver Asks Calif. Justices To OK Intervening In PAGA Suit

    An attorney for a Lyft driver who sued the company under the Private Attorneys General Act urged the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to find her client has standing to intervene in a competing PAGA Lyft case that reached a settlement, saying the deal threatened to "extinguish" her client's rights.

  • May 08, 2024

    Pa. Panel Scrutinizes Missteps In 2020 Election Machine Fracas

    The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court on Wednesday brought up apparent missteps by both sides of a fight stemming from third-party inspections of a conservative county's voting machines, started by the county commissioners falling in with the hunt for fraud in the 2020 election and the state pushing back.

  • May 08, 2024

    Credit Suisse Urges Mich. Panel To Reverse Biz Loss Denial

    A Credit Suisse attorney pressed the Michigan Court of Appeals on Wednesday to clarify how the state's tax laws account for losses from real estate mortgage investment conduits, saying a lower court incorrectly denied its attempt to carry forward $21.3 million in losses.

  • May 08, 2024

    Sorority Fails To Get Fed. Circ. To Revive TM Case

    A one-line Federal Circuit ruling Wednesday upheld a decision shooting down a popular sorority's efforts to obtain a trademark registration covering the acronym "ZTA" for use in the consumer goods market. 

  • May 08, 2024

    Wash. Justices Decline Personal Injury Atty's Fee Split Spat

    Washington's high court has declined to hear a personal injury lawyer's challenge to his old firm's fee-splitting agreement, letting stand a state appellate court's ruling that the contract had "clear and unequivocal language" compelling him to pass on half the fees he earned from the firm's former clients after his departure.

  • May 08, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Denies Siemens' Bid For Navy Energy Audit Costs

    The Federal Circuit ruled Wednesday that the U.S. Navy doesn't owe a Siemens unit $5.7 million for costs the company incurred to investigate potential energy savings measures at two military installations, saying a related contract clearly didn't cover those costs. 

  • May 08, 2024

    Duke Doctor Partially Resuscitates NC Firing Suit

    The North Carolina state appeals court has partially revived a fired Duke University hospital resident's lawsuit alleging that health care system officials terminated him because of his depression after an inadequate firing-review process that violated an employment contract.

  • May 08, 2024

    Sens. Call For Revamp Of SEC's Nixed Stock Buyback Rules

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should "promptly" reissue disclosure rules vacated by the Fifth Circuit last year so that companies are required to publicly disclose more information on their share repurchase plans, a bipartisan pair of U.S. senators told the agency's leader on Monday.

  • May 08, 2024

    AMC Objector Says Chancery Settlement Lacked Due Process

    An AMC Entertainment Inc. stockholder who opposed a class settlement that the company reached with other shareholders to end Chancery Court litigation over a controversial share conversion told Delaware's Supreme Court Wednesday that the deal should be unwound for lack of due process.

  • May 08, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Judge Troubled By Government's Visa Fraud Sting

    A Federal Circuit judge on Wednesday said he was troubled by the federal government's argument that it has no liability to foreign students who paid thousands of dollars to attend a fake university the government set up to ensnare visa fraudsters.

  • May 08, 2024

    6th Circ. Partially Remands Sanofi's Tenn. Lake Pollution Suit

    The Sixth Circuit on Tuesday revived parts of a Sanofi unit's lawsuit against a Tennessee landfill owner that allegedly improperly closed the dump and caused water contamination on the other company's property.

  • May 08, 2024

    Trashing Of IP Case Wrongly Cut Atty Fees, Del. Justices Told

    An attorney for a client who saw all claims against him dropped before trial in a suit focused on allegedly purloined trash-handling trade secrets urged Delaware's Supreme Court on Wednesday to reverse the Chancery Court's purported failure to hear his attorney fee claim.

  • May 08, 2024

    Calif. Justices Weigh Striking Anti-Tax Ballot Initiative

    California Supreme Court justices sought to understand Wednesday if a measure approved for the November ballot that would make it harder to raise taxes would eliminate lawmakers' ability to tax and would illegally revise — rather than amend — the state constitution.

  • May 08, 2024

    4th Circ. Says Purpose Of Inmate Labor Affects Classification

    The primary purpose of prisoners' work at a Baltimore County recycling plant should determine whether a group of incarcerated people were employees under federal law, a Fourth Circuit panel ruled Wednesday, rejecting the county's view that any amount of rehabilitative-oriented work spared it from minimum wage obligations.

  • May 08, 2024

    9th Circ. Says Calif. Can Give Gun Buyer Info To Researchers

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday declined to revive a constitutional challenge to a California law requiring the state to provide biographical information about firearm purchasers and those with carry-conceal permits to accredited research institutions studying gun violence, saying the information at issue isn't highly personal and doesn't implicate the right to privacy. 

  • May 08, 2024

    Robins Kaplan File Flub Bad Look For Both Sides, Panel Says

    A Manhattan appeals panel expressed concern Wednesday that Robins Kaplan LLP had poked through an opposing party's Dropbox database that was accidentally shared in investor litigation, while also criticizing the other side for failing to catch the error.

  • May 08, 2024

    4th Circ. Asks If High Court Ruling Bars Credit Suisse Tipster

    A Fourth Circuit panel questioned Wednesday whether a U.S. Supreme Court ruling prevented it from reviving a whistleblower case by a former Credit Suisse employee alleging the bank helped U.S. citizens evade taxes after paying a $2.6 billion criminal penalty.

  • May 08, 2024

    Ga. Doctor, Urology Clinic Want New Trial In $15M Death Case

    Attorneys for a Georgia doctor and urology clinic urged the Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday to set aside a $15 million jury verdict and order a new trial in a wrongful death case filed by the wife of an 80-year-old man who died following a November 2016 prostate surgery.

  • May 08, 2024

    8th Circ. Grapples With What Triggers An EFAA 'Dispute'

    The Eighth Circuit seemed skeptical Wednesday of Chipotle's argument that the date of a worker's alleged sexual assault is the linchpin for determining whether a law limiting mandatory arbitration shields her lawsuit, but receptive to the notion that a "dispute" could have occurred before she filed the case in court.

  • May 08, 2024

    Vape Fluid Co. Urges Justices To Take Up FDA Challenge

    Lotus Vaping Technologies LLC is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's denial of its application to market bottled flavored e-cigarette fluids, saying the case provides an appropriate vehicle to examine the FDA's policies.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    High Court Should Settle Circuit Split On Risk Disclosures

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    The U.S. Supreme Court should grant the petition for writ of certiorari in the Facebook case to resolve a growing circuit split concerning when risk disclosures can be misleading under federal securities laws, and its decision should align with the intent of Congress and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, says Richard Zelichov at DLA Piper.

  • Opinion

    Why Supreme Court Should Allow Repatriation Tax To Stand

    If the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't reject the taxpayers' misguided claims in Moore v. U.S. that the mandatory repatriation tax is unconstitutional, it could wreak havoc on our system of taxation and result in a catastrophic loss of revenue for the government, say Christina Mason and Theresa Balducci at Herrick Feinstein.

  • For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill

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    A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • High Court's Jan. 6 Rioter Case May Have Wide Ripple Effects

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    The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear oral arguments in Fischer v. United States, a case that will determine whether a law enacted after the Enron scandal can be used to prosecute Jan. 6 rioters, and could affect the government’s ability to charge those who impede a range of official proceedings, say Brook Dooley and Sara Fitzpatrick at Keker Van Nest.

  • 5th Circ. Clarifies What Is And Isn't A 'New Use' Of PFAS

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    The Fifth Circuit's March 21 decision in Inhance Technologies v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, preventing the EPA from regulating existing uses of PFAS under "significant new use" provisions of the Toxic Substances Control Act, provides industry with much-needed clarity, say Joseph Schaeffer and Sloane Wildman at Babst Calland.

  • CORRECTED: Endoscope Patent Case Offers Guidance On Right To Repair

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    An Alabama federal court's decision in Karl Storz v. IMS reaffirmed that product owners have broad rights to repair or modify their property as they see fit, highlighting the parameters of the right to repair in the context of patent infringement, say Dustin Weeks and Dabney Carr at Troutman Pepper. Correction: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article and headline attributed the Karl Storz ruling to the wrong court. The error has been corrected.

  • Trump's NY Civil Fraud Trial Spotlights Long-Criticized Law

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    A New York court’s recent decision holding former President Donald Trump liable for fraud brought old criticisms of the state law used against him back into the limelight — including its strikingly broad scope and its major departures from the traditional elements of common law fraud, say Mark Kelley and Lois Ahn at MoloLamken.

  • How A Motion Before Justices May Help Trump Beyond Court

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    Even if Donald Trump loses his presidential immunity claim before the U.S. Supreme Court, the delay created by the motion may mean a trial can't be completed before the November election, says Paul Tuchmann at Wiggin and Dana.

  • Opinion

    $175M Bond Refiled By Trump Is Still Substantively Flawed

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    The corrected $175 million bond posted by former President Donald Trump on Thursday to stave off enforcement of the New York attorney general's fraud judgment against him remains substantively and procedurally flawed, as well as inadequately secured, says Adam Pollock of Pollock Cohen.

  • Opinion

    Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea

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    A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.

  • NJ Ruling Offers Road Map To Fight Dishonored Check Claims

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    As ATM and mobile check deposits become more common, a New Jersey state appellate court’s recent ruling in Triffin v. Neptune shows that issuers can rely on copies of checks to defend against claims that checks were wrongfully dishonored after being electronically deposited, say attorneys at Sherman Atlas.

  • 4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best

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    As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.

  • A Look At Recent Challenges To SEC's Settlement 'Gag Rule'

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    Though they have been unsuccessful so far, opponents of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's so-called gag rule, which prevents defendants from denying allegations when settling with the SEC, are becoming increasingly vocal and filing more challenges in recent years, say Mike Blankenship and Regina Maze at Winston & Strawn.

  • How 3 Unfolding Cases Could Affect The Energy Industry

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    Three judicial decisions now in the pipeline — Texas' challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's methane regulations, Delaware's climate suit against big energy companies, and a case before the Supreme Court of Texas on royalty lease interpretation — could have important implications for the energy industry, say Michelle Scheffler and Rachael Cox at Skadden.

  • Conn. Bankruptcy Ruling Furthers Limitation Extension Split

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    A recent Connecticut bankruptcy court decision further solidifies a split of authority on whether Bankruptcy Rule 9006(b) may be used to extend the limitations period, meaning practitioners seeking to extend should serve the motion on all applicable parties and, where possible, rely on the doctrine of equitable tolling, says Shane Ramsey at Nelson Mullins.

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