Appellate

  • May 15, 2024

    Split High Court Allows La. To Use Revised Election Map

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Louisiana can use its revised congressional map during the 2024 election cycle, pausing a federal judicial panel's ruling that lawmakers likely violated the U.S. Constitution when they redrew the state's map to address voter dilution claims and created a second majority-Black voting district.

  • May 15, 2024

    2nd Circ. Backs AT&T's Win In Retirees' Early Benefits Suit

    The Second Circuit declined Wednesday to undo a win for AT&T in a proposed class action brought by two retirees who sought retroactive pay after finding out they could have applied for retirement benefits earlier, ruling the denial of their bid for backdated benefits was on solid ground.

  • May 15, 2024

    Split Fed. Circ. Decision Restores Thai Pipe Duties

    A split Federal Circuit panel flipped a trade court ruling Wednesday to affirm that pipes imported from Thailand that are approved for both "standard" plumbing and oil and gas uses are subject to a longstanding duty order covering standard pipes.

  • May 15, 2024

    1 Year After Warhol, Judges Feel Their Way Through Fair Use

    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a rock photographer in a copyright dispute over Andy Warhol's iconic silkscreens of music legend Prince, judges have had to rethink their analysis of fair use — sometimes struggling to apply the high court's conclusions to the facts of the cases before them.

  • May 15, 2024

    $2.5M Atty Sanctions Ruling Befuddles 7th Circ. Judge

    A Seventh Circuit judge seemed perplexed Wednesday over how to resolve the "interesting mess" he said a district court created by sanctioning a Chicago attorney $2.5 million for taking the wrong artist to trial despite that district judge letting the case proceed in the first place. 

  • May 15, 2024

    Monsanto's $23M False Ad Deal Challenged At 9th Circ.

    Counsel representing a certified class of Missouri consumers urged the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday to reverse Monsanto's nationwide $23 million settlement resolving consumer false ad claims over risks associated with its Roundup weedkiller, arguing that Monsanto hid the settlement from the Missouri plaintiffs and that the class is effectively "getting absolutely nothing."

  • May 15, 2024

    Pardoned NJ Atty Suspended Over Tax, Fraud Convictions

    A former Gilmore & Monahan PA partner — who was convicted of failing to pay payroll taxes and lying on a loan application, and was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump — has received a two-year suspension from practicing law in New Jersey, though it will be largely offset by a previous suspension he served, according to a Wednesday order. 

  • May 15, 2024

    4th Circ. Revives Landowners' $523K Win Against Pipeline Co.

    A Fourth Circuit panel has instructed a Virginia federal court to reinstate a more than $523,000 jury award for the condemnation of easements across a family's property by Mountain Valley Pipeline, holding the verdict can be supported by credited testimony.

  • May 15, 2024

    Last-Mile Amazon Driver Does Interstate Work, Panel Says

    A driver for a logistics company who primarily made local deliveries for Amazon was engaged in interstate commerce and thus exempt from mandatory arbitration, a California appeals court has held, saying the worker's wage and hour claims can remain in state court.

  • May 15, 2024

    Feds Tell Justices $3.1B Satellite Deal Isn't Reviewable

    The Biden administration has urged the U.S. Supreme Court against reviewing an order dismissing claims that a contractor was pushed out of a $3.1 billion military satellite deal, saying the transaction was a sovereign action shielded from court review.

  • May 15, 2024

    Minn. Suit Against Clinic Over Sex Abuse By Psychiatrist Fails

    A Minnesota appeals court has found that a woman can't pursue vicarious liability claims against a clinic for sexual abuse by one of the psychiatrists working there, saying she released those claims when she entered a settlement with the psychiatrist.

  • May 15, 2024

    Toss Of Bonus Bias Claim Too Short On Details, 5th Circ. Says

    The Fifth Circuit has reinstated a Hispanic salesman's claim that he was denied $160,000 in bonuses by a construction contractor out of racial bias after he was fired, ruling the lower court didn't adequately explain why it nixed that allegation.

  • May 15, 2024

    In Hush Money Case, Jury May Choose To Keep Silent, Too

    Though Donald Trump's gag order violations have earned him a threat of jail time, First Amendment experts say jurors in the New York case will likely be free to speak their mind afterward if they want to — a dynamic that in rare instances has led to posttrial controversy.

  • May 14, 2024

    5th Circ. Nixes Catholic Abuse Claimants' Ch. 11 Appeal

    Sex abuse claimants removed from a Catholic archdiocese's bankruptcy unsecured creditors committee don't have grounds for an appeal because they couldn't show the removal was a sanction on them that cost the claimants anything, the Fifth Circuit said.

  • May 14, 2024

    Ga. DA Asks Justices To Dismiss Open Records Suit

    A Georgia district attorney on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court of Georgia to overturn a trial court's denial of her motion to dismiss a lawsuit accusing her of illegally withholding records and destroying others in an effort to avoid disclosure, arguing district attorneys are exempt from Georgia's Open Records Act.

  • May 14, 2024

    DOI Urges High Court To Uphold Seminole Gambling Compact

    Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to deny a petition by two casino operators seeking to undo a sports gambling compact between the state of Florida and the Seminole Tribe, arguing that such agreements may include provisions that address matters off tribal lands.

  • May 14, 2024

    4th Circ. Says Attempted Child Sex Abuse Warrants Removal

    The Fourth Circuit approved the deportation of a man convicted of attempting to sexually abuse a child, ruling Tuesday that the attempted offense qualified as child abuse crime warranting removal.

  • May 14, 2024

    DC Circ. Affirms Toss Of Muslim Family's Airport Search Suit

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday upheld the dismissal of a Muslim family's lawsuit alleging they endured unconstitutionally intrusive treatment on an international trip that evinced they had been wrongly placed on a terrorist watchlist, finding that the lower court correctly leaned on a confidential declaration from an FBI agent in tossing the case.

  • May 14, 2024

    9th Circ. Denies Tribes, Enviro Groups' Power Line Stay Bid

    The Ninth Circuit has denied an emergency request by two Native American tribes and a couple of conservation groups to stay an Arizona federal judge's order that allows work to continue on a $10 billion power line.

  • May 14, 2024

    Seattle Public Defender's $7M Employment Win Wiped Out

    The Washington Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled a former King County public defender could not bring a hostile work environment claim over a client's harassing behavior that persisted after she stopped representing him, erasing her $7 million jury win.

  • May 14, 2024

    5th Circ. Expresses Doubt On Nasdaq Board Diversity Rules

    Lawyers for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Nasdaq Stock Market LLC faced a barrage of questions from the full Fifth Circuit on Tuesday, with judges wondering whether rules requiring corporations to disclose board diversity information would open the door to investor questions on religious practices, political beliefs or Taylor Swift fandom.

  • May 14, 2024

    RFK Jr. Fights Uphill To Get Vax Censorship Block At 9th Circ.

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Tuesday of granting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. an injunction in his case alleging Google violated his First Amendment rights by removing certain YouTube videos doubting the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines, with two judges saying his arguments lack evidence.

  • May 14, 2024

    NC State Fights Cancer Patient's Presuit Building Access

    North Carolina State University is pressing the state appeals court to find it is insulated from an "unusual" order allowing a former graduate student worker diagnosed with cancer to inspect a campus building that tested high for levels of carcinogens.

  • May 14, 2024

    Hospitals Liable For Failing To Admit Killer, Pa. Justices Told

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court was reminded Tuesday, during oral arguments over whether someone can be officially treated at a hospital without filling out an application, that the case before them concerned a man who killed his girlfriend after he was turned away despite claiming homicidal and suicidal impulses.

  • May 14, 2024

    Mo. Court Says Chiropractor Must Face Broken Ribs Suit

    A Missouri appellate panel on Tuesday revived a suit accusing a chiropractor of negligently breaking a patient's ribs during a treatment session, saying the patient's two medical experts plausibly opined that the chiropractor used excessive force.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • How Purdue Pharma High Court Case May Change Bankruptcy

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling in Purdue Pharma may be the death of most third-party releases in Chapter 11 cases, and depending on the decision’s breadth, could have much more far-reaching effects on the entire bankruptcy system, say Brian Shaw and David Doyle at Cozen O'Connor.

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