Appellate

  • June 03, 2024

    2nd Circ. Reverses Polish Woman's Removal For Drug Offense

    The Second Circuit revived a Polish immigrant's bid to cancel her deportation from the U.S., saying her drug conviction under New Jersey state law for distributing cocaine didn't qualify as an aggravated felony under a comparable federal law.

  • June 03, 2024

    3rd Circ. Backs Bad Subpoena Sanction In Race, Sex Bias Suit

    The Third Circuit has upheld a $6,720 fee sanction against a New Jersey attorney for serving an intentionally misleading subpoena while representing a Garden State management company against federal race and sex bias claims.

  • June 03, 2024

    Tax Crime Lacked 'Meeting Of Minds' With Atty, 5th Circ. Told

    A Houston personal injury attorney told the Fifth Circuit on Monday that prosecutors didn't provide enough evidence at trial to show that he intentionally planned to help another lawyer evade federal income taxes as he pushed the court to vacate his conviction for his involvement in a multimillion-dollar ambulance-chasing kickback scheme.

  • June 03, 2024

    Mich. High Court Keeps $15 Min. Wage Proposal Off Ballot

    An initiative to raise the hourly minimum wage in Michigan to $15 by 2027 will stay off the 2024 ballot, the state Supreme Court ruled, turning down a group's bid to force the state canvassers board to certify the proposal.

  • June 03, 2024

    Supreme Court Ruling Keeps Amazon Race Bias Suit Alive

    Amazon Music can't sink a Black former worker's suit alleging her responsibilities were reduced and she was placed on a performance improvement plan for complaining about her manager, a New York federal judge said, ruling her claims are viable based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.

  • June 03, 2024

    5th Circ. Affirms Insurer's Win In Store Crash Coverage Suit

    An insurer didn't breach its policy with the owner of a Texas convenience store when it denied coverage for roof damage after a vehicle crashed into the store, the Fifth Circuit has affirmed, saying the owner failed to create a genuine dispute that any damage to the roof was attributable to the crash.

  • June 03, 2024

    Pool Co. Says It Won't Survive $16M Judgment In Bid For Stay

    The American arm of a Chinese swimming pool equipment maker told a North Carolina federal judge it faces insolvency if forced to fork over a $16 million false advertising and unfair business practices judgment, asking instead for a stay without bond while it appeals the verdict.

  • June 03, 2024

    Justices To Hear Mob Case Over 'Violent' Crimes Of Inaction

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear the case of an alleged associate of New York's Genovese crime family in which the reputed mobster, and the government, argued that the justices should resolve a circuit split over whether crimes of violence can be committed through inaction.

  • June 03, 2024

    Design Patents May Be Harder To Get Under New Test

    The Federal Circuit's decision discarding long-standing tests for proving that a design patent is invalid as obvious means the world has changed for patent examiners and applicants, attorneys said, and the new standard could lead to more design patent applications being turned down.

  • June 03, 2024

    Calif. Justices Free Woman From Misdemeanor Pot Charges

    The California Supreme Court has thrown out misdemeanor cannabis-related charges against an 85-year-old woman, finding the trial court was within its discretion to consider her lack of knowledge of the unlicensed operation happening in her building.

  • June 03, 2024

    Justice Gorsuch Calls Colleagues 'Best Writers' In History

    Justice Neil Gorsuch recently sat down for a keynote conversation during the 25th annual Burton Awards in Washington, D.C., where he reflected on his approach to writing opinions, his originalist method to interpreting the Constitution and the civility that exists between his fellow justices.

  • June 03, 2024

    High Court Won't Hear Arguments On Madoff Clawback Math

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear arguments by an investor in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme for overturning a Second Circuit decision on how to calculate the amount of investor withdrawals that can be clawed back to the Madoff bankruptcy estate.

  • June 03, 2024

    Justices Won't Review Migrant Harboring Convictions

    The U.S. Supreme Court won't review a Kentucky federal jury's verdict convicting two restaurateurs on four counts of harboring unauthorized immigrants, shutting down those business owners' arguments they were not intentionally hiding the migrants from the government.

  • June 03, 2024

    CORRECTED: Justices Delay Cert Decision On OSHA Standard Setting

    The U.S. Supreme Court is holding off on deciding if it will review a split decision from the Sixth Circuit that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's authority to set workplace safety standards is constitutional, a ruling that the lower federal appellate court declined to rehear in December.

  • June 03, 2024

    Justices Won't Mull Worker-Friendly Ruling On Preshift Pay

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a case asking how to decide when an employer must pay employees for time they spend on preshift tasks that are necessary for them to do their jobs.

  • June 01, 2024

    Blockbuster Summer: 10 Big Issues Justices Still Must Decide

    As the calendar flips over to June, the U.S. Supreme Court still has heaps of cases to decide on issues ranging from trademark registration rules to judicial deference and presidential immunity. Here, Law360 looks at 10 of the most important topics the court has yet to decide.

  • May 31, 2024

    Texas Justices Won't Take On City Insurance Coverage Fight

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday declined to review a trial court's decision rejecting a municipal insurance risk pool's attempt to evade the city of Hidalgo's lawsuit seeking to recover millions of dollars for damage sustained in Hurricane Hanna in July 2020. 

  • May 31, 2024

    Fiji Water Beats $2M Breach-Of-Contract Verdict On Appeal

    California appellate justices on Thursday dismissed Carolina Beverage's $2 million jury win in a contract case accusing Fiji Water of violating their distribution deal by selling Fiji directly to retailers, finding that the agreement wasn't constructively terminated because Carolina Beverage continued to deliver Fiji products to retailers, pursuant to their contract.

  • May 31, 2024

    Monsanto PCB Plaintiffs Want $185M Wash. Win Restored

    A group of public school teachers is urging the Washington State Supreme Court to review a state appellate court decision overturning their $185 million win in a PCB tort against Monsanto, contending the ruling stifles plaintiffs' rights in cases stemming from the same school site and other product liability litigation.

  • May 31, 2024

    9th Circ. Affirms Toss Of Health Center's $8M Cigna Row

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday declined to revive a suit from a holding company for a drug and alcohol treatment center claiming Cigna forced it into bankruptcy by not paying more than $8 million in authorized claims, finding the health insurer did not abuse its discretion in denying the payments.

  • May 31, 2024

    Texas Justices Won't Review NexPoint Defamation Suit

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday declined to review a Second Court of Appeals decision that revived in part NexPoint Advisors LP's defamation and business disparagement claims arising from statements made in response to the company's hostile takeover bid. 

  • May 31, 2024

    Russia Says Arbitrators Don't Get Final Word In $50B Suit

    Russia has asked the D.C. Circuit to revive its sovereign immunity claim in litigation seeking to enforce $50 billion in arbitral awards against it, arguing it never said arbitrators could have the final word on whether it agreed to arbitrate with former Yukos Oil Co. shareholders.

  • May 31, 2024

    Zillow Rival Tells 9th Circ. Listing Snub Not 'Optional'

    Defunct brokerage platform REX-Real Estate Exchange Inc. urged the Ninth Circuit to revive its deceptive practices suit against Zillow, arguing a Washington federal judge wrongly let the property listing giant off the hook for relegating REX home sale listings to a secondary tab on its website.

  • May 31, 2024

    Texas Justices To Take On Parking Garage Easement Suit

    The Texas Supreme Court agreed Friday to review a Texas appellate court's decision granting judgment to a garage owner who refused to allow the tenants and employees of a downtown office building continue parking in the garage despite a written parking easement.

  • May 31, 2024

    Judge Doubts Okla. Can Stop Title X Cut Over Abortion Stance

    A Tenth Circuit judge appeared skeptical Friday that Oklahoma could prevent federal officials from stripping $4.5 million in funding over the state's refusal to provide abortion referrals, suggesting the state's claim of anti-abortion discrimination is better suited to an attack on Title X writ large.

Expert Analysis

  • Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment

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    As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.

  • Opinion

    High Court Should Endorse Insurer Standing In Bankruptcy

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    In Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum, the U.S. Supreme Court will examine bankruptcy standing doctrine as applied to insurers in mass tort cases, and should use the opportunity to eliminate spurious standing roadblocks to resolving insurer objections on their merits, says Frank Perch at White and Williams.

  • High Court Social Media Speech Ruling Could Implicate AI

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    In Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether certain state laws can restrict content moderation by social media platforms, but the eventual decision could also provide insight into whether the first amendment protects artificial intelligence speech, say Joseph Meadows and Quyen Dang at GRSM50.

  • Justices' Trump Ballot Ruling: Purposivism In Textualist Garb

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s Trump v. Anderson decision earlier this week, allowing former President Donald Trump to remain on state primary ballots, alleviates uncertainty and minimizes the potential for abuse in future cases, but is difficult to square with the court’s own account of its textualist interpretive methods, says Will Havemann at Hogan Lovells.

  • Disney Copyright Expiration Spurs Trademark Questions

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    While the recent expiration of Disney’s Steamboat Willie copyright is not likely to have an immediate impact, it could provide clarity on the extent to which trademark rights in character names and appearance affect what others can do with characters from works whose copyright has expired, says Bryan Wheelock at Harness IP.

  • Texas Insurance Ruling Could Restore Finality To Appraisal

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    The Texas Supreme Court's decision in Rodriguez v. Safeco, determining that full payment of an appraisal award precludes recovery of attorney fees, indicates a potential return to an era in which timely payment undoubtedly disposes of all possible policyholder claims, says Karl Schulz at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC

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    The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Zero-Point Offender Eligibility May Hinge On Meaning Of 'And'

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    Some white collar defendants’ eligibility for the new zero-point offender sentencing adjustment comes down to whether the word “and” really means “and” — a question the U.S. Supreme Court is set to resolve in its upcoming Pulsifer v. U.S. decision, which could affect thousands of incarcerated people, say Brandon McCarthy and Nikita Yogeshwarun at Katten.

  • Valeant Ruling May Pave Way For Patent-Based FCA Suits

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    The Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling in Silbersher v. Valeant marks a significant development in False Claims Act jurisprudence, opens new avenues for litigation and potentially raises the stakes for patent applicants who intend to do business with the government, say Joshua Robbins and Rick Taché at Buchalter.

  • A Former Bankruptcy Judge Talks 'Undue Hardship'

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    Former U.S. bankruptcy judge Robert Gordon reflects on his journey from student borrower to judicial observer, highlighting the challenges faced by modern students burdened with student loan debt and advocating for reform in bankruptcy laws, particularly regarding the "undue hardship" element of discharge.

  • Recent Rulings Add Dimension To Justices' Maui Decision

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's 2020 decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund established new factual criteria for determining when the Clean Water Act applies to groundwater — and recent decisions from the Ninth and Tenth Circuits have clarified how litigants can make use of the Maui standard, says Steven Hoch at Clark Hill.

  • Strategies For Single-Member Special Litigation Committees

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    The Delaware Supreme Court's recent order in the Baker Hughes derivative litigation allowing testimony from a single-member special litigation committee highlights the fact that, while single-member SLCs are subject to heightened scrutiny, they can also provide unique opportunities, says Josh Bloom at MoloLamken.

  • 10th Circ. Ruling Means More Okla. Oilfield Pollution Litigation

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    By applying Oklahoma's statutory definitions of pollution to a private landowner's claim for negligence for the first time, the Tenth Circuit's recent decision in Lazy S Ranch v. Valero will likely make it harder to obtain summary judgment in oilfield contamination cases, and will lead to more litigation, say attorneys at GableGotwals.

  • Race Bias Defense Considerations After 11th Circ. Ruling

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    In Tynes v. Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that the McDonnell Douglas test for employment discrimination cases is merely an evidentiary framework, so employers relying on it as a substantive standard of liability may need to rethink their litigation strategy, says Helen Jay at Phelps Dunbar.

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