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Appellate
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May 23, 2024
White House Says 1st Circ. Judge Didn't Aid Daughter's Nom
The White House said Thursday that a First Circuit judge played no part in his daughter's nomination to the appeals court, and plans to retire if she's confirmed.
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May 23, 2024
Thomas Sees No Role For Courts In Election Map Fights
While his Supreme Court colleagues sparred over evidence standards Thursday in a 6-3 decision rejecting claims that South Carolina's congressional map diluted the power of Black voters, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a solo opinion to argue the country's founders never intended courts to referee election map fights.
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May 23, 2024
Irma Power Outage Claims Must Be Brought To Fla. Regulator
A Florida state appellate court reversed the class certification in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit brought against Florida Power & Light Co. over extended electricity outages during Hurricane Irma, citing a new law requiring ratepayers to bring their claims before the state's Public Service Commission.
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May 23, 2024
Ill. Justices OK $28M Tax Value Appeal Without Payment
A power company's property in Illinois was not required to pay disputed property taxes before appealing a valuation, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed Thursday, upholding a reduction in the assessment of about $28 million.
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May 23, 2024
NC High Court Grants Review In Clothier's Virus Coverage Suit
North Carolina's top court on Thursday agreed to take up a clothing company's coverage appeal for COVID-19 losses against Zurich after a lower appellate panel found the virus did not cause the kind of physical loss or damage necessary to invoke coverage.
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May 23, 2024
Enbridge Says Tribe's Trespass Law Could Cost It Millions
Enbridge Energy told the Seventh Circuit that a Wisconsin tribe's recently publicized trespass ordinance could cause the company to pay millions of dollars in civil penalties if the appeals court rules that its 645-mile crude oil pipeline is trespassing on the tribe's land.
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May 23, 2024
Fed. Circ. Says Winery Minority Owner Can't Try To Cancel TM
The Federal Circuit has affirmed a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision that a family trust that is a minority owner of Paul Hobbs Winery, which owns the trademark registration on the name of winemaker Paul Hobbs, does not have the right to seek cancellation of registrations on certain trademarks.
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May 23, 2024
Lockheed Urges 11th Circ. To Affirm Win In Solvent Suit
Lockheed Martin Corp. asked the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to uphold a Florida district court's rejection of a proposed expert's testimony purporting to link a now-deceased former employee's multiple sclerosis to her work-related exposure to industrial solvents.
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May 23, 2024
FirstEnergy Wants 6th Circ. To Shield Bribe-Probe Docs
FirstEnergy Corp. is pursuing the Sixth Circuit's input into its request to shield internal investigative documents from a class of investors and from two of its indicted former executives, saying the documents contain privileged legal advice given in the wake of a $1 billion bribery scandal.
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May 23, 2024
4th Circ. Rules No Coverage For Mars' COVID Losses
Candymaker Mars Inc. can't get coverage from Factory Mutual Insurance Co. for its COVID-19-related losses, the Fourth Circuit ruled Thursday, further rejecting Mars' bid to certify a question to the Virginia Supreme Court.
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May 23, 2024
Pipe Supplier Can't Nix $2.6M 'Take Home' Asbestos Verdict
A California appeals panel won't upend a $2.6 million verdict against J-M Manufacturing Co. Inc. in a case alleging a man contracted mesothelioma because of his brother's work, rejecting the company's argument that the court should apply a duty standard for negligence claims to the man's strict liability claim.
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May 23, 2024
6th Circ. Unbuckles Supplier From 'Odd' Seat Belt Contract
A Sixth Circuit panel on Thursday freed a seat belt part supplier from having to continue to fulfill a seat belt system manufacturer's orders at an old price, saying the parties' "odd" agreement language isn't specific enough to enforce.
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May 23, 2024
NY Top Court Revives FanDuel Investors Suit
New York's top appeals court on Thursday revived a suit brought by FanDuel investors who claim they were deprived of profits from a merger, disagreeing with a lower court's interpretation of Scottish law.
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May 23, 2024
Fla. Justices Make Civil Trial Delays More Difficult
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday made it more difficult to delay a civil trial as part of a number of changes to the Sunshine State's civil court rules and procedures meant to speed along the efficient resolution of civil cases.
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May 23, 2024
DOL Says 11th Circ. 'Alone' In ERISA Internal Remedy Stance
The U.S. Department of Labor urged the Eleventh Circuit to reinstate a lawsuit from former seafood company workers who claimed their employee stock ownership plan was overcharged in a $92 million deal, saying they didn't jump the gun by suing instead of pursuing claims internally.
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May 23, 2024
Trump Loses 2 NY Criminal Appeals As Trial Winds Down
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday lost a pair of appellate challenges complaining that both the judge and jury in his ongoing New York criminal hush-money trial are biased, just a few days before closing statements in the historic case.
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May 23, 2024
Split Ohio High Court Says Jury Must Mull Drilling Rights Row
A split Ohio Supreme Court unraveled a trial court ruling in favor of oil and gas rights owner Tera LLC that acted as the basis of a $40 million damages award against Gulfport Energy, reasoning Thursday that there is a "genuine issue of material fact" over the meaning of certain terms in parties' lease agreement.
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May 23, 2024
NC High Court Sees No DA Conflict In Cyberstalking Case
North Carolina's highest court ruled Thursday that a county prosecutor was improperly disqualified from a criminal case in which the alleged victim is a county manager, reasoning that the scenario didn't meet conflict-of-interest parameters established by the court's decades-old precedent.
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May 23, 2024
NC Justices Scrap Defamation Suit Against Holtzman Vogel
Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC is immune from defamation claims stemming from election protests the law firm helped file in 2016, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled Thursday, rejecting what the justices characterized as a "baseless attempt" by voters to "constrict the absolute privilege's protections."
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May 23, 2024
UBH Urges 9th Circ. To Take Up Petition In Health Claim Fight
United Behavioral Health implored the Ninth Circuit to grant the insurance company's petition for appellate court intervention in a consolidated action alleging mismanagement of mental health and substance use disorder treatment claims, arguing a California federal court clearly erred by allowing further pleadings on a denial of benefits claim.
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May 23, 2024
Ga. Fights Disbarred Atty's Reinstatement Bid At 11th Circ.
Georgia's bar admissions office urged the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to reject a disbarred Georgia attorney's attempt to regain her law license, arguing that she asserted a hypothetical injury because she didn't have an application to the state's bar at the time she filed the operative complaint.
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May 23, 2024
US Drops Appeal Of Citigroup's $183M Tax Award At Fed. Circ.
The federal government agreed to stop fighting a ruling that awarded Citigroup $183 million in tax deductions for liabilities belonging to a failing bank it had acquired during the 1980s savings and loan crisis, according to an order Thursday by the Federal Circuit dismissing the appeal.
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May 23, 2024
High Court Urged To Rule On FCC Question In TCPA Dispute
A chiropractic practice group is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take another crack at the question of whether district courts must adhere to a Federal Communications Commission's legal interpretation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, in a bid to revive its proposed class action against McKesson over junk faxes.
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May 23, 2024
5th Circ. Won't Fast-Track Challenge To DOL's OT Rule
The Fifth Circuit won't speed up a Dairy Queen franchisee's challenge to the U.S. Department of Labor's decision to increase the salary threshold for a Fair Labor Standards Act overtime exemption, turning down the entity and its owner's bid to expedite the appeal.
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May 23, 2024
Biden Names Judicial Nominees For 1st, 6th Circuits
President Joe Biden announced four new judicial nominees on Thursday, including picks for the First Circuit and the Sixth Circuit.
Expert Analysis
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Trending At The PTAB: Permissible New Reply Arguments
In the time since the Federal Circuit’s Axonics ruling, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has allowed petitioners to raise new unpatentability grounds in response to unforeseeable claim constructions in petitions, and reiterated that a petition need not anticipate every argument that may be raised in the response, say Joseph Myles and Timothy May at Finnegan.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: April Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses three notable circuit court decisions on topics from the Class Action Fairness Act to consumer fraud — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including CAFA’s local controversy exception and Article III standing to seek injunctive relief.
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A Deep Dive Into High Court's Permit Fee Ruling
David Robinson and Daniel Golub at Holland & Knight explore the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling that a local traffic impact fee charged to a California property owner may be a Fifth Amendment taking — and where it leaves localities and real estate developers.
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Opinion
The Case For Overturning Florida Foreclosure Ruling
A Florida appellate court's recent decision in Desbrunes v. U.S. Bank National Association will potentially put foreclosure cases across the state in jeopardy, and unless it is reconsidered, foreclosing plaintiffs will need to choose between frustrating and uncertain options in the new legal landscape, say Sara Accardi and Paige Knight at Bradley.
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McKesson May Change How AKS-Based FCA Claims Are Pled
The Second Circuit’s analysis in U.S. v. McKesson, an Anti-Kickback Statute-based False Claims Act case, provides guidance for both relators and defendants parsing scienter-related allegations, say Li Yu at Dicello Levitt, Ellen London at London & Stout, and Erica Hitchings at Whistleblower Law.
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Fed. Circ. Defines Foreign IP Damages, Raises New Questions
In Brumfield v. IBG, the Federal Circuit recently clarified which standard determines the extraterritoriality of the patent statute after the U.S. Supreme Court's WesternGeco decision, opening a new avenue of damages for foreign activities resulting from certain domestic activities while also creating some thorny questions, say Amol Parikh and Ian Howard at McDermott.
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9th Circ. Arbitration Ruling Could Have Int'l Implications
In Patrick v. Running Warehouse, the Ninth Circuit's recent matter-of-fact invocation of an unusual California rule in a domestic arbitration context raises choice of law questions, and could make California law a strategic option for some international arbitration parties, says Jerry Roth at FedArb.
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5 Employer Actions Now Risky After Justices' Title VII Ruling
Last week in Muldrow v. St. Louis, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that harm didn't have to be significant to be considered discriminatory under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, making five common employer actions vulnerable to litigation, say Kellee Kruse and Briana Scholar at The Employment Law Group.
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Series
Being An Equestrian Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Beyond getting experience thinking on my feet and tackling stressful situations, the skills I've gained from horseback riding have considerable overlap with the skills used to practice law, particularly in terms of team building, continuing education, and making an effort to reset and recharge, says Kerry Irwin at Moore & Van Allen.
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7th Circ. Mootness Fee Case May Curb Frivolous Merger Suits
On April 15, the Seventh Circuit in Jorge Alcarez v. Akorn Inc. mapped out a framework for courts to consider mootness fees paid to individual shareholders after the voluntary dismissal of a challenge to a public company merger, which could encourage objections to mootness fees and reduce the number of frivolous merger challenges filed, say attorneys at Skadden.
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4 Ways To Refresh Your Law Firm's Marketing Strategy
With many BigLaw firms relying on an increasingly obsolete marketing approach that prioritizes stiff professionalism over authentic connection, adopting a few key communications strategies to better connect with today's clients and prospects can make all the difference, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law.
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What 3rd Circ. Trust Ruling Means For Securitization Market
Mercedes Tunstall and Michael Gambro at Cadwalader break down the Third Circuit's March decision in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. National Collegiate Master Student Loan Trust, as well as predict next steps in the litigation and the implications of the decision for servicers and the securitization industry as a whole.
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9th Circ. Ruling Puts Teeth Into Mental Health Parity Claims
In its recent finding that UnitedHealth applied an excessively strict review process for substance use disorder treatment claims, the Ninth Circuit provided guidance on how to plead a Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act violation and took a step toward achieving mental health parity in healthcare, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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Using Rule 23(f) To Review Class Certification Orders
Since plaintiffs on average are prevailing in certifying a class more often than not, the best-positioned class action defendants are those prepared to pursue relief under Rule 23(f) well before the district court issues its certification decision, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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Perspectives
Justices' Forfeiture Ruling Resolves Nonexistent Split
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in McIntosh v. U.S., holding that a trial court’s failure to enter a preliminary criminal forfeiture order prior to sentencing doesn’t bar its entry later, is unusual in that it settles an issue on which the lower courts were not divided — but it may apply in certain forfeiture disputes, says Stefan Cassella at Asset Forfeiture Law.