Appellate

  • April 18, 2024

    Ex-BigLaw Atty Can Stay Free During OneCoin Fraud Appeal

    A Manhattan federal judge Thursday granted a former Locke Lord LLP partner's motion for bail pending appeal of his 10-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of laundering around $400 million in proceeds from the global OneCoin cryptocurrency scam, saying he does not pose a flight risk given his medical conditions.

  • April 18, 2024

    Conoco Tells 3rd Circ. It Can Target Citgo For $8.5B Award

    ConocoPhillips urged the Third Circuit to nix Venezuela's challenge to a ruling paving the way for the oil company's participation in an auction for control of the U.S. oil giant Citgo to enforce an $8.5 million debt, arguing that the country can't prove that it's been acting in bad faith.

  • April 18, 2024

    BofA Keeps Win Against Movie Website's TM Suit At 10th Circ.

    The Tenth Circuit on Thursday affirmed a lower court's ruling that Bank of America's virtual assistant "Erica" did not infringe on the trademark of an online movie database, saying the plaintiff failed to establish that the service mark "E.R.I.C.A" was directly associated with the search services offered on the website.

  • April 18, 2024

    NY Fertility Clinic Must Face Lost, Damaged Embryos Suit

    A New York appellate panel issued a published opinion Thursday reviving a suit over the loss or damage of embryos due to a fertility clinic's alleged negligence, saying the routine storage and maintenance of frozen embryos can be considered ordinary negligence rather than medical malpractice.

  • April 18, 2024

    Lebanese Bank To Face Victims' Hezbollah Terrorism Suit

    New York's highest court ruled Thursday that an entity that acquires another entity's liabilities and assets inherits its status for purposes of personal jurisdiction even if there is no merger, greenlighting litigation targeting a Lebanese bank over its predecessor's alleged assistance to Hezbollah.

  • April 18, 2024

    Mich. High Court Takes Up Insurer Garnishment Dispute

    The Michigan Supreme Court agreed Thursday to consider whether an insurer's supposed bad faith refusal to settle a claim can be litigated in a garnishment action in The Burlington Insurance Co.'s appeal of an injured worker's attempt to collect the unsatisfied portion of a $13.7 million judgment.

  • April 18, 2024

    Colo. Panel Says UIM Insurers Didn't Meet State Requirements

    USAA and State Farm didn't meet statutory requirements before asserting that a mutual insured didn't comply with their claim inquiring following a motor vehicle incident, a Colorado state appeals court ruled Thursday, adding USAA was required to conduct a claim investigation independent of State Farm's.

  • April 18, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Maintains Newman Can't Invalidate Disability Law

    Suspended U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman has still not proven that the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act has no constitutional uses and should therefore be invalidated, the Federal Circuit's judicial council told a D.C. federal judge Thursday.

  • April 18, 2024

    $100M Arbitration Award Restored In Colo. Dispensary Fight

    A Colorado appellate panel on Thursday largely reinstated a roughly $100 million arbitration award in a dispute between former business partners in the cannabis dispensary chain Native Roots, finding no basis to conclude the arbitrator was biased.

  • April 18, 2024

    4th Circ. Vacates Enviro Win In Mining Co. Permit Ruling

    The special receiver for a defunct mining company can transfer mining permits for a site formerly owned by Patriot Coal Corp., the Fourth Circuit ruled, finding that a West Virginia federal judge interpreted a consent decree providing for mine shutdown and cleanup too broadly.

  • April 18, 2024

    Ga. Cargo Co. Says Marks Are Generic In $15M IP Dispute

    A Georgia-based cargo company urged the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday to reverse a $15 million judgment awarded to a competitor over trademark violations, saying the intellectual property that it's accused of using is generic.

  • April 18, 2024

    6th Circ. Axes Ex-Perrigo Worker's Drug Test Firing Suit

    The Sixth Circuit refused to reinstate a bias suit from a worker who said drugmaker L. Perrigo Co. unlawfully fired him after lip balm caused him to test positive for marijuana, saying he didn't show that age or disability discrimination motivated the decision to let him go.

  • April 18, 2024

    3rd Circ. Unclear If 'Session Replay' Web Code Directed At Pa.

    A Third Circuit panel seemed torn Thursday over whether websites like those of Papa John's or Mattress Firm "directed conduct" at Pennsylvania when they ran "session replay" software to track users' visits and whether that gave courts in the Keystone State jurisdiction over users' claims that such tracking violated laws against wiretapping.

  • April 18, 2024

    Mich. Supreme Court To Hear Jet's Pizza Settlement Appeal

    A woman arguing that her settlement with a Jet's Pizza delivery driver should not have snuffed out her vicarious-liability claim against the driver's employer will get a hearing before Michigan's highest court.

  • April 18, 2024

    Sugar Co. Urges 11th Circ. To Revive Helms-Burton Suit

    North American Sugar Industries Inc. asked the Eleventh Circuit Thursday to revive its suit accusing several companies that shipped wind turbines to Cuba of violating the Helms-Burton Act, saying the trial court erred in tossing its claims for lack of jurisdiction.

  • April 18, 2024

    Bank Regulators Appeal Texas Judge's Halt Of New CRA Rules

    Federal regulators said Thursday that they are appealing a Texas federal judge's decision to block their rollout of new community lending rules amid a legal challenge from the banking industry.

  • April 18, 2024

    Red States Back Call To Overturn Nasdaq Diversity Rule

    Utah and 23 other Republican-led states have filed an amicus brief asking the full Fifth Circuit to vacate a Nasdaq board diversity rule and declare it unconstitutional, saying the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which approved the rule, is "affirmatively perpetuating" race-based discrimination instead of eliminating it.

  • April 18, 2024

    Ga. Election Spending Case Belonged In State Court, AG Says

    Attorneys representing the Georgia Attorney General's Office and a state campaign finance commission urged the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday to overturn a ruling preventing their investigation of election spending by a pair of nonprofits founded by Stacey Abrams, citing the so-called Younger abstention doctrine.

  • April 18, 2024

    Dems Propose Inspector General For High Court, Judiciary

    Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would create an inspector general's office for the judicial branch to investigate and report on allegations of misconduct lodged against U.S. Supreme Court justices, as well as judges throughout the federal judiciary.

  • April 18, 2024

    NY Appeals Court Revives AI Firm CLO's Claim For Pay

    In a significant ruling for executives and professionals, a New York state appeals court has reversed the dismissal of key claims in a former chief legal officer's lawsuit alleging he wasn't paid all wages owed after his employment ended at artificial intelligence company Amelia US LLC.

  • April 18, 2024

    No Redo For Insurers In COVID-19 Coverage Row, Tribe Says

    The Ninth Circuit should stand by its decision ordering an AIG unit and other insurers to litigate the Suquamish Tribe's COVID-19 business interruption claims in tribal court, the tribe told the appeals court, saying the insurers' request for a do-over distorts the panel's decision and controlling law.

  • April 18, 2024

    Ousted Clerk Was A 'Loose Cannon,' NC Justices Told

    An attorney who started proceedings that led to the ouster of former Franklin County Clerk of Court Patricia Chastain urged the North Carolina Supreme Court to keep her out of office, arguing that she undermined judicial authority through a series of incidents, including a "vulgar" accidental call to a magistrate judge.

  • April 18, 2024

    9th Circ. Affirms Rosette's Win In Tribe Representation Fight

    The Ninth Circuit has backed a federal district court ruling that found Rosette LLP is not responsible for using allegedly false advertising to induce the Quechan Tribe to drop Williams & Cochrane LLP as counsel on the verge of closing a lucrative gambling contract.

  • April 18, 2024

    3rd Circ. Hesitates To Hear Hunter Biden Appeal In Gun Case

    The Third Circuit suggested it may be premature to hear Hunter Biden's appeal of a Delaware federal court's denial of his three motions to dismiss felony firearm charges.

  • April 18, 2024

    7th Circ. Nom Heads To Senate Despite GOP Backlog Criticism

    The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced five judicial nominees Thursday, including U.S. District Judge Nancy L. Maldonado, a nominee for the Seventh Circuit, whom Republicans had questioned about a backlog of cases in her court.

Expert Analysis

  • Corp. Transparency Act Could Survive 11th Circ. Several Ways

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    If the Eleventh Circuit upholds an Alabama federal court’s injunction against the Corporate Transparency Act, the anti-money laundering law could persist as a narrower version that could moot some constitutional challenges, but these remedies would likely generate additional regulatory or statutory ambiguities that would result in further litigation, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Del. Match.com Ruling Maintains Precedent In Time Of Change

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    Despite speculation that the Delaware Supreme Court could drive away corporations if it lowered the bar for business judgment review in its Match.com stockholder ruling, the court broke its recent run of controversial precedent-busting decisions by upholding, and arguably strengthening, minority stockholder protections against controller coercion, say Renee Zaytsev and Marc Ayala at Boies Schiller.

  • The Future Of BIPA Insurance Litigation After Visual Pak

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    A recent Illinois appellate court decision, National Fire Insurance v. Visual Pak, may have altered the future of insurance litigation under the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act by diametrically opposing a prominent Seventh Circuit ruling that found insurance coverage for violations of the act, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Macquarie Ruling Raises The Bar For Securities Fraud Claims

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week in Macquarie Infrastructure v. Moab Partners — holding that a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule does not forbid omissions in company disclosures unless they render other statements false — is a major setback for plaintiffs pursuing securities fraud claims against corporations, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Patent Lessons From 8 Federal Circuit Reversals In March

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    A number of Federal Circuit patent decisions last month reversed or vacated underlying rulings, providing guidance regarding the definiteness of a claim that include multiple limitations of different scopes, the importance of adequate jury instruction, the proper scope of the precedent, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.

  • NC Rulings Show Bankruptcy Isn't Only For Insolvent Debtors

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    Two recent rulings from a North Carolina bankruptcy court show that lack of financial distress is not a requirement for bankruptcy protection, particularly in the Fourth Circuit, but these types of cases can still be dismissed for other reasons, say Stuart Gordon and Alexandria Vath at Rivkin Radler.

  • A Look At Ex Parte Seizures 8 Years Post-DTSA

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    In the eight years since the Defend Trade Secrets Act was enacted, not much has changed for jurisprudence on ex parte seizures, but a few seminal rulings show that there still isn’t a bright line on what qualifies as extraordinary circumstances warranting a seizure, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Series

    Whitewater Kayaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Whether it's seeing clients and their issues from a new perspective, or staying nimble in a moment of intense challenge, the lessons learned from whitewater kayaking transcend the rapids of a river and prepare attorneys for the courtroom and beyond, says Matthew Kent at Alston & Bird.

  • 10 Years After Alice, Predictability Debate Lingers

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    A decade after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Alice ruling, critics continue to argue that the subject matter eligibility framework it established yields inconsistent results, but that contention is disproved by affirmance data from the Federal Circuit, district courts and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, say Dennis Abdelnour and David Thomas at Honigman.

  • Cannabis Ruling Lights Path For Bankruptcy Protection

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    A recent Massachusetts bankruptcy appellate court ruling in Blumsack v. Harrington leaves the door open for those employed in the cannabis industry to seek bankruptcy relief where certain conditions are met, but rescheduling marijuana as a Schedule III drug may complicate matters, say Jane Haviland and Kathryn Droumbakis at Mintz.

  • This Earth Day, Consider How Your Firm Can Go Greener

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    As Earth Day approaches, law firms and attorneys should consider adopting more sustainable practices to reduce their carbon footprint — from minimizing single-use plastics to purchasing carbon offsets for air travel — which ultimately can also reduce costs for clients, say M’Lynn Phillips and Lisa Walters at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • Questions Persist After Ruling Skirts $925M TCPA Award Issue

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    After an Oregon federal court's recent Wakefield v. ViSalus ruling that the doctrine of constitutional avoidance precluded it from deciding whether a $925 million Telephone Consumer Protection Act damages award was constitutionally sound, further guidance is needed on when statutory damages violate due process, says Michael Klotz at O'Melveny.

  • Discord Stock Case Toss Means Little For Fraud Defendants

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    A Texas federal court’s recent dismissal of fraud charges related to a "pump and dump" scheme on Discord is an outlier after the U.S. Supreme Court scrapped the right-to-control theory of fraud last year, and ultimately won't deter the government from pursuing routine securities prosecutions, says William Johnston at Bird Marella.

  • Clarifying Legal Elements To Support A Genocide Claim At ICJ

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    Reporting on South Africa’s dispute against Israel in the International Court of Justice largely fails to clearly articulate what a case for genocide alleged in the context of war requires — a technical analysis that will evaluate several key factors, from the scale of the devastation to statements by officials, say Solomon Shinerock and Alex Bedrosyan at Lewis Baach.

  • Policy Misrepresentations Carry Insurance Rescission Risks

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    The Second Circuit's recent decision in Medical Mutual v. Gnik, finding that material misrepresentation in a clinic's insurance applications warranted policy rescission, is a clear example of the far-reaching effects that misrepresentations can have and provides a reminder that policyholders should employ relatively straightforward steps to decrease risks, say attorneys at Hunton.

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