Appellate

  • July 17, 2026

    Top Gov't Contracting Decisions Of 2026: Midyear Report

    The U.S. Supreme Court and federal circuit courts decided several consequential cases impacting contractors this year, including weighing whether contractors can immediately appeal district court denials of their immunity claims and clarifying what a successful protester needs to challenge an agency's decision to continue a contract during a bid protest.

  • July 16, 2026

    Kioxia Hit With $229M Verdict In Viasat Memory Patent Suit

    Japanese memory device company Kioxia owes Viasat more than $229 million for infringing the American communication company's flash memory patent, a Texas federal jury determined Thursday.

  • July 16, 2026

    Meta Can't Keep Certain Docs Secret In DC Social Media Row

    Washington, D.C.'s highest court refused to make a trial court vacate discovery orders requiring Meta to disclose certain communications concerning internal research related to the well-being of young social media users, saying Thursday that Meta failed to show it had a "clear and indisputable" right to such relief.

  • July 16, 2026

    FDA, Drugmakers Urge 5th Circ. To Allow Abortion Pill By Mail

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the makers of the abortion medication mifepristone have urged the Fifth Circuit not to reinstate an in-person dispensing requirement, arguing that doing so would disrupt the government's ongoing review of the drug, "threaten chaos" and defy the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • July 16, 2026

    Calif. Justices Put Kibosh On Appeal Strategy In Med Mal Case

    The California Supreme Court on Thursday clarified the state's final judgment rule and held that a voluntary dismissal intended to speed up appellate review of adverse trial court rulings in a medical malpractice case essentially forfeited the case for the plaintiffs.

  • July 16, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Asked Not To Shift Moderna Vax Patent Case To Gov't

    Drugmakers like Novartis, former federal judges, a startup group and others have urged the Federal Circuit to reject calls to shift liability in a COVID-19 vaccine patent suit against Moderna to the federal government, saying that doing so would undermine patent rights.

  • July 16, 2026

    NJ Justices Clarify FCA Amendment In Reviving Bank Suit

    The New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday revived whistleblower claims accusing Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other financial giants of fraud in the setting of interest rates on certain municipal bonds, saying that a lower court improperly blocked the attorney general from exercising authority in the litigation.

  • July 16, 2026

    Feds Tell 11th Circ. It Can't Hear BP Offshore Drilling Case

    The federal government has told the Eleventh Circuit it doesn't have jurisdiction to hear an appeal from conservation groups challenging the Trump administration's approval of BP PLC's Kaskida offshore oil and gas drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico.

  • July 16, 2026

    Colorado County Housing Fee Upheld On Appeal

    A Colorado mountain community's housing impact fee methodology for residential homes survived a challenge from a Texas property developer attempting to overturn a roughly $250,000 permit fee for an 11,300-square-foot home after the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the fee complies with state law.

  • July 16, 2026

    7th Circ. Shuts Down Fired Firefighter's Free Speech Suit

    The Seventh Circuit declined Thursday to revive a fired Chicago firefighter's suit claiming his free speech rights were violated when he was terminated over racially offensive Facebook posts, agreeing with the city that the racist nature of the posts undermined trust in public safety services.

  • July 16, 2026

    Wells Fargo, Ocwen Seek Win In ERISA Suit 2nd Circ. Revived

    Wells Fargo and Ocwen asked a New York federal judge for a pretrial win in a suit from union pension fund trustees accusing the companies of mishandling home loans tied to employee pension fund investments, after the Second Circuit partially knocked out the companies' earlier win in March.

  • July 16, 2026

    Mich. Appeals Panel Says Tax Sale Claims Must Follow Statute

    The Michigan Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court's dismissal of a suit brought by former property owners seeking the return of surplus proceeds from tax foreclosure sales, saying in a published opinion the property owners did not follow the necessary statutory process when filing their complaint.

  • July 16, 2026

    Noncitizens Awaiting U Visas Not Entitled To Leave, Reenter

    The Eleventh Circuit said noncitizens who were victims of the Parkland high school shooting, and their families, are not entitled to leave and reenter the country while awaiting their special visas for assisting law enforcement in investigating the crime.

  • July 16, 2026

    11th Circ. Affirms Quarry Valuation Sank $23M Easement Perk

    A 103-acre tract's best alternative use is not an aggregate quarry, the 11th Circuit ruled, rejecting the valuation that supported a partnership's $23 million deduction claim for donating the Georgia property as a conservation easement.

  • July 16, 2026

    'Top Gun' Article Heirs Ask Justices To Review Similarity Test

    The heirs of the journalist whose 1983 magazine article inspired the original "Top Gun" movie have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to revive their copyright lawsuit over "Top Gun: Maverick" and resolve what they call a circuit split over how courts should compare allegedly similar works.

  • July 16, 2026

    5th Circ. Upholds Gun Ban Against Domestic Abuser

    The Fifth Circuit ruled that a man convicted of domestic violence cannot have his right to own a firearm restored despite the U.S. Supreme Court's expansion of gun rights in recent years, and that Congress did not exceed its constitutional authority by limiting his Second Amendment rights.

  • July 16, 2026

    NC Panel Tells State Bar To Rethink Ex-Judge's Suspension

    The North Carolina Court of Appeals has partially reversed a disciplinary order against a former state court judge facing a suspension of his law license for a string of alleged misconduct on and off the bench, finding certain professional violations he is accused of committing lacked evidentiary support.

  • July 16, 2026

    Calif. Tells 9th Circ. AI Disclosure Law Helps Consumers

    The state of California has pressed the Ninth Circuit to affirm a district court's decision denying xAI's injunction request against a state law requiring artificial intelligence companies to disclose what's included in training their models, saying the law advanced "an important governmental interest" in providing transparency to the public.

  • July 16, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Revives Commerce's Korean Steel Duty Findings

    The U.S. Department of Commerce can adjust its countervailable duty rate for a South Korean steel manufacturer by reconsidering earlier determinations, a Federal Circuit panel said Thursday, reversing a trade court ruling that made the department stick with its older findings.

  • July 16, 2026

    Mich. Justices Back Conviction Despite 'Medical Torture' Flub

    The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled that a child abuse expert for the prosecution should not have told jurors in a child abuse trial that she diagnosed a young victim with "medical torture," but it unanimously concluded that the error did not warrant a new trial because other evidence overwhelmingly supported the conviction. 

  • July 16, 2026

    NJ Panel Says Insurer, Not Driver, Owed Auto Damage Proof

    A New Jersey appellate panel held Thursday that the burden of proof was on an insurer, not a driver, in a coverage dispute stemming from a blown head gasket that rendered her vehicle inoperable, vacating the insurer's win and remanding for a new trial.

  • July 16, 2026

    3rd Circ. Partly Revives Hospitals' ERISA Suit Against Cigna

    The Third Circuit on Thursday revived some ERISA contract claims in a New Jersey hospital network's suit alleging Cigna underpaid out-of-network reimbursements by $114 million, but backed the dismissal of the network's fiduciary duty claims.

  • July 16, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Vacates $12.7M Copyright Award Against Gov't

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday vacated a $12.7 million copyright award against the federal government over unauthorized copies of software for a project on military health records, holding that the trial judge improperly relied on the project's later cancellation and awarded enhanced damages for willful infringement against the government.

  • July 16, 2026

    2nd Circ. Shields Switzerland From Credit Suisse Bond Suit

    In a published opinion Thursday, the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a $372 million bondholder suit against Switzerland over the 2023 collapse of Credit Suisse AG and the reduction in value of $17.3 billion of debt securities, agreeing with a New York judge that the country is immune from being sued in U.S. district court.

  • July 16, 2026

    Pa. Appeals Panel Reinstates Union's FMLA Arbitration Win

    A Pennsylvania appeals panel on Thursday said a lower court was wrong to scrap an arbitrator's conclusion that a school district violated a collective bargaining agreement by forcing a teacher recovering from surgery to use leave guaranteed by federal law to cover her absence.

Expert Analysis

  • Becoming The Biz-Savvy GC That Portfolio Companies Need

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    Candidates for general counsel roles at private equity-backed portfolio companies should prioritize proving their sector-specific experience, commercial judgment and ease with uncertainty — and attorneys hoping to be candidates in five to 10 years should start working on those skills now, says Dimitri Mastrocola at Major Lindsey.

  • Nielsen Appeal Tests Antitrust Limits Of Pricing And Bundling

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    In Cumulus v. Nielsen, the Second Circuit is considering a structural pattern in which a monopolist exploits upstream market power to foreclose downstream competition, which could potentially offer broad insight into how courts will assess exclusionary bundling and pricing defenses under antitrust law, says Luke Hasskamp at Bona Law.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • 'Skinny Label' Arguments Spotlight Induced Infringement Risk

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    Recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Hikma Pharmaceuticals v. Amarin Pharma highlight the uncertain boundary between lawful generic competition through so-called skinny labels and induced patent infringement, with potential implications for patent holders’ communication, enforcement and causation strategies across industries, says Anton Hopen at Trenam.

  • A Framework For Habeas Relief After 5th Circ. Bond Ruling

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    Following the Fifth Circuit’s recent Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi decision foreclosing statutory bond for detained nonimmigrants not deemed admitted to the U.S., lawyers should adopt a framework that requests habeas relief pursuant to the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

  • 4th Circ. Ruling Will Rewrite Class Action Litigation Strategies

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    The Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Oliver v. Navy Federal Credit Union is the first from a federal circuit court to hold that motions to strike are inappropriate vehicles for challenging class allegations at the pleading stage, invalidating a tactic that had been used for decades, says Jim Francis at Francis Mailman.

  • Startup Founder Disputes Increasingly Turn On Governance

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    Recent Delaware developments suggest that as courts place increasing emphasis on board process, independence and oversight in founder-led startups, the growing intersection of governance, technology risk and investor oversight is accelerating both the emergence and escalation of founder disputes, says mediator Frank Burke.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • Salt-N-Pepa Suit May Shake Up Music Copyright Issue

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    James v. UMG Recordings is a copyright termination rights case that provides an opportunity for the Second Circuit to make concrete choices about grant language, authorship, work-for-hire status and survival of derivative works, says attorney Abdul Abdullahi.

  • Opinion

    5th Circ.'s Abortion Pill Order Is Shaky On Multiple Grounds

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent order in Louisiana v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, reinstating an in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion medication mifepristone, seems to turn federalism upside-down, and is also questionable for several other reasons, says Gregory Curtner at Curtner Law.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

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    Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

  • 5 Takeaways From Justices' Subpoena Fight Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in First Choice v. Davenport fortifies a line of First Amendment associational privacy cases stretching back nearly 70 years, and ensures that organizations subject to government demands for donor information have a meaningful federal forum in which to defend their constitutional rights, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • Where The Preemption Fight Over Prediction Markets Stands

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    While the Third Circuit's recent ruling in Kalshi v. Flaherty remains a significant win for the federal government in its quest to regulate prediction markets, the Fourth, Sixth and Ninth Circuits appear more skeptical, indicating that this fight is likely headed for the Supreme Court, says Johnny ElHachem at Holland & Knight.

  • Md. Justices' State Climate Tort Ban May Shape National Path

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    The Maryland Supreme Court’s recent ruling that federal law preempted state-level deceptive marketing tort claims brought by several municipalities could offer the U.S. Supreme Court a road map to use in the pending Suncor Energy v. Boulder County case to exclude states from the business of regulating global emissions, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

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