Appellate

  • May 08, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Questions 'Kist' And 'Sunkist' Mark Differences

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday grappled with whether a trademark tribunal relied on enough evidence to conclude that "Kist" and "Sunkist" were dissimilar marks in the soft drink market, questioning if Kist's use of red lips on packaging sent to distributors was enough to distinguish its brand from its competitor.

  • May 08, 2025

    2nd Circ. Weighs New Deportation Test Post-Loper Bright

    The Second Circuit on Thursday kicked the tires on a new test for immigrant removal proceedings stemming from criminal convictions, mulling the case of a Chinese man with two convictions in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision ending deference to agency decisions.

  • May 08, 2025

    6th Circ. Seems Open To Reviving Ex-Ford Worker's Bias Suit

    The Sixth Circuit appeared skeptical Thursday of Ford Motor Co.'s arguments that a fired Muslim and Middle Eastern employee had not laid out sufficient facts to keep his bias and retaliation lawsuit alive, indicating plaintiffs needn't meet a high bar in the early stages of a case.

  • May 08, 2025

    11th Circ. Revives Citigroup Cash Advance Fraud Suit Again

    The Eleventh Circuit has, for the second time, revived a nearly decadelong suit against Citigroup that alleges the bank ran a massive cash advance fraud scheme, with the appeals court saying they "see things differently" from the district court, and that the plaintiffs have sufficiently pled each count of their complaint.

  • May 08, 2025

    Albertsons Says Counties Have 'Paradoxical Status' In MDL

    A group of pharmacies led by Albertsons Cos. Inc. have told the Texas Supreme Court that two counties can't assert claims against them in the state's opioid multidistrict litigation while simultaneously denying they qualify as claimants.

  • May 08, 2025

    Listen: Prison Wages Debate Evolving With Petitions Pending

    The debate regarding whether incarcerated people who perform work are employees and thus entitled to federal wage and hour protections is set to continue to develop. Listen to Law360 Explores: Subminimum Wage Part 2.

  • May 08, 2025

    Trump Names 8 More For US Attorney Spots

    President Donald Trump has nominated eight more individuals for U.S. attorney posts, several of whom already are serving in the roles on an interim basis.

  • May 08, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Questions Roku Bid To Undo ITC Patent Loss

    Roku's effort to revive its U.S. International Trade Commission remote control patent case against Universal Electronics and others drew skepticism from the Federal Circuit on Thursday, with the judges questioning Roku's claim the patent was wrongly found invalid and that the company has a domestic industry.

  • May 08, 2025

    10th Circ. Urged To Undo Insurers' Pollution Exclusion Win

    A New Mexico property owner urged the Tenth Circuit to rethink its ruling that separate pollution exclusions in its commercial general liability policies entirely removed two insurers' duty to defend underlying environmental contamination claims, arguing the appeals court overlooked a significant principle under settled New Mexico insurance law.

  • May 08, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Weighs If Expert's Testimony Justifies Spine IP Loss

    A Federal Circuit panel on Thursday considered how much an expert strayed from a lower court's claim construction in an inventor's patent infringement suit against DePuy Synthes, with one judge questioning if it was merely effective cross-examination that tripped the expert up, and not much more.

  • May 08, 2025

    Halkbank Wants Justices To Take 2nd Look At Immunity Claim

    Turkish state-owned bank Halkbank has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take a second look at an appellate decision holding it doesn't have common-law foreign sovereign immunity from money laundering allegations, arguing the decision "authorizes the first criminal trial of a foreign sovereign instrumentality in world history."

  • May 08, 2025

    3rd Circ. Rejects Challenge To Medicare Drug Price Program

    The Third Circuit on Thursday rejected AstraZeneca's challenge to the Medicare drug price negotiation program, ruling that the pharmaceutical giant was unable to show how it is injured by the program's guidance or how it violates its due process rights.

  • May 08, 2025

    Indiana Dog Owner Pulled Back Into Bitten Woman's Lawsuit

    An Indiana appeals court has revived a woman's negligence claims against the owner of a dog that bit her in the face, finding a jury should determine whether the owner should have been aware of the dog's dangerous propensities.

  • May 08, 2025

    NJ Transit Must Face Suit Over Light Rail Crossing Death

    A New Jersey appellate panel overturned a trial court's decision granting New Jersey Transit immunity in a wrongful death lawsuit, saying that railroad immunity did not apply to a woman who was lawfully using a pedestrian crossing.

  • May 08, 2025

    Full DC Circ. Restores International Media Funding, For Now

    The en banc D.C. Circuit on Wednesday restored federal grant funding to international broadcasters while the Trump administration appeals a lower court ruling blocking cuts to the agency that oversees Voice of America.

  • May 08, 2025

    6th Circ. Eyes Reviving Kellogg, FedEx Mortality Table Suits

    The Sixth Circuit on Thursday appeared open to reviving suits against Kellogg and FedEx from married pensioners who alleged their employers' outdated actuarial assumptions shortchanged their joint-and-survivor benefits, with multiple judges seeming to doubt a lower court's assertion that employers had unfettered latitude when choosing what data to use.

  • May 08, 2025

    9th Circ. Says Oil Co. Marine Policy Doesn't Cover $8M Award

    Lloyd's underwriters don't owe coverage for an $8.1 million award to the employer of a deckhand who was injured by defective mooring at a natural gas extraction platform, the Ninth Circuit held, saying coverage wasn't triggered under the platform owner's charterers legal liability policy.

  • May 08, 2025

    Ex-Fed. Circ. Judge Leaves Sullivan & Cromwell For Own Firm

    Former Federal Circuit Judge Kathleen O'Malley has left Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and started her own consulting firm, she announced Thursday.

  • May 08, 2025

    Ga. Atty Wins Appeal In 'Too Broadly' Applied Fees Ruling

    A Georgia Court of Appeals panel on Thursday threw out a trial court order requiring an Atlanta-based family law attorney and his client to pay about $86,484 in attorney fees from a contested divorce proceeding, finding that the trial court applied a statute "too broadly" among other missteps.

  • May 08, 2025

    11th Circ. Says Developer's I-20 Truck Stop Suit Out Of Gas

    The Eleventh Circuit has backed a district court's dismissal of a property owner's suit challenging a metro Atlanta county ordinance that for years blocked him from developing his land into a QuikTrip gas station, ruling the county had a "rational basis" for its effective ban on new truck stops.

  • May 08, 2025

    Elizabeth Holmes Loses Bid For Full 9th Circ. Rehearing

    The Ninth Circuit said Thursday it will not reconsider a panel decision refusing to throw out the conviction and 11-year prison sentence of Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes.

  • May 08, 2025

    Fla. Judge To Get Reprimand For Calling Attorney An 'Ass'

    The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday accepted a recommendation from the state's judicial disciplinary body to publicly reprimand a state judge who has apologized for calling an assistant state attorney an "ass" and making other inappropriate remarks directed toward prosecutors.

  • May 08, 2025

    Fla. Judge Suspended For Spreading Campaign Gossip

    A Florida state judge will be suspended for 10 days without pay after she admitted that actions she took during her 2022 reelection campaign violated the code of judicial conduct, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

  • May 08, 2025

    RI Urges 1st Circ. Not To Remand Pot Residency Rule Fight

    Rhode Island's cannabis regulator on Thursday urged the First Circuit not to remand a dismissed challenge to the state's marijuana licensing program, accusing the Florida entrepreneur who made that bid of attempting an "end-run around the appellate process."

  • May 08, 2025

    Miami Atty Disbarred Over Insistence Of Foreclosure Fraud

    The Florida Supreme Court disbarred a Miami attorney after accusations that he misled courts, impugned judges and brought frivolous pleadings over his insistence that clients' homes were fraudulently foreclosed, despite previous suspensions from allegations of similar conduct in the past.

Expert Analysis

  • A Closer Look At Money Laundering Sentencing Issues

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    Federal money laundering cases are on the rise, often involving lengthy prison sentences for defendants who have little to no criminal history, but a closer look at the statistics and case law reveal some potentially valuable arguments that defense attorneys should keep in their arsenal, says Sarah Sulkowski at Gelber & Santillo.

  • Justices Likely To Issue Narrow Ruling In $1.3B Award Dispute

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    After last week's argument in Devas v. Antrix, the Supreme Court appears likely to reverse the holding that minimum contacts are required before a federal court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a foreign state and remand the case for further litigation on other important constitutional questions, say attorneys at Cleary. 

  • Pleading Rules At Stake In High Court Hamas Banking Case

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    While a case between victims of Hamas terrorist attacks and a Lebanese bank, recently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, appears to ask a narrow question of which civil procedure rules apply to requests to reopen final judgments, how the justices rule could drastically change pleading strategies for future plaintiffs, say attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney.

  • What's At Stake In High Court Transgender Care Suit

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    The outcome of U.S. v. Skrmetti will have critical implications for the rights of transgender youth and their access to gender-affirming care, and will likely affect other areas of law and policy involving transgender individuals, including education, employment, healthcare and civil rights, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Considerations As Trump Admin Continues To Curtail CFPB

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    Recent sweeping moves from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new leadership have signaled a major shift in the agency's trajectory, and regulated entities should prepare for broader implications in both the near and long term, say attorneys at Pryor Cashman.

  • 6th Circ. Ruling Paves Path Out Of Loper Bright 'Twilight Zone'

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright ruling created a twilight zone between express statutory delegations that trigger agency deference and implicit ones that do not, but the Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in Moctezuma-Reyes v. Garland crafted a two-part test for resolving cases within this gray area, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • NCAA Rulings Signal Game Change For Athlete Classification

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    A Tennessee federal court's recent decision in Pavia v. NCAA adds to a growing call to consider classifying college athletes as employees under federal law, a change that would have unexpected, potentially prohibitive costs for schools, says J.R. Webster Cucovatz at Gilson Daub.

  • Copyright Ruling Could Extend US Terminations Worldwide

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    If upheld on appeal, Vetter v. Resnik, a recent ruling from a Louisiana federal court, could extend the geographical scope of U.S. copyright termination rights to foreign territories, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • Recent Cases Clarify FCA Kickback Pleading Standards

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    Two recently resolved cases involving pharmaceutical manufacturers may make it more difficult for False Claims Act defendants facing kickback scheme allegations to get claims dismissed for lack of evidence, say Li Yu at Bernstein Litowitz, Ellen London at London & Noar, and Gregg Shapiro at Gregg Shapiro Law.

  • Bankruptcy Ruling Provides Guidance On 363 Asset Sales

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    HE v. Avadim Holdings, a recent ruling from the District of Delaware, underscores the principle that rejection of executory contracts does not unwind completed transfers of property and the importance of clear and precise language in sale orders and asset purchase agreements in bankruptcy cases, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • FLSA Ruling Shows Split Over Court Approval Of Settlements

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    A Kentucky federal court's recent ruling in Bazemore v. Papa John's highlights a growing trend of courts finding they are not required, or even authorized, to approve private settlements releasing Fair Labor Standards Act claims, underscoring a jurisdictional split and open questions that practitioners need to grapple with, say attorneys at Vedder Price.

  • Dewberry Ruling Is A Wakeup Call For Trademark Owners

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dewberry v. Dewberry hones in on the question of how a defendant's affiliates' profits should be treated under the Lanham Act, and should remind trademark litigants and practitioners that issues involving monetary relief should be treated seriously, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • A Look At The Student Loan Case Pending At Supreme Court

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    The Trump administration is likely to drop the U.S. Supreme Court case of U.S. Department of Education v. Career Colleges and Schools of Texas after its review of the 2022 borrower defense to repayment rule, but any outcome will be significant for institutions participating in programs covered by Title IV of the Higher Education Act, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • When Reincorporation Out Of Del. Isn't A Good Idea

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    While recent high-profile corporate moves out of Delaware have prompted discussion about the benefits of incorporation elsewhere, for many, remaining in the First State may be the right decision due to its deep body of business law, tradition of nonjury trials and other factors, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • Perspectives

    11th Circ. Ruling Shows How AEDPA Limits Habeas Relief

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    The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision to uphold an Alabama man's death sentence reveals how the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act can prevent meaningful review and has eroded the power of habeas corpus petitions by forcing federal courts to pay extraordinary deference to state-level rulings, says Paul Shechtman at Yale Law School.

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