Appellate

  • March 28, 2024

    SC Can Use Challenged Elections Map Amid Justices' Review

    A federal judicial panel ruled Thursday that South Carolina can conduct its 2024 elections under a congressional map it found unconstitutionally discriminates against Black voters, and which the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing, saying it's now too late in the election cycle to make changes to the map.

  • March 28, 2024

    3rd Circ. Says Missing Dates Can DQ Pa. Mail-In Votes

    A split Third Circuit panel ruled late Wednesday that Pennsylvania mail-in ballots returned with missing or incorrect dates on their outer envelope can be discarded, with the majority finding a Civil Rights Act prohibition on disqualifying voters based on "immaterial" paperwork errors applied only to voter registration, not the act of voting itself.

  • March 28, 2024

    Va. Landowners Return To Supreme Court In FERC Challenge

    Virginia residents with property being condemned for the Mountain Valley Pipeline are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a D.C. Circuit decision dismissing their suit challenging the constitutionality of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's eminent domain authority, and its ability to delegate that authority to private companies.

  • March 28, 2024

    Mass. Justices Say 2019 Sunday-Wage Ruling Is Retroactive

    Massachusetts' highest court on Thursday affirmed a finding that a furniture retailer violated the state's wage laws by paying salespeople overtime and a Sunday premium out of their own earned commissions, keeping intact a nearly $10 million damages award.

  • March 28, 2024

    Ex-Paralegal's Jobless Pay Ruling Correct, Del. Justices Told

    Delaware opposes a former Morris James LLP paralegal's bid for the state's Supreme Court to revive his attempt to collect a year's worth of unemployment benefits, arguing a lower court correctly upheld denial of pay after he settled whistleblower claims against the firm.

  • March 28, 2024

    Another Senate Dem Comes Out Against 3rd Circ. Nominee

    A third Senate Democrat, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, has come out against Third Circuit nominee Adeel Mangi, who would be the first Muslim federal appellate judge if confirmed, thus putting his nomination in further peril.

  • March 27, 2024

    9th Circ. Revives Claims Against Apple In Crypto Theft Row

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday partially reinstated a putative class action accusing Apple of misrepresenting the safety of its App Store after users' cryptocurrency was stolen from an app, finding that while a federal tech immunity law shielded Apple from an array of fraud and wiretapping claims, three consumer protection claims could move forward. 

  • March 27, 2024

    History Confirms Ruling In ND Tribes' VRA Win, Feds Say

    The federal government is urging the Eighth Circuit to uphold a ruling confirming that a North Dakota redistricting effort violated the Voting Rights Act, arguing that if the appellate court were to reverse course it could strike a grievous blow that could affect seven states and thousands of political subdivisions within its circuit.

  • March 27, 2024

    Justices Poised To Expand Repeat Offenders' Jury Trial Rights

    The U.S. Supreme Court appeared likely Wednesday to agree with the Biden administration and the criminal defense bar that repeat offenders have a constitutional right to let a jury decide if past offenses were sufficiently distinct to trigger lengthy prison terms under a prominent sentencing enhancement.

  • March 27, 2024

    5th Circ. Reissues Arb. Decision In Hurricane Damage Case

    The Fifth Circuit has reissued its opinion allowing a group of domestic insurers to force arbitration of a dispute over coverage for hurricane damage under an international arbitration clause after the insurers argued that the unanimous decision applied circuit precedent in a new context.

  • March 27, 2024

    Texas Appeals Court Nixes Injunction In Bitcoin Mining Dispute

    A Texas state appeals court chucked a temporary injunction Wednesday that would have forced a property owner to keep providing electricity and access to a bitcoin mining company, ruling Thursday that the injunction was lacking in specifics and insufficient under Texas law.

  • March 27, 2024

    Vrbo Host Is Breaking Zoning Regs, Conn. High Court Told

    Some justices of the Connecticut Supreme Court signaled on Wednesday that a lower court may have failed to provide a workable definition of the word "residence" when deciding that a Branford-based zoning board's regulations allowed short-term rentals through services like Vrbo and Airbnb.

  • March 27, 2024

    9th Circ. Urged To Rethink Arbitration Of Cathay Pacific Feud

    A couple left stranded in the Philippines during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic are urging the Ninth Circuit to reconsider its decision ordering them to arbitrate their breach of contract dispute with Cathay Pacific Airways under their pact with a third-party booking site.

  • March 27, 2024

    Citing Warhol, 10th Circ. Undoes Netflix's 'Tiger King' Win

    The Tenth Circuit on Wednesday relied on last year's landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Warhol case to set aside a fair use win for Netflix Inc. in a copyright suit brought by a former zoo employee who livestreamed the funeral of the husband of "Tiger King" star Joe Exotic.

  • March 27, 2024

    Veterans Court Must Revisit Claim After Rejecting Evidence

    A veterans court must reconsider a request to backdate benefits for a veteran who survived a deadly plane crash while serving, after improperly rejecting evidence offered decades later potentially linking the experience to his PTSD, the Federal Circuit said Wednesday.

  • March 27, 2024

    Binance Says Fla. Suspension Order Violates Due Process

    Binance on Wednesday told a Florida appeals court that state regulators wrongly suspended its license to operate as a money transmitter, saying an emergency order issued earlier this year telling the cryptocurrency exchange to cease operations wasn't sufficiently justified and violates due process.

  • March 27, 2024

    DC Circuit Upholds NLRB Firing Decision Despite Legal Shift

    The D.C. Circuit upheld an NLRB ruling that a Cadillac dealer illegally fired a worker even though the board changed the applicable precedent during the appeal, saying Wednesday that the long-running case appears to shake out the same under either version of the shifting standard for worker outbursts.

  • March 27, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Says Faulty Jury Directions Warrant New IP Trial

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday granted Inline Plastics Corp. another chance to convince a Massachusetts federal jury that its tamper-resistant plastic containers were too successful for the underlying patents to be invalidated as obvious.

  • March 27, 2024

    Malpractice Suit Against Texas Magnate's Atty Revived

    A Texas appeals court has revived claims that a longtime family attorney violated his duty as trustee to their fortune by using his position to enrich himself and undercut the heir to a Lone Star State business empire.

  • March 27, 2024

    Plastic Surgeon Must Face Sex Assault Suit, Texas Court Says

    A Houston-area plastic surgeon must face claims he sexually assaulted a patient while she was recovering from breast augmentation surgery, a Texas appeals court has ruled, holding that the patient doesn't need expert testimony to show that sexual assault falls outside the bounds of acceptable medical standards.

  • March 27, 2024

    NC Commissioner Says Insurance Mogul's Argument 'Mistaken'

    The North Carolina insurance commissioner asked the state's Supreme Court on Tuesday to allow him to give his take on a group of insurers' lawsuit against embattled mogul Greg Lindberg that alleges he pilfered the insurance companies as owner, saying if the court lets him submit an amicus brief he'll explain how Lindberg's main argument is "mistaken."

  • March 27, 2024

    Idaho AG Won't Defend Abortion Stance, Confusing 9th Circ.

    The Idaho solicitor general insisted at a hearing before the Ninth Circuit Wednesday that the state's attorney general isn't "trying to be cute" by refusing to defend his expansive interpretation of Idaho's abortion ban in front of a baffled appellate panel.

  • March 27, 2024

    T-Mobile Can Appeal Refusal To Toss Sprint Merger Case

    An Illinois federal court granted T-Mobile's request on Wednesday to immediately appeal a ruling refusing to toss a proposed class action from AT&T and Verizon subscribers who have alleged their prices increased because of T-Mobile's 2020 merger with Sprint.

  • March 27, 2024

    Atty's 'Bare Minimum' Sank Negligence Death Suit, Panel Says

    A New Jersey appellate panel has backed the dismissal of a suit accusing a nursing home of negligently failing to prevent a patient's purportedly fatal fall, ruling a trial court was within its discretion in finding the plaintiff's attorney did "the bare minimum" to produce expert reports and the plaintiff fell short of the threshold to reopen discovery.

  • March 27, 2024

    Sotomayor 'Annoyed' By Supreme Court's Focus On History

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor seemed to release some pent-up frustration Wednesday over the court's increasing focus on history and tradition when reviewing constitutional disputes, suggesting the method frequently used by the court's more conservative members isn't foolproof.

Expert Analysis

  • 2nd Circ.'s Binance Locus Test Adds Risk For Blockchain Cos.

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    The Second Circuit’s recent use of the irrevocable liability test to rule a class action may proceed against decentralized crypto exchange Binance heightens the possibility that other blockchain-based businesses with domestic customers and digital infrastructure will find themselves subject to U.S. securities laws, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

  • The Challenges SEC's Climate Disclosure Rule May Face

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    Attorneys at Debevoise examine potential legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new climate-related disclosure rule — against which nine suits have already been filed — including arguments under the Administrative Procedure Act, the major questions doctrine, the First Amendment and the nondelegation doctrine.

  • Ala. Frozen Embryo Ruling Creates Risks for Managed Care Orgs

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    The Alabama Supreme Court's decision in LePage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine last month, declaring that frozen embryos count as children, has not only upended the abortion debate but also raised questions for managed care organizations and healthcare providers that provide, offer or facilitate fertility treatment nationwide, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • NY Bond, Enforcement Options As Trump Judgment Looms

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    In light of former President Donald Trump's court filing this week indicating that he can't secure a bond for the New York attorney general's nearly $465 million judgment against him, Neil Pedersen of Pedersen & Sons Surety Bond Agency and Adam Pollock of Pollock Cohen explore New York state judgment enforcement options and the mechanics of securing and collateralizing an appellate bond.

  • What To Watch As Justices Consider Appeal Deadline Case

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    Next week, in Harrow v. U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider for the first time whether a statutory deadline for appealing from a federal agency to an Article III court is jurisdictional, setting the stage for a decision that could dramatically reshape the landscape for challenging agency decisions, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: March Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from consumer fraud to employment — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including coercive communications with putative class members and Article III standing at the class certification stage.

  • Opinion

    Justices' Trump Ballot Ruling May Spark Constitutional Crisis

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that former President Donald Trump must be reinstated to Colorado’s primary ballot endorses an unnecessarily broad legal theory of disqualification from federal office, raising constitutional questions that will only become more urgent as the next presidential election nears, says Devon Ombres at the Center for American Progress.

  • Rebuttal

    High Court Should Maintain Insurer Neutrality In Bankruptcy

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    While a recent Law360 guest article argues that the U.S. Supreme Court should endorse insurer standing in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum, doing so would create a playground for mischief and delay, and the high court should instead uphold insurance neutrality, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • The Future Of ERISA If High Court Ends Chevron Deference

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming decisions in two cases involving fishing company challenges to regulatory requirements could weaken or repeal Chevron deference, meaning U.S. Department of Labor regulations adopted under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act may be heavily scrutinized, modified or vacated by federal courts, say Naina Kamath and Julie Stapel at Morgan Lewis.

  • Assessing 2 Years Of High Court's Arbitration Waiver Ruling

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    In the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Morgan v. Sundance, clarifying that no special rules apply to waiver of arbitration provisions, the ruling has had immediate ramifications in federal courts, but it may take some time for the effects to be felt on other federal issues and in state courts, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Risks Of Nonmutual Offensive Collateral Estoppel In MDLs

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    After the Supreme Court declined to review the Sixth Circuit's ruling in the E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. personal injury litigation, nonmutual offensive collateral estoppel could show up in more MDLs, and transform the loss of a single MDL bellwether trial into a de facto classwide decision that binds thousands of other MDL cases, say Chantale Fiebig and Luke Sullivan at Weil Gotshal.

  • Infringement Policy Lessons From 4th Circ. Sony Music Ruling

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    The Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Sony Music v. Cox Communications, which in part held that the internet service provider was liable for contributing to music copyright infringement, highlights the importance of reasonable policies to terminate repeat infringers, and provides guidance for litigating claims of secondary liability, say Benjamin Marks and Alexandra Blankman at Weil.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

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