Appellate

  • July 07, 2026

    9th Circ. Appears Icy Toward Calif. Captive Meeting Law

    The Ninth Circuit seemed hesitant Tuesday to unblock a 2-year-old California law that prohibits employers from punishing workers for skipping what are commonly known as captive audience meetings in which companies convey views about political or religious topics, with two judges suggesting that the statute infringes on employers' free speech rights.  

  • July 07, 2026

    5th Circ. Says Gov't May Be Liable For Steward's Truck Hit

    A Fifth Circuit panel said Tuesday that the government may owe damages to a woman a Customs and Border Protection agent and union officer struck with his truck, reversing a ruling that he was on an errand outside the scope of his work.

  • July 07, 2026

    Mass. Court Orders New Sex Abuse Trial Over Testimony

    A man found guilty of raping and sexually abusing girls in his family is entitled to a new trial, a Massachusetts appeals panel said Tuesday, finding that evidence of his prior bad acts was admitted improperly and may have overwhelmed and prejudiced the jury.

  • July 07, 2026

    Trucking Co. 'Predictive Model' Doesn't Moot OT, 9th Circ. Told

    Truck drivers denied overtime under a Fair Labor Standards Act carveout for interstate commerce urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to find they're entitled to the pay, saying that they drove only within California and that their employers' "predictive model" order fulfillment system doesn't qualify their deliveries as interstate commerce.

  • July 07, 2026

    2nd Circ. Says Investor Can Keep Bed Bath & Beyond Profits

    The Second Circuit on Tuesday found that a late investor in defunct retailer Bed Bath & Beyond can keep the profits from its sale of the company's stock, rejecting claims that a contractual cap on the investor's share ownership was a sham.

  • July 07, 2026

    6th Circ. Revives Pilot's Disability Claims In Vaccination Row

    In an unpublished opinion issued Monday, a Sixth Circuit panel revived some disability claims brought against Kalitta Air LLC by a cargo pilot after he was fired for refusing to get a second COVID-19 vaccine because he suffered a severe reaction from the first dose.

  • July 07, 2026

    DC Circ. Backs Tax Bribery Convictions Despite Jury Error

    A D.C. Circuit panel refused on Tuesday to reverse a lower court's judgments against two men in connection to a bribery scheme carried out to evade $2.3 million in business tax obligations, finding a jury instruction error "harmless," among other unsuccessful arguments.

  • July 07, 2026

    8th Circ. Says Murder Charge Backs Sentence Enhancement

    The Eighth Circuit held that a prior third degree murder conviction counts as a crime of violence for purposes of a later sentencing enhancement in a gun case because the Minnesota state law in the murder case was substantially similar to the generic definition of murder.

  • July 07, 2026

    7th Circ. Rejects Internet Scammer's Phone Search Appeal

    Federal border agents did not need a warrant or probable cause before manually searching a fraudster's cellphone for evidence upon his return flight to the United States, the Seventh Circuit said Monday, keeping the evidence a part of his case.

  • July 07, 2026

    DC Circ. Nixes Part Of IAM Fund's $13M Liability Win

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday partially unraveled an early win for a multiemployer pension fund in a dispute over $13 million in withdrawal liability against several Illinois truck dealership companies, holding the lower court needed to recalculate some of the interest and damages assessed.

  • July 07, 2026

    11th Circ. Upholds Block of Fla. 'Stop WOKE' Law

    The Eleventh Circuit upheld a lower court's preliminary injunction on a Florida law that restricts classroom discussion of race and gender, finding on Tuesday that the law violates the First Amendment's free speech protections. 

  • July 07, 2026

    Ohio Panel Says Man's Seizure Justifies Plea Withdrawal

    An Ohio state appeals court has ruled that a man who suffered a seizure in court prior to signing a plea agreement can withdraw from the deal because the medical emergency may have rendered him unable to intelligently enter into the agreement.

  • July 07, 2026

    Groups Tell 4th Circ. Not To Let Sandoz 'Relitigate' Enbrel

    Pharmaceutical groups and the Washington Legal Foundation backed Amgen in amicus briefs Monday urging the Fourth Circuit not to revive Sandoz's antitrust claims, arguing that if Sandoz wanted to litigate blocked biosimilar competition to Enbrel, it needed to do so when Amgen sued it for patent infringement.

  • July 07, 2026

    GM, Drivers Tell 6th Circ. Opt-Outs Delaying $150M Settlement

    General Motors and class members who secured a $150 million settlement in a class action over alleged fire risks in the Chevrolet Bolt on Tuesday asked the Sixth Circuit not to let a small group of drivers opt out of the deal — or hold it up in their attempts to do so.

  • July 07, 2026

    Feds Push 3rd Circ. To Restore ACA Birth Control Exemptions

    Lawyers for the Trump administration and a Catholic religious order Tuesday asked the Third Circuit to restore broad exemptions to the Affordable Care Act's birth control coverage mandate, arguing federal agencies had discretion to pass rules that effectively enabled employers to "opt in" to the mandate rather than opt out.

  • July 07, 2026

    NJ Union Loses Appeal In Insurance Opt-Out Arbitration Row

    A New Jersey appellate panel Tuesday affirmed a state labor agency's decision blocking arbitration over Essex County's refusal to pay health insurance opt-out reimbursements to correction officers who receive state health benefits through their spouses, finding state law preempted the union's grievance.

  • July 07, 2026

    ChatGPT Edits Weren't 'Knowing' Errors, Conn. Justices Told

    A GLG Law LLC lawyer who blamed ChatGPT for misquotes and citation errors in three filings told the Connecticut Supreme Court on Tuesday he did not violate an ethics rule requiring candor to the tribunal because his briefs, though inaccurate, contained correct assertions about the law.

  • July 07, 2026

    5th Circ. Again Nixes Challenge To La. 340B Drug Delivery Law

    A Fifth Circuit panel doubled down on its decision to uphold a Louisiana law prohibiting drug manufacturers from blocking contracts between pharmacies and providers in the federal 340B drug discount program, reiterating that conclusion upon rehearing but this time allowing intervention by an advocacy group.

  • July 07, 2026

    Ga. Justices Disbar Lawyer Over Child Welfare Guilty Plea

    The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday disbarred an attorney for violating the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct after he pled guilty in August 2025 to one count of endangering the welfare of children in the third degree in New Jersey.

  • July 07, 2026

    5th Circ. Backs Saltgrass In Texas Restaurant Land Row

    The Fifth Circuit backed steakhouse chain Saltgrass Inc.'s quick win in a property contract dispute that involved the planned demolition of a former Joe's Crab Shack restaurant in Humble, Texas, ruling that the demolition contractually requires Saltgrass' permission.

  • July 07, 2026

    NJ Panel Backs Atty's Trimmed Government Pension Credits

    A New Jersey state appeals court said the state's public employee pension system was right to shave eight years of service off a government prosecutor's retirement credits, finding he couldn't skirt a change in law that blocked contractors of professional services from collecting benefits.

  • July 07, 2026

    Grocers' Microcaptive Not Valid For Tax Benefit, 7th Circ. Told

    Chicagoland grocery chain owners were not entitled to microcaptive tax benefits because they failed to establish a bona fide in-house insurance arrangement, the government told the Seventh Circuit, saying the U.S. Tax Court correctly held that state law does not control the federal tax definition of insurance.

  • July 07, 2026

    10th Circ. Revives Voter Intimidation Suit Over Canvassing

    The Tenth Circuit revived voter intimidation claims against three Colorado election activists and a private group they formed to investigate alleged voter fraud after the 2020 election, holding that a lower court wrongly tossed the group from the case and too narrowly limited evidence about its canvassing campaign.

  • July 07, 2026

    Justices To Defend Court's Budget In Rare Hill Testimony

    U.S. Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan will testify before House and Senate committees on July 14, marking the first time in seven years that a sitting justice has gone before lawmakers.

  • July 07, 2026

    Ex-DOJ Employees Tell Senate To Reject Blanche Nomination

    Hundreds of former Justice Department employees and appointees urged the Senate in a Tuesday letter to reject the nomination of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for the permanent role, particularly noting what they called Blanche's work toward politicizing the department.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Time To Fix The Accountability Gap In Freight Logistics

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    In Montgomery v. Caribe Transport, the U.S. Supreme Court must resolve an urgent question: whether freight broker selection in trucking accidents is categorically protected — meaning unreasonable safety decisions are insulated from liability — or subject to accountability under traditional negligence principles, says Amanda Demanda at Amanda Demanda Injury Lawyers.

  • 2 Strands Of Patent Law In High Court's 'Skinny Label' Case

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    Amarin v. Hikma, which is set for oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court this month, highlights the distinction between two different strands of intellectual property law — analogizing a patent to either a property deed or a home, says Jonas McDavit at Spencer West.

  • Justices' Geofence Ruling May Test 4th Amendment's Future

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    When the U.S. Supreme Court decides in Chatrie v. U.S. whether law enforcement may use geofence warrants to compel Google to disclose location history data, the ruling is likely to become an important statement about the future of Fourth Amendment law in data-driven investigations, says Duncan Levin at Levin & Associates.

  • Series

    NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    In the first quarter of 2026, New York's banking developments were headlined by initiatives to expand oversight of financial institutions and strengthen consumer protection laws, including a new framework for buy now, pay later lenders, a sweeping debt collection rule and a revised corporate self-disclosure program for financial crimes, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Seeking A Policy Fix As Merger Reporting Fight Continues

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    A recently announced request by the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice for public comment on the Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger reporting requirements, as litigation challenging the commission's updated requirements continues, suggests the government's willingness to address how best to support modern merger enforcement without unduly burdening filing parties, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Opinion

    Wash. Amazon Ruling Should Reshape Suicide Liability

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    The Washington Supreme Court's reinstatement of negligence claims in Scott v. Amazon.com, brought by the families of people who died by suicide after purchasing chemicals online, signals a reckoning for digital commerce and the rejection of the defense that online marketplaces are merely passive technology platforms, says Donald Fountain at Clark Fountain.

  • Axed Trade Secret Award Cautions Against Bundling Damages

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent ruling in Trinseo v. Harper, vacating a $75 million jury verdict for trade secret misappropriation due to a bundled damages model, offers a strong reminder to apportion damages so a jury can award a nonspeculative figure when it credits only some alleged secrets, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • 2 Rulings Poke Holes In Mandatory Restitution Framework

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Ellingburg v. U.S., as well as the Third Circuit’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Abrams, provide criminal defense practitioners with new tools to challenge Mandatory Victims Restitution Act orders, and highlight several restitution-related issues that converged in the recent prosecution of former Frank CEO Charlie Javice, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • Pivotal 6th Circ. Ruling Threatens Decades Of NLRB Decisions

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    The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Brown-Forman v. National Labor Relations Board fundamentally challenged the NLRB's long-standing practice of establishing policies through adjudication rather than formal rulemaking, giving employers and unions a new avenue to procedurally attack the vast majority of its rules, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • Exploring When Fraud Asset Freezes Limit Right To Pick Atty

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    The defendant’s claim in the Seventh Circuit’s pending U.S. v. Shah case that the government restrained his assets until he couldn’t afford his chosen counsel presents a useful case study in how criminal forfeiture procedure interacts with U.S. Supreme Court rulings on Sixth Amendment rights and appealing complex fraud convictions, says Elisha Kobre at Sheppard.

  • How Justices' GEO Ruling Resets Gov't Contractor Litigation

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent GEO Group v. Menocal decision, holding that government contractors cannot immediately exit cases via interlocutory appeals, may increase litigation costs, strengthen plaintiffs' leverage in settlement negotiations and dampen the government's ability to attract bids on high-risk or sensitive projects, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Appellate Strategy Lessons From Pa. Excess Coverage Ruling

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    In FedEx v. National Union Fire Insurance, a Pennsylvania state court recently set forth a clear holding that policyholders may recover postjudgment interest under excess liability insurance policies only when the policy language expressly allows, offering important takeaways for planning appeals, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • Defense Counsel Options Widen As No-Bill Rate Increases

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    Citizens impaneled on grand juries in politically motivated cases who are reasserting their role as a critical check on state power could provide criminal defense attorneys an opportunity to pursue seldom-used preindictment strategies, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • How Cos. Can Prepare For 'Made In America' Ad Scrutiny

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    The Trump administration's executive order to combat fraudulent "Made in America" claims in consumer-facing advertising, along with actions by the Federal Trade Commission, suggest a potential increased focus on consumer protection and pricing-related matters, say attorneys at Skadden.

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