Appellate

  • December 18, 2025

    SF, Oakland Near Settlement In Airport Name Trademark Fight

    The Port of Oakland has cut a tentative deal with the city and county of San Francisco to resolve a trademark infringement suit over Oakland renaming its international airport to include "San Francisco Bay," according to a joint stipulation filed in California federal court Wednesday.

  • December 18, 2025

    USA Track & Field Beats Athlete's Heat Stroke Suit

    The Indiana Supreme Court held on Thursday that a world-class athlete can't sue USA Track & Field Inc. over an episode of heat stroke that caused her to miss out on the 2020 Olympics, saying lawsuits can't be amended after a final judgment has been issued.

  • December 18, 2025

    School District Asks High Court To Stop Officials' Depositions

    A Texas school district has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let two district officials avoid sitting for depositions in a case alleging the district discriminated against Black students who wore their hair in locs, saying the officials are legislators and cannot be compelled to testify barring an extraordinary exception.

  • December 18, 2025

    DC Circ. Told Transferred Ethics Suit Bolsters Newman's Case

    Suspended Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman is contending that a decision in which an ethics complaint against a Fourth Circuit judge was transferred out of his home court bolsters her argument that her fellow circuit judges shouldn't have investigated her fitness to remain on the bench.

  • December 18, 2025

    Split 6th Circ. Blocks Michigan's Ban On Conversion Therapy

    A split Sixth Circuit panel ordered an injunction on Michigan's conversion therapy ban, ruling the law likely places an unconstitutional restriction on the First Amendment rights of a Catholic charitable organization and a therapist whose faith-based psychotherapy practices fall under the ban.

  • December 18, 2025

    Nepali Citizen Denied Asylum Due To Treaty With India

    The Board of Immigration Appeals on Thursday denied asylum to a Nepalese citizen who first fled to India after she said she was politically persecuted by Maoists, finding that Nepal's treaty with India allowed her to stay in India indefinitely.

  • December 18, 2025

    Doctors Freed From Suit As NC Panel Deems It MedMal Issue

    Parents whose young daughter died following complications from heart surgery can't revive their lawsuit against pediatric heart doctors because their fraud and breach of fiduciary duty claims "sounded in" medical malpractice and were thus barred, a North Carolina state appeals court panel said Wednesday.

  • December 18, 2025

    NY Appeals Court Lets $62M PDVSA Bond Feud Proceed

    A New York appeals court on Thursday rejected a bid by Venezuela's state-owned oil company to find that service of a lawsuit over a roughly $62 million defaulted bond was insufficient under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, ruling that the company had waived its right to be served in compliance with the act.

  • December 18, 2025

    Uber Injury Claims Barred By Release, Ill. Panel Says

    An Illinois state appeals court has refused to revive a lawsuit seeking to hold Uber liable for the injuries a bicyclist suffered when he was struck by an Uber driver, finding he cannot bring his suit because of a release agreement he signed when he received a payout from Liberty Mutual.

  • December 18, 2025

    Top Trade Secrets Decisions Of 2025

    The Ninth Circuit clarified the rules of engagement in trade secrets disputes with guidance on when confidential information must be precisely detailed during litigation, and jurors delivered a $200 million verdict against Walmart over product freshness technology. Here are Law360's picks for the biggest trade secrets decisions of 2025.

  • December 18, 2025

    9th Circ. Revives National Forest Road Injury Claim

    A timber worker who suffered injuries when his excavator slid off a Washington road under the control of the U.S. Forest Service will get the opportunity to take his claims to trial, the Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday, saying a jury needs to decide whether the worker's employer or the federal government was responsible for the road's upkeep.

  • December 18, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Axes Appeal Of $8M Bond Under Idaho 'Troll' Law

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday dismissed an appeal by patent assertion entities challenging an $8 million bond imposed on them in an infringement case against Micron Technology, ruling that the order under an Idaho state law discouraging "bad faith" patent litigation is not an appealable final decision.

  • December 18, 2025

    2nd Circ. Bars Email Service In Chinese 'Baby Shark' Case

    The Second Circuit on Thursday backed a finding that the owner of "Baby Shark" trademarks, which won a default judgment against dozens of Chinese companies, didn't properly serve two of those businesses, saying an email didn't pass muster under the rules of the Hague Service Convention.

  • December 18, 2025

    Top Product Liability Cases Of 2025

    The Fourth Circuit's decision to unravel an early landmark ruling in litigation over the opioid crisis in a suit brought by West Virginia counties against drug distributors tops Law360's list of product liability cases of the past year, as well as a loss for Tesla in a newsworthy trial over the automaker's Autopilot feature. Here's what other cases garnered attorneys' attention in 2025.

  • December 18, 2025

    Ramey Must Seek Permission For Future WDTX Patent Suits

    A Texas federal judge has laid out several frustrations he has with the conduct of intellectual property attorney William Ramey, ordering Ramey to seek permission from the court before filing patent suits in the future and ordering him to pay $72,000 in attorney fees to Cisco for pursuing "nuisance settlements" and failing to conduct presuit investigations.

  • December 18, 2025

    NJ Panel Allows Lab Expert Substitution In Sex Assault Case

    A New Jersey appeals court has upheld a man's conviction for sexual assault and criminal sexual contact, finding that because his attorneys failed to raise challenges during trial about how toxicology testimony was presented, he forfeited his right to appeal the issue.

  • December 18, 2025

    11th Circ. Backs School District's Win In Race Bias Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit has upheld a Georgia school district's victory in a Black employee's suit alleging the superintendent failed to investigate reports of the racial discrimination he experienced from the school district's chief information officer.

  • December 18, 2025

    7th Circ. Declines To Stay Alcoa Life Insurance Injunction

    An injunction ordering aluminum producer Alcoa USA Corp. to reinstate certain retirees' life insurance benefits will remain active while the company appeals the underlying decision, the Seventh Circuit held Thursday, denying Alcoa's motion to stay the injunction.

  • December 18, 2025

    Fla. Panel Ends Medicare Assignee's Suits Against Insurers

    A Florida state appeals court directed a trial court to toss three separate suits brought by assignees of secondary payors seeking information from nonresident auto insurers under the state's no-fault statute, saying the claims are not connected to the insurers' activities within the state.

  • December 18, 2025

    Fla. High Court Says $5B Bond Deal Can't Be Set Aside

    Florida's Supreme Court agreed Thursday that counties and tax collectors could not reopen a bond validation judgment issuing $5 billion in bonds for renewable energy and hurricane mitigation projects, ruling that state law makes clear that if bonds are validated and there is no appeal, the judgment is final.

  • December 18, 2025

    Wash. Justices Say Open Gov't Law Covers Seattle Contractor

    The Washington State Supreme Court has reinstated a citizen suit seeking information related to downtown Seattle's Metropolitan Improvement District, recognizing in a Thursday opinion that the district's private nonprofit management entity DBIA Services is analogous to a government agency and thus subject to the state's public records law.  

  • December 18, 2025

    Mass. Panel Says Teen Plea OK In Decades-Old Murder Case

    Massachusetts' intermediate-level appeals court on Thursday ruled that a man who pled guilty to murder nearly 50 years ago, when he was a teenager, cannot change his plea by arguing that prosecutors at the time threatened him with a life sentence that today would be unconstitutional.

  • December 18, 2025

    5th Circ. Won't Force Aramark To Arbitrate Aetna ERISA Suit

    Aetna cannot force food services company Aramark to arbitrate allegations the insurer cost it millions of dollars by approving shoddy health benefit claims, a split Fifth Circuit panel affirmed Thursday, saying the parties' agreement doesn't clearly delegate arbitrability to an arbitrator and the claims seek equitable, not legal, relief.

  • December 18, 2025

    Feds Urge Justices To Keep SEC Disgorgement Power Intact

    The Trump administration has joined the call for the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve a circuit split over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's disgorgement powers, urging the justices to find that alleged fraudsters should be required to give up illegal profits even if the government can't show investors lost money.

  • December 18, 2025

    Texas Court Says Rodeo Is Shielded From Racer's Injury Claims

    A barrel racer can't sue a San Angelo, Texas, rodeo for injuries she suffered after being thrown into a fence by the horse she was racing, a Texas state appeals court has ruled, saying her injuries stemmed from the inherent risks that come from dealing with farm animals.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Supreme Court Term Limits Would Carry Hidden Risk

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    While proposals for limiting the terms of U.S. Supreme Court justices are popular, a steady stream of relatively young, highly marketable ex-justices with unique knowledge and influence entering the marketplace of law and politics could create new problems, say Michael Broyde at Emory University and Hayden Hall at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

  • Suncor Is Justices' Chance To Rule On Climate Nuisance Suits

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    If the U.S. Supreme Court chooses to hear Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, Colorado, it will have the chance to resolve whether federal law precludes state law nuisance claims targeting interstate and global emissions — and the answer will have major implications for climate litigation nationwide, say attorneys at Liskow & Lewis.

  • Key Crypto Class Action Trends And Rulings In 2025

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    As the law continued to take shape in the growing area of crypto-assets, this year saw a jump in crypto class action litigation, including noteworthy decisions on motions to compel arbitration and class certification, according to Justin Donoho at Duane Morris.

  • NBA, MLB Betting Indictments: Slam Dunks Or Strikeouts?

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    Recent fraud charges against bettors, NBA players and MLB pitchers raise questions about what the government will need to prove to prosecute individuals involved in placing bets based on nonpublic information, and it could be a tough sell to juries, say attorneys at Ford O'Brien.

  • Series

    Knitting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Stretching my skills as a knitter makes me a better antitrust attorney by challenging me to recalibrate after wrong turns, not rush outcomes, and trust that I can teach myself the skills to tackle new and difficult projects — even when I don’t have a pattern to work from, says Kara Kuritz at V&E.

  • Eveready Vs. Squirt: How Trademark Surveys Fare In 9th Circ.

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    An analysis of how two consumer surveys for measuring confusion in trademark disputes perform in the Ninth Circuit across pivotal points in trademark cases' progression reveals insights not only on how the two formats stack up against each other, but also how to maximize a survey's effectiveness, say attorneys at Dorsey.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Welcome To Miami

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    After nearly 20 years in operation, the Miami Complex Business Litigation Division is a pioneer upon which other jurisdictions in the state have been modeled, adopting many innovations to keep its cases running more efficiently and staffing experienced judges who are accustomed to hearing business disputes, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • Identifying And Resolving Conflicts Among Class Members

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    As the Fifth Circuit's recent decision in Nova Scotia Health Employees' Pension Plan v. McDermott International illustrates, intraclass conflicts can determine the fate of a class action — and such conflicts can be surprisingly difficult to identify, says Andrew Faisman, a clerk at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

  • 1st-Of-Its-Kind NIL Claim Raises Liability Coverage Questions

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    The University of Georgia Athletic Association recently sought to compel arbitration against former UGA football player Damon Wilson in a first-of-its-kind legal action for breach of a name, image and likeness contract, highlighting questions around student-athlete employment classification and professional liability insurance coverage, says Sarah Abrams at Baleen Specialty.

  • Rule Update May Mean Simpler PFAS Reports, Faster Timeline

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recently proposed revisions to the Toxic Substances Control Act's per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances reporting rule would substantially narrow reporting obligations, but if the rule is finalized, companies will need to prepare for a significantly accelerated timeline for data submissions, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Navigating The New Patchwork Of Foreign-Influence Laws

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    On top of existing federal regulations, an expanding wave of state legislation — placing new limits on foreign-funded political spending and new registration requirements for foreign agents — creates a confusing compliance backdrop for corporations that demands careful preplanning, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • AI Evidence Rule Tweaks Encourage Judicial Guardrails

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    Recent additions to a committee note on proposed Rule of Evidence 707 — governing evidence generated by artificial intelligence — seek to mitigate potential dangers that may arise once machine outputs are introduced at trial, encouraging judges to perform critical gatekeeping functions, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • Series

    The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Getting The Message Across

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    Communications and brand strategy during a law firm merger represent a crucial thread that runs through every stage of a combination and should include clear messaging, leverage modern marketing tools and embrace the chance to evolve, says Ashley Horne at Womble Bond.

  • How High Court Could Upend Campaign Spending Rules

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    In National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments about the constitutionality of coordinated party contribution spending caps, and its decision will have immediate practical effects just as the 2026 election gets underway, says Bill Powers at Spencer Fane.

  • Previewing Justices' Driver Arbitration Exemption Review

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's forthcoming decision in Flowers Foods v. Brock, addressing whether last-mile delivery drivers are covered by the Federal Arbitration Act's exemption for transportation workers, may require employers to reevaluate the enforceability of arbitration agreements for affected employees, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

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