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Appellate
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April 16, 2024
Cashed Check Kills VW Emissions Deal Appeal, 9th Circ. Says
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday threw out an attempt to unravel an $80 million deal resolving consolidated consumer litigation alleging Volkswagen and Porsche manipulated emissions and fuel-economy tests for nearly 500,000 gas-powered vehicles, saying the objector has already cashed his portion of the settlement.
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April 16, 2024
Corp. Transparency Act A Valid Use Of Powers, 11th Circ. Told
The U.S. Department of Treasury told the Eleventh Circuit that a federal district court erred in finding the Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutional, saying the lower court misunderstood the law's scope and relation to efforts to curb financial crime.
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April 16, 2024
Justices Asked To Review Texas' Online Porn Age Check Law
Texas' law requiring all visitors to adult-oriented websites to prove their age before accessing the content is unconstitutional under the First Amendment, a trade group for the pornography industry told the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to overturn a split Fifth Circuit decision that allowed the age-verification requirement to go into effect.
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April 16, 2024
Nigeria Looks To High Court Case To Nix OK Of $70M Award
Nigeria has told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent opinion clarifying the reach of a carveout in federal arbitration law helps to boost its case looking to nix enforcement of a nearly $70 million arbitral award on sovereign immunity grounds.
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April 16, 2024
Supreme Court Asked To Look At 'Original Patents'
A Texas patent outfit is back at the U.S. Supreme Court with an appeal over a loss in the lower courts, this time over a reading of legal precedent involving patent law's rarely invoked "original patent" requirements.
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April 16, 2024
Tribal Groups Want Full 9th Circ. To Rehear Oak Flat Appeal
An Apache nonprofit is asking the Ninth Circuit's entire 29-judge panel to review its lawsuit that seeks to block a copper mining company from destroying a sacred Indigenous religious site, arguing that an en banc hearing is warranted given the appellate court's latest split decision on the land transfer.
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April 16, 2024
9th Circ. Upholds Tossing Skillz Gaming Tech Investor Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday upheld a decision to toss a proposed class action claiming that mobile gaming company Skillz Inc. misled investors about its technology prior to a 2021 merger with a special purpose acquisition company, ruling that issues with the gaming software do not make the company' statements false or misleading.
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April 16, 2024
Fed. Circ. Is Told To Undo Transfer Of Apple Patent Case
A Texas federal judge has shipped to California a suit accusing Apple of patent infringement, prompting patent-owning technology company Haptic Inc. to appeal the decision to the Federal Circuit.
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April 16, 2024
DC Circ. Grills EPA On Nixing Refiners' Biofuel Exemptions
A D.C. Circuit panel seemed open Tuesday to petroleum refiners' challenge to federal regulators' denial of their exemptions to federal renewable fuel requirements, as the judges grilled attorneys for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on how federal regulators gauge refineries' compliance costs.
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April 16, 2024
Texas Court OKs Expert Report, Reinstates Patient Death Suit
A Texas appellate court on Tuesday reinstated a suit accusing a hospital of contributing to the death of a gastric sleeve surgery patient due to malpractice, saying the plaintiffs' medical expert's mandatory report satisfied state guidelines.
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April 16, 2024
Mich. Justice Questions Abuse Law's Missing Language
A Michigan Supreme Court justice on Tuesday challenged an attorney for a victim of a 1990s sexual assault on why the state Legislature didn't explicitly include retroactive language for a 2018 change that allowed survivors of Larry Nassar's abuse scandal more time to bring civil suits, noting that the law was specific in other areas.
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April 16, 2024
Freight Co. Can't Escape $15M Verdict In Deckhand Death Suit
A St. Louis-area mother whose son, a tugboat worker, fell overboard and died, presumably by drowning under a barge, will get to keep a $15 million jury award, a Missouri appeals court ruled Monday, rejecting the company's bid to lower the award to no more than $1.2 million.
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April 16, 2024
Amazon Beats Suit After Injured Drivers Bury Medical Details
Amazon can't be held liable in a personal injury lawsuit accusing an affiliate semitruck driver of rear-ending a family's vehicle, Michigan appeals court has ruled, saying it's not the court's responsibility to dig through a "huge stack of medical records" to find information favorable to the plaintiff.
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April 16, 2024
Vineyard Wind Urges 1st Circ. To Uphold Project Approval
Developers of an offshore wind energy project near Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, on Tuesday urged the First Circuit not to revive a fishing group's legal challenge to the endeavor, arguing the environmental review process was solid.
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April 16, 2024
7th Circ. Open To Religious Workers' Visa Rule Challenge
Religious institutions trying to revive their challenge to a visa regulation they contend unfairly strips work authorization from foreign ministers seemed to strike a chord with a Seventh Circuit panel on Tuesday, which suggested the rule might disadvantage religious workers.
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April 16, 2024
Judges Doubt Denver Transit Co.'s $112M Loss Is Protected
A pair of Colorado appellate judges on Tuesday grilled an attorney representing a company claiming its contract with a regional transit authority protected it from $112 million in losses after state regulators changed the rules, asking how the problems that caused the losses weren't the company's own fault.
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April 16, 2024
Ex-Fla. Lawmaker Didn't Break Election Laws, 11th Circ. Told
A former U.S. congressman from Florida urged the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday to reverse a $456,000 fine imposed by a lower court over the Federal Election Commission's allegations that he violated campaign finance laws, saying the agency didn't follow pre-suit notice procedures while insisting he didn't break the law.
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April 16, 2024
NY High Court Zeroes In On Abortion Coverage Exemptions
New York's highest court grappled Tuesday with whether a state regulation's exemption process shielding religious groups from a requirement that employee health plans cover abortions conflicted with a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court decision, with multiple judges questioning the constitutionality of the carveout procedure.
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April 16, 2024
Mich. Justices Flag Bias Potential In Lost-Pay Damage Awards
Michigan Supreme Court justices asked about double-dipping damages and whether implicit bias could skew projections of a child's lifetime earnings as they examined whether to back lost wages awards in wrongful death cases Tuesday.
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April 16, 2024
2nd Circ. Frees FDNY From TM Limits In Nonprofit's Suit
The Second Circuit on Tuesday threw out an injunction barring New York City and its fire department from using the allegedly infringing term "medical special operations," reasoning in the trademark suit that it's too general to be considered an infringement of a nonprofit's name for meetings.
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April 16, 2024
Son's Health Issues Not Enough To Prevent Dad's Deportation
A father could not convince the Tenth Circuit on Tuesday that his son's medical and educational issues warranted reopening his deportation case, his efforts to stay in the country undercut by evidence that the boy's condition was treatable.
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April 16, 2024
Absent Proof Of Direct Effect, Pa. Sen. Loses Wastewater Row
A Pennsylvania state senator lacks individual standing to stop the state Department of Environmental Protection from allowing wastewater discharges into a tributary of the Susquehanna River because she hasn't given enough evidence that potential pollution would directly affect her, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.
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April 16, 2024
EPA Urges 5th Circ. To Back Win In Texas Air Quality Suit
U.S. regulators and the Sierra Club urged the Fifth Circuit not to upset a panel's ruling finding the government legally accepted pollution data from the conservation group to apply a poor air quality designation in two Texas counties surrounding a coal-fired power plant.
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April 16, 2024
NC Justices Hint Contractor Qualifies For Tax Break
The North Carolina Supreme Court appeared ready to rule in favor of a contractor seeking a tax exemption reserved for manufacturers, with the justices concerned that hinging qualification on a sales percentage flouts the language of the applicable law.
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April 16, 2024
Jackson, Barrett Seek Enron Law Compromise In Jan. 6 Case
The U.S. Supreme Court grappled Tuesday with whether an obstruction of Congress statute enacted in the wake of an accounting scandal can be read broadly enough to prosecute alleged U.S. Capitol rioters.
Expert Analysis
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Debt Collector Compliance Takeaways From An FDCPA Appeal
A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau amicus brief last month in an ongoing First Circuit appeal focusing on an interpretation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act can serve as a reminder for debt collectors to understand how their technologies, like bankruptcy scrubs and letter logic, can prevent litigation, says Justin Bradley at Womble Bond.
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Takeaways From 9th Circ. Nix Of Ex-GOP Rep.'s Conviction
The Ninth Circuit recently reversed the conviction of former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., for lying to the FBI, showing that the court will rein in aggressive attempts by the government to expand the reach of criminal prosecutions — and deepening a circuit split on an important venue issue, say attorneys at Skadden.
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SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap
As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.
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NCAA's Antitrust Litigation History Offers Clues For NIL Case
Attorneys at Perkins Coie analyze the NCAA's long history of antitrust litigation to predict how state attorney general claims against NCAA recruiting rules surrounding name, image and likeness discussions will stand up in Tennessee federal court.
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3 Administrative Law Lessons From 5th Circ. Appliance Ruling
Showing that mundane details can be outcome-determinative, the Fifth Circuit's recent decision in Louisiana v. U.S. Department of Energy — that the government's repeal of rules affecting dishwashers and laundry machines is invalid — highlights the relationship between regulatory actions and statutory language, say Michael Showalter and Vyasa Babu at ArentFox Schiff.
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Skirting Anti-Kickback Causation Standard Amid Circuit Split
Amid the federal circuit court split over the causation standard applicable to False Claims Act cases involving Anti-Kickback Statute violations, which the First Circuit will soon consider in U.S. v. Regeneron, litigators aiming to circumvent the heightened standard should contemplate certain strategies, say Matthew Modafferi and Terence Park at Frier Levitt.
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Bid Protest Spotlight: Standing And A Golden Rule
In this month's bid protest roundup, Victoria Angle at MoFo examines one recent decision that clarifies the elements necessary to establish prejudice and federal claims court standing in multiphase protests, and two that exemplify a government procurements golden rule.
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Employer Trial Tips For Fighting Worker PPE Pay Claims
Courts have struggled for decades to reach consensus on whether employees must be paid for time spent donning and doffing personal protective equipment, but this convoluted legal history points to practical trial strategies to help employers defeat these Fair Labor Standards Act claims, say Michael Mueller and Evangeline Paschal at Hunton.
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Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout
While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.
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Opinion
Gilead Ruling Signals That Innovating Can Lead To Liability
A California appeals court's ruling last month in Gilead Life Sciences v. Superior Court of San Francisco that a drug manufacturer can be held liable for delaying the introduction of an improved version of its medication raises concerns about the chilling effects that expansive product liability claims may have on innovation, says Gary Myers at the University of Missouri School of Law.
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Grant Compliance Takeaways From Ga. Tech's FCA Settlement
Georgia Tech’s recent False Claims Act settlement over its failure to detect compliance shortcomings in a grant program was unique in that it involved a voluntary repayment of funds prior to the resolution, offering a few key lessons for universities receiving research funding from the government, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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Series
Competing In Dressage Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My lifelong participation in the sport of dressage — often called ballet on horses — has proven that several skills developed through training and competition are transferable to legal work, especially the ability to harness focus, persistence and versatility when negotiating a deal, says Stephanie Coco at V&E.
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High Court Case Could Reshape Local Development Fees
If last month's oral arguments are any indication of how the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, it's unlikely the justices will hold that the essential nexus and rough proportionality tests under the cases of Nollan, Dolan and Koontz apply to legislative exactions, but a sweeping decision would still be the natural progression in the line of cases giving property owners takings claims, says Phillip Babich at Reed Smith.
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Employer Lessons From Nixed Calif. Arbitration Agreement
A California state appeals court’s recent decision to throw out an otherwise valid arbitration agreement, where an employee claimed a confusing electronic signature system led her to agree to unfair terms, should alert employers to scrutinize any waivers or signing procedures that may appear to unconscionably favor the company, say Guillermo Tello and Monique Eginli at Clark Hill.
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Ch. 11 Ruling Highlights 'Two-Step' Challenges In 4th Circ.
A North Carolina bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Bestwall’s Chapter 11 case, and the decision's interpretation of Fourth Circuit law, suggests that, compared to other circuits, it may be more difficult to dismiss so-called Texas Two-Step bankruptcy cases within the Fourth Circuit, say Brittany Falabella and Kollin Bender at Hirschler Fleischer.