Appellate

  • September 03, 2024

    Tribe Of Two Loses Fed. Circ. Appeal Over Rival's 'TT' Mark

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday rejected an appeal from a small handbag designer that claimed a potential rival wanted to register a trademark that used the letters "TT" in a similar way.

  • September 03, 2024

    5th Circ. Grills Feds On Congress' Intent In No Surprises Act

    A Fifth Circuit panel on Tuesday challenged the federal government over its interpretation of how it applies a formula to calculate qualifying payments under a law meant to protect Americans from surprise medical bills and questioned the arbitration process over the payments that a medical association said favors insurers. 

  • September 03, 2024

    Colo. Panel Doubts Jury Instruction Can Upend $1.8M Award

    Colorado appellate judges appeared skeptical Tuesday that a state trial court was responsible for what an investor described as poor jury instructions that resulted in a nearly $1.85 million civil theft judgment, which he insisted was far too high, with one judge asking why the investor didn't sue his trial counsel over the supposed error.

  • September 03, 2024

    5th Circ. Hesitant To Call Tornado Cash 'Entity'

    A Fifth Circuit panel prodded the U.S. Department of the Treasury's argument that Tornado Cash counts as a corporation-like organization, telling the agency that its reasoning for calling the sanctioned crypto mixer an entity was "slippery" during oral arguments Tuesday.

  • September 03, 2024

    Feds Ask Sixth Circ. To Uphold Highway GHG Rule

    The federal government called on the Sixth Circuit to overturn a district court ruling finding the Federal Highway Administration overstepped its authority by directing states to set targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from federally funded highway projects, arguing the rule aligns with Congress' instructions.

  • September 03, 2024

    Amazon Prevails In Targeted Programming IP Fight At Fed. Circ.

    A patent licensing outfit trying to assert patents related to developing "video-on-demand" programming for cable companies was told Tuesday by the Federal Circuit that they cover abstract ideas.

  • September 03, 2024

    Texas Justices Will Review $116M Trucking Wreck Award

    Trucking company Werner Enterprises Inc. will get a chance to upend a $116 million jury verdict that found it liable for a crash that killed a 7-year-old and paralyzed a 12-year-old, after the Texas Supreme Court said it would take up the company's appeal.

  • September 03, 2024

    Teva Patents Don't Belong In Orange Book, Fed. Circ. Told

    Amneal Pharmaceuticals Inc. is urging the Federal Circuit to preserve a lower court decision ejecting inhaler device patents from an important government database, arguing that the delisting, won in an infringement lawsuit from Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., properly separated out device patents from drug patents.

  • September 03, 2024

    Pedestrian Hit By Off-Duty Uber Driver Can't Sue Over Injuries

    A California appellate panel held Uber can't be sued for the negligence of a driver who hit a pedestrian just minutes after he switched his status to "offline," saying it was speculative to assume the driver was still on duty due to his alleged manipulation of higher "surge" fares.

  • September 03, 2024

    5th Circ. Won't Revive BP Spill Malpractice Settlement

    The Fifth Circuit will not take another look at a proposed global settlement over accusations that attorneys botched Louisiana residents' claims following the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, issuing an order on Tuesday denying residents' bids for an en banc hearing to revive the settlement that a Fifth Circuit panel overturned in August.

  • September 03, 2024

    3rd Circ. Preview: Starbucks Firing, Liquor Law In September

    Two National Labor Relations Board cases grace the Third Circuit's September session, when panels will probe the agency's suits against Starbucks Corp. for firing Philadelphia workers attempting to unionize and a plastic company accused of firing a safety whistleblower.

  • September 03, 2024

    Insurance Intermediary Can't Revive Biz Interference Claims

    Liberty Mutual and two of its adjusters had no obligation to work with an intermediary that helps contractors secure coverage, an Ohio appeals court ruled, rejecting the intermediary's claims that Liberty and the adjusters tortiously interfered with the intermediary's business relationships by refusing to communicate with it.

  • September 03, 2024

    Justices Deny Oklahoma's Bid To Block HHS Funding Cut

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied Oklahoma's request to stop the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from cutting funding over the state's refusal to refer family planning patients for abortion after the high court's Dobbs decision last year.

  • September 03, 2024

    Calif. Backs EPA's High Court Fight To Keep SF Water Limits

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's water quality standards for San Francisco are legal and should be upheld in the face of a challenge from the city, California and various green groups told the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday.

  • September 03, 2024

    Colo. Justices To Parse Public Interest Under Anti-SLAPP Law

    Colorado's high court will consider whether the state's anti-SLAPP law requires a person to actually contribute to public discourse in order for their speech to be covered by the statute, and whether their motive matters, in a case concerning negative online posts about a veterinary clinic.

  • September 03, 2024

    Firm Can't Enforce Unexplained Arbitration Clause In Illinois

    A Missouri attorney accused of botching an injury lawsuit he helped pursue for a couple whose dry-cleaning business used allegedly toxic chemicals cannot arbitrate those allegations because he never explained the contractual arbitration provision in those clients' contract to them, an Illinois state appellate panel has found.

  • September 03, 2024

    No BIPA Exception For OTC Glasses, Ill. Judges Say

    An Illinois appellate court has held that someone trying on nonprescription sunglasses with an online try-on tool isn't considered a patient in a healthcare setting, dooming a glasses retailer's attempt to end the biometric privacy lawsuit it faces.

  • September 03, 2024

    NAACP, Others Fight Ga.'s Bid To Undo Election Law Block

    The Georgia branch of the NAACP and a host of other groups are asking the Eleventh Circuit to affirm and expand a preliminary injunction blocking parts of a controversial Peach State election law as state officials are pushing to have the injunction overturned.

  • September 03, 2024

    Judge Skeptical Navy Owes Millions For IP Infringement

    A Federal Circuit judge appeared skeptical Tuesday about a software firm's demand for $85.9 million in damages for the Navy's unauthorized copies of its software, suggesting the company hadn't proven its eligibility for more than the $154,400 it was previously awarded.

  • September 03, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Panel Questions CIT Ruling On Cookware Duty

    A Federal Circuit panel expressed skepticism of a U.S. Court of International Trade decision last year to deny first-sale treatment for a California cookware distributor's Chinese imports, saying the key step in determining the level of duties seemed to be largely based on the absence of certain evidence the government didn't even subpoena to obtain.

  • September 03, 2024

    2nd Circ. Won't Ax Dad's Removal Over Child's Mental Health

    The Second Circuit ruled Tuesday that a man who entered the U.S. illegally more than two decades ago can't cancel his removal on the grounds that it would cause his daughter hardship, ruling that any adverse impacts would be typical of family separation.

  • September 03, 2024

    3rd Circ.: Biotech Must Pay Royalties Despite Expired Patents

    A cancer drug biotechnology company must pay royalties to a research firm despite the expiration of the applicable patents, a Third Circuit panel ruled in a precedential decision Tuesday, concluding that the biotech's royalty obligation is calculated differently than the one in a U.S. Supreme Court case it cited.

  • September 03, 2024

    Colo. AG Says Tenants Can Sue Blackstone Over Lease Terms

    Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser urged the state's Supreme Court on Friday to find that tenants can sue a group of Blackstone subsidiaries for deceptive trade practices over lease agreements that allegedly misrepresent the rights of tenants.

  • September 03, 2024

    6th Circ. Revives Suits Over Fatal Kia Optima Crash

    A split Sixth Circuit panel on Tuesday reinstated a pair of suits alleging that a malfunction in the cruise control of a 2008 Kia Optima caused it to accelerate and hit a van, killing the Kia's driver and twin boys in the van, saying the trial court wrongly excluded portions of the plaintiffs' experts' opinions.

  • September 03, 2024

    VLSI Asks Fed. Circ. To Nix Intel's Extraterritoriality Patent Win

    Licensing company VLSI has urged the Federal Circuit to overturn a ruling granting Intel Corp. a win in VLSI's $900 million patent fight, arguing that the trial judge wrongly concluded on summary judgment that VLSI hasn't shown that Intel's alleged chip patent infringement occurred in the U.S., among other alleged errors.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    After Chevron: FCC And Industry Must Prepare For Change

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    The Chevron doctrine was especially significant in the communications sector because of the indeterminacy of federal communications statutes, so the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the doctrine could have big implications for those regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, bringing both opportunities and risks for companies, say Thomas Johnson and Michael Showalter at Wiley.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Uniform Tax Law Interpretation Not Guaranteed

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    The loss of Chevron deference will significantly alter the relationship between the IRS, courts and Congress when it comes to tax law, potentially precipitating more transparent rulemaking, but also provoking greater uncertainty due to variability in judicial interpretation, say Michelle Levin and Carneil Wilson at Dentons.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Environmental Law May Face Hurdles

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling overturning Chevron deference could prove to be as influential as the original 1984 decision, with far-reaching implications for U.S. environmental laws, including rendering recently promulgated regulations more vulnerable to challenges, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Opinion

    'Trump Too Small' Ruling Overlooks TM Registration Issues

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Vidal v. Elster, which concluded that “Trump Too Small” cannot be a registered trademark as it violates a federal prohibition, fails to consider modern-day, real-world implications for trademark owners who are denied access to federal registration, say Tiffany Gehrke and Alexa Spitz at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Colo. Ruling Adopts 'Actual Discharge' Test For The First Time

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    After a Colorado court’s recent decision in Potts v. Gaia Children, adopting for the first time a test for evaluating an actual discharge claim, employers must diligently document the circumstances surrounding termination of employment, and exercise particular caution when texting employees, says Michael Laszlo at Clark Hill.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • Why High Court Social Media Ruling Will Be Hotly Debated

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    In deciding the NetChoice cases that challenged Florida and Texas content moderation laws, what the U.S. Supreme Court justices said about social media platforms — and the First Amendment — will have implications and raise questions for nearly all online operators, say Jacob Canter and Joanna Rosen Forster at Crowell & Moring.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Good News For Gov't Contractors In Litigation

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    The net result of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Chevron deference is that individuals, contractors and companies bringing procurement-related cases against the government will have new pathways toward success, say Joseph Berger and Andrés Vera at Thompson Hine.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Scale Tips Favor Away From HHS Agencies

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    The loss of Chevron deference may indirectly aid parties in challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' interpretations of regulations and could immediately influence several pending cases challenging HHS on technical questions and agency authority, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Series

    After Chevron: FDA Regulations In The Crosshairs

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the Chevron doctrine is likely to unleash an array of challenges against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, focusing on areas of potential overreach such as the FDA's authority under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • 2 Options For Sackler Family After High Court Purdue Ruling

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court recently blocked Purdue Pharma's plan to shield the family that owns the company from bankruptcy lawsuits, the Sacklers face the choice to either continue litigation, or return to the bargaining table for a settlement that doesn't eliminate creditor claims, says Gregory Germain at Syracuse University.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Limited Changes In USPTO Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning Chevron deference will have limited consequences for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office given the USPTO's unique statutory features, but it is still an important decision for matters of statutory interpretation, especially those involving provisions of the America Invents Act, say Andrei Iancu and Cooper Godfrey at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For Nationwide Race-Based Hair Protections

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    While 24 states have passed laws that prohibit race-based hair discrimination, this type of bias persists in workplaces and schools, so a robust federal law is necessary to ensure widespread protection, says Samone Ijoma and Erica Roberts at Sanford Heisler.

  • Opinion

    Justices' Malicious-Prosecution Ruling Shows Rare Restraint

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Chiaverini v. City of Napoleon, Ohio, declining to limit malicious-prosecution suits, is a model of judicial modesty and incrementalism, in sharp contrast to the court’s dramatic swings on other rights, says Steven Schwinn at the University of Illinois Chicago Law School.

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