Appellate

  • May 22, 2025

    Ga. Attys Win Fight Over Lien Fees In Personal Injury Suit

    The Georgia Court of Appeals has upheld a nearly $500,000 attorney's lien order requiring a man to pay his former legal team attorney fees, finding Thursday that the attorneys had reasonable cause to withdraw from guiding him in a personal injury suit against Whole Foods after he rejected a $2 million settlement offer and the attorney-client relationship "deteriorated."

  • May 22, 2025

    Michigan Seeks 6th Circ. Rehearing In Enbridge Pipeline Row

    Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has asked the full Sixth Circuit to find she is protected by sovereign immunity from an Enbridge Energy lawsuit to halt her efforts to shut down an oil and natural gas pipeline.

  • May 22, 2025

    BigLaw Firms Insist Trump Deals Are Legal, Don't Alter Values

    Nine BigLaw firms including Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP have written to members of Congress defending controversial agreements they made with the Trump administration to avoid executive orders targeting the firms, according to letters obtained by Law360 on Thursday.

  • May 22, 2025

    Ill. Justices Say Wholesalers Had Notice In Cilantro Dispute

    A cilantro distributor should be able to pursue contribution claims against two wholesalers that allegedly sold tainted cilantro responsible for an E. coli outbreak, as the wholesalers' participation in litigation over the product gave them actual notice of the issues, the Illinois Supreme Court determined on Thursday.

  • May 22, 2025

    5th Circ. Denies Challenge To La. Oversight Of Carbon Wells

    A Fifth Circuit panel said several environmental groups failed to show any imminent injuries stemming from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decision to approve Louisiana's plan to oversee carbon sequestration wells, and dismissed their challenge for lack of standing.

  • May 22, 2025

    Split NJ High Court OKs Atty Keyword Search With Disclaimer

    A split New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Thursday that attorneys in the state may buy the search results for other attorneys' names as keywords as long as they inform prospective clients about the practice in a decision resolving a years-long ethics dispute.

  • May 22, 2025

    9th Circ. Says Ex-Intel Worker's ERISA Suit Short On Specifics

    The Ninth Circuit declined Thursday to reinstate a former Intel worker's suit claiming the company pushed employees' retirement savings into hedge and private equity funds that performed worse than traditional assets, ruling he failed to show that any investment vehicles with similar risk-mitigation strategies pulled better returns.

  • May 22, 2025

    2nd Circ. Won't Revive Court Interpreters' Pay Bias Suit

    The Second Circuit on Thursday declined to reinstate a lawsuit from New York court interpreters alleging they are paid less than their federal counterparts because they are foreign born, saying the workers failed to show the state's court system acted with discriminatory intent.

  • May 22, 2025

    Mass. Justices Say Worker's Raise Doesn't Doom Bias Claim

    Massachusetts' top court on Thursday found that an employer may still face a discrimination claim for an alleged retaliatory action for union activity, even if the move left the worker with a pay bump.

  • May 22, 2025

    High Court Declines To Narrow Reach Of Federal Fraud Law

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday held that using deceptive means to induce a business transaction may still be a crime even if the defendant doesn't seek to cause economic loss, a departure from earlier decisions that have narrowed the scope of federal fraud statutes.

  • May 22, 2025

    Split Supreme Court Blocks 1st Religious Charter School

    A deadlocked U.S. Supreme Court left in place Thursday an Oklahoma state court ruling barring the launch of the nation's first religious charter school, leaving open questions about the constitutionality of excluding religious groups from participating in publicly funded charter school programs.

  • May 21, 2025

    OCC 'Erred Across The Board,' Ex-Wells Fargo Exec Says

    A former Wells Fargo risk officer has asked the Eighth Circuit to vacate steep sanctions that a top U.S. regulator imposed over her alleged role in the bank's fake accounts scandal, arguing she has been unfairly scapegoated and unconstitutionally prosecuted.

  • May 21, 2025

    Fox Accuses Smartmatic Of Destroying 'Critical' Evidence

    Fox News on Wednesday called for Smartmatic to be sanctioned, claiming that nearly two-dozen executives and other employees at the voting tech company destroyed "critical" evidence related to the company's defamation case against the television network, an accusation that comes a week after Smartmatic said Fox deleted relevant texts.

  • May 21, 2025

    Judge Prolongs Pause On Trump's HUD, DOT Grant DEI Limits

    A Washington federal judge Wednesday extended a block on federal grant conditions limiting homelessness aid and transportation funding to recipients who align with the Trump administration's policies against diversity and inclusion programming, as nearly two dozen localities joined New York, San Francisco and others challenging the terms.

  • May 21, 2025

    Calif. Justices Weigh Strict Arbitration Fee Law's Validity

    Counsel for a food supply company urged the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to find the Federal Arbitration Act preempts a state statute automatically waiving arbitration rights for a party that doesn't timely pay arbitration fees, saying the law is so draconian that even an earthquake wouldn't excuse late payment.

  • May 21, 2025

    'DIY' Rape Kit Ban Challenge Seems To Leave 9th Circ. Split

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared divided Wednesday over a company's appeal in its case challenging Washington state's ban on self-administered DNA collection kits for sexual assault survivors, with one judge remarking the product "doesn't do a whole heck of a lot" if the evidence isn't admissible in court.  

  • May 21, 2025

    FTC Urges 8th Circ. Not To Pause In-House PBM Case

    The Eighth Circuit should once again say no to a request to pause the Federal Trade Commission's in-house case accusing three pharmacy benefit managers of hiking up the price of insulin to line their own pockets, the agency has told the appellate court.

  • May 21, 2025

    The Status Of Biden-Era Immigration Suits: A Roundup

    Following the presidential transition, the U.S. Department of Justice moved to dismiss suits brought by the Biden administration challenging state immigration enforcement measures in Texas, Iowa and Oklahoma, leaving the status of those cases up in the air.

  • May 21, 2025

    4th Circ. Won't Revive Khashoggi Widow's Surveillance Suit

    The Fourth Circuit on Wednesday said a Virginia federal judge properly tossed a lawsuit from the widow of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi alleging NSO Group Technologies' spyware contributed to her husband's assassination, saying she hasn't shown the cyber-intelligence firm's alleged conduct was directed at the Commonwealth.

  • May 21, 2025

    9th Circ. Judge Asks If Apple's Watch Updates 'Ice Out' Rivals

    Two Ninth Circuit judges appeared skeptical Wednesday of Apple Inc.'s arguments against reviving an antitrust suit brought by medical monitoring startup AliveCor Inc. after Apple blocked third-party access to medical data on the Apple Watch, with one judge asking rhetorically whether a "marginal" improvement by Apple could actually be a way to "ice out" competition.

  • May 21, 2025

    Ga. Judge Tells Ethics Panel No Harm Meant In Family Cases

    An Atlanta trial judge facing allegations that she intervened on behalf of her uncle in a legal proceeding and had a woman locked in a cell during her parents' divorce hearing took the stand Wednesday before Georgia's judicial watchdog, saying she would have done things differently in hindsight.

  • May 21, 2025

    AbbVie Gets Victory In Allergan Shareholder Suit Upheld

    An Illinois state appellate panel said Wednesday that a trial court properly dismissed a shareholder class action against biopharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc. that accused the drugmaker of issuing unregistered shares to investors after acquiring Irish pharmaceutical company Allergan.

  • May 21, 2025

    Army Contract Protest Dismissed Over Filing Violations

    Multiple missed filing deadlines and public filings containing confidential information, despite repeated warnings, provided grounds to dismiss a Virginia company's challenge of a U.S. Army contract award for information technology services, a Court of Federal Claims Judge said Wednesday.

  • May 21, 2025

    6th Circ. Revives Yacht Co.'s ERISA Health Fee Claims

    The Sixth Circuit on Wednesday revived a Michigan yacht company's federal benefits lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, holding that a lower court wrongly tossed allegations that excessive healthcare fees breached fiduciary duties and caused prohibited transactions.

  • May 21, 2025

    Texas Bills To Watch Before The End Of The 2025 Session

    With less than two weeks remaining in the Texas legislative session, lawmakers will hit several deadlines in the coming days that will seal the fate of bills surrounding legal procedure, abortion, artificial intelligence and other topics.

Expert Analysis

  • Algorithm Price-Fixing Ruling May Lower Antitrust Claims Bar

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    A Washington federal court's refusal to dismiss Duffy v. Yardi Systems, an antitrust case over rent prices allegedly inflated by revenue management software, creates an apparent split in the lower courts over how to assess such claims, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • What Insurers Should Know About AI Use In Litigation

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    As the use of artificial intelligence in litigation evolves, insurers should note standing court orders, instances of judges utilizing AI to determine policy definitions and the application of evidentiary standards to expert evidence that incorporates AI, says Sarah Abrams at Baleen Specialty.

  • Series

    Coaching Little League Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While coaching poorly played Little League Baseball early in the morning doesn't sound like a good time, I love it — and the experience has taught me valuable lessons about imperfection, compassion and acceptance that have helped me grow as a person and as a lawyer, says Alex Barnett at DiCello Levitt.

  • UK Lawyers Can Access Broad US Discovery To Win Cases

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    Given its breadth, U.S. discovery can be a powerful tool in litigation in the U.K. and other jurisdictions outside the U.S., and a survey of recent cases indicates that discovery requests made in the U.S. are likely to be granted — with many applications even proceeding without contest, say lawyers at Miller & Chevalier.

  • 7 Employment Contracts Issues Facing DOL Scrutiny

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    A growing trend of U.S. Department of Labor enforcement against employment practices that limit workers' rights and avoid legal responsibility shines a light on seven unique contractual provisions that violate federal labor laws, and face agressive litigation from the labor solicitor, says Thomas Starks at Freeman Mathis.

  • Ruling Shows High Court Willing To Limit Immigration Review

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Bouarfa v. Mayorkas is the latest demonstration of the court’s readiness to limit judicial review in the immigration space, a notable break from other recent decisions that expanded judicial review of agency decisions in other areas, says Mark Fleming at WilmerHale.

  • 5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2025

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    Lawyers and their clients must be prepared to navigate an evolving litigation funding market in 2025, made more complicated by a new administration and the increasing overall cost of litigation, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.

  • Managing Litigation Side-Switching During 2nd Trump Admin

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    Now that the new presidential administration is in place, the government will likely switch positions in a number of pending cases, and stakeholders should employ strategies to protect their interests, say attorneys at Covington.

  • High Court Unlikely To Expand FSIA In Holocaust Asset Fight

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    Not surprisingly for a court where the majority are strict textualists, the U.S. Supreme Court justices appear poised to rule in favor of Hungary in Republic of Hungary v. Simon, reaffirming the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act as a narrow exception to jurisdiction, say attorneys at Lewis Baach.

  • The Fed. Circ. In 2024: 5 Major Rulings To Know

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    In 2024, the Federal Circuit provided a number of important clarifications to distinct areas of patent law – including design patent obviousness, expert testimony admissions and patent term adjustments – all of which are poised to have an influence going forward, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Rethinking Litigation Risk And What It Really Means To Win

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    Attorneys have a tendency to overestimate litigation risk before summary judgment and underestimate risk after it, but an eight-stage litigation framework can clarify risk at different points and help litigators reassess what true success looks like in any particular case, says Joshua Libling at Arcadia Finance.

  • Mass Arbitration Procedures After Faulty Live Nation Ruling

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    Despite the Ninth Circuit's flawed reasoning in Heckman v. Live Nation, the exceptional allegations of collusive conduct shouldn't be read to restrict arbitration providers that have adopted good faith procedures to ensure that consumer mass arbitrations can be efficiently resolved on the merits, says Collin Vierra at Eimer Stahl.

  • Lessons From Two New Year's Eve Uptier Exchange Decisions

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    On the last day of 2024, two different courts issued important decisions relating to non-pro rata uptier exchanges — and while they differ, both rulings highlight that transactions effected in reliance on undefined terms in debt agreements come with increased risk, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Public Corruption Enforcement In 2024 Has Clues For 2025

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    If 2024 activity is any indication, the U.S. Supreme Court will likely continue to rein in expansive prosecutorial theories of fraud in the year to come, but it’s harder to predict what the new administration will mean for public corruption prosecutions in 2025, says Cathy Fleming at Offit Kurman.

  • Issues To Watch In 2025's ERISA Litigation Landscape

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    Whether 2024’s uptick in new Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases will continue this year will likely depend on federal courts’ resolution of several issues, including those related to excessive fees, defined contribution plan forfeitures, and pleading standards for ERISA-prohibited transaction claims, say attorneys at Groom Law.

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