Appellate

  • October 01, 2026

    Developer Bound By Emailed Settlement Offer, Court Says

    A three-sentence email with the subject line "settlement communication," which proposed a meeting followed by dismissal of a lawsuit over a real estate development, was a binding agreement to end the case, Massachusetts' intermediate-level appellate court said Thursday.

  • October 01, 2026

    Pa. Justices Back Transit Prosecutor Law Challenged By DA

    The Pennsylvania Legislature's creation of a "special prosecutor" to address Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner's allegedly unsatisfactory handling of crime in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority does not run afoul of the state constitution because of the city's special status, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

  • October 01, 2026

    Justices To Review Ex-Spouse Military Pay Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to review a woman's attempt to enforce a divorce settlement under which she said she was entitled to a share of her ex-husband's military retirement pay, even if he waived it to receive disability benefits.

  • October 01, 2026

    Trump Announces Judicial Noms For 5th Circ., NC

    President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he's nominating Todd Butler, a managing partner at Phelps Dunbar LLP, to serve as a judge on the Fifth Circuit. 

  • October 01, 2026

    Justices To Review Trump's No-Bond Migrant Detention Policy

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to review whether the Trump administration can detain unauthorized immigrants without bond until their immigration cases conclude, regardless of whether they had already been living in the country.

  • September 30, 2026

    9th Circ. Judges Doubt X's Claims Against Anti-Hate Group

    Ninth Circuit judges appeared skeptical Wednesday of X Corp.'s bid to revive claims against two nonprofits for scraping tweets to study online hate speech, with one judge questioning X's contract damages claim and another doubting that the nonprofits could be held liable for publishing true information.

  • September 30, 2026

    Eli Lilly Loses Full Fed. Circ. Bid To Nix Teva's $177M IP Win

    Federal Circuit judges Wednesday denied Eli Lilly & Co.'s bid for a full court review of a panel decision that reinstated a $177 million jury verdict against it for infringing Teva headache drug patents, while one dissenting judge said the panel's holding "creates confusion" over enablement standards for patent method claims.

  • September 30, 2026

    7th Circ. Backs Truckers In Union Pacific BIPA Suit

    A Seventh Circuit panel on Wednesday affirmed that fingerprint scans at Union Pacific's Illinois facilities violated a state privacy law, rejecting the company's stance that a government contractor exception applies anytime the contract is active.

  • September 30, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Won't Order Judge To Invalidate Injection Patents

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday refused to issue an order for a Utah federal judge to declare patents held by CR Bard Inc. and Bard Peripheral Vascular Inc. invalid at the request of Medical Components Inc.

  • September 30, 2026

    Defamation Litigation Roundup: Candace Owens, Firm DQ

    In this month's review of defamation fights, Law360 highlights a new suit over right-wing media personality Candace Owens and her conspiracy theories about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, as well as Quinn Emanuel's disqualification from a suit against a former client.

  • September 30, 2026

    Baker Donelson Gets 2nd Chance To Toss Malpractice Suit

    A Florida state appeals court reversed an order denying law firm Baker Donelson's bid to escape a construction company's malpractice lawsuit alleging it relied on bad legal advice, saying Wednesday the lower court must first determine if any misconduct occurred in the Sunshine State. 

  • September 30, 2026

    Tow Co. Can't Nix $27M Default Judgment, Texas Court Rules

    The father of a U.S. Postal Service worker who was totally incapacitated following a collision with a tow truck will get a second shot at securing a $27 million default judgment against the repossession company, a Texas appeals court ruled, saying the company was properly served.

  • September 30, 2026

    DC Circ. Unsure Annulled $40M Award Is 'Repugnant'

    The D.C. Circuit is set to decide whether it was "repugnant" of a Swedish court to retroactively cancel an arbitration agreement after a $40 million award had already been won, based on a finding that European Union law didn't allow it.

  • September 30, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Spurns Partial ParkerVision Appeal In Patent Suit

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday found that it couldn't consider ParkerVision's challenge to a lower court's construction of some patent claims in its suit against Qualcomm while others from the same patent remain undecided, saying courts can't enter final judgments in such situations.

  • September 30, 2026

    23andMe Beats Calif.'s Bankruptcy Sale Privacy Challenge

    A Missouri federal judge on Tuesday denied California's bid to undo the $305 million bankruptcy sale of 23andMe over concerns that the sale sidestepped state consumer data protections, ruling that the state lacks standing to challenge the sale and that the court's "good-faith" findings aren't clearly erroneous.  

  • September 30, 2026

    Texas Court Revives Suit Over Sponge Left In Surgery Patient

    A Texas appellate court on Wednesday revived a medical malpractice suit accusing three radiologists of failing to identify a surgical sponge left inside a patient after open-heart surgery, saying there is a factual dispute over whether the plaintiffs acted with sufficient diligence to overcome a statute-of-limitations defense.

  • September 30, 2026

    3rd Circ. Topples Materiality Rule For Securities Suits

    The Third Circuit on Wednesday revived a securities fraud class action against pharmaceutical company Ocugen Inc., scrapping a decades-old circuit rule that treated a stock price's failure to move after a corrective disclosure as conclusive proof that an alleged misstatement was immaterial.

  • September 30, 2026

    11th Circ. Skeptical Of PACE Lenders' CFPB Rule Challenge

    An Eleventh Circuit panel on Wednesday appeared poised to reject an industry challenge to Biden-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rules for providers of property-assessed clean-energy loans, repeatedly questioning claims that the agency overstepped its authority.

  • September 30, 2026

    Ga. Judge Must Justify No Sanctions In Alice-Doomed IP Case

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday ordered a Georgia federal judge to explain why it wasn't appropriate to sanction Epic Tech LLC when there were three major signs the patent it asserted against Pen-Tech Associates Inc. was invalid.

  • September 30, 2026

    Fla. Panel Says Hot-Car Conviction Needs Knowledge Element

    A Florida state appeals court Wednesday ruled that a nanny convicted of felony murder after forgetting she left a 10-month-old inside a hot car should be tried again, saying prosecutors used an improper underlying charge as a basis for the felony murder charge.

  • September 30, 2026

    3rd Circ. Calls Westlaw AI Fight 'Ordinary Copyright Case'

    The Third Circuit said the first appellate fight over artificial intelligence training and fair use ultimately came down to an "ordinary copyright case," affirming that Ross Intelligence infringed Thomson Reuters' Westlaw headnotes when it used them to train a competing legal research platform.

  • September 30, 2026

    3rd Circ. Probes Payment Recipients In Fund's $100M Tax Row

    A Third Circuit panel examined dealer-and-customer relations under accounting rules governing their transactions on Wednesday to determine whether the Internal Revenue Service was right to slap a $100 million tax bill against a Cayman Islands hedge fund for payments tied to U.S. portfolio companies.

  • September 30, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Backs PTAB Ax Of Twist Drill Patent Claims

    A Chinese inventor lost his attempt to revive claims in his twist drill patent he accused a Minnesota company of infringing on Wednesday when the Federal Circuit backed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's invalidation of the claims.

  • September 30, 2026

    Biz Groups Urge 5th Circ. To Back Texas Derivative-Suits Limit

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Texas Association of Business on Wednesday urged the Fifth Circuit to uphold the dismissal of a Southwest Airlines shareholder's derivative suit, saying Texas law properly blocks such suits for those who hold less than 3% of shares.

  • September 30, 2026

    Amazon, Investor Clash Over Del. Forum Limits On Records

    Amazon.com Inc. and a stockholder seeking company records clashed before the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday over whether the investor should be restricted to using those documents in Delaware litigation, with the stockholder arguing the condition is too broad and Amazon saying it protects against duplicative lawsuits in multiple courts.

Expert Analysis

  • Yellow Corp. WARN Act Appeal Refines Layoff Guidance

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    A Delaware federal court's recent upholding of a bankruptcy court's disallowance of unions' federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act claims against Yellow underscores that fact-specific notices and thoughtful timing are essential for distressed companies implementing layoffs, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • High Court Rulings Could Alter Agency Strategy For Cos.

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decisions in Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook mark major turning points in the law of independent agencies and in how regulated companies should think about federal enforcement, rulemaking and agency-facing strategy, say attorneys at Holtzman Vogel.

  • Opinion

    Justices' Parole Ruling Degrades Green Card Holders' Rights

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Blanche v. Lau, holding that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers can parole a returning lawful permanent resident without clear and convincing evidence of a crime, weakens the statutory and practical protections Congress intended, say attorneys at Cyrus D. Mehta & Partners.

  • 3rd Circ. ERISA Ruling Stresses Process Over Perfect Returns

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    The Third Circuit's recent decision in Quest Diagnostics affirms that a sound fiduciary process — not perfect investment returns — defeats Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims, signaling that courts will keep scrutinizing how fiduciaries decide, and sponsors who can show their work should remain protected, say attorneys at Nixon Peabody.

  • Fed. Circ. Licensing Rulings Shed Light On Patentee Standing

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    Two recent decisions from the Federal Circuit provide a useful framework for evaluating whether a patent license agreement preserves a sufficient exclusionary interest to support future patent infringement claims, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Asylum Ruling Signals Larger Separation Of Powers Battle

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado that border officials may turn away asylum-seekers without inspection is part of a broader conversation about the reach of institutional safeguards that subject governmental authority to legal constraint, says Dree Collopy at American University's Washington College of Law.

  • Solar's Momentum At Mid-2026 Will Help It Overcome Snags

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    The rapid expansion of U.S. solar development in the first half of 2026 is likely to continue its pace, even amid ongoing shifts in federal trade policy and supply chain regulations, obstacles to permitting reform, and an increasing divide between states enacting policies to encourage or stymie project development, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • How Justices Stayed Off The Geofence In Location Data Case

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent Chatrie v. United States decision reaffirms Fourth Amendment protections for location data but avoids more complicated questions about geofence warrants, say attorneys at Adams Duerk.

  • Remote Work Rulings Show ADA Fights Hinge On Process

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    Two opposite outcomes in recent Fifth Circuit and D.C. federal court cases underscore that the legality of denying employees' disability accommodation requests for remote work depends less on broad policy and more on how it's applied, says Paul Sweeney at Ice Miller.

  • Fed Autonomy Rests On Narrow Exception After Justices Rule

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Trump v. Cook and Trump v. Slaughter expand presidential removal power while temporarily preserving the Federal Reserve’s independence, but there is uncertainty about which of the Fed’s authorities fall within the court’s narrow monetary-policy exception, says Keith Bradley at Squire Patton.

  • Series

    Being A Magician Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I've developed as a lifelong magician have translated directly into tangible benefits in the courtroom because performing magic and trying cases both live at the intersection of psychology, storytelling, timing and disciplined rehearsal, says Mark Dombroff at Fox Rothschild.

  • How Litigants Are Testing Conversion Therapy Ruling's Scope

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    Litigants are already using the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Chiles v. Salazar ruling, which applied strict scrutiny to Colorado’s conversion therapy ban, to challenge laws limiting algorithmic rental pricing, artificial intelligence-based discrimination and anti-union employer speech, and courts must soon decide Chiles’ First Amendment limits, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

  • How Justices' TPS Ruling Affects Workforce Planning

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent holding in Mullin v. Doe that courts lack jurisdiction to review temporary protected status determinations greenlights the end of TPS for thousands of Syrian and Haitian nationals, and means employers must reevaluate TPS-designees' employability while avoiding discriminatory document practices, says attorney Richard Herman.

  • How Pfizer Won Fed. Circ. Patent Dispute By 1 Carbon Atom

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    The Federal Circuit's recent refusal to revive a patent in Enanta Pharmaceuticals v. Pfizer over an alleged typo creating a one-atom difference in a COVID-19 treatment application hands defendants a template for potentially converting a triable fact question into an early dispositive ruling, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • What To Know Before Justices Rule In Title IX Employee Case

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    The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to decide whether Title IX protections extend to employees alleging sex discrimination in Crowther v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, which could have significant implications for higher education institutions and their employees, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

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