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Appellate
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October 16, 2025
4th Circ. OKs $811M Award In CFPB Immigrant Bond Co. Suit
The Fourth Circuit has affirmed an $811 million judgment awarded to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in its enforcement case against immigrant bond companies accused of engaging in abusive practices.
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October 16, 2025
Justices Asked To Rethink Gellert Seitz Malpractice Ruling
Lawyers for a homebuilder are asking Delaware's Supreme Court to reconsider its decision affirming the dismissal of a legal malpractice suit against Gellert Seitz Busenkell & Brown LLC over damages the builder said it suffered due to the firm's negligence handling loan-restructuring disputes, arguing that key issues have been left unresolved.
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October 16, 2025
Creek Freedmen Seek Contempt Ruling Over Citizenship Delay
Two members of the Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band are seeking to hold the Creek Nation's principal chief and its citizenship board in contempt, alleging that their refusal to issue enrollment cards is a blatant violation of a tribal Supreme Court order that cannot be tolerated.
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October 16, 2025
5th Circ. Calls For Narrow Sanctions In Southwest Bias Fight
The Fifth Circuit stood by its decision to scuttle a contempt order mandating religious bias training for attorneys representing Southwest Airlines in a flight attendant's discrimination suit, but tweaked a May panel ruling to instruct a trial court to impose "narrowly tailored" sanctions.
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October 16, 2025
3rd Circ. Says FLSA Doesn't Limit Class Member Settlements
The Fair Labor Standards Act tackles only who can litigate claims and is silent on whether settlement class members who have not opted into a collective can release their claims under the federal law, the Third Circuit found Thursday.
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October 16, 2025
Music Giants Say Cox Case Isn't About Grandma Losing Wi-Fi
Leading music publishers have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm that internet service providers can be contributorily liable for their customers' piracy if they fail to take action, saying a jury verdict against Cox Communications that led to a $1 billion award showed that the company "made a deliberate and egregious decision" to put profits first.
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October 16, 2025
3rd Circ. Denies DOL's Bid For 2nd Look At H-2A Fine Powers
The full Third Circuit won't weigh whether the U.S. Department of Labor had the authority to use in-house administrative proceedings to impose more than $580,000 in fines on a New Jersey farm for what the department said were violations of the H-2A visa program.
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October 15, 2025
5th Circ. Upholds Bargaining Order Against Nexstar
A Fifth Circuit panel affirmed a bargaining order issued by the National Labor Relations Board against Nexstar on Wednesday, rejecting the media company's attempt to shed an obligation to negotiate with a newly installed Communications Workers of America affiliate at two of its Denver television stations.
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October 15, 2025
Monster Energy Gets Another Shot At Camping Gear IP Claims
The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday found that a lower court erred in throwing out Monster Energy's trademark infringement suit against the manufacturers of 4Monster camping gear, finding that a reasonable juror could find that the marks are confusingly similar.
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October 15, 2025
Fla. Bar Can't Escape $1.6M Default Judgment In Injury Case
A split Florida appellate panel Wednesday affirmed a $1.6 million default judgment against a bar that had been sued over a woman's injuries, saying the drinking establishment's arguments about the lawsuit being served on a mystery woman named "Georgia" were meritless.
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October 15, 2025
Justices Allow Federal Gov't To Argue In Army Vet Injury Suit
The federal government has been allowed to weigh in on whether a U.S. Army veteran can revive his state-based injury claims against a military defense contractor in connection with a 2016 suicide bombing in Afghanistan, the U.S. Supreme Court announced.
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October 15, 2025
Goldstein Can't Dismiss 2016 Tax Charges As Time-Barred
A Maryland federal judge denied SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein's motion to dismiss four of the 22 federal tax charges brought against him in January, ruling that his defense that the counts stemming from the 2016 tax year should be time-barred will have to be raised at trial.
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October 15, 2025
Justices Told PTAB Has No Business Reviewing Expired IP
Gesture Technology Partners LLC urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to consider whether the Patent Trial and Appeal Board can review expired patents, pushing back on arguments from the government and several tech giants that the justices have already ruled it can't.
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October 15, 2025
Texas Panel Asks Why $12M Verdict Higher Than Project Cost
A Texas appeals panel pushed a developer to justify a roughly $12 million verdict against a construction company given the developer paid around that amount to build the apartment at the center of the suit, asking Wednesday why the developer was entitled to that sum.
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October 15, 2025
3rd Circ. Clears Cannabis REIT In Investor Fraud Suit
The Third Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of a securities fraud class action against a cannabis-focused real estate investment trust that alleged the trust violated securities laws by ignoring red flags about a tenant, with the panel finding that investors failed to show they were intentionally misled.
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October 15, 2025
'Lapse In Judgment' Didn't Merit Atty DQ, Ga. Panel Rules
The Georgia Court of Appeals reversed a trial court's disqualification of an attorney from a property dispute over discussions the lawyer had that initiated property damage central to the case, ruling that while the talks showed a "lapse in judgment," they did not warrant his removal.
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October 15, 2025
Justices Doubt Need For Probable Cause In Emergency Entry
U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday seemed reluctant to raise the standard police must meet to enter a home without a warrant during a potential emergency, with several saying they did not see a reason to disturb past rulings on the subject.
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October 15, 2025
Smart Thermostat Makers Keep PTAB, ITC Wins At Fed. Circ.
Causam Enterprises owns the electrical utilities control patent it has accused ecobee and others of infringing with smart thermostats, but the patent is not valid, the Federal Circuit concluded Wednesday in a pair of precedential opinions.
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October 15, 2025
Texas Appeals Court Pushes Cigna On Payments To Hospitals
A Texas appeals court seemed skeptical of Cigna Healthcare of Texas Inc.'s claim that once a patient gets hospitalized, any subsequent treatment should be classified as emergency care, asking Wednesday why Cigna should get to escape a lawsuit claiming it underpaid multiple hospitals.
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October 15, 2025
Professor Takes 'Rapunzel' TM Case To Supreme Court
A law professor seeking to challenge a "Rapunzel" trademark as a consumer of fairy-tale toy characters has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her out after the Federal Circuit upheld a finding that she lacked standing because her alleged injury wasn't commercial in nature.
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October 15, 2025
Fed. Circ. Won't Halt Magistrate Trial In Google Patent Case
The Federal Circuit on Wednesday denied a request from a location tracking patent owner to prevent a magistrate judge from holding a bench trial on Google's equitable defenses to his infringement claims, saying the patent owner had not shown that proceeding with the case and filing an appeal after a judgment would be inadequate.
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October 15, 2025
High Court Leans Toward Limiting Voting Rights Act Suits
The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative supermajority seemed ready Wednesday to further limit the use of the Voting Rights Act in challenging alleged racial discrimination in legislative redistricting, but appeared divided over how to accomplish that.
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October 15, 2025
Parents Urge 9th Circ. To Reject Meta's Section 230 Appeal
Parents and school districts are urging the Ninth Circuit to reject Meta Platforms Inc.'s bid for immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, saying the company behind Facebook and Instagram can't use the measure for vaguely defined publishing-related activity.
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October 15, 2025
Ga. Justices Revive Suit Over L'Oréal Hair Relaxer Health Risks
The Georgia Supreme Court reversed a decision by the state's Court of Appeals that barred a woman's suit alleging that chemicals in hair relaxers made by L'Oreal USA Inc. and Strength of Nature Global LLC caused her to develop uterine fibroids.
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October 15, 2025
Fed. Circ. Says Anti-SLAPP Motion Wrongly Denied In IP Case
The Federal Circuit on Wednesday said a California district court wrongly denied several semiconductor manufacturers' anti-SLAPP motion in a case where they are accused of stealing trade secrets, saying in a precedential opinion that filing a patent application is protected activity under the state's law.
Expert Analysis
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11th Circ.'s FCRA Standing Ruling Offers Compliance Lessons
The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in Nelson v. Experian on establishing Article III standing under the Fair Credit Reporting Act should prompt businesses to survey FCRA compliance programs, review open matters for standing defenses and refresh training materials, say attorneys at Nixon Peabody.
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Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Mastering Time Management
Law students typically have weeks or months to prepare for any given deadline, but the unpredictability of practicing in the real world means that lawyers must become time-management pros, ready to adapt to scheduling conflicts and unexpected assignments at any given moment, says David Thomas at Honigman.
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Courts Keep Upping Standing Ante In ERISA Healthcare Suits
As Article III standing becomes increasingly important in litigation brought by employer-sponsored health plan members under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, several recent cases suggest that courts are taking a more scrutinizing approach to the standing inquiry in both class actions and individual matters, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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How Hyperlinks Are Changing E-Discovery Responsibilities
A recent e-discovery dispute over hyperlinked data in Hubbard v. Crow shows how courts have increasingly broadened the definition of control to account for cloud-based evidence, and why organizations must rethink preservation practices to avoid spoliation risks, says Bree Murphy at Exterro.
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11th Circ. Equitable Tolling Ruling Deepens Circuit Split
The Eleventh Circuit recently held that equitable tolling was unavailable to extend a deadline to object to discharge of debt, becoming the most recent circuit court decision to address this issue, and deepening a split that requires resolution by the U.S. Supreme Court, says Paul Avron at Berger Singerman.
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Tips As 6th Circ. Narrows Employers' Harassment Liability
In Bivens v. Zep, the Sixth Circuit adopted a heightened standard for employer liability for nonemployee harassment, which diverges from the prevailing view among federal appeals courts, and raises questions about how quickly employers must respond to third-party harassment and how they manage risk across jurisdictions, say attorneys at Benesch.
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Preserving Refunds As Tariffs Await Supreme Court Weigh-In
In the event that the U.S. Supreme Court decides in V.O.S. Selections v. Trump that the president doesn't have authority to levy tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, importers should keep records of imports on which they have paid such tariffs and carefully monitor the liquidation dates, say attorneys at Butzel.
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How Justices' Ruling Upends Personal Jurisdiction Defense
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Fuld v. Palestinian Liberation Organization, holding that the Fifth Amendment's due process clause does not require a defendant to have minimum contacts with a forum, may thwart foreign defendants' reliance on personal jurisdiction to evade federal claims in U.S. courts, say attorneys at Axinn.
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'Occurrence' Lessons From Policyholder's COVID Ruling Win
The Minnesota Court of Appeals recently handed policyholders an important win in Life Time v. Zurich American Insurance, reversing a trial court ruling that had capped coverage under a communicable disease endorsement at a single occurrence, showing the importance of fact-specific inquiry, say attorneys at Hunton.
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9th Circ. Ruling Leaves SEC Gag Rule Open To Future Attacks
Though the Ninth Circuit's recent ruling in Powell v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission leaves the SEC's no-admit, no-deny rule intact, it could provide some fodder for litigants who wish to criticize the commission's activities either before or after settling with the commission, says Jonathan Richman at Brown Rudnick.
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Series
Writing Musicals Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experiences with writing musicals and practicing law have shown that the building blocks for both endeavors are one and the same, because drama is necessary for the law to exist, says Addison O’Donnell at LOIS Law.
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Diverging FAA Preemption Rulings Underscore Role Of Venue
Two recent rulings evaluating Federal Arbitration Act preemption of state laws — one from the California Supreme Court, upholding the state law, and another from a New York federal court, upholding the arbitration agreement — demonstrate why venue should be a key consideration when seeking to enforce arbitration clauses, say attorneys at Hollingsworth.
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A Reminder Of The Limits Of The SEC's Crypto Thaw
As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's regulatory thaw has opened up new possibilities for tokenization projects, the Ninth Circuit's recent decision in SEC v. Barry that certain fractional interests are investment contracts, and thus securities, illustrates that guardrails remain via the Howey test, say attorneys at Skadden.
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Series
Adapting To Private Practice: From Va. AUSA To Mid-Law
Returning to the firm where I began my career after seven years as an assistant U.S. attorney in Virginia has been complex, nuanced and rewarding, and I’ve learned that the pursuit of justice remains the constant, even as the mindset and client change, says Kristin Johnson at Woods Rogers.
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2 Fed. Circ. Rulings Underscore Patent Prosecution Pitfalls
Two recent patent decisions from the Federal Circuit, overturning significant judgments, serve as reminders that claim modifications and cancellations may have substantive effects on the scope of other claims, and that arguments distinguishing prior art and characterizing claims may also limit claim scope, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.