Appellate

  • August 25, 2026

    Albright Cements Lyft's $1M Trial Loss Over Ride-Hailing IP

    A Texas federal jury rightly found that Lyft Inc. infringed Quartz Auto Technologies LLC's ride-hailing patent and should pay $1 million for doing so, U.S. District Judge Alan Albright has ruled.

  • August 25, 2026

    Calif. County Drops Pot Fines To End Landowners' Claims

    Humboldt County, California, has agreed to settle a lawsuit with a group of landowners who complained authorities overstepped their powers in an effort to punish allegedly illegal cannabis grow operations, following a Ninth Circuit ruling in 2025 against the county.

  • August 25, 2026

    9th Circ. Says Congress Kept NSA Report Outside FOIA

    A Ninth Circuit panel has affirmed the National Security Agency's decision to not grant a Freedom of Information Act request to release a nearly six-decade-old report on the sinking of the USS Liberty.

  • August 25, 2026

    FDA Must Revisit Xifaxan Generic Exclusivity, DC Circ. Says

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to take another look at Norwich Pharmaceuticals' bid to bring a generic version of a prescription drug for irritable bowel syndrome to market, faulting the FDA's use of what the court said was an incorrect causation standard.

  • August 25, 2026

    6th Circ. Urged To Affirm Tobacco Fee Suit Toss

    A trade group representing large employee benefit plan administrators wrote in support of insurance giant Progressive at the Sixth Circuit, asking the appellate court to back dismissal of a proposed class action alleging the insurer wrongfully charged workers more for healthcare who used tobacco and refused COVID-19 vaccination. 

  • August 25, 2026

    11th Circ. Won't Upend Ex-Deputy's $250K Retaliation Suit Win

    The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday upheld a jury's $250,000 award to a former sheriff's deputy who claimed he was fired for filing a bias charge against a Florida county sheriff's office, ruling statements in the charge were protected even if the sheriff believed they were false.

  • August 25, 2026

    DC Circ. Backs Red Snapper Management Plan

    A D.C. Circuit panel denied a petition from commercial fishers and fish purchasers challenging an annual federal catch limit for South Atlantic red snapper, rejecting their claim that the plan's lack of a limit on dead discards violates federal law and could lead to overfishing.

  • August 25, 2026

    Elite Schools Get 7th Circ. Appeal In Aid-Fixing Case

    The Seventh Circuit has agreed to allow several private universities accused of colluding to set financial aid offerings to appeal a ruling certifying a class of students over questions about an economic expert's testimony.

  • August 25, 2026

    DC Circ. Says ESA Review Wasn't Needed For EPA Air Rule

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's determination that retaining existing air quality standards for nitrogen oxides and particulate matter would not affect animals or plants protected under the Endangered Species Act.

  • August 25, 2026

    New Mexico Justices Pause Permit, Hearing For Data Center

    New Mexico's Supreme Court in a pair of rulings paused an air permit hearing and ordered a developer to stop drawing water from the construction site of Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank's Project Jupiter data center, leading a lawmaker to call on state officials to release more information about the project.

  • August 25, 2026

    Rising Star: McKool Smith's Charles Fowler

    Charles Fowler, the head of Texas trial firm McKool Smith PC's appellate practice, has successfully protected a multimillion-dollar jury award in a contract dispute with Santander and steered Aramark through the appellate process in an ERISA dispute, earning him a spot among the appellate practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • August 25, 2026

    Mich. Panel Keeps Democratic Ballot Bids Alive Despite Error

    Democratic attorney general candidate Eli Savit and secretary of state candidate Garlin Gilchrist II can remain on track to appear on Michigan's November ballot after a state appellate panel upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit seeking to disqualify them, ruling that a lower court wrongly rejected the challenger's amended complaint but that the error was harmless. 

  • August 25, 2026

    8-Year Supervised Release Sentence Upheld In First Step Case

    A man given life in prison for a drug conspiracy and then resentenced under the First Step Act to time served and eight years of supervised release cannot further reduce the judgment, the Second Circuit has ruled.

  • August 25, 2026

    NAACP Warns Justices Colo. Pre-K Exemption Risks Bias

    The NAACP and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold Colorado's nondiscrimination rules for its universal preschool program, warning that allowing religious schools to receive public funds while excluding students based on sexual orientation or gender identity would undermine civil rights protections.

  • August 25, 2026

    6th Circ. Says Judge Can't Escape Teen Mock Arrest Suit

    A Sixth Circuit panel on Monday allowed to proceed a Michigan federal lawsuit filed against a Detroit judge who handcuffed a 15-year-old student and subjected her to a mock trial after she fell asleep in his courtroom, ruling that judicial immunity does not protect him.

  • August 24, 2026

    11th Circ. Revives Title IX Claim Against Ga. Charter School

    An Eleventh Circuit panel has revived a Title IX claim against an Atlanta-area charter school, saying it ignored allegations of harassment against a middle school science teacher who later assaulted and was accused of harassing female students.

  • August 24, 2026

    NJ Court Rejects Senior Facility's Read On Nursing Home Law

    A New Jersey appellate court on Monday upheld a nearly $1 million judgment against a senior care network, rejecting arguments that one of its facilities wasn't operating as a nursing home in its allegedly inadequate care for an elderly patient.

  • August 24, 2026

    Calif. Appeals Court Signals Wiretap Law Applies To Trackers

    A California state appeals court appears poised to declare that website tracking technologies generally qualify as pen registers under the state's wiretap law, while finding that the specific trackers at issue in a lawsuit against Variety Media LLC don't fall under this definition because they don't identify the destination of intercepted communications. 

  • August 24, 2026

    9th Circ. Faults Calif. Judge For Denying Sentence Reduction

    The Ninth Circuit on Monday vacated a prison sentence imposed on a man convicted of possessing ammunition as a felon, saying a California federal judge "misapprehended the law" when he denied a sentencing reduction for the defendant's acceptance of responsibility.

  • August 24, 2026

    5th Circ. Revives Architect's IP Claims In Fractured Ruling

    A divided Fifth Circuit has revived an architectural firm's copyright infringement claims over the use of its home designs in a Texas residential development, while affirming the dismissal of claims alleging that the defendants stripped copyright information from marketing materials.

  • August 24, 2026

    Ukraine Says Tatneft Appeal Over $173M Stay Should Be Axed

    Ukraine has pressed the D.C. Circuit to nix an appeal by a large Russian oil company that seeks to overturn a lower court's stay order in the business's suit to enforce a $173 million arbitral award against the country, saying its domestic law prohibits it from paying the award.

  • August 24, 2026

    4th Circ. Says Vacated Drug Conviction Can't Bar Admissibility

    The Fourth Circuit concluded Monday that a Mexico native's since-vacated marijuana conviction in North Carolina state court does not render her inadmissible in the U.S., departing from a long-standing framework that considered vacated convictions valid for immigration purposes unless they're vacated due to substantive or procedural defects. 

  • August 24, 2026

    Fiat Chrysler Brings Defective Headrest Suit To Justices

    Fiat Chrysler is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve a circuit split over whether an arbitrator or a court should decide the proper venue for a dispute involving a nonsignatory to an arbitration agreement, in a proposed class action over allegedly defective Jeep and Dodge headrests.

  • August 24, 2026

    2nd Circ. Says Nielsen Unbundling Order Starts Tuesday

    The Second Circuit has declared that the preliminary injunction blocking Nielsen from making Cumulus Media buy its local offerings to gain access to its national radio ratings data will go into effect Tuesday.

  • August 24, 2026

    Conn. Justices Order New Trial Over Gun Residue Science

    The Connecticut Supreme Court has reversed a murder conviction and ordered a new trial, finding in an advance opinion Monday that a state trial court wrongfully refused to hear the defendant's challenge to potentially unreliable gunshot residue evidence.

Expert Analysis

  • Checking For AI Errors Is Now A Two-Way Street

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    A handful of recent federal and state cases demonstrate the importance of checking for errors generated by artificial intelligence not only in your own court submissions, but also your opponent's, as well as when catching opposing counsel's AI mistakes could result in an award for attorney fees, says Tamara Barago at Hollingsworth.

  • Opinion

    Federal Circuit Should Implement Mini En Banc Process

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    To fulfill its mission of uniformity in patent law while avoiding the challenges of en banc hearings, the Federal Circuit should institute mini en bancs — allowing regular three-judge panels to exercise en banc powers unless a majority of the court says otherwise, says Joshua Sohn at the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • What's Next After Justices' Last-Mile Driver Arbitration Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Flowers Foods v. Brock, refusing to narrow the scope of a Federal Arbitration Act exemption for workers engaged in interstate commerce, gives previously unprotected workers access to litigation, but preserves two potentially powerful arguments for future proceedings, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Shoring Up Corporate Law In Maryland

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    Launched more than 20 years ago to improve complex corporate adjudication, Maryland's Business and Technology Case Management Program has been a solid success in some areas, but there always is room for improvement, says Bill Krulak at Miles & Stockbridge.

  • How End Of SEC 'Gag Rule' Affects Free Speech Certiorari Bid

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    The Securities and Exchange Commission's recent rescission of the so-called gag rule, which forbade defendants in settlements from denying the SEC’s allegations, may sway the outcome of a petition to the Supreme Court in a case challenging the rule on First Amendment grounds, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • 2nd Circ.'s Embedded Video Ruling May Protect Publishers

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    The Second Circuit's recent decision in Richardson v. Townsquare, dismissing an infringement claim arising from an embedding of a YouTube-hosted interview, reaffirms a potent defense for publishers who regularly use social media platforms' embed functionality, says Amanda Harris at Jassy Vick.

  • Federal Officer Removal After Justices' La. Pollution Ruling

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    In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Chevron USA v. Plaquemines Parish, companies seeking to use federal officer removal to move litigation out of state court should ask three questions, focusing on government contract language, federally directed activity and related conduct, say attorneys at Hollingsworth.

  • Series

    Competing At Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing poker in male-dominated rooms taught me to treat skepticism as background noise when my opponents seem to underestimate me, to apply pressure when it matters and to adapt without losing strategic discipline — skills that are all indispensable in restructuring and insolvency matters, says Alexis Gambale at Pashman Stein.

  • Revisiting TransUnion's Underused Standing Rule, 5 Years On

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    The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' recent use of the U.S. Supreme Court’s now five-year-old TransUnion v. Ramirez rule specifying that the "mere risk of future harm" isn't concrete enough to support a damages claim presents an opportunity to revisit this underutilized standing rule, say attorneys at Horvitz & Levy.

  • 5 Things Associates Must Ask About Their Firm's Merger Plan

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    The associates who navigate law firm mergers best ask the right questions early, such as inquiring about partners' plans, to assess how the merger could affect their workflow and career path, says Jackie Bokser-LeFebvre at Major Lindsey.

  • Uncertainty Looms After Justices' Withdrawal Liability Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent holding in M&K Employee Solutions v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund increases the unpredictability of withdrawal liability assessments, so employers should prepare for a range of assessments and be equipped to challenge unreasonable ones, say attorneys at Winston Taylor.

  • CFTC Trading Rule Can't Police Prediction Markets Yet

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    The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s recent efforts to police insider trading in prediction markets through a post-Dodd-Frank anti-fraud rule exposes doctrinal gaps around misappropriation theory, leaving platforms to fill the void with win-rate-based surveillance, says attorney Tamara de Silva.

  • Columbia Software IP Ruling Tests Royalty Damages Model

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Columbia University v. Gen Digital, vacating a damages verdict involving foreign software sales, provides guidance on ambiguities surrounding the worldwide royalty damages model established by the court's decision in Brumfield v. IBG two years ago, say attorneys at Munger Tolles.

  • Turning To The Courts When PBM Reform Falls Short

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    The effectiveness of state laws intended to regulate pharmacy benefit managers remains uncertain, but litigation — utilizing tried-and-true theories like breach of contract and fair dealing — offers another mechanism through which stakeholders may seek relief from PBMs, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Opinion

    Immigration Appeals Rule Would Prevent Meaningful Review

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    Justice Stephen Breyer’s book “Making Our Democracy Work” offers a useful lens through which to consider what is at stake for the Executive Office for Immigration Review's legitimacy as the government asks the D.C. Circuit to revive an interim final rule that would have fast-tracked decisions by Board of Immigration Appeals, says Tara Kennedy at Kennedy Law.

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