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Appellate
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April 26, 2024
Ex-NYC Mayoral Candidate's Defamation Suit Revived
A New York appeals court has revived a defamation suit brought by former New York City comptroller and 2021 mayoral candidate Scott Stringer against a woman who accused him of past sexual misconduct and, in his words, "derailed" his campaign.
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April 26, 2024
NJ Judicial Info Law Dodges Free Speech Challenge, For Now
A New Jersey law intended to protect the personal information of judges, prosecutors and police officers could be headed to the state Supreme Court after an appellate panel ruled Friday that it does not unconstitutionally violate the free speech rights of a local journalist.
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April 26, 2024
Florida's Top Judge Tapped For 2nd Term As Chief Justice
Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos G. Muñiz will serve a second term as the top administrative officer of the state's judicial system.
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April 26, 2024
UPMC To Face New Trial Over Claims It Missed Man's Stroke
A Pennsylvania appeals panel has ordered a new trial over a man's claims that he was left with permanent brain injuries after doctors at UPMC Bedford Memorial failed to diagnose a stroke in progress, saying he should have been allowed to rebut a new theory the hospital first presented at trial.
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April 26, 2024
RJR Gets $12M Judgment Tossed In Tobacco Death Suit
A Florida appeals panel on Friday threw out a $12 million judgment against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in a wrongful death suit by the wife of a smoker, saying the evidence didn't support the jury's finding in the wife's favor on her conspiracy to fraudulently conceal claim.
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April 26, 2024
Mass. Justices Dash Deported Man's Hope For Remote Retrial
Massachusetts' high court ruled Friday that a man deported to the Dominican Republic cannot appear remotely for his retrial on charges that the justices previously vacated, citing court rules.
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April 25, 2024
Ariz. Tribes, Groups Seek Stay In SunZia Power Line Ruling
Native American tribes and environmentalists are asking an Arizona federal district court for an emergency injunction that would stay a ruling that rejected their bid to block work on SunZia's $10 billion transmission line while they appeal the decision, arguing that construction is already going ahead in culturally sensitive locations.
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April 25, 2024
5th Circ. Axes Class Claims Over Anadarko's $900M Write-Off
The Fifth Circuit on Thursday decertified a class of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. shareholders who claim they lost money on the company's bad oilfield bet, ruling a lower court judge didn't allow the company to respond to an expert report that tied a stock price drop to a $900 million write-off disclosure.
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April 25, 2024
9th Circ. Upholds $1.7M Injury Verdict Against Genie
Equipment manufacturer Genie Industries Inc. can't upend a jury verdict and a $1.7 million judgment awarded to a Portland, Oregon, shipyard worker who was injured by the company's allegedly defective lift boom, the Ninth Circuit has ruled, rejecting the arguments that he failed to prove his injuries were permanent.
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April 25, 2024
Objector Takes $125M PACER Overcharge Deal To Fed. Circ.
An objector to a $125 million deal resolving class action claims that the federal judiciary overcharges users of its PACER court records system is taking his challenge to the settlement to the Federal Circuit.
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April 25, 2024
Mich. Drops Detroit Gerrymandering Appeal In $2M Fee Deal
The Michigan commission tasked with drawing the state's legislative maps voted Thursday to forgo a U.S. Supreme Court appeal of a ruling that it unconstitutionally used race to craft Detroit voting districts.
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April 25, 2024
Texas Doc Can't Avoid Woman's Suit Over Son's Brain Injury
A Texas appeals court on Thursday declined to throw out a woman's suit alleging an anesthesiologist wrongly administered an epidural during delivery and caused her son to suffer a brain injury, finding the judge did not find the woman's expert report deficient despite giving her a month to amend it.
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April 25, 2024
Wash. Large-Magazine Ban Stays As Court Official Fears Tragedy
The Washington Supreme Court commissioner said Thursday the state can maintain its ban on the sale of large-capacity magazines for now, saying in his ruling he was kept awake at night over the potential that lifting the ban would allow an especially "awful" mass shooting.
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April 25, 2024
South African's Old Convictions Cost Him Deportation Relief
The Seventh Circuit ruled that an immigration judge appropriately considered two criminal convictions in 2000 and 2002 to deny a South African man's 2015 efforts to stay in the country.
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April 25, 2024
1st Circ. Tosses Second Vineyard Wind Challenge
The First Circuit on Thursday rejected a legal challenge to the federal government's approval of a wind energy project off the coast of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, the second such ruling in as many days.
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April 25, 2024
Wash. Appeals Court Rejects Seattle High-Rise Permit Dispute
A Washington state appeals court sided with a developer on Thursday in a challenge to its plan for a 17-story apartment building on Seattle's waterfront, concluding that the project's opponents missed their chance to contest the city's decision not to hold the proposal to certain shoreline regulations.
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April 25, 2024
Fla. High Court Says PIP Law Doesn't Mandate 100% Payment
The Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Allstate Insurance Co. is not required to pay 100% of a chiropractic provider's charges under a personal injury protection policy, saying to enact such a requirement would misread both Florida's PIP law and Allstate's policy.
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April 25, 2024
3rd Circ. Lets Mallinckrodt Off Sanofi's Royalty Hook
A Third Circuit panel said Thursday that Mallinckrodt PLC's Chapter 11 bankruptcy could sever its obligation to pay Sanofi-Aventis US LLC royalties on sales of an autoimmune disease drug, finding that Sanofi's contract to sell Mallinckrodt the rights to the drug created a claim ripe to be extinguished.
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April 25, 2024
US Says Seizure Power Erodes Landowner's Border Wall Suit
The federal government told the Fifth Circuit that its eminent domain authority should defeat a landowner's claims that she owns a $6.5 million section of border wall that was allegedly built on her farm without authorization in 2008.
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April 25, 2024
Split Take On NJ 'Fake' Sale Case Disrupts Biz-Friendly Pattern
A recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision rejecting "fake discounts" as a source of consumer fraud was a boon for the class action defense bar, but the takes of three dissenting judges and Attorney General Matt Platkin show that the state's largely business-friendly jurisprudence on what qualifies as an ascertainable loss isn't quite settled.
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April 25, 2024
SEC, Trade Group Ask DC Circ. To Revive Proxy Advisory Rule
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a leading trade group called on the D.C. Circuit Thursday to revive a rule imposing heightened disclosure requirements on proxy advisory firms, appealing a lower court decision that threw out the requirements.
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April 25, 2024
Mich. Justices Reject Park Ranger's Disability Benefits Appeal
Two Michigan Supreme Court justices on Thursday agreed with the rest of the bench not to rule on a park ranger's claims that state retirement law unconstitutionally prevents him from challenging his disability benefit denial, but called out a lower court's "circular" reasoning for finding him ineligible.
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April 25, 2024
Judge Puts Texas Arrest Law Case On Ice During Appeal
A Texas federal court has paused the Biden administration's lawsuit challenging Texas' controversial law allowing state officials to arrest and deport migrants crossing the border unlawfully until the state's appeal of the court's temporary block on the law concludes.
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April 25, 2024
Nursing Agency Urges 4th Circ. To Overturn $9M Wage Ruling
A nurse staffing agency pressed the Fourth Circuit to overturn a lower court's decision ordering the agency to pay workers $9 million in a misclassification suit brought by the U.S. Department of Labor, saying the lower court should have made the government prove the nurses were employees.
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April 25, 2024
Atty Group Asks Justices To Review Judge's Non-Recusal
The Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a D.C. Circuit judge's decision not to recuse himself from a former al-Qaida member's case, saying the judge's refusal undermined ethical standards for judges.
Expert Analysis
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Zero-Point Offender Eligibility May Hinge On Meaning Of 'And'
Some white collar defendants’ eligibility for the new zero-point offender sentencing adjustment comes down to whether the word “and” really means “and” — a question the U.S. Supreme Court is set to resolve in its upcoming Pulsifer v. U.S. decision, which could affect thousands of incarcerated people, say Brandon McCarthy and Nikita Yogeshwarun at Katten.
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Valeant Ruling May Pave Way For Patent-Based FCA Suits
The Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling in Silbersher v. Valeant marks a significant development in False Claims Act jurisprudence, opens new avenues for litigation and potentially raises the stakes for patent applicants who intend to do business with the government, say Joshua Robbins and Rick Taché at Buchalter.
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A Former Bankruptcy Judge Talks 'Undue Hardship'
Former U.S. bankruptcy judge Robert Gordon reflects on his journey from student borrower to judicial observer, highlighting the challenges faced by modern students burdened with student loan debt and advocating for reform in bankruptcy laws, particularly regarding the "undue hardship" element of discharge.
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Recent Rulings Add Dimension To Justices' Maui Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court's 2020 decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund established new factual criteria for determining when the Clean Water Act applies to groundwater — and recent decisions from the Ninth and Tenth Circuits have clarified how litigants can make use of the Maui standard, says Steven Hoch at Clark Hill.
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Strategies For Single-Member Special Litigation Committees
The Delaware Supreme Court's recent order in the Baker Hughes derivative litigation allowing testimony from a single-member special litigation committee highlights the fact that, while single-member SLCs are subject to heightened scrutiny, they can also provide unique opportunities, says Josh Bloom at MoloLamken.
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10th Circ. Ruling Means More Okla. Oilfield Pollution Litigation
By applying Oklahoma's statutory definitions of pollution to a private landowner's claim for negligence for the first time, the Tenth Circuit's recent decision in Lazy S Ranch v. Valero will likely make it harder to obtain summary judgment in oilfield contamination cases, and will lead to more litigation, say attorneys at GableGotwals.
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Race Bias Defense Considerations After 11th Circ. Ruling
In Tynes v. Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that the McDonnell Douglas test for employment discrimination cases is merely an evidentiary framework, so employers relying on it as a substantive standard of liability may need to rethink their litigation strategy, says Helen Jay at Phelps Dunbar.
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How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.
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Fed. Circ. In Feb.: Using Prior Products To Invalidate A Patent
The Federal Circuit's recent Weber v. Provisu ruling, that prior-product operating manuals constituted printed publications that can be used to invalidate patents in an inter partes review proceeding, makes it easier for a petitioner to invalidate a patent, say Sean Murray and Jeremiah Helm at Knobbe Martens.
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7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves
As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.
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What's At Stake In Pending Fed. Circ. Design Patent Test Case
The full Federal Circuit recently heard argument in LKQ v. GM Global, a case concerning patent obviousness in the aftermarket for auto parts; the court's decision will likely influence how design patents are obtained, enforced and challenged, and affect the broader innovation ecosystem, says Larry DeMeo at Hunton.
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Series
Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.
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Perspectives
Compassionate Release Grants Needed Now More Than Ever
After the U.S. Sentencing Commission's recent expansion of the criteria for determining compassionate release eligibility, courts should grant such motions more frequently in light of the inherently dangerous conditions presented by increasingly understaffed and overpopulated federal prisons, say Alan Ellis and Mark Allenbaugh at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.
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Args In APA Case Amplify Justices' Focus On Agency Power
In arguments last week in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve, the U.S. Supreme Court justices paid particular importance to the possible ripple effects of their decision, which will address when a facial challenge to long-standing federal rules under the Administrative Procedure Act first accrues and could thus unleash a flood of new lawsuits, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.