Appellate

  • September 10, 2024

    Whole Foods, Hain Denied Full 5th Circ. Review In Baby Food Case

    The Fifth Circuit on Monday shut down a bid from grocery store chain Whole Foods and international food company Hain Celestial Group for a rehearing of a panel's decision remanding to state court a suit alleging Hain's baby food caused the mental and physical decline of a toddler.

  • September 10, 2024

    Time Lag Dooms Coach's Retaliation Suit, 5th Circ. Says

    The Fifth Circuit refused to revive a lawsuit from a high school basketball coach who said that reporting that he'd been sexually harassed cost him his coaching gig, saying too much time elapsed between his harassment complaint and the alleged retaliation to infer a connection.

  • September 10, 2024

    2024's Top Rulings In Native American Law

    The U.S. Supreme Court this year has handed down rulings with huge price tags attached — from millions in healthcare reimbursement funding required for tribes to lending Florida a win that will garner it a new revenue stream — that are expected to have large implications for Native American sovereignty. Here, Law360 takes a look at some of the biggest decisions in Native American law from the first half of 2024.

  • September 10, 2024

    T-Mobile Can't Change 4th Circ. Loss In 'Simply Prepaid' Fight

    T-Mobile failed Tuesday to undercut a Fourth Circuit decision that revived a Virginia-based cellphone company's infringement claims over the phrase "Simply Prepaid," with a panel of judges declining to grant the telecommunications giant's request for a second look.

  • September 10, 2024

    FCC Chair Vows High Court Fight Over Universal Service

    Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel told educators the agency will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a recent Fifth Circuit decision against the Universal Service Fund, the federal program that subsidizes telecom service to low-income and hard-to-reach areas.

  • September 10, 2024

    Retention Bonus Not Wages Under Mass. Law, Court Finds

    A retention bonus does not count as wages under Massachusetts' wage laws because it is a form of "contingent compensation," a state appellate division court ruled.

  • September 10, 2024

    GM Can't Arbitrate Claims Engines Were 'Engineered To Fail'

    General Motors LLC cannot arbitrate class claims that certain engines were "engineered to fail," an Ohio federal judge has ruled, citing recent Sixth Circuit guidance on when a party waives the right to resolve disputes out of court.

  • September 10, 2024

    Biofuel Group Wants Renewable Fuel Redo At DC Circ.

    Growth Energy said a D.C. Circuit panel erred when it said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should have exempted small petroleum refiners from renewable fuel blending requirements and held the biofuel trade group didn't have standing to challenge alternative compliance actions the agency later enacted.

  • September 10, 2024

    Top EU Court Upholds €2.4B Google Shopping Fine

    The European Court of Justice rejected an appeal from Google on Tuesday challenging a €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion) fine for steering users toward its own comparison shopping service, as the tech giant faces mounting pressure from antitrust enforcers at home and abroad.

  • September 09, 2024

    Pa. Supreme Court Snapshot: Benefits, Cannabis, Taxes

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court's September schedule will have the justices pondering when to cancel tax exemptions for hospitals, if stormwater fees are taxes in disguise, and the potential resurrection of requiring medical marijuana products to be tested and approved by two separate laboratories.

  • September 09, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Undoes Alice Ax Of Camera Patents In GoPro Case

    The Federal Circuit on Monday reversed a decision invalidating two video camera patents that GoPro Inc. is accused of infringing, ruling that the patents cover technological improvements, and not only an abstract idea, as a California federal judge had ruled.

  • September 09, 2024

    Defer To Trial Judges In Juror Bias Strikes, Colo. Justices Rule

    The Colorado Supreme Court said Monday an appellate court should not have itself evaluated a prosecutor's credibility in a case of potential racial bias against a Hispanic juror, ruling it instead needed to defer to the trial court.

  • September 09, 2024

    Wash. Justices Disbar Atty For Theft From Cannabis Investors

    Washington state's high court has ordered an attorney be disbarred for mishandling client funds, lying to investors who poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into a cannabis venture and failing to disclose conflicts of interest, adopting the state bar association's disciplinary recommendations despite objections from the lawyer.

  • September 09, 2024

    Judge Won't End Mich. Dam Flooding Suit Before Discovery

    A Michigan judge said Monday it would be premature to free the state from liability for two dams' collapse before further discovery, telling government lawyers he would be reversed "in a nanosecond" if he ended the suit so soon.

  • September 09, 2024

    Mich. Judge Denies Injunction Bid In NLRB Constitutional Row

    An auto parts maker didn't prove the company would be harmed when facing an unfair labor practice proceeding before National Labor Relations Board officials with allegedly unconstitutional removal protections, a Michigan federal judge ruled Monday, while greenlighting a delay to the agency case pending an appeal. 

  • September 09, 2024

    Texas Still Not Injured By DHS Parole Program, 5th Circ. Told

    Texas' concerns about the Biden administration restarting a parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans following a fraud investigation did little to move the yardstick on whether the state has standing, intervenors hoping to save the program told the Fifth Circuit.

  • September 09, 2024

    FTC Backs Teva Orange Book Delisting At Fed. Circ.

    The Federal Trade Commission is continuing to back Amneal's efforts to have Teva's inhaler patents delisted from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book, telling the Federal Circuit that a lower court was right in determining that Teva's patents do not satisfy the registry's requirements.

  • September 09, 2024

    6th Circ. Affirms Ax Of '100% Raw' Honey-Labeling Fight

    The Sixth Circuit has affirmed a decision tossing consumers' proposed class action over Strange Honey Farm LLC's "100% raw Tennessee honey" labels, finding that while the appellate court has jurisdiction to hear the consumers' appeal, the lower court rightly dismissed the "conclusory" allegations without leave to amend.

  • September 09, 2024

    Durbin Calls For Justice Thomas To Recuse Over Wife's Email

    A top Democratic lawmaker called on U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to bow out of cases involving a conservative Christian legal organization following reports his wife praised the group for fighting court reform efforts, saying Monday her comments create a "clear appearance" of partiality requiring the justice's recusal.

  • September 09, 2024

    Texas High Court To Mull Medical Nonprofit's Med Mal Liability

    The Texas Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments Wednesday over whether a nonprofit health organization can be sued for the alleged medical negligence of one of its physician employees, in a dispute over an allegedly botched brain surgery.

  • September 09, 2024

    Colo. Justices To Weigh Excess MedMal Damage Calculations

    Colorado's justices agreed Monday to consider the standard for how a trial court determines if a $1 million cap on medical malpractice damages can be exceeded, granting a hospital company's petition to review a nearly $40 million judgment.

  • September 09, 2024

    EPA Power Plant GHG Rule Is Unworkable, DC Circ. Told

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's push to curb greenhouse gas pollution from power plants imposes unrealistic carbon capture and sequestration requirements, jeopardizes power grid reliability and exceeds its Clean Air Act authority, two dozen states and a host of coal and utility groups told the D.C. Circuit on Friday.

  • September 09, 2024

    Disability Rights Group Wants In On Ga. Election Law Fight

    A Georgia-based disability rights organization asked the Eleventh Circuit on Friday to be let into a legal challenge that successfully blocked two Peach State election law provisions that put additional rules on voting by mail and handing out food and water to voters.

  • September 09, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Backs PTAB Ruling In Food Wrapping Feud

    The Federal Circuit has refused to revive claims in a trio of Converter Manufacturing LLC food wrapping patents, handing a win to patent challenger Tekni-Plex Inc. in the legal dispute.

  • September 09, 2024

    Mass. High Court Hints At Notice Rule To Open Clerk Hearings

    Justices of Massachusetts' highest court on Monday appeared to signal that 28 men accused of patronizing high-end brothels catering to attorneys, political figures and other high-profile clients should have been given a chance to oppose a request by news organizations to open what are normally closed-door hearings.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    After Chevron: Uniform Tax Law Interpretation Not Guaranteed

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    The loss of Chevron deference will significantly alter the relationship between the IRS, courts and Congress when it comes to tax law, potentially precipitating more transparent rulemaking, but also provoking greater uncertainty due to variability in judicial interpretation, say Michelle Levin and Carneil Wilson at Dentons.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Environmental Law May Face Hurdles

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling overturning Chevron deference could prove to be as influential as the original 1984 decision, with far-reaching implications for U.S. environmental laws, including rendering recently promulgated regulations more vulnerable to challenges, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Opinion

    'Trump Too Small' Ruling Overlooks TM Registration Issues

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Vidal v. Elster, which concluded that “Trump Too Small” cannot be a registered trademark as it violates a federal prohibition, fails to consider modern-day, real-world implications for trademark owners who are denied access to federal registration, say Tiffany Gehrke and Alexa Spitz at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Colo. Ruling Adopts 'Actual Discharge' Test For The First Time

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    After a Colorado court’s recent decision in Potts v. Gaia Children, adopting for the first time a test for evaluating an actual discharge claim, employers must diligently document the circumstances surrounding termination of employment, and exercise particular caution when texting employees, says Michael Laszlo at Clark Hill.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • Why High Court Social Media Ruling Will Be Hotly Debated

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    In deciding the NetChoice cases that challenged Florida and Texas content moderation laws, what the U.S. Supreme Court justices said about social media platforms — and the First Amendment — will have implications and raise questions for nearly all online operators, say Jacob Canter and Joanna Rosen Forster at Crowell & Moring.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Good News For Gov't Contractors In Litigation

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    The net result of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Chevron deference is that individuals, contractors and companies bringing procurement-related cases against the government will have new pathways toward success, say Joseph Berger and Andrés Vera at Thompson Hine.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Scale Tips Favor Away From HHS Agencies

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    The loss of Chevron deference may indirectly aid parties in challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' interpretations of regulations and could immediately influence several pending cases challenging HHS on technical questions and agency authority, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Series

    After Chevron: FDA Regulations In The Crosshairs

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the Chevron doctrine is likely to unleash an array of challenges against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, focusing on areas of potential overreach such as the FDA's authority under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • 2 Options For Sackler Family After High Court Purdue Ruling

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court recently blocked Purdue Pharma's plan to shield the family that owns the company from bankruptcy lawsuits, the Sacklers face the choice to either continue litigation, or return to the bargaining table for a settlement that doesn't eliminate creditor claims, says Gregory Germain at Syracuse University.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Limited Changes In USPTO Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning Chevron deference will have limited consequences for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office given the USPTO's unique statutory features, but it is still an important decision for matters of statutory interpretation, especially those involving provisions of the America Invents Act, say Andrei Iancu and Cooper Godfrey at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For Nationwide Race-Based Hair Protections

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    While 24 states have passed laws that prohibit race-based hair discrimination, this type of bias persists in workplaces and schools, so a robust federal law is necessary to ensure widespread protection, says Samone Ijoma and Erica Roberts at Sanford Heisler.

  • Opinion

    Justices' Malicious-Prosecution Ruling Shows Rare Restraint

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Chiaverini v. City of Napoleon, Ohio, declining to limit malicious-prosecution suits, is a model of judicial modesty and incrementalism, in sharp contrast to the court’s dramatic swings on other rights, says Steven Schwinn at the University of Illinois Chicago Law School.

  • Series

    After Chevron: EEOC Status Quo Will Likely Continue

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    As the legal landscape adjusts to the end of Chevron deference, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s rulemaking authority isn’t likely to shift as much as some other employment-related agencies, says Paige Lyle at FordHarrison.

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