Appellate

  • October 09, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Affirms Contractor Is Due Money For COVID Delays

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday backed an Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals decision finding the government must compensate a contractor for fees incurred during the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown, just days after hearing oral argument. 

  • October 09, 2025

    Mich. Justice Eyes Scope Of Judge-As-Grand-Jury Issue

    Michigan's chief Supreme Court justice on Thursday pondered the real-world implications of retroactively applying a 2022 ruling that judges cannot act as a one-person grand jury to issue indictments, saying the practice seems to have grown more prevalent.

  • October 09, 2025

    Wash. High Court Rules Tribe Is Immune From Property Claim

    Washington's Supreme Court on Oct. 9 sided with the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians in a dispute over land rights, ruling that the federally recognized tribe is immune from a lawsuit filed by a farm seeking to wrest ownership of a piece of property along the Stillaguamish River.

  • October 09, 2025

    ADA Doesn't Stop At Prison Gates, 3rd Circ. Says In Reversal

    The Third Circuit ordered a lower court to accept an incarcerated man's amended Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit against a Pennsylvania prison that he says denied him proper medical treatment when a spinal cord injury left him paralyzed in his cell.

  • October 09, 2025

    Nissan, Drivers Reach Deal To End Faulty Brake Claims

    Nissan North America Inc. and drivers on Thursday reached a settlement in principle in Tennessee federal court that would end multistate claims alleging the automatic braking systems in certain Nissan vehicles would sometimes trigger and cause the cars to stop suddenly, creating an unpredictable hazard.

  • October 09, 2025

    Fla. High Court Hears Ex-Marvel CEO's Punitive Damages Bid

    The former CEO of Marvel Entertainment on Thursday urged the Florida Supreme Court to revive his punitive damages claim over the secret collection of his wife's DNA in connection to a hate letter campaign, arguing his client was wrongfully held to a higher burden in order to establish the claim. 

  • October 09, 2025

    San Antonio Abandons Out-Of-State Abortion Travel Appeal

    The city of San Antonio on Thursday conceded defeat in its request for court approval to go forward with a program that included funding for out-of-state travel for abortions, handing a victory to the state's attorney general.

  • October 09, 2025

    Mich. Justices Mull Tort Damages Bar For Nonresident Drivers

    Members of Michigan's Supreme Court on Thursday expressed reservations about an intermediate appellate court's decision that nonresidents who fail to carry Michigan insurance for a vehicle they regularly drive in the state can recover tort damages after a car accident.

  • October 09, 2025

    Judge Seeks NCAA Ruling's Impact On Tenn. Player's Suit

    With an appeal by the NCAA over an injunction permitting Vanderbilt University quarterback Diego Pavia to continue playing football tossed out by the Sixth Circuit last week, a Tennessee federal judge has given the NCAA and a former college basketball player until Oct. 30 to explain how the ruling affects a separate challenge to the organization's eligibility rules.

  • October 09, 2025

    Jenn Mascott Of WH Counsel's Office Confirmed To 3rd Circ.

    The Senate voted 50-47 on Thursday to confirm Jenn Mascott, currently serving in the White House Counsel's Office, to the Delaware seat on the Third Circuit.

  • October 09, 2025

    Tort Report: Nuked 'Nuclear Verdict' Stays, Texas Justices Say

    The fate of a "nuclear verdict" that was used to jump-start tort reform campaigns across the country and a settlement of a suit over a Kiss guitar technician's death lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

  • October 09, 2025

    Texas Justices Weigh $26M Fracking Water Pipeline Verdict

    The Texas Supreme Court pushed Equinor Energy LP on Thursday to explain how language in a contract gave it the right to seek water for fracking from other sources, asking why the company should get out of a $26 million verdict.

  • October 09, 2025

    Whistleblower Asks High Court To Revive NASA Fraud Case

    A whistleblower is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a False Claims Act suit accusing a NASA contractor of overbilling, arguing that the Sixth Circuit wrongly let the government dismiss the case without considering the whistleblower's time and money commitment.

  • October 09, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Gets Shutdown Extension For Newman Response

    The D.C. Circuit on Thursday gave the judges on the Federal Circuit an extension until after the government shutdown ends to respond to Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's request for the rehearing of a decision upholding the dismissal of her suit against the colleagues who suspended her.

  • October 09, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Backs PTAB Wins For Samsung In Earpiece Cases

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday shot down appeals of a series of Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions that found claims across three patents covering earpieces and attached microphone technology invalid.

  • October 09, 2025

    Florida Says Its Immigration Law Doesn't Preempt Federal Law

    Florida asked the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday to overturn a block on a state law that criminalizes the entry of unauthorized immigrants into the state, arguing that there is no preemption of federal immigration law.

  • October 09, 2025

    Top Texas Court Halts Execution In Shaken Baby Case

    Texas' top criminal court on Thursday paused the execution of a man convicted of killing his daughter under the discredited "shaken baby syndrome" theory, ordering a trial court to consider whether a recent ruling in another capital case involving the same theory could justify granting a new trial.

  • October 09, 2025

    Tire-Maker Takes 13 Revived Asbestos Suits To NC High Court

    Continental Tire is asking North Carolina's top court to review whether more than a dozen workers' compensation cases linked to alleged asbestos exposure at one of its factories should carry on, saying the claimants cannot skirt the results of a bellwether trial.

  • October 09, 2025

    7th Circ. Denies Rehearing In Harley-Davidson Warranty Case

    The Seventh Circuit again affirmed the dismissal of customers' challenge to terms and conditions in Harley-Davidson's motorcycle warranties that limit coverage when third-party parts are used.

  • October 09, 2025

    Patient Asks 4th Circ. To Revive Faulty Ethicon Stapler Suit

    A surgery patient is asking the Fourth Circuit to reinstate his suit against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon Endo-Surgery LLC over faulty staples used in his procedure, saying the district court was wrong to deny his request to extend an expert deadline after he finally narrowed down the type of stapler used.

  • October 09, 2025

    Mich. Justices Urged To Restore Diminished Capacity Defense

    A lawyer for a man awaiting trial for murder told the Michigan Supreme Court on Thursday that a jury deserves to hear that his client was mentally ill and possibly suffering from delusions, urging the court to lift a decades-old bar on so-called diminished capacity evidence.

  • October 09, 2025

    False-Statement Case Puts Comey In Rare Company

    Former FBI director James Comey is the latest addition to the relatively short list of government officials who have been criminally charged over the past several decades with making false statements to Congress.

  • October 09, 2025

    7th Circ. Nominee Taibleson Advances To Full Senate

    The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced on party lines the nomination of Rebecca Taibleson, a federal prosecutor in Wisconsin, to serve on the Seventh Circuit, as well as four district judicial nominees and five U.S. attorney nominees.

  • October 09, 2025

    Anti-Union Firm Joins Fight Against Calif. Cannabis Labor Law

    An anti-union group has thrown its weight behind a cannabis retailer's challenge to a California law that requires marijuana businesses to sign labor peace agreements with unions, arguing before the Ninth Circuit that the law is preempted by the National Labor Relations Act.

  • October 09, 2025

    Ga. Panel Revives Broad & Cassel Malpractice Claims

    The Georgia Court of Appeals has partially revived a legal malpractice suit filed against Broad & Cassel LLP over allegations that one of its partners blew an auto dealership's lawsuit in the midst of a mental health crisis, ruling that the claims may not have been filed too late after all.

Expert Analysis

  • Fed. Circ. In June: Transitional Phrases In Patent Claims

    Author Photo

    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Eye Therapies v. Slayback Pharma takes on the rarely addressed topic of transitional phrases in patent claims, providing some useful lessons regarding restating claim language and broadly distinguishing prior art, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Series

    Playing Soccer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Soccer has become a key contributor to how I approach my work, and the lessons I’ve learned on the pitch about leadership, adaptability, resilience and communication make me better at what I do every day in my legal career, says Whitney O’Byrne at MoFo.

  • What To Do When Congress And DOJ Both Come Knocking

    Author Photo

    As recently seen in the news, clients may find themselves facing parallel U.S. Department of Justice and congressional investigations, requiring a comprehensive response that considers the different challenges posed by each, say attorneys at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Learning From Failure

    Author Photo

    While law school often focuses on the importance of precision, correctness and perfection, mistakes are inevitable in real-world practice — but failure is not the opposite of progress, and real talent comes from the ability to recover, rethink and reshape, says Brooke Pauley at Tucker Ellis.

  • Eye Drop Ruling Clarifies Importance Of Patent Phrasing

    Author Photo

    The Federal Circuit's recent ruling in Eye Therapies v. Slayback, rejecting the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's interpretation of "consisting essentially of," highlights the importance of using clear and consistent terms throughout a patent's filing history to shield it against future challenges, says Liliana Di Nola-Baron at Panitch Schwarze.

  • Midyear Rewind: How Courts Are Reshaping VPPA Standards

    Author Photo

    The first half of 2025 saw a series of cases interpreting the Video Privacy Protection Act as applied to website tracking technologies, including three appellate rulings deepening circuit splits on what qualifies as personally identifiable information and who qualifies as a consumer under the statute, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • How Justices' Ruling On NEPA Reviews Is Playing Out

    Author Photo

    Since the U.S. Supreme Court's May decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, narrowing the scope of agencies' required reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act, the effects of the ruling are starting to become visible in the actions of lower courts and the agencies themselves, say attorneys at Saul Ewing.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From ATF Director To BigLaw

    Author Photo

    As a two-time boomerang partner, returning to BigLaw after stints as a U.S. attorney and the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, people ask me how I know when to move on, but there’s no single answer — just clearly set your priorities, says Steven Dettelbach at BakerHostetler.

  • Reverse Bias Rulings Offer Warning About DEI Quotas

    Author Photo

    Several recent holdings confirm that targeted or quota-based diversity programs can substantiate reverse discrimination claims, especially when coupled with an adverse action, so employers should exercise caution before implementing such policies in order to mitigate litigation risk, says Noah Bunzl at Tarter Krinsky.

  • 4th Circ. Favors Plain Meaning In Bump-Up D&O Ruling

    Author Photo

    The Fourth Circuit's latest denial of indemnity coverage in Towers Watson v. National Union Fire Insurance and its previous ruling in this case lay out a pragmatic approach to bump-up provisions that avoids hypertechnical constructions to limit the effect of a policy's plain meaning, say attorneys at Kennedys.

  • A Look At Key 5th Circ. White Collar Rulings So Far This Year

    Author Photo

    In the first half of 2025, the Fifth Circuit has decided numerous cases of particular import to white collar practitioners, which collectively underscore the critical importance of meticulous recordbuilding, procedural compliance and strategic litigation choices at every stage of a case, says Joe Magliolo at Jackson Walker.

  • High Court Cert Spotlights Varying Tests For Federal Removal

    Author Photo

    A recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to review Chevron v. Plaquemines Parish, a case involving the federal officer removal statute, highlights three other recent circuit court decisions raising federal removal questions, and serves as a reminder that defendants are the masters of removal actions, says Varun Aery at Hollingsworth.

  • Rule 23 Class Certification Matters In Settlements, Too

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Trump v. CASA Inc. highlighted requirements for certifying classes for litigation in federal court, but counsel must also understand how Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure may affect certifying classes for settlement purposes, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: Privity, Pressure, Procedural Traps

    Author Photo

    Three recent decisions from the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims offer fresh lessons for contractors navigating the procedural edge of Contract Disputes Act litigation, says Zachary Jacobson at Seyfarth.

  • Series

    Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Appellate archive.