Appellate

  • July 25, 2025

    Sports & Betting Cases To Watch In The Second Half Of 2025

    Certain court cases have become staples on both the midyear and end-of-year must-watch lists in sports and betting at Law360. One that seemed best positioned to finally fall off the list, as it turns out, is far from over: the multibillion-dollar NCAA settlement regarding name, image and likeness payments and revenue sharing with hundreds of thousands of college athletes. A handful of other suits from past years will also continue to bear watching through the end of 2025.

  • July 25, 2025

    9th Circ. Rejects Suit Against Wash. Youth Gender Care Laws

    A Ninth Circuit panel has unanimously declined to revive a challenge to a Washington state law allowing shelters to help runaway teens seek gender-affirming treatment without notifying their parents, ruling on Friday that the plaintiff parents and anti-trans advocacy groups haven't shown actual or imminent harm from the statute.

  • July 25, 2025

    9th Circ.: Gila River Tribe-Farmer Water Fight Not Over

    The Ninth Circuit has ruled a federal judge prematurely sided with the Gila River Indian Community in a water rights dispute, finding future fact-finding is needed before ordering Arizona farmers to shut off wells that allegedly draw water from the river.

  • July 25, 2025

    Helicopter Crash Suit Belongs In New Zealand, Calif. Court Says

    Survivors of a helicopter crash cannot sue the U.S.-based companies that manufactured the aircraft in Los Angeles County, a California appeals court said Thursday, affirming a trial court's finding that it makes more sense for New Zealand courts to handle the case because that's where the crash happened and where the passengers live.

  • July 25, 2025

    11th Circ. Overturns Funding Model For SEC Database

    The Eleventh Circuit sent the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission back to the drawing board on Friday to chart a path forward for its $500 million market surveillance tool, telling the regulator that it was unreasonable to potentially force broker-dealers to fund the entire project.

  • July 25, 2025

    3rd Circ. Won't Revive Unraised Claims In Immigration Appeal

    The Third Circuit has rejected a Guatemalan mother and son's bid to overturn the Board of Immigration Appeals' denial of asylum and other removal protections, ruling that the board's summary affirmance of the underlying immigration judge's decision can't revive unexhausted claims.

  • July 25, 2025

    Ohio Court Tosses Sentence In Pot Case Over Phone Search

    An Ohio state court abused its discretion when it imposed the maximum possible jail sentence on a man who pled guilty to marijuana charges, a state appellate court has ruled, saying the judge improperly penalized the defendant for refusing to allow police to search his cell phone.

  • July 25, 2025

    Fluoride Fans Tell 9th Circ. To Preserve Drinking Water Use

    A pro-fluoride group is supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's fight to overturn a California federal judge's ruling that current limits on the chemical in drinking water aren't protective enough.

  • July 25, 2025

    5th Circ. Backs Life Insurer's Denial Of Disability Benefits

    A life insurance company did not abuse its discretion in discontinuing long-term disability benefits to a former employee of a payroll software provider after a review of updated medical records, the Fifth Circuit said, finding that substantial evidence supported the insurer's decision.

  • July 25, 2025

    4th Circ. Sends Power Plant Labor Row Back To Arbitration

    The Fourth Circuit ruled Friday that Wheeling Power Co.'s attempt to vacate an arbitrator's finding of liability in favor of a coal plant's labor union was premature because the decision wasn't final when Wheeling Power took the issue to court.

  • July 25, 2025

    8th Circ. Lifts Online Ban For Convict With 'Abhorrent' Views

    A Minnesota man sentenced to more than six years in prison after pleading guilty to illegally possessing a machine gun should be allowed online in accordance with his First Amendment rights, though he had used the internet to research mass shootings and terrorist groups, the Eighth Circuit ruled Friday.

  • July 25, 2025

    Appeal Clock Starts After Restitution Determined, Panel Rules

    In a precedential decision Friday, the Pennsylvania Superior Court held that a sentence involving restitution isn't final until the financial penalty is actually set, making that the date when the appellate clock starts ticking.

  • July 25, 2025

    3rd Circ. Won't Review $3.2M Wawa Breach Fee Award

    The Third Circuit on Thursday won't revisit its prior decision upholding $3.2 million in fees to plaintiffs' counsel in a case that secured a $12 million deal for Wawa shoppers affected by a data breach after attorney Ted Frank argued the fees were disproportionate to the class' recovery.

  • July 25, 2025

    Texas Inmate Seeks To Stop Execution In Shaken Baby Case

    A Texas death row prisoner convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter under the controversial shaken baby syndrome theory has asked the state's top criminal appeals court to halt his upcoming execution, arguing new evidence discredits the diagnosis, his attorney said Friday.

  • July 25, 2025

    NY Court Sides With Junior Investors In RMBS Trust Dispute

    A New York state court resolved a dispute between bondholders in 34 residential mortgage-backed securities trusts about how to handle repayment of principal amounts deferred during the 2008 financial crisis, siding with junior bondholders after a 17-day bench trial.

  • July 25, 2025

    Fed. Prison Bureau Not Violating FOIA Rules, DC Circ. Says

    A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday published an opinion finding the Federal Bureau of Prisons is not taking unreasonably long to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests for incarcerated people's disciplinary or educational records, despite having a separate, expedited process for medical records.

  • July 25, 2025

    'Yellowstone' Creator's Ranch Dispute Heading Back To Trial

    A Texas appeals court affirmed a finding that the former owner of a $10 million ranch knew about a roof leak before selling the property to "Yellowstone" creator Taylor Sheridan, but found there was insufficient evidence to back up a jury's damages award and ordered a new trial.

  • July 25, 2025

    Texas Farmer Not Owed For Border Wall Costs, 5th Circ. Says

    A Texas farmer isn't owed compensation for a portion of the U.S.-Mexico border wall that the government built on her land in 2008, the Fifth Circuit ruled Thursday.

  • July 25, 2025

    NJ Panel Orders Do-Over In Public Notice Mandate Decision

    A New Jersey appellate panel remanded a dispute over a borough's redevelopment process on Friday, after finding that the trial judge failed to explain why he dismissed a challenge to ordinances and public meeting procedures — including claims the town effectively told newspapers not to publish legally required notices.

  • July 25, 2025

    Caterpillar Unit Urges 11th Circ. To Revive Loan Default Suit

    Caterpillar Inc.'s lending division urged the Eleventh Circuit on Friday to undo a Florida federal judge's dismissal of a suit to recover $4.8 million in loans to a construction machinery seller, arguing its case should go forward even if it hadn't filed "the platonic ideal of a complaint."

  • July 25, 2025

    Mayo Clinic's $11.5M Tax Refund Affirmed By 8th Circ.

    The Mayo Clinic qualifies as an "educational organization" under federal tax law, making it eligible for a tax exemption for such organizations and meriting a nearly $11.5 million refund, the Eighth Circuit said Friday, affirming a federal district court.

  • July 25, 2025

    4th Circ. Denies Inmate's Habeas Despite 'Kafkaesque' Delays

    The Fourth Circuit has affirmed a West Virginia federal court's dismissal of a convicted murderer's bid to get out of prison, finding that although his rights may have been violated by "Kafkaesque," decadeslong delays and ineffective counsel, he was nevertheless able to find resolution in state court.

  • July 25, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Punts $17M Drug Arbitration Case To 2nd Circ.

    The Federal Circuit said Friday it lacked jurisdiction over a dispute over a $16.6 million arbitral award between two drugmakers, ruling that because it was being asked to consider an arbitration issue and not a patent law issue, the Second Circuit must hear the case.

  • July 25, 2025

    Epic Defends Apple Antitrust Injunction After Birthright Ruling

    Epic Games has told the Ninth Circuit the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in litigation challenging President Donald Trump's birthright citizenship executive order should not affect a nationwide injunction and civil contempt order issued in its antitrust case over Apple's App Store policies, arguing Apple misread the high court's precedent.

  • July 25, 2025

    Calif. County Denied Rehearing Over Timeshare Fee

    A California county will not get a rehearing over a judgment that an annual fee the county charges to timeshare resort owners to give them each a value of their own properties for property tax purposes was excessive and, in fact, acted as a tax, an appellate panel ruled.

Expert Analysis

  • Quantifying Trading-Based Damages Using Price Impact

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will likely increasingly rely on price impact analyses to demonstrate pecuniary harm from trading-related misconduct, meaning measuring price impact will be helpful in challenging SEC disgorgement, determining appropriate remedies, and assessing loss causation and damages in private litigation, says Vyacheslav Fos at Boston College and Erin Smith at Compass Lexecon.

  • How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery

    Author Photo

    E-discovery has reached a turning point where document review is no longer just about procedural tasks like identifying relevance and redacting privilege — rather, generative artificial intelligence tools now allow attorneys to draw connections, extract meaning and tell a coherent story, says Rose Jones at Hilgers Graben.

  • How McKesson Ruling Will Inform Interpretations Of The TCPA

    Author Photo

    Amid the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson, we can expect to see both plaintiffs and defendants utilizing the decision to revisit the Federal Communications Commission's past Telephone Consumer Protection Act interpretations and decisions they did not like, says Jason McElroy at Saul Ewing.

  • Justices Rethink Minimum Contacts For Foreign Entities

    Author Photo

    Two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Devas v. Antrix and Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization, suggest that federal statutes may confer personal jurisdiction over foreign entities that have little to no contact with the U.S. — a significant departure from traditional due process principles, says Gary Shaw at Pillsbury.

  • Opinion

    High Court Must Overrule Outdated Patent Eligibility Doctrine

    Author Photo

    A certiorari petition should directly ask the U.S. Supreme Court to correct its 1972 patent decision in Gottschalk v. Benson, the critical point where patent eligibility law veered from the statutory text toward judicial policymaking, says Robert Greenspoon at Dunlap Bennett.

  • Examining TCPA Jurisprudence A Year After Loper Bright

    Author Photo

    One year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, lower court decisions demonstrate that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act will continue to evolve as long-standing interpretations of the act are analyzed with a fresh lens, says Aaron Gallardo at Kilpatrick.

  • Gauging The Risky Business Of Business Risk Disclosures

    Author Photo

    With the recent rise of securities fraud actions based on external events — like a data breach or environmental disaster — that drive down stock prices, risk disclosures have become more of a sword for the plaintiffs bar than a shield for public companies, now the subject of a growing circuit split, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.

  • How Justices' Ruling Limits Options To Challenge DHS Orders

    Author Photo

    In Riley v. Bondi, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that a 30-day deadline for challenging deportation orders begins when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issues a final administrative review order, opening the door for the government to effectively bar circuit court review in future similar cases, says Kevin Gregg at Kurzban Kurzban.

  • Series

    Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

  • Purdue Case Could Transform Patent Obviousness Analyses

    Author Photo

    If accepted for review by the U.S. Supreme Court, Purdue Pharma v. Accord Healthcare — concerning whether Purdue's abuse-deterrent opioid formulation patents were invalid as obvious — could significantly shift how courts weigh secondary considerations in patent obviousness analyses, say attorneys at Lathrop.

  • NM Cyber Ruling Will Spur Litigation As Coverage Remedy

    Author Photo

    In Kane v. Beazley, the New Mexico Court of Appeals recently found that a cyber liability provision insuring security breaches included coverage for funds transfer fraud, implicitly and incorrectly motivating policyholders to commence litigation to avoid contractual limitations on cyber coverages, say attorneys at Zelle.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Self-Care

    Author Photo

    Law schools don’t teach the mental, physical and emotional health maintenance tools necessary to deal with the profession's many demands, but practicing self-care is an important key to success that can help to improve focus, manage stress and reduce burnout, says Rachel Leonard​​​​​​​ at MG+M.

  • Texas' Cactus Ruling Clarifies 'Produced Water' Rules

    Author Photo

    The Texas Supreme Court's decision in Cactus Water Services v. COG Operating, holding that mineral interest lessees have the rights to water extracted alongside oil and gas, should benefit industry players by clarifying the rules — but it leaves important questions about royalties unresolved, say attorneys at Yetter Coleman.

  • ABA Opinion Makes It A Bit Easier To Drop A 'Hot Potato'

    Author Photo

    The American Bar Association's recent ethics opinion clarifies when attorneys may terminate clients without good cause, though courts may still disqualify a lawyer who drops a client like a hot potato, so sending a closeout letter is always a best practice, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • How Political Divisions Are Stalling Pa. Energy Development

    Author Photo

    Despite possessing the nation's second-largest natural gas reserves and a legacy of energy infrastructure, Pennsylvania faces a fragmented and politically charged path to developing the energy resources it will need in the future, thanks to legislative gridlock, divided public opinion and competing energy interests, says Andrew Levine at Stradley Ronon.

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.