Appellate

  • July 25, 2025

    Ex-Whataburger Worker Drops 5th Circ. Appeal In 401(k) Suit

    A former employee of Whataburger dropped his Fifth Circuit bid to revive a proposed class action alleging mismanagement of an employee 401(k) plan Friday following a Texas federal court's decision tossing the case in November.

  • July 25, 2025

    Michigan, Green Groups Challenge Feds' Coal Plant Order

    Michigan's attorney general and a coalition of environmental groups have appealed the Trump administration's decision to order a Consumers Energy coal power plant to operate through summer, delaying the plant's retirement.

  • July 25, 2025

    District Court Won't Pause Block Of FTC Dem's Firing

    A D.C. federal court refused to stay its order reinstating a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission after finding she was illegally fired by the Trump administration, although the D.C. Circuit has already put the order on hold.

  • July 25, 2025

    Big Tech's Refusal-To-Deal Defense Hits A Wall: Judges

    Apple couldn't do it. Google couldn't do it. Live Nation couldn't do it. CoStar couldn't do it at the Ninth Circuit. Companies accused of monopolization have continually tried to flip allegations of illegally locking in customers into hard-to-prove "refusal-to-deal" litigation.

  • July 25, 2025

    11th Circ. Calls Dismissal Of Ga. Bar Bias Suit 'Indefensible'

    An Eleventh Circuit panel appeared all but certain Friday that it would revive a Georgia attorney's race bias suit against the state's bar association, calling a federal district court's dismissal of her claims that the bar has a two-tiered disciplinary system "indefensible."

  • July 25, 2025

    Surety Can't Avoid Texas County's $11M Park Bond Dispute

    A surety can't escape a county's suit accusing it of breaching a performance bond issued for an $11 million park development project, a Texas appellate court ruled, saying the surety failed to show that a one-year statute of limitations expired before the county filed suit.

  • July 25, 2025

    1st Circ. Backs Ex-Pharma Director's $24M Disability Bias Win

    The First Circuit declined to scrap a $24 million verdict for a former lab director of a Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. subsidiary who claimed she was fired for seeking alternative public speaking arrangements due to her anxiety, ruling the evidence presented supported the jury's verdict.

  • July 25, 2025

    Will Tom Girardi's Wardrobe Mishap Help His Appeal?

    When legendary attorney Tom Girardi's pants fell down as he finished testifying in his defense, the judge had to decide: Was this a desperate bid to feign incompetence and avoid prison for stealing client funds, or just an accident by an 86-year-old man with dementia? And if it really was an accident, does it now give Girardi a shot at winning his appeal and overturning his sentence?

  • July 25, 2025

    Top Immigration Cases Of 2025: Midyear Report

    Federal courts repeatedly rebuffed key pillars of President Donald Trump's immigration policy during the first half of the year, with district courts halting efforts to curtail birthright citizenship, restrict asylum at the southern border and deport noncitizens without notice. Law360 looks at some of the most significant immigration litigation developments nearly six months into Trump's second term.

  • July 25, 2025

    Legal Org. Urges DC Circ. To Reject Trump's Tariff Powers

    The D.C. Circuit should affirm a ruling that sided with toy makers and blocked President Donald Trump from using an international economic law to impose emergency tariffs because the law does not give the president the authority he claims, a legal organization argued.

  • July 25, 2025

    Calif. Court Axes Deported Man's Drug Plea Over Atty Advice

    A California appeals court has vacated the drug conviction of a Mexican national and U.S. resident and has told the lower court to set a trial on the charge, finding he wasn't properly told by his lawyer that pleading guilty would lead to deportation.

  • July 25, 2025

    Iowa Urges 8th Circ. To Undo Block On E-Cig Law

    Iowa's Department of Revenue is urging the Eighth Circuit to overturn a lower judge's ruling that blocked enforcement of a new state law that would have restricted the sale of some e-cigarettes in the Hawkeye State.

  • July 24, 2025

    Will 9th Circ. Take 'Rare' Step Of Nixing Kat Von D's IP Win?

    A Ninth Circuit panel openly struggled this month with a jury's verdict clearing tattoo artist Kat Von D of infringing a photographer's copyrighted photo of Miles Davis, and is now facing the rare proposition of nullifying the verdict based on its own interpretation of the images.

  • July 24, 2025

    5th Circ. Says Deportation Waiver Did Not Violate Due Process

    A split Fifth Circuit panel found that an unauthorized immigrant did not have his due process rights violated when he signed a form that waived his right to judicial review, saying in a Wednesday opinion that a conviction of an aggravated felony did not violate his rights.

  • July 24, 2025

    5th Circ. Loath To Say Guilty Plea Implicated Brother In Fraud

    A Fifth Circuit panel seemed skeptical of a convicted Dallas fraudster's argument that the jury's learning of his brother's guilty plea in a conspiracy indictment tainted his own case, asking during oral arguments on Thursday how the guilty plea directly implicated him.

  • July 24, 2025

    NJ High Court Orders Questioning Of Murder Trial Juror

    New Jersey's highest court cast doubt on three murder convictions on Thursday and ordered a judge to make up for inadequately questioning a juror after receiving a tip that she was Googling and discussing the case against three men who allegedly killed a schoolteacher, reportedly telling colleagues she would find them guilty and 'burn their asses.'

  • July 24, 2025

    7th Circ. Erases Class Cert. Over Progressive's Car Valuation

    The Seventh Circuit on Thursday reversed a policyholder's class certification win against Progressive Insurance over certain adjustments the insurer makes when calculating a totaled vehicle's actual cash value, finding that whether Progressive paid insureds the proper amount is a primarily individualized inquiry.

  • July 24, 2025

    Split 9th Circ. Affirms Block Of Calif. Ammunition Regulation

    A split Ninth Circuit panel Thursday affirmed a lower court's finding that California can't require gun owners to undergo background checks before buying ammunition, ruling that the law runs afoul of the Second Amendment in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 ruling in Bruen.

  • July 24, 2025

    Ky. Clerk Seeks To Overturn Marriage Equality Ruling

    A Kentucky clerk who made international headlines for refusing to issue marriage licenses in protest of the legalization of same-sex marriage asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to overturn its 2015 marriage equality decision after she unsuccessfully tried to shake a civil judgment against her.

  • July 24, 2025

    Panel OKs Atty As Expert In 'Vanishingly Rare' Med Mal Suit

    A Texas appellate court said Thursday that allegations that a hospital negligently discharged a newborn to adoptive parents can be considered a medical malpractice claim, but said a family law attorney can also serve as an expert witness in a "vanishingly rare" case where an expert needn't be a physician.

  • July 24, 2025

    Feds Say 9th Circ. Order Supports Nixing Delay Of TPS End

    The U.S. Department of Justice told the Ninth Circuit it can hear an immediate appeal of a district court's decision postponing the Trump administration's termination of temporary protected status for Venezuelans, citing a recent decision from the appeals court narrowing an injunction in a separate case.

  • July 24, 2025

    NY Court Bars Monitoring Of Domestic Violence Survivors

    A New York state appellate court held Thursday that the Family Court acted unlawfully in placing a mother under the supervision of New York City's child welfare agency just because she has experienced domestic abuse, further curtailing a controversial practice that's already banned elsewhere in the state.

  • July 24, 2025

    9th Circ. Urged Not To Let $1.3B India Award Suit Drag On

    Weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned an outlier Ninth Circuit decision refusing to enforce a $1.3 billion arbitral award against India, an Indian satellite communications company's shareholders are now urging the circuit court to minimize or nix briefing on issues left open by the justices.

  • July 24, 2025

    Pa. Court Backs Use Of DNA From Trash In 1995 Rape Case

    The Pennsylvania Superior Court on Thursday upheld the use of a John Doe warrant and decades-delayed DNA testing to identify and convict a man in 2024 for the violent rape of a Penn State student in 1995, saying in the precedent-setting opinion that police were allowed to collect DNA evidence from the man's trash years later.

  • July 24, 2025

    IRS Can Levy Religious Group's Property, Split 9th Circ. Says

    The IRS can impose a lien on an Arizona residential property held by a religious organization to collect unpaid taxes owed by a bankrupt couple who had decision-making authority over the entity's finances and bank account, a divided Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday.

Expert Analysis

  • How High Court Ruling Can Aid Judgment Enforcement In US

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    In CC/Devas (Mauritius) v. Antrix, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that only two steps are required to keep a foreign sovereign in federal court, making it a little easier for investors to successfully bring foreign states and sovereign-owned and -controlled entities into U.S. courts, says Kristie Blase at Felicello Law.

  • What High Court's Tenn. Trans Care Ruling Means Nationally

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti, upholding a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors, is fairly limited in scope and closely tailored to the specific language of Tennessee's law, but it may have implications for challenges to similar laws in other states, say attorneys at Hall Render.

  • Justices Rewrite Rules For Challenging Enviro Agency Actions

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    Three recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings — Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, Oklahoma v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and EPA v. Calumet Shreveport Refining — form a jurisprudential watershed in administrative and environmental law, affirming statutory standing and venue provisions as the backbone of coherent judicial review, say attorneys at GableGotwals.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • High Court ACA Ruling May Harm Preventative Care

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Kennedy v. Braidwood last week, ruling that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary has authority over an Affordable Care Act preventive care task force, risks harming the credibility of the task force and could open the door to politicians dictating clinical recommendations, says Michael Kolber at Manatt.

  • Opinion

    Subject Matter Eligibility Test Should Return To Preemption

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    Subject matter eligibility has posed challenges for patentees due to courts' arbitrary and confusing reasoning, but adopting a two-part preemption test could align the applicant, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the courts, says Manav Das at McDonnell Boehnen.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Kousisis Concurrence Maps FCA Defense To Anti-DEI Suits

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    Justice Clarence Thomas' recent concurrence in Kousisis v. U.S. lays out how federal funding recipients could use the high standard for materiality in government fraud cases to fight the U.S. Justice Department’s threatened False Claims Act suits against payees deviating from the administration’s anti-DEI policies, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Justices' Review Of Fluor May Alter Gov't Contractor Liability

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to review Hencely v. Fluor, a case involving a soldier’s personal injury claims against a government contractor, suggests the justices could reconsider a long-standing test for determining whether contractors are shielded from state-tort liability, says Lisa Himes at Rogers Joseph.

  • Google Damages Ruling Offers Lessons For Testifying Experts

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in EcoFactor v. Google represents a shift in how courts evaluate expert testimony in patent cases, offering a practical guide for how litigators and testifying experts can refine their work, says Adam Rhoten at Secretariat.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • One Year On, Davidson Holds Lessons On 'Health Halo' Claims

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    A year after the Ninth Circuit's Davidson v. Sprout Foods decision — which raised the bar for so-called health halo claims — food and beverage companies can draw insights from its finding, subsequently expanded on by other courts, that plaintiffs must be specific when alleging fraud in healthfulness marketing, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Justices' NRC Ruling Raises New Regulatory Questions

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    In Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court avoided ruling on the NRC's authority to license private, temporary nuclear waste storage facilities — and this failure to reach the merits question creates new regulatory uncertainty where none had existed for decades, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Rocket Mortgage Appeal May Push Justices To Curb Classes

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    Should the U.S. Supreme Court agree to hear Alig v. Rocket Mortgage, the resulting decision could limit class sizes based on commonality under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Evidence as opposed to standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, say attorneys at Carr Maloney.

  • 3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later

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    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

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