Appellate

  • 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.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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'

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    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

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    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.

  • 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.

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