Appellate

  • September 04, 2026

    Mo. Hotel Can't Undo $1M Dog Attack Default Judgment

    A Missouri appeals court affirmed a $1 million default judgment entered against a former hotel in a suit brought by a guest who was injured when he was attacked by another guest's dog, saying the hotel failed to establish good cause for setting aside the award.

  • September 04, 2026

    Full 2nd Circ. To Rehear Student's Speech Removal Case

    The en banc Second Circuit will rehear a panel decision holding that a Vermont federal judge lacked authority to order immigration officials to release Palestinian green-card holder Mohsen Mahdawi, who contends the Trump administration wants to deport him over his political speech.

  • September 04, 2026

    NC High Court Snapshot: TikTok, DuPont, NCAA Top Sept.

    North Carolina's highest court is returning from its summer hiatus with a stacked September lineup of cases for oral argument, starting with a name, image and likeness suit brought by members of N.C. State University's 1983 championship basketball team against the NCAA.

  • September 04, 2026

    Justices Let FCC's New Campaign Ad Rates Take Effect

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday cleared the way for the Federal Communications Commission to extend discounted television and radio advertising rates previously reserved for political candidates to political parties and joint fundraising committees that buy spots in coordination with candidates.

  • September 04, 2026

    Mich. High Court Won't Force Citizenship Measure Onto Ballot

    The Michigan Supreme Court has refused to order election officials to place on the November ballot a proposed constitutional amendment requiring proof of citizenship to vote, with some justices calling for changes in the state's rules for validating petition signatures.

  • September 04, 2026

    ERISA Recap: 5 Appellate Rulings To Know From August

    The Seventh Circuit kept an Arkansas pharmacy benefit manager rule in place as not preempted by federal benefits law, the Fourth Circuit revived an Altria ex-worker's dispute over benefit plan documents, and the Eleventh Circuit reversed a pretrial win for Royal Caribbean in cruise workers' suit challenging 401(k) funds. Here, Law360 looks at those and two other major appellate decisions from August involving ERISA that benefits attorneys may want to know.

  • September 04, 2026

    Hospital Group Wants To Weigh In On $32M Yale Death Verdict

    The Connecticut Hospital Association urged a state appeals court to let it weigh in on a challenge to a nearly $32 million judgment entered against a Yale University-affiliated hospital over a premature baby's death, arguing the case presents important issues surrounding wrongful death damages.

  • September 04, 2026

    Nebraska High Court Rejects Bid To Void Medical Cannabis

    The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday rejected an effort by state officials to void medical marijuana legalization measures that were approved by supermajorities of state voters, saying the lower court was right to dismiss the challenge.

  • September 04, 2026

    4th Circ. Affirms $2.9M IRS Fine For Unreported Accounts

    The Fourth Circuit affirmed a $2.9 million fine Friday against a Hong Kong-based U.S. businessman, holding that he should have known there was a "grave risk" of inaccurate tax filings when he failed to disclose offshore accounts to the IRS.

  • September 04, 2026

    DC Panel's Rare Rebuke Over AI Errors Flags Rules Gap

    A D.C. appellate court panel issued a rare sua sponte sanctions order on Thursday after finding nonexistent case citations in a brief filed by a McCabe Weisberg & Conway LLC attorney representing Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. in a foreclosure action, noting an apparent gap in the rules governing the court's sanctions authority.

  • September 04, 2026

    Dems Ask Justices To Deny Stay In Campaign Ad Pricing Case

    A group of Democratic candidates have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to deny a stay of a Fourth Circuit order blocking the Federal Communications Commission from extending discounted television and radio advertising rates to committees that buy spots in coordination with political candidates.

  • September 04, 2026

    3rd Circ. Revives Malpractice Claim Against Kirkland Atty

    A New Jersey divorcee may once again pursue a legal malpractice claim against a Kirkland & Ellis LLP attorney whom she said lost her millions by mishandling estate documents, after the Third Circuit found it could be possible to link her alleged damages to the lawyer's work.

  • September 04, 2026

    Fla. Judge Retires, Avoids Sanctions For Political Donations

    A judge in Orlando, Florida, stepped off the bench on Friday rather than face discipline for violating a judicial ethics rule by making nearly $30,000 in political donations.

  • September 04, 2026

    11th Circ. Backs Aetna In Ex-Worker's Disability Fight

    The Eleventh Circuit upheld a lower court judgment backing Aetna's denial of long-term disability benefits to an engineering firm's former senior vice president, saying he didn't provide necessary documents to meet the test of disability.

  • September 04, 2026

    4th Circ. ERISA Docs Ruling Deepens Split, High Court Told

    A participant in Netflix's employee health plan asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit's dismissal of his lawsuit alleging that the company unlawfully refused his request for plan documents, arguing that a recent Fourth Circuit decision discredits the streaming giant's argument against a circuit split.

  • September 04, 2026

    4th Circ. Backs SSI Denial Despite Disability Challenge

    The Fourth Circuit has upheld the denial of disability benefits to a North Carolina woman who said her physical and mental impairments, including agoraphobia, prevented her from working, ruling in a divided published decision that substantial evidence supported the Social Security Administration's findings.

  • September 04, 2026

    Justices Again Refuse NY Health Workers' Fight Over Vax Rule

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Friday to reconsider its decision to pass on a legal challenge by religious healthcare workers to a pandemic-era New York state vaccination policy, despite three conservative justices' previously stated interest in the case.

  • September 03, 2026

    Wash. Justices To Hear Gordon Rees Malpractice Transfer Suit

    Washington's Supreme Court will consider whether a Great American insurance unit can inherit an equipment manufacturer's legal malpractice claims against two law firms in what the insurance company has called an issue of first impression, according to a high court order published Wednesday.

  • September 03, 2026

    Oil Cos. Seek Quick Appeal To Nix Suit Over Heat Wave Death

    Exxon, Chevron, Shell and other oil giants say they plan to seek appellate review of a Washington judge's order refusing to dismiss a civil suit over a woman's 2021 death that alleged the defendants knew their products were intensifying extreme weather patterns but downplayed risks to maximize profit.  

  • September 03, 2026

    Dutch Software Co. Asks Justices To Halt TM Trial

    A Dutch software company has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to pause a rapidly approaching trial in a trademark dispute with an American rival while it petitions for review of an injunction and contempt order that it said threaten to taint the entire proceedings.

  • September 03, 2026

    Conn. Supreme Court Snapshot: $81M Telecom Row Tops Lineup

    A 16-year-old telecommunications contract dispute over interest rates that increased to an alleged $81 million tops the docket as the Connecticut Supreme Court kicks off the first term of its 2026-27 calendar year Tuesday.

  • September 03, 2026

    Pilot Plane Forfeiture Over 6-Pack Is Excessive, Justices Told

    An 83-year-old bush pilot has told the U.S. Supreme Court that Alaska flouted precedent and applied a grossly disproportionate standard by saddling him with the "ills of alcohol abuse statewide" in trying to forfeit his $95,000 plane for transporting a six-pack of beer to a dry village.

  • September 03, 2026

    Colo. Panel Revives Man's Post-Conviction DNA Testing Bid

    A Colorado appeals court has issued new rules for when and how postconviction relief for DNA testing should be conducted in the state, with the court establishing a three-part test to determine whether a relief petition should be granted.

  • September 03, 2026

    Boeing Investors Say 4th Circ. Ruling Imperils Class Actions

    Boeing investors have asked the full Fourth Circuit to rehear a panel's "extreme" decision overturning class certification in a suit against the aerospace company over its alleged concealment of safety issues with its 737 Max fleet, arguing that the panel decision will create a "vague and unworkable standard" in the circuit if left intact.

  • September 03, 2026

    Williams-Sonoma Urges 9th Circ. To Snip Thread-Count Class

    Williams-Sonoma told the Ninth Circuit on Thursday that a district judge overseeing a certified false advertising class action over bedsheet thread-count labels should have excluded certain class members who purportedly agreed to arbitrate, arguing that the court wrongly couched the arbitration decision in a ruling on the class' definition.

Expert Analysis

  • Justices' Hikma Reasoning May Extend Well Beyond Pharma

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    The active steps framework announced by the U.S. Supreme Court in its Hikma v. Amarin decision, finding that Amarin failed to plausibly allege inducement of infringement, has the potential to reshape how courts evaluate inducement claims across patent, copyright and other doctrines, say attorneys at BCLP.

  • 10th Circ. Ruling Propels Emerging 'Occurrence' Consensus

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    The Tenth Circuit recently revived the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' bid for insurance coverage in a sexual abuse case, continuing a trend as the second circuit court to find that, where ambiguous, the definition of "occurrence" must be interpreted in favor of coverage, say attorneys at Anderson Kill.

  • The State Of Prediction Market Litigation After 9th Circ. Ruling

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Kalshi v. Assad gives state regulators significant appellate backing to enforce state gaming laws over prediction markets, creating a direct split with the Third Circuit that will likely lead to Supreme Court review of the question, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • 11th Circ. FCA Qui Tam Revival Queues Up Next Challenges

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    Though the Eleventh Circuit on Sept. 1 upheld the constitutionality of the False Claims Act's qui tam provision, it will probably face continued litigation since the appellate court declined to rule on other constitutional challenges and the decision will likely be petitioned to the U.S. Supreme Court, say attorneys at Sheppard.

  • Series

    Ballet Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    A lifetime of learning and performing ballet taught me that success — whether in dance or practicing law — comes only through hours of thorough preparation, boundless energy and relentless effort, says Sharon Katz-Pearlman at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Rejection Of NLRB Successor Bar Renews An Employer Tool

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    Although the D.C. Circuit's recent ruling in Hospital Menonita v. National Labor Relations Board does not allow purchasers to disregard incumbent unions, employers acquiring a unionized business have regained a tool to challenge a union's majority support, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

  • NY Ethics Opinion Warns Attys On Qui Tam Deception

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    A recent New York State Bar Association ethics opinion cautions that counsel representing whistleblowers may not induce, supervise or facilitate a client's deceptive prefiling investigations, creating a potential vulnerability for qui tam complaints built on questionable evidence-gathering methods, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Pa. Anti-SLAPP Ruling Shows Risks Of Atty Defamation Suits

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    A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent Lento Law Group v. Estrada ruling addressed an unsettled question about mandatory fee-shifting provisions in the state’s anti-SLAPP law — and illustrates why attorneys should think twice before suing former clients over negative online reviews, say attorneys at Pietragallo Gordon.

  • 9th Circ. 'Bad Spaniels' Ruling Rewrites TM Dilution Playbook

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    The Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling that each element of the Jack Daniel's packaging parodied by the Bad Spaniels dog toy must be independently assessed for fame narrows trademark owners' ability to use a flagship mark's halo effect to protect the entire brand from tarnishment, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Fed. Circ. In July: Meeting The Enablement Requirement

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    The Federal Circuit's decision in Wyeth v. AstraZeneca last month exemplifies when a generalized conception of an invention is insufficient to enable the full scope of asserted patent infringement claims, and may lead to more enablement challenges, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Calif. Ruling Opens Del. Cos. Up To Stockholder Inspection

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    A California appellate court's recent decision in Salamon v. Orchid Global underscores that despite last year's amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law, Delaware companies with principal operations in California remain subject to California's broader and more stockholder-protective inspection regime, say attorneys at Sheppard.

  • What 9th Circ. Devas Ruling Means For AI Infrastructure Deals

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent confirmation of a $2 billion arbitration award in Devas Multimedia's arbitration against a state-owned commercial arm of India’s space agency creates a cross-border enforcement road map for disputes that are bound to arise from the current generation of artificial intelligence infrastructure deals, says Fernanda Merouco at Davis Wright.

  • 9th Circ. Wage Ruling Shows Arbitration Pacts Are Still Useful

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    After years of uncertainty for California employers, the Ninth Circuit’s recent Cocom v. ABM Aviation decision signals that workplace arbitration agreements remain a powerful and enforceable tool — if thoughtfully drafted and employment-focused, says Benjamin Runge at Thompson Coburn.

  • Series

    Taekwondo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Taekwondo has taught me to recognize when to fight for a position and when to focus on finding a solution, and that the best outcomes are often achieved by solving problems — all of which has improved my work as a bankruptcy lawyer, mediator and Subchapter V trustee, says Amy Denton Mayer at Berger Singerman.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: August Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses seven recent rulings from cases involving Class Action Fairness Act jurisdiction, appellate jurisdiction, attorney fees and employment rights.

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