Appellate

  • June 12, 2024

    Hytera Tried 'End Run' Around Court's Power, Motorola Says

    Hytera Communications should not be able to get around an antisuit injunction that forced it to end Chinese litigation addressing mobile radio trade secrets, Motorola Solutions told the Seventh Circuit on Tuesday, arguing that Hytera must be stopped from doing an "end run" around the American case against it.

  • June 12, 2024

    Senate Dems Admonish Roberts As Ethics Reform Stalls

    Several senior Democratic senators chided Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday for failing to take responsibility for or address the U.S. Supreme Court's ethics issues, vowing to continue fighting Republican opposition and to pass court reform legislation unless the chief justice makes improvements.

  • June 12, 2024

    FTC Tells DC Circ. It Can Modify $5B Meta Privacy Deal

    The Federal Trade Commission told the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday that it has the authority to reopen its in-house proceedings in order to revise a $5 billion privacy settlement with Meta Platforms, saying the courts do not have oversight of the agency's administrative order.

  • June 12, 2024

    Fla. Court Revives Student Pilots' Deceptive Claims Suit

    A Florida appeals court on Wednesday revived a deceptive and unfair practices claim against the owner of a flight school contractor after finding that the former students suing him had presented enough evidence to support their claim.

  • June 12, 2024

    DeSantis Doesn't Have To Turn Over Judicial Advisers' Info

    A Florida appeals court on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of a petition to force Gov. Ron DeSantis to turn over information about the conservative advisers he consults to vet judicial nominees, but refused to affirm the lower court's conclusion that executive privilege shielded the governor from producing the documents.

  • June 12, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Affirms PTAB Ax Of Slide-To-Unlock Patent

    The Federal Circuit has quickly disposed of an appeal over an administrative board ruling that wiped out language in a patent asserted in a small Swedish smartphone company's litigation against Apple and Samsung over claims its founder was the first to develop a "slide to unlock" feature.

  • June 12, 2024

    School Says Declaration Bares Quinn Emanuel Lies In IP Feud

    Columbia University has told the Federal Circuit that a declaration from a former Norton Lifelock Inc. computer scientist shows that the company's former lawyers at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP are lying about his refusal to testify in the school's decade-long $600 million patent case in Virginia federal court.

  • June 12, 2024

    ND Lawmakers Want In On Voting Rights Suit, 8th Circ. Told

    The North Dakota Legislative Assembly is asking the Eighth Circuit to reverse a lower court's order that denied its intervention in a bid to redraw the state's 2021 redistricting maps, arguing that two tribes' adopted voting map should be vacated and the lawmakers should be afforded a chance to come up with a remedial plan.

  • June 12, 2024

    Trade Group Wants Out Of Mattress Conspiracy Suit

    A trade association for mattress manufacturers has asked a Utah federal court to dismiss it from an antitrust suit alleging the spread of false information from an importer that has landed back in the Utah court from a trip to the Tenth Circuit.

  • June 12, 2024

    1st Circ. Finds PREPA Bondholders Have $8.5B In Valid Liens

    The First Circuit said Wednesday that bondholders of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority have valid liens worth $8.5 billion on the revenue of the utility, reversing a lower court's ruling but leaving it up to the bankruptcy court to determine what effect that has on the restructuring plan.

  • June 12, 2024

    Indiana Hospital Gets $11M Leg Amputation Verdict Reversed

    An Indiana state appeals court has upended a $1.3 million judgment — originally an $11 million verdict — awarded to a patient whose leg was amputated allegedly due to the negligence of a hospital, its physician and nurse, citing a slew of "cumulative errors" the lower court made during the trial.

  • June 12, 2024

    2nd Circ. Backs Brokerage In Suit Over Biotech's Failed IPO

    The Second Circuit on Wednesday declined to reinstate a Texas company's suit against an investment brokerage that advised biotech Inpellis on an initial public offering that failed and sent the company to file Chapter 7, ruling a lower court rightly found a global settlement eclipsed the need for a jury trial.

  • June 12, 2024

    Wash. Urges 9th Circ. To Toss Pot Licensure Challenge

    Washington's cannabis authority has asked the Ninth Circuit to reject an effort by an out-of-state retailer to block the state's social equity program from awarding retail licenses, arguing that a motion for preliminary injunction is moot now that the trial court has tossed the entire lawsuit with prejudice.

  • June 12, 2024

    8th Circ. Judge Calls Car Sex 'Clearly Foreseeable' In HPV Suit

    An Eighth Circuit judge said Wednesday that having sex in a vehicle is "clearly foreseeable," challenging Geico's contention that such activity does not constitute normal use of an automobile in a coverage suit over a woman's claim that she contracted HPV during sexual encounters in a policyholder's car. 

  • June 12, 2024

    11th Circ. Could Revive Venezuela Chemical Co. Seizure Suit

    An Eleventh Circuit panel appeared open to reviving a lawsuit accusing Venezuela of unlawfully seizing a chemical company amid allegedly trumped-up criminal drug charges, as the judges spent much of a hearing on Wednesday questioning why a critical witness was barred from testifying.

  • June 12, 2024

    Texas Anesthesia Co. Appealing To Duck FTC Suit To 5th Circ.

    U.S. Anesthesia Partners Inc. gave notice Wednesday that it will ask the Fifth Circuit to review a Texas federal judge's mid-May decision refusing to toss Federal Trade Commission allegations of a monopolistic "roll-up" of Lone Star State anesthesia practices.

  • June 12, 2024

    5th Circ. Won't Halt SpaceX Appeal In Case Challenging NLRB

    The Fifth Circuit said Wednesday that it will continue weighing whether a Texas federal judge must pause an administrative suit against SpaceX from proceeding before the National Labor Relations Board, amid the company's constitutional challenge to the agency's structure.

  • June 12, 2024

    EPA Tells DC Circ. Emissions Rules Should Stay In Place

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has fired back at attempts to pause two final rules establishing greenhouse gas emissions standards for power plants and expanded methane emissions control requirements for oil and gas infrastructure, urging the D.C. Circuit to keep the rules in place amid myriad legal challenges.

  • June 12, 2024

    11th Circ. Won't Rehear Ruling In Pratt & Whitney Cancer Case

    The full Eleventh Circuit won't review a panel's affirmation of a jury verdict win for defense contractor Pratt & Whitney that found it had failed to exercise reasonable care when disposing of radioactive materials but also freed it from liability for the pediatric cancer cases that emerged in a Florida neighborhood.

  • June 12, 2024

    9th Circ. Questions Arbitration Carveout For AmEx Workers

    A Ninth Circuit panel seemed inclined Wednesday to force four white former American Express employees to arbitrate their proposed class action claims alleging race bias.

  • June 12, 2024

    32 AGs Urge Justices Take Up Okla. PBM Law Fight

    Thirty-two attorneys general urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Oklahoma's petition for review of a Tenth Circuit decision holding that federal law preempted portions of a state law regulating pharmacy benefit managers, arguing the justices needed to intervene to resolve a circuit split.

  • June 12, 2024

    Energy Co. Says Specialist Can't Get Arbitration Exemption

    A Houston natural gas company told a Texas appellate court Wednesday that an environmental specialist injured in a pipeline explosion isn't covered by an exemption for interstate commerce work in the Federal Arbitration Act, arguing that allowing him to claim the exemption would be akin to allowing a janitor to do the same.

  • June 12, 2024

    FTC Asks 4th Circ. To Pause Novant Hospital Purchase

    The Federal Trade Commission has asked the Fourth Circuit to pause Novant Health's purchase of a North Carolina hospital while enforcers appeal an order from the lower court that refused to put the deal on hold for the commission's in-house merger challenge.

  • June 12, 2024

    Loan Co. Owners Say SEC Improperly Expanded Receivership

    A couple accused of scamming 1,200 investors out of nearly half a billion dollars asked the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to reverse an order expanding a receivership of their merchant loan business, arguing their due process rights were violated when their personal assets were added to the receivership.

  • June 12, 2024

    Conn. Justices Nix Health Dept. Worker's Whistleblower Claim

    The Connecticut Supreme Court has trounced a public health official's claim that she was fired for blowing the whistle on appointees who lacked mandatory credentials, upholding her termination but also backing her simultaneous pursuit of a union grievance and an administrative complaint.

Expert Analysis

  • When Trade Secret Protection And Nat'l Security Converge

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    The Trump administration's anti-espionage program focused on China is over, but federal enforcement efforts to protect trade secrets and U.S. national security continue, and companies doing business in high-risk jurisdictions need to maintain their compliance programs to avoid the risk of being caught in the crosshairs of an investigation, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Why Incorporating By Reference Is Rarely Good Practice

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    The Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Promptu Systems v. Comcast serves as a reminder that while incorporating by reference may seem efficient, it is generally prohibited by courts and can lead to sanctions when used to bypass a word count limit, says Cullen Seltzer at Sands Anderson.

  • Strategies For Defense Attys To Subpoena A Nonparty Witness

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    Federal criminal defendants seeking to subpoena potentially exculpatory information from nonparty witnesses must satisfy a stringent standard and should consider several often overlooked arguments to assure courts they’re not engaging in a fishing expedition, says James Roberts at Schlam Stone.

  • Series

    Playing Hockey Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Nearly a lifetime of playing hockey taught me the importance of avoiding burnout in all aspects of life, and the game ultimately ended up providing me with the balance I needed to maintain success in my legal career, says John Riccione at Taft.

  • ESG Challenges In Focus After Sierra Club Opposes SEC Rule

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    The Sierra Club's recent objection to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosures for investors presents an unusual — pro-disclosure — legal challenge and an opportunity to take a close look at the varying critiques of ESG regulations, say Colin Pohlman, and Jane Luxton and Paul Kisslinger at Lewis Brisbois.

  • Opinion

    High Court Should Settle Circuit Split On Risk Disclosures

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    The U.S. Supreme Court should grant the petition for writ of certiorari in the Facebook case to resolve a growing circuit split concerning when risk disclosures can be misleading under federal securities laws, and its decision should align with the intent of Congress and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, says Richard Zelichov at DLA Piper.

  • Opinion

    Why Supreme Court Should Allow Repatriation Tax To Stand

    If the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't reject the taxpayers' misguided claims in Moore v. U.S. that the mandatory repatriation tax is unconstitutional, it could wreak havoc on our system of taxation and result in a catastrophic loss of revenue for the government, say Christina Mason and Theresa Balducci at Herrick Feinstein.

  • For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill

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    A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • High Court's Jan. 6 Rioter Case May Have Wide Ripple Effects

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    The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear oral arguments in Fischer v. United States, a case that will determine whether a law enacted after the Enron scandal can be used to prosecute Jan. 6 rioters, and could affect the government’s ability to charge those who impede a range of official proceedings, say Brook Dooley and Sara Fitzpatrick at Keker Van Nest.

  • 5th Circ. Clarifies What Is And Isn't A 'New Use' Of PFAS

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    The Fifth Circuit's March 21 decision in Inhance Technologies v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, preventing the EPA from regulating existing uses of PFAS under "significant new use" provisions of the Toxic Substances Control Act, provides industry with much-needed clarity, say Joseph Schaeffer and Sloane Wildman at Babst Calland.

  • CORRECTED: Endoscope Patent Case Offers Guidance On Right To Repair

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    An Alabama federal court's decision in Karl Storz v. IMS reaffirmed that product owners have broad rights to repair or modify their property as they see fit, highlighting the parameters of the right to repair in the context of patent infringement, say Dustin Weeks and Dabney Carr at Troutman Pepper. Correction: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article and headline attributed the Karl Storz ruling to the wrong court. The error has been corrected.

  • Trump's NY Civil Fraud Trial Spotlights Long-Criticized Law

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    A New York court’s recent decision holding former President Donald Trump liable for fraud brought old criticisms of the state law used against him back into the limelight — including its strikingly broad scope and its major departures from the traditional elements of common law fraud, say Mark Kelley and Lois Ahn at MoloLamken.

  • How A Motion Before Justices May Help Trump Beyond Court

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    Even if Donald Trump loses his presidential immunity claim before the U.S. Supreme Court, the delay created by the motion may mean a trial can't be completed before the November election, says Paul Tuchmann at Wiggin and Dana.

  • Opinion

    $175M Bond Refiled By Trump Is Still Substantively Flawed

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    The corrected $175 million bond posted by former President Donald Trump on Thursday to stave off enforcement of the New York attorney general's fraud judgment against him remains substantively and procedurally flawed, as well as inadequately secured, says Adam Pollock of Pollock Cohen.

  • Opinion

    Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea

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    A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.

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