Appellate

  • October 31, 2025

    10th Circ. Rules Fed Can Reject Master Account Access

    A divided Tenth Circuit panel ruled Friday that Federal Reserve banks have the discretion to reject master account access requests from eligible entities, rejecting crypto-focused Custodia Bank's claim that it is entitled to a master account in a decision that prompted a dissenting judge to say "the Fed has gone too far."

  • October 31, 2025

    Citadel Securities Moves To Block New IEX Options Exchange

    Citadel Securities LLC is calling on the Eleventh Circuit to act quickly to stop a new options exchange from going live early next year, saying Friday the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission blessed the exchange despite its unique structure threatening to disadvantage all other market participants.

  • October 31, 2025

    9th Circ. Nixes Exemption To Bioengineered Food Label Rule

    The Ninth Circuit delivered a mixed ruling Friday in some food advocacy groups' challenge to federal food labeling regulations, affirming that the U.S. Department of Agriculture can use the term "bioengineered" over "GMO" or "genetically modified" but reversing an order exempting highly refined foods from receiving the bioengineered label.

  • October 31, 2025

    Seattle Wins Injunction Against Trump's Anti-DEI Grant Terms

    A Washington federal judge shielded Seattle on Friday from a pair of Trump administration executive orders requiring federal grant recipients to cease diversity programming and refrain from using any of the money to "promote gender ideology," saying the city's legal challenge will likely succeed.

  • October 31, 2025

    Up Next At High Court: Tariffs, Fugitives & Contractor Liability

    The U.S. Supreme Court will begin its November oral argument session Monday, during which the justices will consider President Donald Trump's authority to impose tariffs on foreign countries under an emergency statute, whether military contractors can be held liable for alleged breaches of contracts in war zones, and if there are time limits for litigants who want to vacate a void judgment. Here, Law360 breaks down the week's oral arguments.

  • October 31, 2025

    5th Circ. Rejects Late Claims Over Arkema Plant Explosions

    The Fifth Circuit on Friday tossed claims that accused chemical manufacturer Arkema Inc. of being liable for property damage caused by one of its industrial plants exploding after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas in 2017, ruling that the lower court rightfully determined that the claims are time-barred.

  • October 31, 2025

    Woman Can't Sue For Being Jeered As 'Karen,' NJ Panel Says

    A New Jersey state appeals court Friday refused to revive a woman's lawsuit accusing an amusement park of wrongfully keeping her off a go-kart ride and failing to prevent kids from calling her derogatory names like "Karen," saying the woman couldn't back her claims with any binding legal authority.

  • October 31, 2025

    Calif. Panel Says Court Must Hear 2nd Resentencing Bid

    A California state appeals court has ruled that a man should be entitled to a resentencing hearing after he was unfairly sentenced using a firearm enhancement and that he is likely being made to serve longer in prison than necessary.

  • October 31, 2025

    IP-Focused Judges Say Less Is More In Patent Litigation

    Attorneys litigating patent cases should exercise discretion when redacting documents, limit the length and volume of motions, and talk to judges the way they talk to juries about complicated intellectual property issues, a panel of IP-focused judges advised Thursday.

  • October 31, 2025

    5th Circ. Rejects NLRB's New Remedies In Restaurant Case

    The Fifth Circuit in a published opinion Friday rejected the National Labor Relations Board's new remedial framework, saying the agency overstepped by ordering a restaurant owner to compensate workers for the foreseeable losses they suffered after their illegal firings.

  • October 31, 2025

    4th Circ. Denies En Banc Review In Bestwall Ch. 11 Case

    The Fourth Circuit on Thursday declined asbestos claimants' request for an en banc review of a panel ruling in a Georgia-Pacific LLC spinoff's Chapter 11 case, rejecting on an 8-6 vote an argument that the bankruptcy is a sham and blocks victims' access to justice.

  • October 31, 2025

    7th Circ. Says Ill. Judge Can't Be 'Supervisor' Of CBP Official

    The Seventh Circuit held Friday that an Illinois federal judge overstepped in requiring a top Border Patrol official leading the Trump administration's immigration enforcement surge in Chicago to appear before her every weekday ahead of a Nov. 5 preliminary injunction hearing, saying she put herself in the position of "an inquisitor rather than that of a neutral adjudicator."

  • October 31, 2025

    Sandisk Urges Fed. Circ. To Take On 'Settled Expectations'

    Sandisk Technologies Inc. has again told the Federal Circuit that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's denial of patent reviews based on the owner's "settled expectations" violates the law, asserting it's "now or never" for court action, since most decisions will no longer be explained.

  • October 31, 2025

    Black Law Prof Wants High Court To Review Bias Suit Ruling

    A Black University of Michigan Law School professor has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a lawsuit claiming she was disciplined because she had complained about racial discrimination, arguing that a federal appeals panel was too credulous of a dean's version of events.

  • October 31, 2025

    Wash. High Court Disbars Oregon Lawyer Who Ghosted Client

    An Oregon attorney can no longer practice law in Washington state as the result of an Oregon Supreme Court ruling that found he took fees from a new client while his license was suspended, then ignored the woman's repeated attempts to contact him.

  • October 31, 2025

    1st Circ. Refuses To Transfer FCC Prison Phone Rate Case

    The First Circuit declined Friday to move multidistrict litigation over prison phone rate caps to the Fifth Circuit, rejecting an argument from phone service providers.

  • October 31, 2025

    Contractor Sues Over Delays To 4th Circ. Courthouse Project

    A Virginia-based contractor is suing the General Services Administration, claiming that the agency hasn't paid for more than $500,000 of construction work on the Fourth Circuit's Lewis F. Powell Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Richmond.

  • October 31, 2025

    Iraq, Cypriot Firm Settle $120M Port Project Dispute

    Iraq has fully performed its financial obligations to a Cypriot construction and engineering firm under a settlement agreement between the parties, in a deal Friday that jointly dismissed a D.C. Circuit appeal stemming from a suit over confirmation of a $120 million arbitral award.

  • October 31, 2025

    Mich. Panel Revives Woman's Claim For No-Fault Benefits

    A Michigan state appeals court revived a woman's suit seeking personal injury protection benefits after a car crash, finding one exclusion in her no-fault policy invalid because it contravenes the state's no-fault law and another dependent on whether a Progressive unit was the insurer of the subject vehicle.

  • October 31, 2025

    Netflix Beats Defamation Suit Over 'Orgasm Inc.' Documentary

    A California state appellate court has upheld the dismissal of a defamation lawsuit against Netflix claiming the streaming giant's documentary "Orgasm Inc.: The Story of OneTaste" falsely portrays that OneTaste condoned violence and that a worker for the wellness company was subjected to sexual assault, saying OneTaste didn't show Netflix acted with malice.

  • October 31, 2025

    Ill. Judge Won't Stay Nationwide DEI Injunction For Appeal

    An Illinois federal judge has refused to pause his order blocking a requirement for federal grant recipients to certify that they don't operate programs that violate President Donald Trump's executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, saying his ruling was in line with a recent Supreme Court decision advising courts to limit nationwide injunctions.

  • October 31, 2025

    Pot Initiative Sponsor Says Fla. Is Ignoring Bid For Ballot

    The sponsor of a proposed ballot initiative to legalize cannabis in Florida sued the Florida secretary of state on Thursday to force him to submit the petition — which has surpassed the requirements for legal review — to the attorney general to proceed to the next step to getting it on the ballot.

  • October 31, 2025

    3 Argument Sessions Benefits Attys Should Watch In Nov.

    The Third Circuit will hear a union's appeal in a withdrawal liability battle, a union health plan defends its partial win in a coverage fight at the Ninth Circuit, and pharmacy benefit managers will take a challenge to the Federal Trade Commission's authority to the full Eighth Circuit. Here are three arguments to keep an eye on in November.

  • October 31, 2025

    FERC Faces DC Circ. Fight Over Pipeline Project Revival

    Environmental and homeowner groups have asked the D.C. Circuit to drop the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's reauthorization of a previously abandoned pipeline upgrade project in the Northeast, saying the agency can't simply restore an approval it issued six years ago.

  • October 31, 2025

    Crash Suit Revived After Counsel 'Knowingly Served' Dead Atty

    A Texas appellate court has reinstated a suit accusing a commercial truck driver of negligently hitting a vehicle which caused a family's severe injuries, saying defense counsel acted unfairly when it "knowingly served" only the family's deceased attorney with court documents.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Navigating Client Trauma

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    Law schools don't train students to handle repeated exposure to clients' traumatic experiences, but for litigators practicing in areas like civil rights and personal injury, success depends on the ability to view cases clinically and to recognize when you may need to seek help, says Katie Bennett at Robins Kaplan.

  • 9th Circ. Customs Ruling A Limited Win For FCA Plaintiffs

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    While the decision last month in Island Industries v. Sigma may be welcome news for False Claims Act relators, under binding precedent courts within the Ninth Circuit still do not have jurisdiction to adjudicate customs-based FCA claims pursued by the government, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Opinion

    4 Former Justices Would Likely Frown On Litigation Funding

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    As courts increasingly confront cases involving hidden litigation finance contracts, the jurisprudence of four former U.S. Supreme Court justices establishes a constitutional framework that risks erosion by undisclosed financial interests, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

  • Quantifying Trading-Based Damages Using Price Impact

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    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

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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.

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