Appellate

  • October 11, 2024

    DOI Defends Offshore Lease Schedule At DC Circ.

    The U.S. Department of the Interior defended its scaled-back offshore leasing program for 2024-2029 from dueling challenges at the D.C. Circuit, arguing it relied on "extensive quantitative and qualitative analyses" that it prepared over several years to reach its decision.

  • October 11, 2024

    Pa. Justices Won't Review Bible App Maker's Coverage Denial

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to hear a Bible app maker's coverage bid over a hacker's deletion of its videos and software stored on a GoDaddy Inc. server, letting stand an appeals panel's ruling in a case of first impression on what "your computers" means in a property policy.

  • October 11, 2024

    FERC Defends Keeping Calif. In Hydro Permitting Role

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission defended its conclusion that California's water board didn't waive its Clean Water Act permitting authority over two hydroelectric dams, telling the D.C. Circuit there's nothing to suggest there was a coordinated effort to string out the permitting process.

  • October 11, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Says USMCA Review Bars Importer's Duty Suit

    The Federal Circuit has backed the U.S. Court of International Trade's dismissal of a Canadian lumber company's challenge to increased tariffs, saying the U.S. court couldn't take the case once a U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement panel began reviewing the duties.

  • October 11, 2024

    9th Circ. Backs Planned Parenthood's $14M Atty Fee Win

    The Ninth Circuit upheld a nearly $14 million attorney fee award to Planned Parenthood after the reproductive health service provider won its suit claiming the Center for Medical Progress unlawfully recorded abortion service providers, saying Friday the award was not unreasonably disproportionate to the jury's $2.4 million damages award.

  • October 11, 2024

    Gruden Gets Another Play, Could Keep NFL Suit In Court

    Former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden will have another shot to keep from arbitration his case over the NFL's alleged torpedoing of his contract with leaks of his inflammatory emails, as the entire Nevada Supreme Court will consider the proper venue for the heated dispute.

  • October 11, 2024

    Xcel, Colo. Co-Op Reach Deal To End Power Plant Appeal

    Xcel Energy and a Colorado electric cooperative have told an intermediate state appellate court that they've reached a settlement in principle to avoid further appeals of a $26 million jury verdict against Xcel in a fight over the closure of a power plant.

  • October 11, 2024

    Nelson Mullins Can't Beat DQ In Foreign Exchange Fraud Suit

    A Florida state appeals court panel unanimously sided with a trial court Friday in deciding that Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP can't represent the defendant in a lawsuit accusing him of duping the plaintiff into doing business with online foreign exchange platform FxWinning Ltd. because the firm previously represented the plaintiff in a "substantially related" suit against the company.

  • October 11, 2024

    Off The Bench: NCAA's NIL Deal Advances, QB Settles Again

    In this week's Off The Bench, the NCAA and the athletes suing it over name, image and likeness money satisfy a judge with their proposed settlement revisions, an NFL quarterback settles yet another sexual assault accusation, and a legal battle between the NFL and one of its former reporters ends amicably.

  • October 11, 2024

    California High Court Rejects Bar Exam Alternative Program

    The California Supreme Court has rejected a proposal that would have allowed bar applicants to submit a portfolio of work they did with real clients under supervision instead of taking the bar exam.

  • October 10, 2024

    Chutkan OKs Redacted Immunity Evidence In Trump Case

    The D.C. federal judge overseeing the case that charges Donald Trump with scheming to subvert the 2020 election results will allow the public disclosure of some evidence related to the issue of his potential immunity, but will give the former president time to challenge the disclosure.

  • October 10, 2024

    Paxton Sanctions Attempt Is 'Intimidation Tactic,' Nonprofit Says

    A Houston civil rights nonprofit focusing on immigration is calling a sanctions motion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton an "intimidation tactic," telling a state appeals court that it shouldn't have to just accept whatever legal interpretation the state spits out or face sanctions.

  • October 10, 2024

    Trade Group, Enviros Clash Over EPA Methylene Chloride Rule

    American Chemistry Council and the Sierra Club are taking aim at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's methylene chloride rule, with the industry group telling the Fifth Circuit the agency overstepped when it outright banned most applications of the chemical for no valid reason and the conservation organization arguing it didn't go far enough.

  • October 10, 2024

    Wash. Judge Condemns Monsanto's Bid To Delay PCB Trial

    A Washington state judge grew frustrated on Thursday with Monsanto's eleventh-hour attempt to shelve a PCB poisoning tort headed to trial next week until the state Supreme Court weighs in on a similar case, calling out the chemical giant for taking stances on "both sides of the fence" about the stakes on appeal.

  • October 10, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Digs Into Patent Applications' Place In Prior Art

    A Federal Circuit panel struggled Thursday to work out whether published patent applications meet the requirements to serve as prior art, in order to evaluate whether the Patent Trial and Appeal Board rightfully invalidated claims of a Lynk Labs LED patent.

  • October 10, 2024

    Vape Co. Missed Cutoff To Toss $892K Arb. Loss, 9th Circ. Says

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday affirmed a Washington distributor's $892,000 arbitration award in a dispute with vape company Avid Holdings, in an order siding with a district court judge who determined Avid waited too long to dispute the arbitrator's decision.

  • October 10, 2024

    DOJ Defends Federal Marijuana Ban At 1st Circ.

    The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday urged the First Circuit to reject cannabis companies' constitutional challenge to the drug's ongoing prohibition under federal law, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that Congress has the power to regulate the interstate and intrastate markets for controlled substances.

  • October 10, 2024

    Why So Hard To Say 'Denied'? Mich. Justices Ask Insurers

    Michigan Supreme Court justices pushed insurers Wednesday to explain why they take issue with appellate rulings requiring them to explicitly say they have "denied" insureds' claims, asking what about including that word or evaluating claims as they normally do would create new obligations on the insurers.

  • October 10, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Revives Software IP Case Against Salesforce

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday threw out a Nevada federal court's finding that Salesforce didn't infringe claims in a pair of patents for database software reprogramming and that the claims weren't valid to begin with, saying key language in the patents has to be looked at differently.

  • October 10, 2024

    Boulder Says Exxon Can't Twist Law To Avoid Climate Fight

    Boulder, Colorado, accused Exxon on Wednesday of twisting preemption standards to avoid a suit over the impacts of climate change, telling the Colorado Supreme Court that it doesn't need explicit permission from the Clean Air Act to bring its state law claims. 

  • October 10, 2024

    5th Circ. Judge Hints Justices' 'Sea Change' May Help DACA

    A Fifth Circuit judge grilled Texas on Thursday over whether it still has standing to challenge the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, suggesting recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent might spell trouble for the Lone Star State's bid to kill the program.

  • October 10, 2024

    Homebuyers Tell 8th Circ. Broker Deal Gives Them Nothing

    Homebuyers are urging the Eighth Circuit to undo the approval of $208.5 million in settlements struck by real estate brokerages in the sprawling litigation over industry rules covering broker fees, saying the deals only provide money for sellers.

  • October 10, 2024

    Eli Lilly Tells Mich. Justices It's 'Wrong Time' For Insulin Case

    A lawyer for pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly has urged the Michigan Supreme Court to reject a call to shake up the state's consumer protection precedent, saying during oral arguments Thursday that the attorney general is asking the court to do "by fiat" what Michigan lawmakers could soon accomplish with a bill package that got a hearing earlier this week. 

  • October 10, 2024

    SEC Urges 1st Circ. To Uphold $93M Win Over Financial Firm

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission urged the First Circuit on Thursday to affirm its $93 million win against Commonwealth Financial Network for allegedly failing to disclose that it profited from clients using higher-fee funds when similar, lower-cost versions were available.

  • October 10, 2024

    Mich. Justice Asks If Disney Fight Harms Multistate Collabs

    Michigan's chief justice asked Thursday whether allowing Disney and the owner of IHOP to retain unclaimed property, which state officials say they should get after an audit, could hamper Michigan's ability to participate in multistate audits that yield hundreds of millions of dollars for the state.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    After Chevron: Uniform Tax Law Interpretation Not Guaranteed

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    The loss of Chevron deference will significantly alter the relationship between the IRS, courts and Congress when it comes to tax law, potentially precipitating more transparent rulemaking, but also provoking greater uncertainty due to variability in judicial interpretation, say Michelle Levin and Carneil Wilson at Dentons.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Environmental Law May Face Hurdles

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling overturning Chevron deference could prove to be as influential as the original 1984 decision, with far-reaching implications for U.S. environmental laws, including rendering recently promulgated regulations more vulnerable to challenges, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Opinion

    'Trump Too Small' Ruling Overlooks TM Registration Issues

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Vidal v. Elster, which concluded that “Trump Too Small” cannot be a registered trademark as it violates a federal prohibition, fails to consider modern-day, real-world implications for trademark owners who are denied access to federal registration, say Tiffany Gehrke and Alexa Spitz at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Colo. Ruling Adopts 'Actual Discharge' Test For The First Time

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    After a Colorado court’s recent decision in Potts v. Gaia Children, adopting for the first time a test for evaluating an actual discharge claim, employers must diligently document the circumstances surrounding termination of employment, and exercise particular caution when texting employees, says Michael Laszlo at Clark Hill.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • Why High Court Social Media Ruling Will Be Hotly Debated

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    In deciding the NetChoice cases that challenged Florida and Texas content moderation laws, what the U.S. Supreme Court justices said about social media platforms — and the First Amendment — will have implications and raise questions for nearly all online operators, say Jacob Canter and Joanna Rosen Forster at Crowell & Moring.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Good News For Gov't Contractors In Litigation

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    The net result of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Chevron deference is that individuals, contractors and companies bringing procurement-related cases against the government will have new pathways toward success, say Joseph Berger and Andrés Vera at Thompson Hine.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Scale Tips Favor Away From HHS Agencies

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    The loss of Chevron deference may indirectly aid parties in challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' interpretations of regulations and could immediately influence several pending cases challenging HHS on technical questions and agency authority, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Series

    After Chevron: FDA Regulations In The Crosshairs

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the Chevron doctrine is likely to unleash an array of challenges against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, focusing on areas of potential overreach such as the FDA's authority under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • 2 Options For Sackler Family After High Court Purdue Ruling

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court recently blocked Purdue Pharma's plan to shield the family that owns the company from bankruptcy lawsuits, the Sacklers face the choice to either continue litigation, or return to the bargaining table for a settlement that doesn't eliminate creditor claims, says Gregory Germain at Syracuse University.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Limited Changes In USPTO Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning Chevron deference will have limited consequences for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office given the USPTO's unique statutory features, but it is still an important decision for matters of statutory interpretation, especially those involving provisions of the America Invents Act, say Andrei Iancu and Cooper Godfrey at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For Nationwide Race-Based Hair Protections

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    While 24 states have passed laws that prohibit race-based hair discrimination, this type of bias persists in workplaces and schools, so a robust federal law is necessary to ensure widespread protection, says Samone Ijoma and Erica Roberts at Sanford Heisler.

  • Opinion

    Justices' Malicious-Prosecution Ruling Shows Rare Restraint

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Chiaverini v. City of Napoleon, Ohio, declining to limit malicious-prosecution suits, is a model of judicial modesty and incrementalism, in sharp contrast to the court’s dramatic swings on other rights, says Steven Schwinn at the University of Illinois Chicago Law School.

  • Series

    After Chevron: EEOC Status Quo Will Likely Continue

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    As the legal landscape adjusts to the end of Chevron deference, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s rulemaking authority isn’t likely to shift as much as some other employment-related agencies, says Paige Lyle at FordHarrison.

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