Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Appellate
-
May 15, 2024
Rio Grande Is A 'Creek,' Texas Tells 5th Circ. In Barrier Rehearing
The state of Texas told the full Fifth Circuit on Wednesday that the Rio Grande is "little more than a creek with an excellent publicist" as it pushed the court to vacate an order that would require it to remove a floating barrier intended to keep migrants out of the country.
-
May 15, 2024
Data On Harm Intrigues Pa. Justices In Hospital Closure Spat
While tasked with considering how much deference appellate panels must give trial courts in matters involving preliminary injunctions, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday was equally curious about whether one such injunction needed to be supported by data showing that a hospital's closure would irrevocably hurt a Delaware County community.
-
May 15, 2024
Split High Court Allows La. To Use Revised Election Map
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Louisiana can use its revised congressional map during the 2024 election cycle, pausing a federal judicial panel's ruling that lawmakers likely violated the U.S. Constitution when they redrew the state's map to address voter dilution claims and created a second majority-Black voting district.
-
May 15, 2024
2nd Circ. Backs AT&T's Win In Retirees' Early Benefits Suit
The Second Circuit declined Wednesday to undo a win for AT&T in a proposed class action brought by two retirees who sought retroactive pay after finding out they could have applied for retirement benefits earlier, ruling the denial of their bid for backdated benefits was on solid ground.
-
May 15, 2024
Split Fed. Circ. Decision Restores Thai Pipe Duties
A split Federal Circuit panel flipped a trade court ruling Wednesday to affirm that pipes imported from Thailand that are approved for both "standard" plumbing and oil and gas uses are subject to a longstanding duty order covering standard pipes.
-
May 15, 2024
1 Year After Warhol, Judges Feel Their Way Through Fair Use
In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a rock photographer in a copyright dispute over Andy Warhol's iconic silkscreens of music legend Prince, judges have had to rethink their analysis of fair use — sometimes struggling to apply the high court's conclusions to the facts of the cases before them.
-
May 15, 2024
$2.5M Atty Sanctions Ruling Befuddles 7th Circ. Judge
A Seventh Circuit judge seemed perplexed Wednesday over how to resolve the "interesting mess" he said a district court created by sanctioning a Chicago attorney $2.5 million for taking the wrong artist to trial despite that district judge letting the case proceed in the first place.
-
May 15, 2024
Monsanto's $23M False Ad Deal Challenged At 9th Circ.
Counsel representing a certified class of Missouri consumers urged the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday to reverse Monsanto's nationwide $23 million settlement resolving consumer false ad claims over risks associated with its Roundup weedkiller, arguing that Monsanto hid the settlement from the Missouri plaintiffs and that the class is effectively "getting absolutely nothing."
-
May 15, 2024
Pardoned NJ Atty Suspended Over Tax, Fraud Convictions
A former Gilmore & Monahan PA partner — who was convicted of failing to pay payroll taxes and lying on a loan application, and was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump — has received a two-year suspension from practicing law in New Jersey, though it will be largely offset by a previous suspension he served, according to a Wednesday order.
-
May 15, 2024
4th Circ. Revives Landowners' $523K Win Against Pipeline Co.
A Fourth Circuit panel has instructed a Virginia federal court to reinstate a more than $523,000 jury award for the condemnation of easements across a family's property by Mountain Valley Pipeline, holding the verdict can be supported by credited testimony.
-
May 15, 2024
Last-Mile Amazon Driver Does Interstate Work, Panel Says
A driver for a logistics company who primarily made local deliveries for Amazon was engaged in interstate commerce and thus exempt from mandatory arbitration, a California appeals court has held, saying the worker's wage and hour claims can remain in state court.
-
May 15, 2024
Feds Tell Justices $3.1B Satellite Deal Isn't Reviewable
The Biden administration has urged the U.S. Supreme Court against reviewing an order dismissing claims that a contractor was pushed out of a $3.1 billion military satellite deal, saying the transaction was a sovereign action shielded from court review.
-
May 15, 2024
Minn. Suit Against Clinic Over Sex Abuse By Psychiatrist Fails
A Minnesota appeals court has found that a woman can't pursue vicarious liability claims against a clinic for sexual abuse by one of the psychiatrists working there, saying she released those claims when she entered a settlement with the psychiatrist.
-
May 15, 2024
Toss Of Bonus Bias Claim Too Short On Details, 5th Circ. Says
The Fifth Circuit has reinstated a Hispanic salesman's claim that he was denied $160,000 in bonuses by a construction contractor out of racial bias after he was fired, ruling the lower court didn't adequately explain why it nixed that allegation.
-
May 15, 2024
In Hush Money Case, Jury May Choose To Keep Silent, Too
Though Donald Trump's gag order violations have earned him a threat of jail time, First Amendment experts say jurors in the New York case will likely be free to speak their mind afterward if they want to — a dynamic that in rare instances has led to posttrial controversy.
-
May 14, 2024
5th Circ. Nixes Catholic Abuse Claimants' Ch. 11 Appeal
Sex abuse claimants removed from a Catholic archdiocese's bankruptcy unsecured creditors committee don't have grounds for an appeal because they couldn't show the removal was a sanction on them that cost the claimants anything, the Fifth Circuit said.
-
May 14, 2024
Ga. DA Asks Justices To Dismiss Open Records Suit
A Georgia district attorney on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court of Georgia to overturn a trial court's denial of her motion to dismiss a lawsuit accusing her of illegally withholding records and destroying others in an effort to avoid disclosure, arguing district attorneys are exempt from Georgia's Open Records Act.
-
May 14, 2024
DOI Urges High Court To Uphold Seminole Gambling Compact
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to deny a petition by two casino operators seeking to undo a sports gambling compact between the state of Florida and the Seminole Tribe, arguing that such agreements may include provisions that address matters off tribal lands.
-
May 14, 2024
4th Circ. Says Attempted Child Sex Abuse Warrants Removal
The Fourth Circuit approved the deportation of a man convicted of attempting to sexually abuse a child, ruling Tuesday that the attempted offense qualified as child abuse crime warranting removal.
-
May 14, 2024
DC Circ. Affirms Toss Of Muslim Family's Airport Search Suit
The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday upheld the dismissal of a Muslim family's lawsuit alleging they endured unconstitutionally intrusive treatment on an international trip that evinced they had been wrongly placed on a terrorist watchlist, finding that the lower court correctly leaned on a confidential declaration from an FBI agent in tossing the case.
-
May 14, 2024
9th Circ. Denies Tribes, Enviro Groups' Power Line Stay Bid
The Ninth Circuit has denied an emergency request by two Native American tribes and a couple of conservation groups to stay an Arizona federal judge's order that allows work to continue on a $10 billion power line.
-
May 14, 2024
Seattle Public Defender's $7M Employment Win Wiped Out
The Washington Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled a former King County public defender could not bring a hostile work environment claim over a client's harassing behavior that persisted after she stopped representing him, erasing her $7 million jury win.
-
May 14, 2024
5th Circ. Expresses Doubt On Nasdaq Board Diversity Rules
Lawyers for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Nasdaq Stock Market LLC faced a barrage of questions from the full Fifth Circuit on Tuesday, with judges wondering whether rules requiring corporations to disclose board diversity information would open the door to investor questions on religious practices, political beliefs or Taylor Swift fandom.
-
May 14, 2024
RFK Jr. Fights Uphill To Get Vax Censorship Block At 9th Circ.
A Ninth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Tuesday of granting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. an injunction in his case alleging Google violated his First Amendment rights by removing certain YouTube videos doubting the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines, with two judges saying his arguments lack evidence.
-
May 14, 2024
NC State Fights Cancer Patient's Presuit Building Access
North Carolina State University is pressing the state appeals court to find it is insulated from an "unusual" order allowing a former graduate student worker diagnosed with cancer to inspect a campus building that tested high for levels of carcinogens.
Expert Analysis
-
Fostering Employee Retention Amid Shaky DEI Landscape
Ongoing challenges to the legality of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs are complicating efforts to use DEI as an employee retention tool, but with the right strategic approach employers can continue to recruit and retain diverse talent — even after the FTC’s ban on noncompetes, says Ally Coll at the Purple Method.
-
'Fat Leonard' Case Shows High Bar For Rescinding Guilty Plea
Prosecutors’ recent move in the “Fat Leonard” bribery case, supporting several defendants’ motions to withdraw their guilty pleas, is extremely unusual – and its contrast with other prosecutions demonstrates that the procedural safeguards at plea hearings are far from enough, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.
-
Justices Clarify FAA But Leave Behind Important Questions
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Bissonnette v. LePage firmly shuts the door on any argument that the Federal Arbitration Act's Section 1 exemption is limited to transportation workers whose employers transport goods on behalf of others, but two major issues remain unresolved, say Joshua Wesneski and Crystal Weeks at Weil.
-
Is The Digital Accessibility Storm Almost Over?
Though private businesses have faced a decadelong deluge of digital accessibility complaints in the absence of clear regulations or uniformity among the courts, attorneys at Epstein Becker address how recent federal courts’ pushback against serial Americans with Disabilities Act plaintiffs and the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed government accessibility standards may presage a break in the downpour.
-
Rebuttal
Double-Patenting Ruling Shows Terminal Disclaimers' Value
While a recent Law360 guest article seems to argue that the Federal Circuit’s Cellect decision last year robs patent owners of lawful patent term, the ruling actually identifies how terminal disclaimers are the solution to the problem of obviousness-type double patenting, say Jane Love and Robert Trenchard at Gibson Dunn.
-
Series
Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.
-
How Courts Are Interpreting Fed. Circ. IPR Estoppel Ruling
In the year since the Federal Circuit’s Ironburg ruling, which clarified the scope of inter partes and post-grant review estoppel, district court decisions show that application of IPR or PGR estoppel may become a resource-intensive inquiry, say Whitney Meier Howard and Michelle Lavrichenko at Venable.
-
Mid-2024 FCA Enforcement And Litigation Trends To Watch
Reviewing notable False Claims Act trends and enforcement efforts in the last year and a half reveals that healthcare is a key enforcement priority for the U.S. Department of Justice, and the road ahead may bring clarification on Anti-Kickback Statute causation and willfulness standards, along with increased focus on private equity, cybersecurity and self-disclosure, say attorneys at Epstein Becker.
-
2nd Circ. Eminent Domain Ruling Empowers Municipalities
The Second Circuit's recent decision in Brinkmann v. Town of Southold, finding that a pretextual taking does not violate the Fifth Amendment's takings clause, gives municipalities a powerful tool with which to block unwanted development projects, even in bad faith, say James O'Connor and Benjamin Sugarman at Phillips Lytle.
-
Opinion
SEC Doesn't Have Legal Authority For Climate Disclosure Rule
Instead of making the required legal argument to establish its authority, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosure rule hides behind more than 1,000 references to materiality to give the appearance that its rule is legally defensible, says Bernard Sharfman at RealClearFoundation.
-
Breaking Down 4th Circ. Pendent Appellate Jurisdiction Ruling
As illustrated by the Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Elegant Massage v. State Farm, denying class certification and granting a motion to dismiss, federal appellate courts continue to struggle with defining the scope of pendent appellate jurisdiction — or jurisdiction over nonfinal orders below, says Joan Steinman at the Chicago-Kent College of Law.
-
What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron
With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.
-
Patent Damages Jury Verdicts Aren't Always End Of The Story
Recent outcomes demonstrate that patent damages jury verdicts are often challenged and are overturned approximately one-third of the time, and successful verdict challenges typically occur at the appellate level and concern patent validity and infringement, say James Donohue and Marie Sanyal at Charles River.
-
Justices' Title VII Ruling Requires Greater Employer Vigilance
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Muldrow v. St. Louis ruling expands the types of employment decisions that can be challenged under Title VII, so employers will need to carefully review decisions that affect a term, condition or privilege of employment, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
-
End Of Acquitted Conduct Sentencing Can Spark More Reform
The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s recent end to factoring acquitted conduct into federal sentences could signal the start of a more constitutionally sound advisory scheme, but Congress and the Supreme Court must first authorize the commission to resolve two constitutional errors baked into its guidelines, say Mark Allenbaugh at SentencingStats.com and Alan Ellis at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.