Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Appellate
-
Featured
Biden Taps Judicial Nominees For 6th Circuit, SDNY
President Joe Biden on Wednesday unveiled a new slate of judicial nominations, including a current U.S. attorney tapped for a Sixth Circuit seat and another federal prosecutor up for a judgeship in the Southern District of New York.
-
April 22, 2024
Colo. Justices Clarify Med Mal Damages Cap Calculation
The Colorado Supreme Court held Monday that a trial court can't consider a victorious medical malpractice plaintiff's insurance liabilities to statutorily cap his award at $1 million, saying an exception to the state's "collateral source" statute bars application.
-
April 22, 2024
Seattle Property Owners Can't Use COVID To Stop $160M Tax
A Washington appeals court said on Monday that Seattle can keep a $160 million property tax to pay for waterfront improvements, in an opinion that rejected an argument that diminished property values after COVID-19 should force the city to recalculate the tax.
-
April 22, 2024
Eli Lilly Tells Fed. Circ. $177M Patent Loss Was Rightly Axed
Eli Lilly & Co. has urged the Federal Circuit to uphold a Massachusetts federal judge's decision that wiped out a $176.5 million verdict against it for infringing Teva migraine drug patents, saying the lower court correctly found the patent claims to be invalid.
-
April 22, 2024
NJ Town Can't Beat Sanctions Over Legal Malpractice Suit
A New Jersey state appeals panel upheld Monday, in a published opinion, sanctions against the borough of Englewood Cliffs for bringing a now-dismissed legal malpractice suit after a purportedly unfavorable affordable housing settlement.
-
April 22, 2024
9th Circ. Backs Class Cert. In Pet Supplement False Ad Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Monday upheld certification of a consumer class accusing health supplement company Nutramax of falsely marketing Cosequin as promoting healthy joints in dogs, saying an economics expert could use a generic and "otherwise reliable" damages model without applying it specifically to the class at this stage.
-
April 22, 2024
USW Says EPA Asbestos Ban Doesn't Protect Workers Enough
The United Steelworkers and the nonprofit Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization called on the D.C. Circuit to review the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent ban on the most prevalent variety of asbestos, with the union arguing the ban falls short by failing to provide certain interim protections.
-
April 22, 2024
Jack Daniel's, VIP Hold Firm In Yearslong Dog Toy TM Fight
Jack Daniel's has told an Arizona federal court that VIP Products LLC's contention that its chewy, poop-themed dog toys in the shape of whiskey bottles do not infringe or dilute Jack Daniel's brand is an old argument, borne from a desire to litigate the case "from scratch" after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected its First Amendment defense last year.
-
April 22, 2024
Father Asks Texas High Court To Take Up Gun Suicide Case
The father of a woman who died by suicide has asked the Texas Supreme Court to review the dismissal of his suit against a gun company, saying there were clear signs that his daughter was experiencing mental health problems and should not have been sold a weapon.
-
April 22, 2024
DC Circ. Wary Of Nigeria's Immunity Defense To $65M Award
The D.C. Circuit seemed skeptical on Monday of Nigeria's sovereign immunity defense against the enforcement of a $65 million arbitration award issued to a Chinese company after it was ousted from the western African nation.
-
April 22, 2024
Fed. Circ. Affirmance Rate In PTAB Cases Hit 83% In 2023
The Federal Circuit affirmed Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions on every issue 83.3% of the time in 2023, a new high that is notably above the historical average of 74.2%, according to the latest data compiled by Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP patent attorneys.
-
April 22, 2024
Appeals Court OKs Texas Income Pilot On Eve Of First Checks
The Texas attorney general's office lost its bid Monday to block a Harris County guaranteed income program aimed at helping low-income neighborhoods, with a state appeals court refusing to halt the pilot two days before the first of 18 monthly payments are set to go out.
-
April 22, 2024
Mich. Justices To Settle When Juries Make Crash Injury Call
Michigan's Supreme Court has said it would hear oral arguments in the case of a teen whose college baseball prospects may have been cut short by a car crash, as the court considers who should decide if an injury is serious enough to support a claim against the at-fault driver.
-
April 22, 2024
Mich. Panel Drains $1.3M 1-800-Bathtub Arbitration Award
A Michigan appellate court affirmed slashing most of a $1.3 million arbitration award for the owner of the toll-free number 1-800-BATHTUB, pulling the plug on the owner's claim that a bathroom remodeling company stole the number.
-
April 22, 2024
Estate Rep, Not Trustee, Ruled Proper Defendant In Death Suit
A Minnesota appeals panel has thrown out a wrongful death suit filed by the daughter of a passenger killed in a car-motorcycle crash, saying that under state law she needed to file the suit against the personal representative of the driver's estate, not its trustee.
-
April 22, 2024
Congress Can Enact Corp. Transparency, Orgs Tell 11th Circ.
Congress is empowered to require American companies to report their beneficial owners to the federal government because there is ample evidence they've previously been used to fund hostile foreign actors, evade sanctions and traffic drugs, two think tanks told the Eleventh Circuit in an amici brief.
-
April 22, 2024
Dentist Must Face Harassment Suit, Mass. Panel Says
A Massachusetts appellate panel on Monday revived claims that a dentist sexually harassed a female patient during a visit by allegedly making inappropriate comments and then purposely breaking her tooth after she rebuffed his advances.
-
April 22, 2024
Justices Reject Asylum Quest Of Man Caught In Transit Ban
The U.S. Supreme Court turned down a Salvadoran man's petition to look at a Ninth Circuit decision that said the judiciary can't review expedited removal decisions from the executive branch, even though courts had found the Trump administration policy authorizing the man's removal to be unlawful.
-
April 22, 2024
Man Keeps $1.8M Verdict In Calif. Auto Crash Injury Suit
A California appeals court won't upend a nearly $1.8 million verdict in favor of a man who said he was injured following a low-speed automotive rear-ending, saying the evidence was enough for the jury to conclude his active lifestyle was effectively ended by injuries from the crash.
-
April 22, 2024
DEA Tells 9th Circ. 'Right To Try' Doesn't Rewrite CSA
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is urging the Ninth Circuit to reject an appeal by a doctor who seeks to administer psilocybin to terminal cancer patients to treat depression, saying the Right to Try Act doesn't waive the Controlled Substances Act's prohibitions or authorize the DEA to do so.
-
April 22, 2024
Ralph Lauren Can Continue Appeal Of COVID Coverage Loss
The Third Circuit on Monday lifted a stay that sidelined a Ralph Lauren Corp. appeal of a district judge's ruling that the fashion retailer failed to show insurable physical damage to stores from the COVID-19 pandemic, sending the case to an appellate motions panel with three similar actions.
-
April 22, 2024
Mich. Top Court Strikes Down Public Union Fee Policies
The Michigan Supreme Court said Monday a public-sector union cannot charge nonmembers a fee to receive union support in filing a grievance, ruling that doing so violates the organization's duty to fairly represent all employees when the union is the sole representative for workers.
-
April 22, 2024
3M Urges Mich. Justices To Ditch PFAS Water Rule Challenge
Manufacturing giant 3M has urged the Michigan Supreme Court to reinforce an invalidation of the state's new limits on so-called forever chemicals in drinking water, telling justices that regulators illegally failed to estimate the full cost of its new restrictions on businesses.
-
April 22, 2024
Calif. High Court Says Pretrial Inmates Can't Get Min. Wage
The California Supreme Court on Monday ruled that pretrial detainees who work while in jail are not entitled to minimum wage and overtime claims under California's labor law, finding the state's penal code permitting such work covers nonconvicted individuals.
-
April 22, 2024
Ill. Panel Relieves Insurer Of $8.3M Cracker Caper Judgment
An insurer was relieved of covering a dispute between cracker manufacturers, an Illinois state appeals panel affirmed, finding allegations of equipment theft that led to an $8.3 million judgment against Distinctive Foods LLC constituted non-covered intentional interference with RyKrisp LLC.
-
April 22, 2024
Justices Skeptical Staying Arbitration Cases Burdens Courts
The U.S. Supreme Court tackled Monday whether courts should stay or dismiss suits headed to arbitration, with some justices appearing skeptical of the argument that tossing the suits burdens courts less than pausing litigation.
Editor's Picks
-
DC Circuit Cases To Watch In 2024
As the D.C. Circuit heads into 2024, its judges are poised to answer hotly anticipated political questions about former President Donald Trump and his allies, as well as a number of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cases that could determine the future of certain natural gas projects.
-
Appellate Outlook: Circuit Splits & Hot Topics To Track In 2024
The 2024 appellate almanac is looking lively after eye-popping opinions and arguments in 2023's homestretch. As the new year begins, several circuit splits seem more serious, ideological imbalances are in the spotlight, and luminaries of the U.S. Supreme Court bar are locked in a burgeoning battle over alleged corporate complicity in terrorism.
-
Law360's Guide To Biden's Judicial Picks
UPDATED April 18, 2024 | President Joe Biden is shaping the federal judiciary by adding to the courts' professional and demographic diversity — a sharp break from former President Donald Trump, who made the judiciary more homogeneous as the judges confirmed under him were 84% white and 76% male.
Expert Analysis
-
Using Rule 23(f) To Review Class Certification Orders
Since plaintiffs on average are prevailing in certifying a class more often than not, the best-positioned class action defendants are those prepared to pursue relief under Rule 23(f) well before the district court issues its certification decision, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
-
Justices' Forfeiture Ruling Resolves Nonexistent Split
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in McIntosh v. U.S., holding that a trial court’s failure to enter a preliminary criminal forfeiture order prior to sentencing doesn’t bar its entry later, is unusual in that it settles an issue on which the lower courts were not divided — but it may apply in certain forfeiture disputes, says Stefan Cassella at Asset Forfeiture Law.
-
Opinion
SC's Courts Have It Wrong On Amazon Marketplace Sales Tax
The South Carolina Supreme Court should step in and correct the misguided change in tax law effectuated by lower court rulings that found Amazon owes state sales tax for marketplace sales made prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Wayfair v. South Dakota decision in 2018, says Hayes Holderness at the University of Richmond.
-
What Have We Learned In The Year Since Warhol?
In the almost year since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith, which was widely seen as potentially chilling to creative endeavors, seven subsequent decisions — while illuminating to some extent — do not indicate any trend toward a radical departure from prior precedents in fair use cases, says Jose Sariego at Bilzin Sumberg.
-
The Practical Effects Of Justices' Arbitration Exemption Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries, that a transportation worker need not work in the transportation industry to be exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act, may negatively affect employers' efforts to mitigate class action risk via arbitration agreement enforcement, say Charles Schoenwetter and Eric Olson at Bowman and Brooke.
-
Binance Ruling Spotlights Muddled Post-Morrison Landscape
The Second Circuit's recent decision in Williams v. Binance highlights the judiciary's struggle to apply the U.S. Supreme Court's Morrison v. National Australia Bank ruling to digital assets, and illustrates how Morrison's territorial limits on the federal securities laws have become convoluted, say Andrew Rhys Davies and Jessica Lewis at WilmerHale.
-
Practical Pointers After Fed. Circ. Double-Patenting Decision
With the Federal Circuit recently denying a full court review of In re: Cellect, a decision regarding obviousness-type double-patenting, affected patent family holders should evaluate their rights through both patent prosecution and future litigation lenses to minimize risks, say Austin Lorch and Jeff Wolfson at Haynes Boone.
-
Sorting Circuit Split On Foreign Arbitration Treaty's Authority
A circuit court split over whether the New York Convention supersedes state law barring arbitration in certain disputes — a frequent issue in insurance matters — has left lower courts to rely on conflicting decisions, but the doctrine of self-executing treaties makes it clear that the convention overrules state law, says Gary Shaw at Pillsbury.
-
Corp. Transparency Act Could Survive 11th Circ. Several Ways
If the Eleventh Circuit upholds an Alabama federal court’s injunction against the Corporate Transparency Act, the anti-money laundering law could persist as a narrower version that could moot some constitutional challenges, but these remedies would likely generate additional regulatory or statutory ambiguities that would result in further litigation, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
-
Del. Match.com Ruling Maintains Precedent In Time Of Change
Despite speculation that the Delaware Supreme Court could drive away corporations if it lowered the bar for business judgment review in its Match.com stockholder ruling, the court broke its recent run of controversial precedent-busting decisions by upholding, and arguably strengthening, minority stockholder protections against controller coercion, say Renee Zaytsev and Marc Ayala at Boies Schiller.
-
The Future Of BIPA Insurance Litigation After Visual Pak
A recent Illinois appellate court decision, National Fire Insurance v. Visual Pak, may have altered the future of insurance litigation under the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act by diametrically opposing a prominent Seventh Circuit ruling that found insurance coverage for violations of the act, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
-
Macquarie Ruling Raises The Bar For Securities Fraud Claims
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week in Macquarie Infrastructure v. Moab Partners — holding that a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule does not forbid omissions in company disclosures unless they render other statements false — is a major setback for plaintiffs pursuing securities fraud claims against corporations, say attorneys at Skadden.
-
Patent Lessons From 8 Federal Circuit Reversals In March
A number of Federal Circuit patent decisions last month reversed or vacated underlying rulings, providing guidance regarding the definiteness of a claim that include multiple limitations of different scopes, the importance of adequate jury instruction, the proper scope of the precedent, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.
-
NC Rulings Show Bankruptcy Isn't Only For Insolvent Debtors
Two recent rulings from a North Carolina bankruptcy court show that lack of financial distress is not a requirement for bankruptcy protection, particularly in the Fourth Circuit, but these types of cases can still be dismissed for other reasons, say Stuart Gordon and Alexandria Vath at Rivkin Radler.
-
A Look At Ex Parte Seizures 8 Years Post-DTSA
In the eight years since the Defend Trade Secrets Act was enacted, not much has changed for jurisprudence on ex parte seizures, but a few seminal rulings show that there still isn’t a bright line on what qualifies as extraordinary circumstances warranting a seizure, say attorneys at Finnegan.