Appellate
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April 23, 2018
Arthrex Denied 2nd Shot At Estoppel Challenge By Fed. Circ.
The full Federal Circuit has refused to reconsider a panel’s decision upholding a Patent Trial and Appeal Board judgment against suture anchor maker Arthrex Inc. that triggered patent owner estoppel, blocking the company from obtaining future patents on those products, according to a short ruling Monday.
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April 23, 2018
9th Circ. Affirms Wedbush Sanctions For Reporting Violations
The Ninth Circuit on Friday kept in place a decision fining Wedbush Securities Inc. and suspending the investment firm’s president for a month for failing to report litigation and regulatory actions against the firm, affirming an earlier U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ruling.
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April 23, 2018
Immigrant Faces Tough High Court Qs Over Removal Notices
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Monday in the case of a Brazilian immigrant facing possible deportation because of the so-called stop-time rule, with his counsel facing a tough line of questioning over why served notices of appearance triggering the statute need to include time and place information.
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April 23, 2018
Pa. Judge Gives OK To Tear Down 19th-Century Buildings
A state judge cleared the way Friday for the demolition of a series of Philadelphia properties with rich histories if not protected historic status, as the court shot down a local preservation group’s many arguments for why the properties’ owner should not have been granted permits to proceed with redevelopment.
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April 23, 2018
Crypto Giant Can't Arbitrate Laundering Claims: 11th Circ.
A customer of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange Cryptsy does not have to arbitrate his proposed class action against digital currency giant Coinbase Inc. alleging it helped Cryptsy’s CEO launder roughly $8 million in stolen customer funds, the Eleventh Circuit said Monday.
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April 23, 2018
Review BofA Preemption Ruling, OCC Tells 9th Circ.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Monday threw its weight behind Bank of America in urging the Ninth Circuit to review a panel decision that found the National Bank Act does not preempt a California state escrow interest law, arguing that it’s the “rare case that justifies rehearing.”
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April 23, 2018
O’Melveny Lands Stanford Supreme Court Star Jeff Fisher
O’Melveny & Myers LLP said Monday it has brought in Stanford law professor Jeffrey Fisher as special counsel to the firm's appellate practice, bolstering the O’Melveny ranks with one of the top names of the U.S. Supreme Court bar.
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April 23, 2018
Pa. ER Doc's Trial Win Affirmed In Patient Death Suit
A Pennsylvania appeals court affirmed Monday a jury’s verdict in favor of an emergency room physician in a suit alleging negligent treatment of a teen suffering from shortness of breath who later died, saying a third amended complaint added new causes of action properly excluded by the trial judge.
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April 23, 2018
US Fights Swiss Co.'s $38.2M Tax Appeal, Drops Its Own
The U.S. government agreed not to pursue an appeal of issues it lost in a Swiss insurer’s lawsuit over tax treaty benefits, while telling the D.C. Circuit on Monday that the insurer’s arguments for a $38.2 million tax refund were unpersuasive.
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April 23, 2018
Walmart Slip-And-Fall Suit Revived By Idaho High Court
The Idaho Supreme Court has revived a suit accusing Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of being responsible for a woman’s slip-and-fall injury, saying the retailer is alleged to have unsupervised product kiosks known to leak water, a factual dispute that precludes dismissal at this stage of the case.
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April 23, 2018
8th Circ. Affirms Minnesota Taking Claims Precluded
An Eighth Circuit panel on Friday affirmed the dismissal of a woman’s suit accusing Minnesota of violating the Fifth Amendment by not allowing smokers to pursue claims against Philip Morris for allegedly misleading consumers about the health risks of light cigarettes, agreeing her claims were precluded by an earlier state court suit.
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April 23, 2018
Timber Co. Asks High Court To Reverse Frog Habitat Ruling
Weyerhaeuser Co. and other forest land owners on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a Fifth Circuit ruling upholding the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to declare 1,500 acres of private property in Louisiana as protected habitat for the endangered dusky gopher frog.
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April 23, 2018
Justices Ask SG To Weigh In On Assignor Estoppel In IP Row
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked the solicitor general for his take on a pending cert petition challenging the Federal Circuit’s application of a doctrine that bars a patent’s inventor who assigned his rights away from challenging its validity and the circuit's take on apportioned damages.
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April 23, 2018
4 Recent Fed. Circ. Rulings IP Attys Need To Know
The Federal Circuit threw up new obstacles to getting patents invalidated under Alice and opened the door to possible appeals of Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions to institute review of patents. Here's a roundup of the court's top rulings since January and their implications for intellectual property law.
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April 23, 2018
Puerto Rico Telecom Can't Save Pay-TV Suit At High Court
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday shot down a Puerto Rican telecommunications company’s attempt to revive its antitrust suit against a competitor alleging a scheme to keep it out of the pay-TV market, denying its request to hear the case.
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April 23, 2018
Tribe Slams SD’s Gambling Amenity Tax Bid In 8th Circ.
The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe urged the Eighth Circuit on Friday to bar South Dakota from levying use tax on its casino’s amenities, saying the usual presumption against federal preemption did not apply to Native American law.
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April 23, 2018
Activists Can Make Case For Pipeline Shutoff, Panel Says
Four climate change activists charged with tampering with an Enbridge Inc. tar sands pipeline can present evidence at their trial that their actions were necessary to prevent environmental harm caused by fossil fuel use, a Minnesota appeals court said Monday in upholding a lower court ruling.
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April 23, 2018
Senate Advances Trump's Pick For 5th Circ.
The Senate took a step toward confirming Schaerr Duncan LLP partner Stuart Kyle Duncan to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday after Republicans came together to advance his nomination.
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April 23, 2018
HR Rep Loses Wrongful Termination Suit At 6th Circ.
The Sixth Circuit affirmed a decision to toss allegations that a Michigan health system fired a human resources representative because she complained about discrimination against black applicants, saying Monday the company had good reasons for denying these applicants and for firing her.
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April 23, 2018
9th Circ. Denies Zappos Rehearing Of Data Breach Ruling
A Ninth Circuit panel on Friday denied Zappos.com’s bid for the court to reconsider its reversal of the company’s escape from consumer claims over a 2012 breach that affected 24 million shoppers, saying the customers had standing to sue when they filed their first complaint.
Editor's Picks
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Law360’s Guide To Trump’s Judicial Picks
With more judicial vacancies at the start of his term than any president in the past three decades, President Donald Trump has an unusual opportunity to reshape the federal judiciary. Here is Law360's comprehensive guide to the nominations.
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Law360’s Exclusive Interviews With The Supreme Court
In a series of exclusive interviews with Law360, current and former Supreme Court justices discussed topics as varied as the president’s wartime powers, their own decision-making process, the confirmation of the court’s newest member, and the void left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Expert Analysis
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Ethical Advocacy In Mediation: You May Need A New Plan
To discharge their ethical obligations to their clients during a mediation, lawyers must not allow mediators to take on inappropriate responsibilities. Lawyers should not sign whatever agreement a mediator puts under their nose, and should conduct as much of the face-to-face settlement negotiations as possible, says Jeff Kichaven, an independent mediator.
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Anonymous Posts Of Alleged Trade Secrets: Free Speech?
Several California appellate courts have recently ruled on conflicts between employers and publishers over the appropriateness of anonymous online posts, including the alleged publication of trade secrets. Now the California Supreme Court is poised to decide Hassell v. Bird, a key case in this free-speech battle, says Michael Weil of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.
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If Lucia Wins On SEC Judges, What Comes Next?
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The U.S. Supreme Court is set to consider in Raymond J. Lucia v. SEC whether the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s previous hiring of administrative law judges violated the Constitution. Let's look at two issues on the horizon if the answer is yes, says Daniel Walfish of Walfish & Fissell LLP.
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Rule 23 Changes: Avoid Delays In Class Settlement Approval
Among the proposed amendments to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which are scheduled to take effect Dec. 1, are specific requirements related to “front-loading.” They outline the process for seeking preliminary court approval of class action settlements and related notice plans, say Shandarese Garr and Niki Mendoza of Garden City Group LLC.
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Trespass By Fracking: Pennsylvania Court Weighs In
Reversing a lower court's motion for summary judgment, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania recently held that trespass and conversion claims arising from a hydraulic fracturing operation are not precluded by the rule of capture. The case raises unsettling questions for oil and gas operators, say L. Poe Leggette and Jasper Mason of BakerHostetler.
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Must FERC Weigh GHG Emissions In Pipeline Reviews?
The additional analysis on downstream greenhouse gas emissions required by the D.C. Circuit's recent ruling in Sierra Club v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has the potential to further delay an already burdened FERC pipeline approval process, says James Costan of Dentons.
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Don't Misunderstand The Prop 65 Coffee Ruling
Press coverage of a recent high-profile Proposition 65 decision in California may prompt readers to conclude that coffee causes cancer; in fact, there was no such finding. But if the ruling stands, it could still have a big impact on coffee makers, so it is important for both consumers and companies to understand it fully, say attorneys with DLA Piper.
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Best Practices For Building A Better Meeting
How can we improve meetings in the legal industry, which tends to evolve with the speed of a tranquilized water buffalo mired in quicksand? Breaking it down to three phases can yield significant benefits, says Nicholas Cheolas of Zelle LLP.
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At Wayfair Args, Justices Seem Hesitant To Overturn Quill
While the justices' comments during oral argument in South Dakota v. Wayfair Tuesday indicate that the U.S. Supreme Court is divided about the appropriate response to the South Dakota law at the heart of this matter, a ruling to affirm the status quo and hold for the taxpayers would not be surprising, say attorneys with Alston & Bird LLP.
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Where’s The Harm? NJ Justices Offer Consumer Law Insights
With its decision Monday in Spade v. Select Comfort Corp., the New Jersey Supreme Court proffered some much-needed clarity on the definition of “aggrieved consumer” in assessing liability under the New Jersey Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Warranty and Notice Act, striking yet another blow to the law’s expansive reach, say attorneys with Dechert LLP.