Appellate

Expert Analysis

• Summary Affirmances Could Undo The Fed. Circ.

  

  For the past two years, the Federal Circuit has relied on summary affirmances in nearly 60 percent of its cases. Thus, if the U.S. Supreme Court were to find, as recent cases argue, that the law requires the Federal Circuit to issue a written opinion in all cases, it could drastically slow down the appeals process, says Matthew Fagan of Kacvinsky Daisak Bluni PLLC.

• 9th Circ. Raises The Bar On Misprision Of A Felony

  

  Just two days before the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, the Ninth Circuit added a new element to one of the potential crimes within his jurisdiction. In U.S. v. Olson, the court held that misprision of a felony requires a defendant to know the crime he or she is concealing is a felony. No other court has considered such a requirement in the 227 years since the crime was codified, says Andrew Goldsmith of Kellogg Han... (continued)

• Series

  Leegin's 10-Year Checkup: RPM Rule Breeds Inconsistency

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's 2007 Leegin decision aimed to loosen resale price maintenance restrictions on manufacturers, recognizing that such restrictions often come at the expense of competition at the manufacturer level. But much unpredictability and confusion have followed, say Melissa Maxman, Ronald Wick and Lara Kroop Delamarre of Cohen & Gresser LLP.

• Protect Innovation By Making FDA Compliance Admissible

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide whether to hear a case concerning a medical device maker's right to introduce the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s review and authorization of its product into evidence. Such information should be a legitimate part of companies' full and robust defenses of their products, say Lisa Dwyer of King & Spalding LLP and Matthew Wetzel of AdvaMed.

• June Brought A Flurry Of Employment Law Developments

  

  In the past few weeks, the U.S. Department of Labor, under new Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, has moved to dismantle a series of Obama administration rules and guidance regarding employment regulation. Adam Primm and Peter Kirsanow of Benesch discuss what employers should know about these recent developments.

• Why The Corrosion Exclusion Remains Strong: Part 2

  

  The Second Circuit's decision in Lantheus v. Zurich last year represents a strong rebuke of the narrow definition of "corrosion" advanced by some in the insurance industry. Also reinforced is the principle that anti-concurrent causation language means exactly what it says, say attorneys with Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass LLP in the final part of this article.

• Why The Corrosion Exclusion Remains Strong: Part 1

  

  Policyholders and their counsel often see a coverage declination under a corrosion exclusion as an invitation to argue that some other cause was responsible for a loss even when corrosion plays a central role. However, many courts have rejected such attempts to read a corrosion exclusion out of its policy, say attorneys with Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass LLP.

• Ambiguous Regulation May Not Preclude FCA Liability

  

  The recent Lincare opinion gives notice that, at least in the Eleventh Circuit, regulation ambiguity alone will not provide an impenetrable shield against False Claims Act liability for contractors, say Michael Prendergast and Jerome Hoffman of Holland & Knight LLP.

• DuPont Ruling And Trade Secret Enforcement Under Trump

  

  In DuPont, the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed the first federal jury conviction for charges arising under the Economic Espionage Act and potentially catalyzed more aggressive economic espionage and trade secret enforcement, say Joseph Fazioli and James Bobseine of Dechert LLP.

• Opinion

  Justice Kennedy's Moderating Influence On The High Court

  

  The guessing game around Justice Anthony Kennedy’s possible retirement is reaching a crescendo. Yet the speculation does more than fuel bookmakers’ odds. It draws attention to his pivotal role as the court’s swing vote, says Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice.