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TOP NEWS Analysis Top Court Finally Overruled 'Lemon' Test Monday. Or Did It? Justice Neil Gorsuch's opinion Monday is clear: The landmark First Amendment case known as Lemon v. Kurtzman, which had long plagued religious conservatives, is no longer good law. But no one seems to agree whether the so-called Lemon test even had a pulse before Monday's U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. Illinois To Become Abortion 'Oasis' In Wake Of Dobbs Ruling Abortion providers and officials in Illinois are preparing for potential interstate conflict and litigation as they expect a flood of patients to cross the state's borders following Friday's U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade that could clear the way for every surrounding state to outlaw the procedure. Firms Look To Cover Out-Of-State Abortion Care After Dobbs A growing number of law firms are offering to cover the costs of out-of-state reproductive care for their employees in the wake of last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. High Court Backs Praying Coach In Religious Rights Battle The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that a public school district violated the First Amendment by suspending a football coach who insisted on praying at midfield right after games.
Prescriber Intent Matters In Opioid Cases, High Court Rules Prosecutions under the Controlled Substances Act for the excessive prescribing of opioids and other addictive drugs must show that doctors knew they lacked a legitimate medical purpose, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in a defeat for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Justices Vacate, Remand PAGA Rulings In Light Of Viking The U.S. Supreme Court vacated and remanded on Monday several petitions centering on whether federal arbitration requirements bar workers' claims under a California law enabling them to sue on behalf of the state, citing the justices' recent Viking River Cruises decision. Justices Say Courts Must Consider Rehab In Resentencing The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that district courts must look at defendants' rehabilitation and updated sentencing guidelines when considering a reduction of their sentences.
High Court To Hear Sears Lease Fight With Mall Of America The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a long-running dispute between the successor to retail giant Sears Holding Corp. and the Mall of America over the assignment of a store lease, taking up the question of whether appellate courts have jurisdiction to hear appeals of bankruptcy sale orders. Justices Send Immigrant Mental Health Suit Back To 10th Circ. The U.S. Supreme Court sent an Ethiopian national's case back to the Tenth Circuit to reconsider its decision affirming that immigrants who committed serious crimes are ineligible for deportation protections despite having a history of mental health illness. Trump Takes Twitter 'Censorship' Case Loss To 9th Circ. Former President Donald Trump is appealing last month's dismissal of his putative censorship class action against Twitter, according to a notice filed in California federal court on Monday.
5th Circ. Gives Fed Worker Vax Mandate Suit Another Shot The Fifth Circuit on Monday said it will rehear a challenge to President Joe Biden’s 2021 executive order requiring federal workers to receive a COVID-19 vaccine or face termination.
Justices Reject Suits Over Banks' Onus In Terror Funding The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined a consolidated case seeking to hold National Westminster Bank PLC and Credit Lyonnais SA responsible for a series of terrorist attacks in Israel after a Hamas-linked charity obtained their banking services. Justices Sit Out Apple's PTAB Standing Saga Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from Apple on the issue of standing to appeal Patent Trial and Appeal Board rulings, even though the case had received endorsement from tech companies and lawmakers including Sen. Patrick Leahy.
High Court Won't Hear $87M Monsanto Roundup Appeal The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review an $87 million verdict awarded to a couple who claimed that Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller caused their blood cancer, the second time in a week that the high court has rebuffed the Bayer AG unit's appeals over the herbicide. Supreme Court Won't Hear Journalists' AB 5 Challenge The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review whether a California worker classification law runs afoul of free speech protections, a case that might have led to a potential narrowing or blessing of the controversial Golden State law. Justices Turn Away 2nd Circ. Mongolia Mining Case The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday opted not to review a Second Circuit case refusing to revive claims brought in arbitration against Mongolia, despite arguments that the ruling may hurt New York's reputation as a leading venue for U.S.-based arbitrations. Justices Won't Weigh Freight Broker Negligence Suit The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc.'s challenge to a split Ninth Circuit decision reviving a personal injury suit alleging the freight broker and logistics giant negligently hired an unsafe trucker involved in a highway accident. Justices Won't Hear Anthem, Express Scripts Drug Price Fight The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to take up insurance policyholders' challenge to the dismissal of their suit accusing Anthem Inc. and its pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts Inc. of violating federal benefits laws by overcharging for prescriptions.
Justices Decline Case Challenging Copyright For Floor Plans The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take a case Monday from a group of real estate companies that argued the Eighth Circuit wrongly found floor plans one firm included in marketing materials amounted to architectural drawings protected by copyright. Supreme Court Won't Review Vascepa Patent Case The U.S. Supreme Court won't review a Federal Circuit decision that shut down a challenge to a lower court's order invalidating six patents on Amarin's blockbuster heart drug Vascepa, handing a loss to a group made up largely of the company's shareholders. High Court Won't Review Guatemalan's Self-Removal Suit The U.S. Supreme Court turned away a Guatemalan woman's challenge to a decades-old deportation order on Monday, keeping intact an Eleventh Circuit ruling that she hadn't executed the removal order herself when she voluntarily left the U.S. in 1995. Justices Won't Hear Petition Over Alaska Native Land Dispute The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to take up a case in which an Alaska Native father and son claim the federal government, with the consent of a local tribal corporation, lopped off three acres of their land as they sought to obtain formal title under a landmark 1971 law. High Court Turns Away Teamsters Fund's $58M Pension Suit The U.S. Supreme Court declined a Teamsters pension fund's request on Monday to review a ruling that let a wholesale grocer avoid paying $58 million the fund claimed it was owed after a warehouse operator stopped contributing. DC Circ. Affirms Romania Must Pay All Of $356M Award The D.C. Circuit on Friday affirmed a ruling sanctioning Romania for putting up roadblocks against two Swedish food investors' efforts to enforce a confirmed $356 million arbitral award against the country, rejecting arguments that it's already paid up.
DC Circ. Orders Reopening Of Decades-Old Hilton ERISA Case The D.C. Circuit reopened a decades-old class action brought by ex-Hilton Hotel & Resorts workers who alleged the hotel chain lowballed their pension payments by failing to properly accrue benefits to their accounts, finding the district court erred in refusing to enforce an injunction ordering payment in the case.
Biofuel Group Fights Blending Pass For Refiners At DC Circ. A biofuel trade association is accusing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of wrongfully affording small refiners a get-out-of-jail-free card by not requiring them to honor past years' biofuel mixing requirements even after the refiners' exemption requests were denied.
Fed. Circ. Says PTAB Erred In Netflix Challenge To DivX Patent The Federal Circuit said Monday the Patent Trial and Appeal Board misconstrued a key claim term in a DivX video deblocking patent and ordered the board to take another look at the challenge from Netflix and Hulu, which the board held failed to show the patent was invalid.
Fed. Circ. Backs Patent Challengers More Than Patent Owners Patent owners face a tougher road on appeal than accused defendants and patent challengers, with the Federal Circuit affirming underlying decisions patent owners want overturned 78% of the time, according to statistics from Morrison & Foerster. Ex-Temple Biz Dean Appeals Rankings Fraud Case At 3rd Circ. The former dean of the Fox School of Business at Temple University has asked the Third Circuit to throw out his conviction on charges that he falsely inflated the school's stats to boost its ranking in U.S. News & World Report, arguing that students still got a good education in exchange for their tuition.
3rd Circ. Urged To Allow Ammo Maker's Tort Claims Ammunitions broker Battle Born Munitions Inc. asked the Third Circuit to overturn a lower court's finding that it can't bring tort claims against its vendor Dick's Sporting Goods Inc., saying that Dick's knew it would not accept delivery of store-branded bullets when it said it would.
Car Auction Co. Asks 4th Circ. For Redo In Virus Suit A car auction company urged the Fourth Circuit to wait to hear what Maryland's high court says about whether COVID-19 causes a physical loss or damage that's covered by insurance, arguing the court should vacate an earlier order in favor of a Chubb unit.
La. Enviro Agency Can't Join Pollution Suit, 5th Circ. Told The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality can't be sued for allegedly failing to inform landowners about pollution at a valve plant because the law doesn't allow tort claims against state agencies, Dresser LLC, Baker Hughes and others have told the Fifth Circuit.
Tyson Workers Ask 5th Circ. To Revive COVID Safety Suit A group of Tyson Foods Inc. workers has asked the Fifth Circuit to revive and send back to state court their lawsuit accusing the company of negligently exposing them to COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic, echoing other Tyson workers' arguments that their claims don't belong in federal court.
Mich. City Official OK To Block Facebook Critic, 6th Circ. Says A city manager in Michigan who maintained a personal Facebook page that identified him as a public official did not violate a critic's constitutional rights by blocking him, a Sixth Circuit panel ruled Monday, saying that maintaining the page was not part of his job description.
7th Circ. Won't Let Red States Step Into Public Charge Fight The Seventh Circuit on Monday refused to allow a group of Republican-led states to intervene in a dispute over a Trump-era public charge rule that the Biden administration has already begun redrafting.
9th Circ. Keeps Calif. Climate Change Cases In State Courts The Ninth Circuit on Monday stood by its decision that climate change suits brought by local governments in California against fossil fuel companies belong in state court.
Investigators Not FLSA Exempt In OT Suit, 11th Circ. Says Investigators who examined damaged telecommunications infrastructure did not have sufficient control over their business operations to be considered overtime-exempt administrative employees, the Eleventh Circuit held Monday.
Linebarger Goggan Immune To Toll Road Fee Suit, Court Says A national debt collection firm should be granted government immunity in a case accusing the firm of abusing its role as toll collector in a Texas county, a Texas appellate court has ruled.
Fla. Atty In Ethics Row Says Court Criticisms Are Free Speech A Miami-based foreclosure defense attorney facing disciplinary charges over disparaging comments leveled against various courts and judges has urged the Florida Supreme Court to find that his statements are protected under the First Amendment.
Insurer Owes $3M For Hockey Coach's Injury, Ill. Panel Says An insurer must cover half of a $6 million settlement resolving a high school hockey coach's allegations that he was assaulted by a former player, an Illinois state appellate panel ruled Monday, agreeing with a trial court's judgment that the agreement wasn't collusive despite an "obvious conflict of interest" in negotiations.
Marriott Project Backers Win NJ Appeal Over Failed Land Deal A New Jersey state appeals court on Monday said a trial judge was right to order a hospitality business and its owner to reimburse two investors a combined $350,000 because the company failed to purchase land for the development of a Marriott hotel.
Appeals Court Says Attys Had Enforceable Lien To Get Fees A Georgia law firm and two of its attorneys have a valid lien on bank accounts seized from two former clients in a criminal case over the alleged sale of synthetic THC at a rural convenience store, the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.
Ga. Judges Revive Privacy Claim Over Law Firm's Advice A divided Georgia Court of Appeals on Monday revived an invasion of privacy claim against a family law firm and two attorneys accused of advising a client to secretly record his wife during divorce litigation and threaten to distribute footage of her having sex with another woman.
Ga. Judges Say Dietary Supplement Label Suit Is FDA Issue A plaintiff can't pursue his deceptive product labeling case against a Georgia dietary supplement maker because it deals with unanswered questions under the Food and Drug Administration's purview, the Georgia Court of Appeals has held.
NC Health Agency Says Regulatory Actions Can't Be Torts North Carolina's health department urged the state's Supreme Court to throw out an assisted living center's lawsuit accusing it of imposing harsh penalties following an allegedly botched investigation, arguing that regulatory actions taken by a state agency can't be considered torts.
Opinion Justices Should Resolve FCA Cases' Rule 9(b) Circuit Split The U.S. Supreme Court should agree to hear three related False Claims Act cases and resolve the circuit split over the level of detail Rule 9(b) requires in qui tam complaints, or the viability of such actions will increasingly depend on where they are filed, say Kenneth Abell and Katherine Kulkarni at Abell Eskew. 5th Circ. Ruling Signals Judicial Shift On SEC Admin Process The Fifth Circuit’s decision in Jarkesy v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission signals a growing discomfort in the judiciary with the SEC's administrative process, and those dealing with enforcement actions should bring their constitutional challenges early and often, say Benjamin Daniels and Trevor Bradley at Robinson & Cole. Dobbs Ruling Creates Compliance Dilemmas For Hospitals Following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, hospitals in states with sweeping abortion prohibitions may struggle to reconcile state and federal legal regimes, including the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, say attorneys at Dentons.
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