Trump Picks Ohio Ex-Solicitor General For 6th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced Thursday evening that he is tapping Benjamin Flowers, former solicitor general of Ohio, to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

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Split 4th Circ. Backs West Virginia Schoolchildren Vax Law

By Gianna Ferrarin

A split Fourth Circuit panel struck down an order barring West Virginia from applying a compulsory vaccination law to a student whose parents alleged the law violates her religious rights, ruling the law serves the state's interest in reducing the spread of infectious diseases.

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9th Circ. Upholds NCAA Eligibility Limit, Ends Player's Season

By David Steele

The Ninth Circuit has ended a University of Nevada baseball player's sixth season of competition, reversing a district court order that allowed him to start the season and upholding the NCAA's five-year eligibility limit.

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9th Circ. Axes Kids' 'Sprawling And Speculative' Climate Suit

By Dorothy Atkins

A Ninth Circuit panel affirmed Thursday tossing youths' lawsuit alleging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's greenhouse gas "discount" program discriminates against children by favoring present-day consumption over future consumption, finding the kids' "sprawling and speculative causal theory" of alleged environmental harms aren't traceable to the government's policies.

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1st Circ. Sees Rationale For Puerto Rico 'X' Birth Marker Ban

By Carolyn Muyskens

A First Circuit panel floated a possible legal pathway for Puerto Rico to refuse to add a neutral gender option on birth certificates Thursday as the commonwealth appealed a mandate to permit nonbinary people to change their gender to "x."

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Combs Takes Sentencing Argument To Flummoxed 2nd Circ.

By Cara Salvatore

A Second Circuit panel struggled Thursday with Sean "Diddy" Combs' argument that he was penalized too severely for transporting women for prostitution, saying it is the first appeals court nationwide to attempt to interpret new sentencing protocols on acquitted conduct.

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Fed. Circ. Chief Feels 'Bright-Line Rule Coming' For IP Marking

By Dani Kass

As a Federal Circuit panel reprimanded embattled attorney William Ramey on Thursday for the "disrespect" shown in his failed 3D glasses patent litigation against Volkswagen, the Federal Circuit's chief judge suggested precedent may be needed to define the role of marking in admissionless settlements.

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Mich. Panel Clarifies Role Of Intent In Miranda Waiver Rules

By Susan Smiley

A Michigan state appellate panel said Wednesday that intent matters when police officers read suspects their Miranda rights in the midst of questioning them, then seek to use information gathered during the post-Miranda interview to build a case against them.

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PNC Tells Justices $233M Patent Win Was Rightly Axed

By Elliot Weld

PNC Bank told the U.S. Supreme Court to leave untouched a Federal Circuit ruling that nixed a set of $233 million patent infringement verdicts in suits brought by the United Services Automobile Association, saying USAA's patents were "plainly directed to an abstract idea" not eligible for patent protection.

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Cigna 401(k) Suit Won't Wait For Intel Supreme Court Decision

By Kellie Mejdrich

A Pennsylvania federal court turned down Cigna's bid to stay a proposed class action alleging the insurance company misspent forfeitures from its employee 401(k) plan and offered an underperforming investment fund while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a 401(k) suit against Intel, finding the request unjustified.

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Brief

US Again Urges High Court To Back Drug Price Program

By Mark Payne

The administration of President Donald Trump again urged the Supreme Court not to hear a challenge to the Medicare drug price negotiation program, arguing against a constitutional challenge brought by Boehringer Ingelheim that drug companies aren't forced to accept lower prices because they can choose not to participate. 

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Fed. Circ. Affirms Army Refund Over $73M Hangar Contract

By Ganesh Setty

A contractor must refund the U.S. Army roughly $494,000 under a nearly $73 million hangar contract after the Army deleted certain requirements, the Federal Circuit ruled Thursday, rejecting the contractor's position that performing the contract was already impossible.

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Nonprofit Insurer Wants To Seek AstraZeneca Claims Revival

By Bryan Koenig

EmblemHealth asked a Massachusetts federal judge to let it seek First Circuit intervention against a decision that cut in half its proposed class action accusing AstraZeneca unit Alexion of using sham patents to protect blood disorder treatment Soliris from biosimilar rivals.

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Attys, Scholars Can Back Khalil In 3rd Circ. Detention Fight

By Carla Baranauckas

The Third Circuit granted three separate motions from civil rights groups, immigration experts and habeas scholars Thursday to file amicus briefs supporting Mahmoud Khalil's request for en banc review of a precedential decision that cleared the way for the government to continue detaining the Columbia University activist.

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Zillow, Redfin Ask To Use 4th Circ. NCAA Ruling In FTC Suit

By Isaac Monterose

Property listing giants Zillow and Redfin asked a Virginia federal court to let them use a recent Fourth Circuit ruling for an NCAA case to bolster their dismissal bid against antitrust claims filed by the Federal Trade Commission and multiple states.

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Ex-Law Officer Urges 4th Circ. To Uphold W.Va. Privacy Law

By Jared Foretek

The plaintiff in a lawsuit accusing data brokers of violating a West Virginia state law barring the dissemination of public officials' addresses and phone numbers defended the law's constitutionality Wednesday, arguing to the Fourth Circuit that it regulates speech "integral" to criminal conduct and shouldn't be subjected to strict scrutiny.

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5th Circ. Revives Reinsurance Broker Row Over Credit Mishap

By Abraham Gross

The Fifth Circuit revived a suit by an insurer's owner alleging that its broker failed to administer its reinsurance program properly, leading to over $100 million in losses when it discovered the program lacked a valid line of credit.

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6th Circ. Backs NLRB In Fight Over Paving Co. Lockout

By Emily Brill

A Midwest paving and road construction company violated federal labor law by blocking a group of Michigan employees from working for three weeks in an attempt to force their union's hand in a bargaining dispute, the Sixth Circuit has ruled, upholding a National Labor Relations Board decision.

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7th Circ. Judge Questions Madigan Jury's Intent Instruction

By Lauraann Wood

A Seventh Circuit judge appeared skeptical Thursday that jurors received a proper intent instruction before they ultimately convicted former Illinois House speaker Michael Madigan of participating in bribery schemes involving Exelon Corp. subsidiary Commonwealth Edison and a former Chicago alderman.

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9th Circ. Nixes Tribe's Bid To Vacate Union Card Check Award

By Katherine Smith

A California Native American tribe can't undo an arbitration award requiring it to follow the guidelines for union representation elections outlined in its 2017 agreement with UNITE HERE, the Ninth Circuit has ruled.

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Green Card Redo Moots Suit Over Denial, 10th Circ. Says

By Tom Lotshaw

A Tenth Circuit panel said a federal judge was right to toss a suit challenging a green card denial after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reopened the application and denied it again when the applicant failed to provide requested information.

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Judge Says Poultry Enviro Deals In 20-Year Suits Fall Short

By Elaine Briseño

An Oklahoma federal judge has rejected a bid by the state and several poultry companies to enter consent decrees in their two-decade-old dispute, finding the agreements did not go far enough to address pollution of the Illinois River Watershed.

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11th Circ. Affirms Dish Network's Copyright Win, $600K Award

By Hailey Konnath

The Eleventh Circuit Thursday refused to disturb a $600,000 copyright win for Dish Network in long-running litigation over Arabic pay-TV programming distribution, ruling that the lower court was correct in finding that Dish's copyrights were infringed.

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DOL Urges 11th Circ. To Scrap ERISA Exhaustion Rule

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor urged the full Eleventh Circuit to overturn precedent making it the only appellate court requiring workers to exhaust administrative remedies before bringing any statutory claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. arguing that the standard is unfair and in conflict with ERISA.

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Miami Police Chief's Firing Was Justified, 11th Circ. Told

By David Minsky

Former Miami officials urged the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday to dismiss retaliation claims against them, arguing they're immune from a lawsuit brought by a police chief who alleged he was wrongfully terminated after informing the FBI and state law enforcement officials that corruption was occurring within the city.

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Texas Panel Nixes $7.9M Pipe Award Over 'Meager' Evidence

By José Luis Martínez

A Texas state appeals court on Thursday erased a $7.9 million judgment tied to defective pipe work on natural gas liquefaction projects, finding there wasn't enough evidence that the company the jurors ruled liable was the one that actually made the deal.

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Texas Man On Death Row Seeks Pause For New Evidence

By Parker Quinlan

An incarcerated man on death row in Texas has asked a state pardon board to push back his execution date so he can present new evidence he says proves that his cousin, not him, committed a pair of murders nearly 20 years ago.

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Conn. Justices Hint Town's Cannabis Oil Stance Is Hazy

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut Supreme Court justice said Thursday that he was "struggling" with a town board's argument that it can block a hemp cultivator from using a zoning exemption to expand its product selection simply because the General Assembly has established a recreational marijuana licensing process.

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Ex-Player Asks NC Justices To Revive School Negligence Suit

By Abigail Harrison

A former college football player is urging North Carolina justices to take up his appeal and rule that a lower court was wrong to hand a pretrial win to Gardner-Webb University, arguing a jury should decide if the school took reasonable care to protect him from "attempted murder."

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Mich. Justices Revisit Med Mal Wrongful Death Filing Limits

By Melanie Dorsey

The Michigan Supreme Court on Thursday heard arguments revisiting its 2004 decision that narrowed the window for filing certain medical malpractice suits, with attorneys for a patient's estate urging the justices to overturn the ruling and extend the limit for wrongful death claims during the statutory notice period.

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Wash. Justices Oust Judge Pro Tem Over Forged Parking Doc

By Ben Adlin

Washington's highest court voted unanimously Thursday to remove a substitute judge from his King County District Court post for forging a court document in an effort to save $10 on daily parking costs.

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Colo. Appeals Court Upholds State Sanctuary Law

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado law that prohibits counties from entering into immigration detention agreements with the federal government does not violate the state's constitution, the Colorado Court of Appeals held Thursday in rejecting Douglas County's challenge to the law.

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Philip Morris, RJR Keep Win In Widower's Death Suit

By Mike Curley

A Massachusetts appeals panel Thursday refused to reinstate a suit from a widower against Philip Morris USA Inc. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. over the death of his wife from COPD, saying he hadn't properly preserved his arguments for tolling the statute of limitations.

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Report Finds No Evidence Mass. Judge, Prosecutor Had Affair

By Julie Manganis

A former Massachusetts state court judge and a county prosecutor were cleared in a special master's report made public Thursday about anonymous accusations that they were having an affair while he was presiding over her cases.

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Human Authorship Is Still Central To Copyright Eligibility

In declining to review the D.C. Circuit's ruling in Thaler v. Perlmutter — holding that a work purely generated by artificial intelligence cannot be copyrighted — the U.S. Supreme Court has reinforced the human authorship requirement, so it is critical for creators of AI-assisted projects to document their involvement, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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Opinion

Time To Fix The Accountability Gap In Freight Logistics

In Montgomery v. Caribe Transport, the U.S. Supreme Court must resolve an urgent question: whether freight broker selection in trucking accidents is categorically protected — meaning unreasonable safety decisions are insulated from liability — or subject to accountability under traditional negligence principles, says Amanda Demanda at Amanda Demanda Injury Lawyers.

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How 2nd Circ. Gave Loper Bright Real Force In SEC Cases

The Second Circuit's recent decision in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Amah offers one of the first clear indications of how courts will operationalize Loper Bright, signaling that long-standing SEC enforcement theories resting on ambiguous definitional provisions are now subject to more rigorous judicial scrutiny, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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Resolving The Conflict In 2nd Circ. Foreign Discovery Rulings

The Second Circuit recently issued two seemingly inconsistent decisions regarding the federal statute that permits U.S. discovery for purposes of a foreign proceeding, but the unifying feature appears to be the broad scope for district court discretion under Section 1782, say attorneys at Katsky Korins.

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Series

Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.

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DLA Piper Partner Rejects Pregnant Atty's Account Of Firing

By Pete Brush

The DLA Piper partner who fired a pregnant associate said she did so lawfully, telling a Manhattan federal jury her former employee was "in over her head" and disputing that the associate raised pregnancy bias concerns on a termination call.

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6th Circ. Won't Revisit EFAA Ruling Against Adams & Reese

By Patrick Hoff

The Sixth Circuit said it won't reconsider its ruling that a law barring mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment cases kept a former Adams & Reese LLP paralegal's sex harassment and disability bias suit in court, concluding that the firm's objections were already considered.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen the owner of an oil tanker stuck in the Strait of Hormuz sued by an energy company and an insurer, law firm Boodle Hatfield LLP and two Serle Court barristers sued by a group of Winston Churchill's great-grandchildren, and Welsh Water hit with a fresh class action over polluted rivers.

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Calif. Atty Avoids Sanctions For Filing Bogus Citations With AI

By Matt Perez

A California attorney has avoided sanctions over his use of artificial intelligence for a filing in a civil rights case, which resulted in false citations.

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Another Gov't Atty From Vt. Joins Stris & Maher's Team

By Jack Rodgers

A former civil chief of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont has joined Stris & Maher LLP's practice as a partner, the firm announced Friday.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Other states might follow the lead of California and break with President Donald Trump's policies in implementing guardrails for state agencies to contract with AI companies. And after three individual indictments last month for selling banned tech to China, Supermicro has hired Munger Tolles & Olson LLP to conduct an independent investigation, assigned its general counsel to lead an internal compliance review, and shaken up its compliance leadership.

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NJ Justices Won't Review Beasley Allen's DQ From Talc Cases

By George Woolston

The New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to review a lower court's order booting the Beasley Allen Law Firm from multicounty litigation in the Garden State over Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder, according to an order made public Friday.

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Conn. Justices Block Agency's Bias Probe Into Atty Licensing

By Brian Steele

Because citizens blocked the legislature from reviewing court decisions when ratifying the state's 1818 constitution, a Connecticut human rights agency has no power to investigate alleged bias in attorney licensing decisions, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Friday in a unanimous opinion.

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Airline Worker Asks To Expand Sanctions Row In Bias Case

By Emily Brill

A Southwest Airlines flight attendant who was fired after sending her union's president pictures of aborted fetuses is pushing for additional remedies in a sanctions dispute stemming from her long-running religious discrimination lawsuit against the airline, from which she received $800,000 after winning a jury trial in 2022.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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Trump Taps Personal Atty For 2nd Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced on Friday evening he's tapping Matthew Schwartz, his attorney in the New York hush money case, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. 

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