Appellate

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

    Combs Takes Sentencing Argument To Flummoxed 2nd Circ.

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

    Irish Mallinckrodt Unit Stuck In Drug Price-Fixing Suit

    An Irish entity of drugmaker Mallinckrodt waited too long to seek dismissal of a price-fixing lawsuit brought by states based on a lack of personal jurisdiction or proper service, a Connecticut federal judge has ruled, finding that the company first raised that argument more than five years after the complaint was filed.

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

    Mich. Panel Clarifies Role Of Intent In Miranda Waiver Rules

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

    Mich. Justices Revisit Med Mal Wrongful Death Filing Limits

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

    Split 4th Circ. Backs West Virginia Schoolchildren Vax Law

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

    Colo. Appeals Court Upholds State Sanctuary Law

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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."

  • April 09, 2026

    Wash. Justices Oust Judge Pro Tem Over Forged Parking Doc

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

    Ex-Player Asks NC Justices To Revive School Negligence Suit

    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."

  • April 09, 2026

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

    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.

  • April 09, 2026

    Nonprofit Insurer Wants To Seek AstraZeneca Claims Revival

    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.

Expert Analysis

  • Human Authorship Is Still Central To Copyright Eligibility

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    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.

  • Resolving The Conflict In 2nd Circ. Foreign Discovery Rulings

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    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.

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

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    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.

  • Series

    Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    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.

  • Opinion

    Time To Fix The Accountability Gap In Freight Logistics

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    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.

  • 2 Strands Of Patent Law In High Court's 'Skinny Label' Case

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    Amarin v. Hikma, which is set for oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court this month, highlights the distinction between two different strands of intellectual property law — analogizing a patent to either a property deed or a home, says Jonas McDavit at Spencer West.

  • Justices' Geofence Ruling May Test 4th Amendment's Future

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    When the U.S. Supreme Court decides in Chatrie v. U.S. whether law enforcement may use geofence warrants to compel Google to disclose location history data, the ruling is likely to become an important statement about the future of Fourth Amendment law in data-driven investigations, says Duncan Levin at Levin & Associates.

  • Series

    NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    In the first quarter of 2026, New York's banking developments were headlined by initiatives to expand oversight of financial institutions and strengthen consumer protection laws, including a new framework for buy now, pay later lenders, a sweeping debt collection rule and a revised corporate self-disclosure program for financial crimes, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Seeking A Policy Fix As Merger Reporting Fight Continues

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    A recently announced request by the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice for public comment on the Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger reporting requirements, as litigation challenging the commission's updated requirements continues, suggests the government's willingness to address how best to support modern merger enforcement without unduly burdening filing parties, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Opinion

    Wash. Amazon Ruling Should Reshape Suicide Liability

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    The Washington Supreme Court's reinstatement of negligence claims in Scott v. Amazon.com, brought by the families of people who died by suicide after purchasing chemicals online, signals a reckoning for digital commerce and the rejection of the defense that online marketplaces are merely passive technology platforms, says Donald Fountain at Clark Fountain.

  • Axed Trade Secret Award Cautions Against Bundling Damages

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent ruling in Trinseo v. Harper, vacating a $75 million jury verdict for trade secret misappropriation due to a bundled damages model, offers a strong reminder to apportion damages so a jury can award a nonspeculative figure when it credits only some alleged secrets, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • 2 Rulings Poke Holes In Mandatory Restitution Framework

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Ellingburg v. U.S., as well as the Third Circuit’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Abrams, provide criminal defense practitioners with new tools to challenge Mandatory Victims Restitution Act orders, and highlight several restitution-related issues that converged in the recent prosecution of former Frank CEO Charlie Javice, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • Pivotal 6th Circ. Ruling Threatens Decades Of NLRB Decisions

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    The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Brown-Forman v. National Labor Relations Board fundamentally challenged the NLRB's long-standing practice of establishing policies through adjudication rather than formal rulemaking, giving employers and unions a new avenue to procedurally attack the vast majority of its rules, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • Exploring When Fraud Asset Freezes Limit Right To Pick Atty

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    The defendant’s claim in the Seventh Circuit’s pending U.S. v. Shah case that the government restrained his assets until he couldn’t afford his chosen counsel presents a useful case study in how criminal forfeiture procedure interacts with U.S. Supreme Court rulings on Sixth Amendment rights and appealing complex fraud convictions, says Elisha Kobre at Sheppard.

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