Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Appellate
-
May 24, 2024
9th Circ. Says H-2A Employers Must Pay Highest Wages
The Ninth Circuit on Friday said the U.S. Department of Labor can't let employers pay foreign farmworkers on H-2A visas a lower wage rate, rejecting the department's argument that the matter is moot because the previous harvest season is over.
-
May 24, 2024
No-Show Plaintiff, 'Jackass' Atty Booted Too Quickly, Court Says
A Michigan appellate court sympathized with a trial court dealing with a no-show plaintiff and his lawyer who acted like a "jackass" — according to one appellate judge — but ruled Thursday that the trial court needed to do a better job documenting why it tossed the case instead of issuing a lesser sanction.
-
May 24, 2024
Petition Watch: Forum Shopping, Monopolies & Gun Safety
Law360 looks at four U.S. Supreme Court petitions filed in the past two weeks, including the FDA's request that the justices curb an increase in forum shopping at the Fifth Circuit, and two veterinarians who want the justices to allow plaintiffs to pursue antitrust claims for actions allegedly leading to the creation of a monopoly.
-
May 24, 2024
Ohio Justices Say Regulator Must Take Freezing Death Case
An Ohio trial court cannot hear a lawsuit seeking to hold Dominion Energy liable for a woman's freezing death after her natural gas was shut off, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday, reasoning the matter belongs before the state's utilities regulator because the shutoff was an act authorized by the utility.
-
May 24, 2024
NJ Panel Won't Revive Atty's Turnpike Authority Harassment Suit
A New Jersey state appeals court panel stood by an attorney's loss Friday in his suit claiming the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and its officials held him back from promotions and raises and harassed him based on his military service in the U.S. National Guard.
-
May 24, 2024
Florida Urges Quick Appeal Of Wetlands Permitting Decision
The state of Florida has pushed to expedite its appeal of a lower court ruling that stripped the state of its federally delegated authority to permit wetlands development after the D.C. Circuit declined to pause the ruling's implementation earlier this week.
-
May 24, 2024
Green Groups Lose In California Fish Protection Lawsuit
The federal government properly considered the needs of fish protected under the Endangered Species Act when it approved water supply contracts for California's Central Valley Project, the Ninth Circuit said in a ruling rejecting environmental groups' claims to the contrary.
-
May 24, 2024
5th Circ. Again Upholds Engineers' OT Win
A Fifth Circuit panel on Friday backed for the second time a lower court's ruling that two engineers receiving a weekly minimum salary as part of their compensation package were not overtime-exempt and sent the case back to the district court to determine damages awards.
-
May 24, 2024
Mich. Trampoline Park Defeats Jumper's Quadriplegia Suit
Michigan appellate judges have reversed a lower court's refusal to end a negligence suit by a patron who became quadriplegic after landing on his neck at an indoor trampoline park while performing a flip, finding no dispute the patron was at least half responsible since he was intoxicated.
-
May 24, 2024
Biden's Judicial Impact And What's Left On The Wish List
President Joe Biden secured confirmation of his 200th federal judge Wednesday and has transformed the judiciary by picking more women and people of color than any other president. But the upcoming election season could derail his hopes of confirming many more judges.
-
May 24, 2024
US Cos. Call On Fed. Circ. To Restore Chinese Plywood Duties
A U.S. plywood group is urging the Federal Circuit to unwind five U.S. Court of International Trade remands that shrank a Chinese competitor's anti-dumping duties from 183.36% to nothing, saying the court forced the government to accept unreliable data.
-
May 24, 2024
Wrong Circuit Law Used To Deport Moroccan, Board Says
The Board of Immigration Appeals faulted an immigration court for applying incorrect circuit law to deport a Moroccan national, saying Friday that the case was ruled by Sixth Circuit law, even though the case record was sent to the Third Circuit.
-
May 24, 2024
4th Circ. Urged To Keep Suit Against Credit Co. In Fed. Court
A Maryland credit card customer pressed the Fourth Circuit to affirm a district court's decision to keep in federal court a proposed class action alleging subprime credit card company Mercury Financial did business without a license, arguing arbitration cannot be fairly enforced, and that Mercury is trying to raise new arguments on appeal.
-
May 24, 2024
DC Circ. Says Bainbridge Can't Have Argentina's Building
The D.C. Circuit on Friday denied an appeal from Bainbridge Fund Ltd. in a property dispute with Argentina, saying the company can't take possession of the property in an effort to satisfy a $95 million judgment over defaulted bonds.
-
May 24, 2024
3rd Circ. Backs US Immunity Over Marine Recruit's Death
The Third Circuit has said that "tragedy does not trump sovereign immunity" in a precedential ruling finding that the federal government is immune from a wrongful death suit brought by a U.S. Marine Corps recruit's family after he crashed his car and died on the way to an event for the corps.
-
May 24, 2024
Ga. Appeals Seat Winner Faces Challenge Over Residency
A Georgia attorney is looking to pause the certification of Tuesday's election win by a onetime state bar leader for a Georgia Court of Appeals seat, arguing that he lied about his Atlanta residence when he qualified to run for the judgeship since he allegedly lived in Tennessee.
-
May 24, 2024
Alito Flag Displays 'Improper' And 'Dumb,' District Judge Says
A Massachusetts federal judge is calling out U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for controversial flags reportedly seen flying outside his homes, saying such actions erode public trust in the courts.
-
May 24, 2024
No Private Suits Under State Enviro Law, Ill. Justices Say
The daughter of a woman badly burned in a condominium complex explosion cannot bring bodily injury claims against Marathon Petroleum Co. and others under Illinois' environmental protection laws because they do not provide private statutory rights of action, the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled.
-
May 24, 2024
CFPB Will Ask DC Circ. To Rescue Rule Challenged By PayPal
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Friday it will appeal a Washington, D.C., federal judge's recent decision that sided with payments giant PayPal in its lawsuit challenging the agency's extension of certain prepaid card regulations to digital wallets.
-
May 24, 2024
Any Coloradan Can Enforce Open Meetings Law, Panel Says
The Colorado Court of Appeals has sided with an attorney who has filed dozens of open meetings law claims against government bodies in the state, finding that the attorney has standing to sue a school board even though he lives hundreds of miles away.
-
May 24, 2024
Biden Urges 1st Circ. To Find Debt Cap Challenge Moot
The Biden administration asked the First Circuit to affirm a finding that a government workers' union lacks standing to challenge the debt ceiling's constitutionality and that its case was further rendered moot by passage of a deal to suspend the spending limit until January.
-
May 24, 2024
Fulton DA Appeals Nixing Of Six Counts In Ga. Elections Case
The Fulton County District Attorney's Office said it is appealing a ruling that dismissed six counts from the Georgia election interference indictment of former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants.
-
May 24, 2024
DraftKings' Noncompete Win Shuns Calif. Law, 1st Circ. Told
A former DraftKings Inc. executive who was blocked from taking a job in Los Angeles at rival sportsbook Fanatics told the First Circuit that a Massachusetts federal judge should have applied a worker-friendly California law to the trade secrets spat.
-
May 23, 2024
Sonos Gets Fed. Circ. To Affirm Axed Google Patent Claims
Google failed on Thursday to persuade Federal Circuit judges to breathe new life into patent claims the tech giant has asserted in its legal fight with the Sonos speaker brand.
-
May 23, 2024
FCC Defends Nielsen Data In Low-Power TV Licensing Suit
The Federal Communications Commission is defending its use of Nielsen statistics to determine if a low-power TV station should receive protections provided under a 2022 law aimed at safeguarding local and rural broadcasting.
Expert Analysis
-
Opinion
Climate Change Shouldn't Be Litigated Under State Laws
The U.S. Supreme Court should reverse the Hawaii Supreme Court's October decision in Honolulu v. Sunoco that Hawaii could apply state law to emissions generated outside the state, because it would lead to a barrage of cases seeking to resolve a worldwide problem according to 50 different variations of state law, says Andrew Ketterer at Ketterer & Ketterer.
-
Del. Ruling Highlights M&A Deal Adviser Conflict Disclosures
The Delaware Supreme Court recently reversed the Court of Chancery's dismissal of challenges to Nordic Capital's acquisition of Inovalon, demonstrating the importance of full disclosure of financial adviser conflicts when a going-private merger seeks business judgment rule review, say attorneys at Debevoise.
-
Key Antitrust Class Certification Questions Remain Unclear
The U.S. Supreme Court, by recently rejecting certiorari in Visa v. National ATM, turned down the opportunity to clarify how to analyze disputed evidence bearing on the certification of antitrust class actions, leaving the applicable standards unclear instead of resolving this split of authority, says Jonathan Berman at Jones Day.
-
E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data
Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.
-
What's Notable In JAMS' New Mass Arbitration Rules
The Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services’ recently released guidelines, coming on the heels of similar American Arbitration Association amendments, suggests that mass arbitrations will remain an efficient means for consumers to vindicate their rights against companies, say Jonathan Waisnor and Brandon Heitmann at Labaton Keller.
-
Fostering Employee Retention Amid Shaky DEI Landscape
Ongoing challenges to the legality of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs are complicating efforts to use DEI as an employee retention tool, but with the right strategic approach employers can continue to recruit and retain diverse talent — even after the FTC’s ban on noncompetes, says Ally Coll at the Purple Method.
-
'Fat Leonard' Case Shows High Bar For Rescinding Guilty Plea
Prosecutors’ recent move in the “Fat Leonard” bribery case, supporting several defendants’ motions to withdraw their guilty pleas, is extremely unusual – and its contrast with other prosecutions demonstrates that the procedural safeguards at plea hearings are far from enough, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.
-
Justices Clarify FAA But Leave Behind Important Questions
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Bissonnette v. LePage firmly shuts the door on any argument that the Federal Arbitration Act's Section 1 exemption is limited to transportation workers whose employers transport goods on behalf of others, but two major issues remain unresolved, say Joshua Wesneski and Crystal Weeks at Weil.
-
Is The Digital Accessibility Storm Almost Over?
Though private businesses have faced a decadelong deluge of digital accessibility complaints in the absence of clear regulations or uniformity among the courts, attorneys at Epstein Becker address how recent federal courts’ pushback against serial Americans with Disabilities Act plaintiffs and the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed government accessibility standards may presage a break in the downpour.
-
Rebuttal
Double-Patenting Ruling Shows Terminal Disclaimers' Value
While a recent Law360 guest article seems to argue that the Federal Circuit’s Cellect decision last year robs patent owners of lawful patent term, the ruling actually identifies how terminal disclaimers are the solution to the problem of obviousness-type double patenting, say Jane Love and Robert Trenchard at Gibson Dunn.
-
Series
Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.
-
How Courts Are Interpreting Fed. Circ. IPR Estoppel Ruling
In the year since the Federal Circuit’s Ironburg ruling, which clarified the scope of inter partes and post-grant review estoppel, district court decisions show that application of IPR or PGR estoppel may become a resource-intensive inquiry, say Whitney Meier Howard and Michelle Lavrichenko at Venable.
-
Mid-2024 FCA Enforcement And Litigation Trends To Watch
Reviewing notable False Claims Act trends and enforcement efforts in the last year and a half reveals that healthcare is a key enforcement priority for the U.S. Department of Justice, and the road ahead may bring clarification on Anti-Kickback Statute causation and willfulness standards, along with increased focus on private equity, cybersecurity and self-disclosure, say attorneys at Epstein Becker.
-
2nd Circ. Eminent Domain Ruling Empowers Municipalities
The Second Circuit's recent decision in Brinkmann v. Town of Southold, finding that a pretextual taking does not violate the Fifth Amendment's takings clause, gives municipalities a powerful tool with which to block unwanted development projects, even in bad faith, say James O'Connor and Benjamin Sugarman at Phillips Lytle.
-
Opinion
SEC Doesn't Have Legal Authority For Climate Disclosure Rule
Instead of making the required legal argument to establish its authority, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosure rule hides behind more than 1,000 references to materiality to give the appearance that its rule is legally defensible, says Bernard Sharfman at RealClearFoundation.