Appellate

  • April 19, 2024

    Investor Suit Over Intel's Chip Production Won't Be Rebooted

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday upheld a federal district court's dismissal of a proposed class action against Intel that alleged the tech giant hid problems with the production of its highly anticipated new computer processors, ruling the suit fails to show the defendants knew the company would miss the projected product release date.

  • April 19, 2024

    PE Exec Can Recoup $1M 'Varsity Blues' Forfeiture

    A private equity executive whose conviction in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions case was almost entirely wiped out by the First Circuit is entitled to a refund of $1 million he paid to the scheme's ringleader, a federal judge ruled Friday.

  • April 19, 2024

    DC Circ. Won't Reverse Wash. Tribe's Recognition Order

    A D.C. Circuit panel has rejected a bid by a Washington tribe to vacate an order denying it federal recognition for the fourth time while barring it from raising any further jurisdictional arguments to collaterally attack a lower court's dismissal of the case.

  • April 19, 2024

    Texas Justices Open Door To Axing $14M Truck Crash Verdict

    What started as a monster $80 million trucking crash verdict but later was reduced to $13.7 million was put in further jeopardy Friday when the Texas Supreme Court found that a lower appeals court erroneously declined to hear challenges to how the injured truck driver's employment status was determined.

  • April 19, 2024

    DC Circ. Backs GOP Operative's Election Finance Conviction

    The D.C. Circuit on Friday upheld a political operative's conviction for illegally funneling money from a Russian businessman into Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, ruling that a law enacted in the wake of the Enron accounting scandal can be used to prosecute certain campaign finance crimes.

  • April 19, 2024

    Sentence For Pandemic Funds Theft Seems To Split 2nd Circ.

    A three-judge panel of Second Circuit jurists seemed split Friday over whether a Connecticut man's eight-year prison sentence for stealing COVID-19 funds from the city of West Haven was too harsh, with one judge expressing skepticism and two hinting it was likely appropriate.

  • April 19, 2024

    Vegas Paper Wants Antitrust Suit Paused For Appeal

    The Las Vegas Review-Journal asked a Nevada federal judge to pause the Las Vegas Sun's antitrust suit against it, pending an appeal to the Ninth Circuit over the core agreement between the papers that the Review-Journal says the judge wrongly cleared.

  • April 19, 2024

    Justices Seek Cornell's Response To ERISA Fee Suit Petition

    The U.S. Supreme Court asked Cornell University to respond to a March petition by a group of current and former workers seeking to revive a class action against the university alleging retirees' savings were saddled with unnecessarily high fees, in a sign that the case has drawn the justices' attention.

  • April 19, 2024

    Mich. Panel Backs GM's Win In Supplier Pricing Spat

    A Michigan appellate panel has refused to reinstate a supplier's lawsuit claiming General Motors underpaid for five years' worth of deliveries, saying Semco Inc. didn't have the written evidence needed to hold GM to a promise to rectify the alleged shortfalls.

  • April 19, 2024

    Up Next At High Court: Abortions & Presidential Immunity

    The U.S. Supreme Court will return Monday for the term's final week of oral arguments, during which it will consider several high-stakes disputes, including whether a federal healthcare law can preempt state abortion bans and whether former President Donald Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal charges related to official acts.

  • April 19, 2024

    Insurers Push To Arbitrate Hurricane Damage Case

    An arbitrator should decide whether a Louisiana property owner's hurricane damage claims must be arbitrated, a group of surplus lines insurers argued in urging the Second Circuit to reject a New York district court's reliance on the circuit's precedent to find the arbitration clause at issue unenforceable.

  • April 19, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Revive J2 Investor's Suit Alleging Insider Deals

    The Ninth Circuit declined Friday to revive a proposed securities fraud class action alleging that J2 Global Inc. hid underperforming acquisitions and dubious investments that benefited company insiders, finding the plaintiff investor did not sufficiently plead scienter as to alleged nondisclosures or that purported misstatements caused his losses.

  • April 19, 2024

    Fla. Can't Wage Real Estate War On Foreigners, 11th Circ. Told

    A group of Chinese citizens and a brokerage firm urged the Eleventh Circuit on Friday to block Florida from enforcing a law prohibiting certain foreign nationals from owning land while they challenge the statute's constitutionality, saying it's discriminatory and preempted by federal authority.

  • April 19, 2024

    Atty Says False Testimony Justifies Chrisleys' Acquittal

    Attorneys for Todd and Julie Chrisley of the reality television show "Chrisley Knows Best," who are in prison after being convicted on federal charges of bank fraud and tax evasion, urged the Eleventh Circuit to undo their convictions on Friday, arguing prosecutors knowingly presented false, prejudicial testimony at trial.

  • April 19, 2024

    Trump's Trial Is Unprecedented. Attys On Juries? Not So Much

    With two BigLaw attorneys tapped for the jury box in Donald Trump's first-in-history criminal case, Law360 spoke to trial vets who said their own experience in this tables-turned situation shows lawyers can make for highly engaged jurors under the right circumstances.

  • April 19, 2024

    Nevada Justices Stop Block On State's Ghost Gun Ban

    The Nevada Supreme Court has reversed an order blocking enforcement of state laws blocking the sale of so-called ghost gun kits, saying the lower court was wrong in finding the laws were unconstitutionally vague.

  • April 19, 2024

    Del. Justices Revive Margolis Edelstein Malpractice Suit

    Delaware's Supreme Court has reversed a lower-court decision that let Margolis Edelstein off the hook on claims that its incompetence caused GMG Insurance Agency to have to settle a case for $1.2 million, saying more consideration is needed to determine whether the firm was negligent.

  • April 19, 2024

    Lawyer Too Late To Collect Fees From Aretha Franklin Estate

    Michigan appellate judges have upheld the denial of a bid for attorney fees for a lawyer who complained he was not properly paid for work he did for Aretha Franklin, with judges determining the claims were time-barred.

  • April 19, 2024

    Climate Lawsuits Aren't The SEC's Only Legal Headache

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been grabbing headlines over the past couple of months as it attempts to fend off a host of lawsuits challenging recently enacted climate disclosure rules, but the agency has been no stranger to litigation brought by business groups opposing everything from new stock buyback disclosures to the agency's growing private fund oversight to its hands-off approach to crypto rule writing. 

  • April 19, 2024

    Paxton Can't Duck Ethics Suit Over 2020 Election Challenge

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton must face the State Bar of Texas' ethics lawsuit over his attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election since the suit is against Paxton in his personal capacity and does not violate the separation of powers, a Texas appellate court has ruled.

  • April 19, 2024

    Law Firm Warns Mich. Justices Of Malpractice Fee Deluge

    A Michigan law firm has urged the state's Supreme Court not to lower the bar for seeking attorney fees as legal malpractice damages, saying doing so would invite clients to find reasons to sue their lawyers to recover fees even when they won the underlying case. 

  • April 19, 2024

    The Week In Trump: NY Trial And A High Court Date Loom

    Despite a few snags, jury selection for Donald Trump's hush money trial in Manhattan unfolded relatively quickly, clearing the way for opening statements Monday in the historic case as the former president prepped for a U.S. Supreme Court debate over his supposed immunity.

  • April 19, 2024

    NYT Inks Revised $2.4M Deal In Auto-Renewal Case

    A class of New York Times readers who sued over the newspaper's automatic subscription renewal charges has asked a Manhattan federal court for initial approval of a roughly $2.4 million settlement, after the Second Circuit shot down an earlier agreement due to concerns about attorney fees.

  • April 18, 2024

    Ex-BigLaw Atty Can Stay Free During OneCoin Fraud Appeal

    A Manhattan federal judge Thursday granted a former Locke Lord LLP partner's motion for bail pending appeal of his 10-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of laundering around $400 million in proceeds from the global OneCoin cryptocurrency scam, saying he does not pose a flight risk given his medical conditions.

  • April 18, 2024

    Conoco Tells 3rd Circ. It Can Target Citgo For $8.5B Award

    ConocoPhillips urged the Third Circuit to nix Venezuela's challenge to a ruling paving the way for the oil company's participation in an auction for control of the U.S. oil giant Citgo to enforce an $8.5 million debt, arguing that the country can't prove that it's been acting in bad faith.

Expert Analysis

  • Strategies For Defense Attys To Subpoena A Nonparty Witness

    Author Photo

    Federal criminal defendants seeking to subpoena potentially exculpatory information from nonparty witnesses must satisfy a stringent standard and should consider several often overlooked arguments to assure courts they’re not engaging in a fishing expedition, says James Roberts at Schlam Stone.

  • Series

    Playing Hockey Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Nearly a lifetime of playing hockey taught me the importance of avoiding burnout in all aspects of life, and the game ultimately ended up providing me with the balance I needed to maintain success in my legal career, says John Riccione at Taft.

  • ESG Challenges In Focus After Sierra Club Opposes SEC Rule

    Author Photo

    The Sierra Club's recent objection to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosures for investors presents an unusual — pro-disclosure — legal challenge and an opportunity to take a close look at the varying critiques of ESG regulations, say Colin Pohlman, and Jane Luxton and Paul Kisslinger at Lewis Brisbois.

  • Opinion

    High Court Should Settle Circuit Split On Risk Disclosures

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court should grant the petition for writ of certiorari in the Facebook case to resolve a growing circuit split concerning when risk disclosures can be misleading under federal securities laws, and its decision should align with the intent of Congress and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, says Richard Zelichov at DLA Piper.

  • Opinion

    Why Supreme Court Should Allow Repatriation Tax To Stand

    If the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't reject the taxpayers' misguided claims in Moore v. U.S. that the mandatory repatriation tax is unconstitutional, it could wreak havoc on our system of taxation and result in a catastrophic loss of revenue for the government, say Christina Mason and Theresa Balducci at Herrick Feinstein.

  • For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill

    Author Photo

    A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • High Court's Jan. 6 Rioter Case May Have Wide Ripple Effects

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear oral arguments in Fischer v. United States, a case that will determine whether a law enacted after the Enron scandal can be used to prosecute Jan. 6 rioters, and could affect the government’s ability to charge those who impede a range of official proceedings, say Brook Dooley and Sara Fitzpatrick at Keker Van Nest.

  • 5th Circ. Clarifies What Is And Isn't A 'New Use' Of PFAS

    Author Photo

    The Fifth Circuit's March 21 decision in Inhance Technologies v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, preventing the EPA from regulating existing uses of PFAS under "significant new use" provisions of the Toxic Substances Control Act, provides industry with much-needed clarity, say Joseph Schaeffer and Sloane Wildman at Babst Calland.

  • CORRECTED: Endoscope Patent Case Offers Guidance On Right To Repair

    Author Photo

    An Alabama federal court's decision in Karl Storz v. IMS reaffirmed that product owners have broad rights to repair or modify their property as they see fit, highlighting the parameters of the right to repair in the context of patent infringement, say Dustin Weeks and Dabney Carr at Troutman Pepper. Correction: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article and headline attributed the Karl Storz ruling to the wrong court. The error has been corrected.

  • Trump's NY Civil Fraud Trial Spotlights Long-Criticized Law

    Author Photo

    A New York court’s recent decision holding former President Donald Trump liable for fraud brought old criticisms of the state law used against him back into the limelight — including its strikingly broad scope and its major departures from the traditional elements of common law fraud, say Mark Kelley and Lois Ahn at MoloLamken.

  • How A Motion Before Justices May Help Trump Beyond Court

    Author Photo

    Even if Donald Trump loses his presidential immunity claim before the U.S. Supreme Court, the delay created by the motion may mean a trial can't be completed before the November election, says Paul Tuchmann at Wiggin and Dana.

  • Opinion

    $175M Bond Refiled By Trump Is Still Substantively Flawed

    Author Photo

    The corrected $175 million bond posted by former President Donald Trump on Thursday to stave off enforcement of the New York attorney general's fraud judgment against him remains substantively and procedurally flawed, as well as inadequately secured, says Adam Pollock of Pollock Cohen.

  • Opinion

    Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea

    Author Photo

    A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.

  • NJ Ruling Offers Road Map To Fight Dishonored Check Claims

    Author Photo

    As ATM and mobile check deposits become more common, a New Jersey state appellate court’s recent ruling in Triffin v. Neptune shows that issuers can rely on copies of checks to defend against claims that checks were wrongfully dishonored after being electronically deposited, say attorneys at Sherman Atlas.

  • 4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best

    Author Photo

    As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Appellate archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!