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Appellate
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April 22, 2024
Eli Lilly Tells Fed. Circ. $177M Patent Loss Was Rightly Axed
Eli Lilly & Co. has urged the Federal Circuit to uphold a Massachusetts federal judge's decision that wiped out a $176.5 million verdict against it for infringing Teva migraine drug patents, saying the lower court correctly found the patent claims to be invalid.
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April 22, 2024
NJ Town Can't Beat Sanctions Over Legal Malpractice Suit
A New Jersey state appeals panel upheld Monday, in a published opinion, sanctions against the borough of Englewood Cliffs for bringing a now-dismissed legal malpractice suit after a purportedly unfavorable affordable housing settlement.
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April 22, 2024
9th Circ. Backs Class Cert. In Pet Supplement False Ad Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Monday upheld certification of a consumer class accusing health supplement company Nutramax of falsely marketing Cosequin as promoting healthy joints in dogs, saying an economics expert could use a generic and "otherwise reliable" damages model without applying it specifically to the class at this stage.
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April 22, 2024
USW Says EPA Asbestos Ban Doesn't Protect Workers Enough
The United Steelworkers and the nonprofit Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization called on the D.C. Circuit to review the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent ban on the most prevalent variety of asbestos, with the union arguing the ban falls short by failing to provide certain interim protections.
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April 22, 2024
Jack Daniel's, VIP Hold Firm In Yearslong Dog Toy TM Fight
Jack Daniel's has told an Arizona federal court that VIP Products LLC's contention that its chewy, poop-themed dog toys in the shape of whiskey bottles do not infringe or dilute Jack Daniel's brand is an old argument, borne from a desire to litigate the case "from scratch" after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected its First Amendment defense last year.
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April 22, 2024
Father Asks Texas High Court To Take Up Gun Suicide Case
The father of a woman who died by suicide has asked the Texas Supreme Court to review the dismissal of his suit against a gun company, saying there were clear signs that his daughter was experiencing mental health problems and should not have been sold a weapon.
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April 22, 2024
DC Circ. Wary Of Nigeria's Immunity Defense To $65M Award
The D.C. Circuit seemed skeptical on Monday of Nigeria's sovereign immunity defense against the enforcement of a $65 million arbitration award issued to a Chinese company after it was ousted from the western African nation.
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April 22, 2024
Fed. Circ. Affirmance Rate In PTAB Cases Hit 83% In 2023
The Federal Circuit affirmed Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions on every issue 83.3% of the time in 2023, a new high that is notably above the historical average of 74.2%, according to the latest data compiled by Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP patent attorneys.
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April 22, 2024
Appeals Court OKs Texas Income Pilot On Eve Of First Checks
The Texas attorney general's office lost its bid Monday to block a Harris County guaranteed income program aimed at helping low-income neighborhoods, with a state appeals court refusing to halt the pilot two days before the first of 18 monthly payments are set to go out.
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April 22, 2024
Mich. Justices To Settle When Juries Make Crash Injury Call
Michigan's Supreme Court has said it would hear oral arguments in the case of a teen whose college baseball prospects may have been cut short by a car crash, as the court considers who should decide if an injury is serious enough to support a claim against the at-fault driver.
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April 22, 2024
Mich. Panel Drains $1.3M 1-800-Bathtub Arbitration Award
A Michigan appellate court affirmed slashing most of a $1.3 million arbitration award for the owner of the toll-free number 1-800-BATHTUB, pulling the plug on the owner's claim that a bathroom remodeling company stole the number.
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April 22, 2024
Estate Rep, Not Trustee, Ruled Proper Defendant In Death Suit
A Minnesota appeals panel has thrown out a wrongful death suit filed by the daughter of a passenger killed in a car-motorcycle crash, saying that under state law she needed to file the suit against the personal representative of the driver's estate, not its trustee.
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April 22, 2024
Congress Can Enact Corp. Transparency, Orgs Tell 11th Circ.
Congress is empowered to require American companies to report their beneficial owners to the federal government because there is ample evidence they've previously been used to fund hostile foreign actors, evade sanctions and traffic drugs, two think tanks told the Eleventh Circuit in an amici brief.
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April 22, 2024
Dentist Must Face Harassment Suit, Mass. Panel Says
A Massachusetts appellate panel on Monday revived claims that a dentist sexually harassed a female patient during a visit by allegedly making inappropriate comments and then purposely breaking her tooth after she rebuffed his advances.
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April 22, 2024
Justices Reject Asylum Quest Of Man Caught In Transit Ban
The U.S. Supreme Court turned down a Salvadoran man's petition to look at a Ninth Circuit decision that said the judiciary can't review expedited removal decisions from the executive branch, even though courts had found the Trump administration policy authorizing the man's removal to be unlawful.
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April 22, 2024
Man Keeps $1.8M Verdict In Calif. Auto Crash Injury Suit
A California appeals court won't upend a nearly $1.8 million verdict in favor of a man who said he was injured following a low-speed automotive rear-ending, saying the evidence was enough for the jury to conclude his active lifestyle was effectively ended by injuries from the crash.
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April 22, 2024
DEA Tells 9th Circ. 'Right To Try' Doesn't Rewrite CSA
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is urging the Ninth Circuit to reject an appeal by a doctor who seeks to administer psilocybin to terminal cancer patients to treat depression, saying the Right to Try Act doesn't waive the Controlled Substances Act's prohibitions or authorize the DEA to do so.
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April 22, 2024
Ralph Lauren Can Continue Appeal Of COVID Coverage Loss
The Third Circuit on Monday lifted a stay that sidelined a Ralph Lauren Corp. appeal of a district judge's ruling that the fashion retailer failed to show insurable physical damage to stores from the COVID-19 pandemic, sending the case to an appellate motions panel with three similar actions.
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April 22, 2024
Mich. Top Court Strikes Down Public Union Fee Policies
The Michigan Supreme Court said Monday a public-sector union cannot charge nonmembers a fee to receive union support in filing a grievance, ruling that doing so violates the organization's duty to fairly represent all employees when the union is the sole representative for workers.
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April 22, 2024
3M Urges Mich. Justices To Ditch PFAS Water Rule Challenge
Manufacturing giant 3M has urged the Michigan Supreme Court to reinforce an invalidation of the state's new limits on so-called forever chemicals in drinking water, telling justices that regulators illegally failed to estimate the full cost of its new restrictions on businesses.
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April 22, 2024
Calif. High Court Says Pretrial Inmates Can't Get Min. Wage
The California Supreme Court on Monday ruled that pretrial detainees who work while in jail are not entitled to minimum wage and overtime claims under California's labor law, finding the state's penal code permitting such work covers nonconvicted individuals.
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April 22, 2024
Ill. Panel Relieves Insurer Of $8.3M Cracker Caper Judgment
An insurer was relieved of covering a dispute between cracker manufacturers, an Illinois state appeals panel affirmed, finding allegations of equipment theft that led to an $8.3 million judgment against Distinctive Foods LLC constituted non-covered intentional interference with RyKrisp LLC.
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April 22, 2024
Justices Skeptical Staying Arbitration Cases Burdens Courts
The U.S. Supreme Court tackled Monday whether courts should stay or dismiss suits headed to arbitration, with some justices appearing skeptical of the argument that tossing the suits burdens courts less than pausing litigation.
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April 22, 2024
High Court Probes Homeless 'Status' In Camping Ban Suit
U.S. Supreme Court justices probed the limits of what might be considered criminalizing status amid oral arguments Monday over whether an Oregon city's law banning camping on public property violates the Eighth Amendment's bar on cruel and unusual punishment.
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April 22, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Last week, Delaware's Chancery Court news included a Tesla announcement about moving to Texas, a midcase appeal of Tripadvisor's move to Nevada, and United Airlines' escape from a stockholder suit. Disputes about board entrenchment, squeeze-out mergers, co-founder fallouts and deadly ice cream moved ahead.
Expert Analysis
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Recent Rulings Add Dimension To Justices' Maui Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court's 2020 decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund established new factual criteria for determining when the Clean Water Act applies to groundwater — and recent decisions from the Ninth and Tenth Circuits have clarified how litigants can make use of the Maui standard, says Steven Hoch at Clark Hill.
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Strategies For Single-Member Special Litigation Committees
The Delaware Supreme Court's recent order in the Baker Hughes derivative litigation allowing testimony from a single-member special litigation committee highlights the fact that, while single-member SLCs are subject to heightened scrutiny, they can also provide unique opportunities, says Josh Bloom at MoloLamken.
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10th Circ. Ruling Means More Okla. Oilfield Pollution Litigation
By applying Oklahoma's statutory definitions of pollution to a private landowner's claim for negligence for the first time, the Tenth Circuit's recent decision in Lazy S Ranch v. Valero will likely make it harder to obtain summary judgment in oilfield contamination cases, and will lead to more litigation, say attorneys at GableGotwals.
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Race Bias Defense Considerations After 11th Circ. Ruling
In Tynes v. Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that the McDonnell Douglas test for employment discrimination cases is merely an evidentiary framework, so employers relying on it as a substantive standard of liability may need to rethink their litigation strategy, says Helen Jay at Phelps Dunbar.
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How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.
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Fed. Circ. In Feb.: Using Prior Products To Invalidate A Patent
The Federal Circuit's recent Weber v. Provisu ruling, that prior-product operating manuals constituted printed publications that can be used to invalidate patents in an inter partes review proceeding, makes it easier for a petitioner to invalidate a patent, say Sean Murray and Jeremiah Helm at Knobbe Martens.
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7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves
As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.
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What's At Stake In Pending Fed. Circ. Design Patent Test Case
The full Federal Circuit recently heard argument in LKQ v. GM Global, a case concerning patent obviousness in the aftermarket for auto parts; the court's decision will likely influence how design patents are obtained, enforced and challenged, and affect the broader innovation ecosystem, says Larry DeMeo at Hunton.
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Series
Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.
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Perspectives
Compassionate Release Grants Needed Now More Than Ever
After the U.S. Sentencing Commission's recent expansion of the criteria for determining compassionate release eligibility, courts should grant such motions more frequently in light of the inherently dangerous conditions presented by increasingly understaffed and overpopulated federal prisons, say Alan Ellis and Mark Allenbaugh at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.
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Args In APA Case Amplify Justices' Focus On Agency Power
In arguments last week in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve, the U.S. Supreme Court justices paid particular importance to the possible ripple effects of their decision, which will address when a facial challenge to long-standing federal rules under the Administrative Procedure Act first accrues and could thus unleash a flood of new lawsuits, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.
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After TikTok, Tiptoeing Toward Patent Transfer Alignment
Following the Fifth Circuit's TikTok decision, which aimed to standardize transfer analysis in patent cases, the Federal Circuit and Texas federal courts facing transfer requests have taken small steps to consider the practical realities of patent litigation, reinforcing the intensely factual focus of the analysis, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.
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Mitigating Whistleblower Risks After High Court UBS Ruling
While it is always good practice for companies to periodically review whistleblower trainings, policies and procedures, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent whistleblower-friendly ruling in Murray v. UBS Securities helps demonstrate their importance in reducing litigation risk, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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What Recent Setbacks In Court Mean For Enviro Justice
Two courts in Louisiana last month limited the federal government's ability to require consideration of Civil Rights Act disparate impacts when evaluating state-issued permits — likely providing a framework for opposition to environmental justice initiatives in other states, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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Perspectives
Justices' Double Jeopardy Ruling Preserves Acquittal Sanctity
The U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous decision last week in McElrath v. Georgia, barring the state from retrying a man acquitted of murder after a so-called repugnant verdict, is significant in the tangled web of double jeopardy jurisprudence for its brief and unequivocal protection of an acquittal’s finality, says Lissa Griffin at Pace Law School.