Appellate

  • May 06, 2024

    7th Circ. Backs Ford In Black Ex-Plumber's Bias Suit

    The Seventh Circuit on Monday upheld Ford Motor Co.'s defeat of a former plumber's lawsuit alleging she was punished for reporting she'd been treated harshly by her supervisor because she's a Black Muslim woman, finding nothing wrong with a lower court tossing the case.

  • May 06, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Urged Not To Limit Use Of Patents Apps At PTAB

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Samsung, and tech industry groups have urged the Federal Circuit to reject an argument that patent applications can only be used to invalidate patents in inter partes reviews based on their publication date, saying the filing date is what counts.

  • May 06, 2024

    9th Circ. Hints Walmart Can't Avoid Jury In Disability Bias Suit

    A Ninth Circuit panel indicated Monday that it doubted Walmart Inc. was being honest when it told a vision-impaired employee seeking to come back from a leave of absence that no jobs were available, with one judge suggesting a jury should decide if the retail giant lied to the worker.

  • May 06, 2024

    FCC Calls High Court Telecom Subsidy Challenge Premature

    The Federal Communications Commission has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to forgo review in two constitutional challenges to the agency's Universal Services Fund brought by free-enterprise groups, arguing that the appeals were filed too early and are based on a speculative circuit split that hasn't formed yet.

  • May 06, 2024

    NJ Justices Erase Gov't Workplace Probe Confidentiality Rule

    The New Jersey Supreme Court on Monday struck down part of a state statute that directs investigators to request, but not require, confidentiality in discrimination or harassment investigations involving state workers, ruling the provision still reached too far and chilled protected speech.

  • May 06, 2024

    Mass. Justices Wary Of Spiking Uber, Lyft Ballot Questions

    Justices on Massachusetts' highest court appeared unlikely Monday to strike down ballot proposals to reinvent app-based drivers' relationships with Uber, Lyft and the like, commenting that the scattershot ideas for voters in March all carry the underlying theme of creating a carveout from the state's worker-friendly employee classification law.

  • May 06, 2024

    4th Circ. Clinches NBA Star Win In Legal Saga With Ex-Agent ​​​​​​​

    NBA star forward Zion Williamson secured a Fourth Circuit victory on Monday in a prolonged legal battle with his would-be agent, with a unanimous panel ruling his contract with the Florida marketing agency was void under a North Carolina law governing student-athlete representation.

  • May 06, 2024

    DeSantis, Ousted Fla. Atty Clash Over Reinstatement Powers

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and ousted prosecutor Andrew Warren have offered dueling takes over whether federal courts have jurisdiction to reinstate suspended state officers in competing briefs filed with the Eleventh Circuit.

  • May 06, 2024

    Calif. Doctors Can't Escape Med Mal Atty's Defamation Suit

    A California appeals court has said two California doctors cannot escape a defamation suit over an allegedly defamatory website they created about a malpractice attorney whom they'd had a fee dispute with, denying an anti-SLAPP motion because the language the lawyer identified in his amended complaint was not protected activity.

  • May 06, 2024

    Margolis Edelstein Wants Redo Of Malpractice Ruling In Del.

    Margolis Edelstein wants the Delaware Supreme Court to reconsider its decision reviving an insurer's malpractice suit claiming its incompetence caused the insurer to have to settle a case for $1.2 million, and is asking the full court to rehear the matter.

  • May 06, 2024

    Ritz-Carlton Defeats Post-Hurricane Layoff Claims At 1st Circ.

    The First Circuit has said a Puerto Rico federal judge was right to rule in favor of a Ritz-Carlton hotel in a suit by a proposed class of employees who claimed they were wrongfully laid off after the island was decimated by back-to-back hurricanes in 2017.

  • May 06, 2024

    3rd Circ. Won't Revive Ex-Pa. Agency Atty's Firing Suit

    The Third Circuit on Monday declined to revive a former Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development attorney's suit alleging his firing violated his 14th Amendment rights, reasoning that the lawyer failed to show how his termination constitutes a deprivation of property.

  • May 06, 2024

    New Jersey High Court Disbars Twice Suspended Atty

    The New Jersey Supreme Court has disbarred a Morris County attorney, agreeing with a state disciplinary review board that said his failure to cooperate with their investigations and continued misconduct warrants a ban from practicing in the state.

  • May 06, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    A record $100 million settlement, a fishy Facebook decision, a canceled Amazon delivery and an upended $7.3 billion sale dispute topped the news out of Delaware's Court of Chancery last week. There were also new cases involving Hess, Microsoft and the 2022 World Cup.

  • May 06, 2024

    Nothing 'Unusual' About Claims Appeals, Mich. Tells 6th Circ.

    Michigan defended the appellate setup of its claims court in a Sixth Circuit brief Friday, pointing to federal circuit courts' en banc review procedure to argue it is not so extraordinary to ask judges to scrutinize their colleagues' work.

  • May 06, 2024

    Why The Wash. Supreme Court's Docket Has Been Shrinking

    When the Washington State Supreme Court met last month, justices could have decided to set new case law in a dispute over contractual royalty payments or when county governments need to turn over public records. But they passed on those cases and 32 others, taking on just three, part of a decadelong trend that’s seen their annual opinion count fall by half.

  • May 06, 2024

    Texas Says EPA Methane Rule Would Burden Regulators

    The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's director of the Office of Air told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has grossly underestimated the cost of complying with its expanded methane emissions control requirements, and should therefore pause the rule's implementation.

  • May 06, 2024

    Full NC Court Asked To Review Panel's 'Double Odor' Pot Test

    A man who pled guilty to cannabis-related charges after a traffic stop is asking for an en banc review of a North Carolina appeals panel's rejection of his argument that the evidence against him was unconstitutional. 

  • May 03, 2024

    Ala. High Court Won't Rethink Decision On Frozen Embryos

    The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday refused to revisit its February decision finding that frozen embryos count as children, a first-of-its-kind decision that has been received as potentially ruinous for in vitro fertilization services in the Yellowhammer State.

  • May 03, 2024

    Meta Asks 9th Circ. To Revisit Predominance In Ad Class Cert.

    Meta Platforms Inc. on Friday asked the Ninth Circuit to take a fresh look at a split panel decision affirming certification of a damages class of potentially millions of advertisers who were allegedly deceived about Facebook's "potential reach" tool, taking issue with the panel majority's "sweeping" interpretation of the predominance requirement.

  • May 03, 2024

    10th Circ. Blasted For Warhol Reading In 'Tiger King' IP Suit

    Filmmakers, authors and law professors have urged the Tenth Circuit to revisit its decision to revive part of a copyright complaint against Netflix for its popular "Tiger King" docuseries, arguing that an appeals panel misapplied the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Warhol decision when it ruled against the streaming service.

  • May 03, 2024

    5th Circ. Stands By Keeping CFPB Late Fee Case In Texas

    A Fifth Circuit panel will not reconsider its decision rejecting the cross-country transfer of a bank industry-backed challenge to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 credit card late fee standard, denying the agency's bid to move the case back to Washington, D.C., from Texas.

  • May 03, 2024

    Calif. Appeals Court Calls Firm's Conduct 'Woefully Uncivil'

    A California state appeals court has backed sanctions against The Vanderpool Law Firm in a dispute with Masimo Corp., finding that the firm had engaged in misconduct during discovery and noting that it was "woefully uncivil" in its emails with opposing counsel.

  • May 03, 2024

    9th Circ. Orders 2nd Look At Stay In PG&E Wildfire Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday told a lower court to reconsider its order staying claims PG&E investors brought against officers, directors and others over wildfire liability, saying more factors should have been considered before the stay was granted.

  • May 03, 2024

    6th Circ. Drops Bettors' Appeal Over Doped Derby Horse

    Kentucky Derby gamblers who claimed they had winning bets after officials disqualified the race's lead horse cannot sue Churchill Downs or the horse's Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, the Sixth Circuit ruled, saying courts can't "turn a losing wager into a winning one."

Expert Analysis

  • Employers Beware Of NLRB Changes On Bad Faith Bargaining

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    Recent National Labor Relations Board decisions show a trend of the agency imposing harsher remedies on employers for bad faith bargaining over union contracts, a position upheld in the Ninth Circuit's recent NLRB v. Grill Concepts Services decision, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease

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    This Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Adam Siegler at Greenberg Traurig discusses his experience working as a lawyer with Parkinson’s disease, sharing both lessons on how to cope with a diagnosis and advice for supporting colleagues who live with the disease.

  • When Trade Secret Protection And Nat'l Security Converge

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    The Trump administration's anti-espionage program focused on China is over, but federal enforcement efforts to protect trade secrets and U.S. national security continue, and companies doing business in high-risk jurisdictions need to maintain their compliance programs to avoid the risk of being caught in the crosshairs of an investigation, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Why Incorporating By Reference Is Rarely Good Practice

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    The Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Promptu Systems v. Comcast serves as a reminder that while incorporating by reference may seem efficient, it is generally prohibited by courts and can lead to sanctions when used to bypass a word count limit, says Cullen Seltzer at Sands Anderson.

  • Strategies For Defense Attys To Subpoena A Nonparty Witness

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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.

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