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Appellate
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September 17, 2024
Pa. Judge Confirmed As GOP Leader Bemoans Dems' Tactics
The Senate voted 52-41 Tuesday to confirm Mary Kathleen Costello as U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, but first the chamber's top Republican took time to blast judiciary policymakers for backing what he said were Democratic initiatives regarding the federal bench.
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September 17, 2024
Prepaid Wireless Cards Not Subject To Tax, NC Justices Told
A North Carolina cellphone retailer wasn't obliged to remit tax on sales of prepaid wireless cards because the cards are gift cards that can be used for nontaxable services and sales, an attorney for the company told the state Supreme Court on Tuesday.
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September 17, 2024
Fla. Lawmakers Claim Deposition Immunity In Voter Map Case
Several Florida lawmakers told an appellate panel Tuesday they shouldn't be compelled to testify about their legislative activities in a lawsuit brought by Black voters over a redistricted congressional map, arguing that the state constitution protects them from depositions in civil litigation.
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September 17, 2024
Fla. Should Get CWA Permitting Back, State Tells DC Circ.
Florida should be allowed to keep administering its own Clean Water Act permitting program for dredging, the Sunshine State told the D.C. Circuit in an opening brief that noted the state had successfully run the program for three years, and that taking away its ability to do so calls into question a congressional promise.
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September 17, 2024
Fla. Panel Told Boies Schiller Film Co. Had Proper Fraud Claim
A financier for the Natalie Portman movie "Jane Got A Gun" told a Florida state appellate panel Tuesday that a lower court wrongly denied a fraud claim against a co-funder, saying the law was misapplied in determining that misrepresentations couldn't be relied upon for loaning money to complete filming.
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September 17, 2024
Vt. Supreme Court Upholds $1.1M Property Valuation
The Vermont Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the nearly $1.1 million valuation of a residential property determined by a hearing officer, saying the officer was not wrong to base the determination in part on a town assessment that was later found to be problematic.
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September 17, 2024
Meta Deletes Photo Tagging IP At Fed. Circ.
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday handed Meta Platforms Inc. a win in an infringement case, upholding the invalidation of a patent-holding company's patent on digitally tagging images and dismissing related patents on appeal after they failed to survive at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
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September 17, 2024
Ga. Atty Disbarred For Mishandling Injury Settlement Funds
The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday stripped an Atlanta attorney of his law license for mishandling personal injury settlement funds in three cases, including by using some of the money for his personal use and failing to promptly pay a medical clinic for its related claims.
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September 17, 2024
Chrisley Sentence Should Stick Despite 11th Circ., Feds Argue
Julie Chrisley's prison sentence shouldn't change even as a Georgia federal judge considers the former reality TV star's smaller role in a $36 million tax evasion and fraud scheme, prosecutors told the court Monday, noting that her time has already been shortened for other considerations.
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September 17, 2024
Univ. Can Expand Coastal Campus, Mass. Appeals Court Says
A Massachusetts university has no obligation to preserve for public use 12 acres of land in a coastal town just north of Boston, the state's intermediate-level appeals court ruled.
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September 17, 2024
8th Circ. Won't Revive Fired Lockheed Atty's Race Bias Suit
The Eighth Circuit refused on Tuesday to reinstate a race discrimination and retaliation case brought by a former Lockheed Martin in-house attorney whose suit was tossed after a trial court concluded she had lied about her income, rejecting her push to deflect blame onto her lawyers.
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September 17, 2024
Ex-NY Appeals Court Counsel Joins Harris Beach
A former leader with New York's highest court is bringing her three decades of appellate experience to Harris Beach.
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September 17, 2024
Ghislaine Maxwell Fails To Shake Conviction On Appeal
The Second Circuit on Tuesday rejected arguments by disgraced socialite and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell that her sex trafficking charges violated Epstein's 2007 nonprosecution deal in Florida, upholding her conviction and 20-year prison sentence.
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September 16, 2024
Teleflex Gets Another Chance In Catheter Patent Feud
The Federal Circuit on Monday held that a Minnesota district court was wrong to invalidate claims in seven catheter patents Teleflex LLC asserted against Medtronic Inc. as indefinite, finding the lower court took an overly narrow view of how claims are construed.
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September 16, 2024
Senate Confirms Tenn, Prosecutor To 6th Circ.
The U.S. Senate Monday confirmed federal prosecutor Kevin Ritz to join the Sixth Circuit bench along a 48-46 party line vote following vocal objections from the senior senator from Tennessee over the past few months.
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September 16, 2024
Pot Co. Execs Go To 9th Circ. In Investment Scam Case
A California cannabis company and its co-founders on Monday appealed a federal court decision booting them from the securities industry and holding them liable for roughly $6 million tied to a medical marijuana investment scam, the same day that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asked the court to order a third individual to pay up for his part in the alleged scam.
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September 16, 2024
3rd Circ. OKs NLRB Enforcement Bid Against Scrap Metal Co.
The Third Circuit on Monday granted the National Labor Relations Board's petition for enforcement of its finding that a Philadelphia scrap metal company violated federal labor law by changing workers' schedules after they voted for union representation, rejecting the company's argument that the reduction in workers' hours was for pandemic-related reasons.
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September 16, 2024
4th Circ. OKs Immediate Appeal Of Genworth 401(k) Class
The Fourth Circuit gave Genworth Financial a green light to challenge a recent trial court decision certifying a class in a suit brought by former Genworth workers who said the company violated federal benefits law by keeping underperforming BlackRock target-date funds in their 401(k) plan.
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September 16, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Review Tribal Jurisdiction In Virus Suit
An en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit on Monday upheld a panel's finding that the Suquamish Tribal Court has jurisdiction over the tribe's coronavirus coverage dispute with its insurers, though a dissent claimed the panel decision "gutted any geographic limits of tribal court jurisdiction."
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September 16, 2024
5th Circ. Judge Chides High Court Calls in Abortion Pill Case
U.S. Circuit Judge James C. Ho on Monday threw shade at the U.S. Supreme Court and the Biden administration over what he described as side-switching on federal conscience laws for doctors.
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September 16, 2024
Judges Examine Who Has Free Speech Rights In TikTok Case
A D.C. Circuit panel on Monday pressed lawyers for the federal government as well as TikTok and its users to parse whether full First Amendment protections apply to the social media platform's foreign owners as well as to its users despite congressional worries that the platform is vulnerable to interference by a potential overseas adversary.
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September 16, 2024
Why A Tactic In The Youth Climate Change Battle Is Risky
Young people suing the federal government for sweeping changes to climate policy are trying a new tactic, filing a mandamus petition in the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to get their case to trial. But some lawyers are worried the tactic may backfire, limiting the opportunity for others to use the courts to wage climate battles, experts told Law360.
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September 16, 2024
Chevron Deference Invalid In Travel-Time Pay Case, DOL Says
The U.S. Department of Labor said the overturning of Chevron deference has no bearing on its case against a home care company for stiffing workers of travel-time pay, arguing that the regulations at issue don't invoke such an analysis, according to a letter filed by the department.
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September 16, 2024
Retired Conn. Chief Justice Starts Next Chapter At Day Pitney
Retired Connecticut Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard A. Robinson is continuing his career as a litigator at Day Pitney LLP, where he'll also bolster the firm's appellate practice and advance its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, the firm said Monday.
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September 16, 2024
Federal Judges Beat Ethics Complaint Over Clerk Boycotts
Two federal judges did not commit misconduct by joining in a letter with other jurists stating they would not hire students who attend Columbia University or its law school as clerks due to the university's handling of student protests over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Eleventh Circuit Judicial Council has found.
Expert Analysis
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What 7th Circ. Samsung Decision Means For Mass Arbitration
The Seventh Circuit's recent decision in Wallrich v. Samsung highlights the dilemma faced by mass arbitration filers in the face of nonpayment of arbitration fees by the defending party — but also suggests that there are risks for defendants in pursuing such a strategy, says Daniel Campbell at McDermott.
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Takeaways From Virginia's $2B Trade Secrets Verdict Reversal
The Virginia Court of Appeals' recent reversal of the $2 billion damages award in Pegasystems v. Appian underscores the claimant's burden to show damages causation and highlights how an evidentiary ruling could lead to reversible error, say John Lanham and Kamran Jamil at Morrison Foerster.
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How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act
In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.
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Employers Face Uncertainty After Calif. Justices' Slur Ruling
In Bailey v. San Francisco District Attorney's Office, the California Supreme Court recently ruled that a singular use of a racial slur may be sufficiently severe to support a hostile work environment claim, leaving employers to speculate about what sort of comments or conduct will meet this new standard going forward, says Stephanie Roeser at Manatt.
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How Corner Post Affects Enviro Laws' Statutes Of Limitations
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board has helped to alter the fundamental underpinnings of administrative law — and its plaintiff-centric approach may have implications for some specific environmental laws' statutes of limitations, say Chris Leason and Liam Martin at Gallagher and Kennedy.
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Jarkesy May Thwart Consumer Agencies' Civil Penalty Power
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy not only implicates future SEC administrative adjudications, but those of other agencies that operate similarly — and may stymie regulators' efforts to levy civil monetary penalties in a range of consumer protection enforcement actions, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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Ohio's New Citation Rules Could Cure 'The Bluebook Blues'
The Ohio Supreme Court recently revised its writing manual to streamline citation format in legal briefs and opinions, deviating from Bluebook style, and encouraging lawyers and judges to draft cleaner documents that will give the substance of their legal arguments more persuasive power, say L. Bradfield Hughes and Chance Conaway at Porter Wright.
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9th Circ. Ruling Flags Work Harassment Risks Of Social Media
The recent Ninth Circuit ruling in Okonowsky v. Garland, holding an employer could be liable for a co-worker's harassing social media posts, highlights new challenges in technology-centered and remote workplaces, and underscores an employer's obligation to prevent hostile environments wherever their employees clock in, say Jennifer Lada and Phillip Schreiber at Holland & Knight.
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Trump's Best Hush Money Appeal Options Still Likely To Fail
The two strongest potential arguments former President Donald Trump could raise in appealing his New York hush money conviction seem promising at first, but precedent strongly suggests they will still ultimately fail — though, of course, Trump's unique position could lead to surprising results, says former New York Supreme Court Justice Ethan Greenberg, now at Anderson Kill.
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Tips For Tax Equity-Tax Credit Transfers That Pass IRS Muster
Although the Internal Revenue Service has increased its scrutiny of complex partnership structures, which must demonstrate their economic substance and business purpose, recent cases and IRS guidance together provide a reliable road map for creating legitimate tax equity structures, say Ian Boccaccio and Michael Messina at Ryan Tax.
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7th Circ. Ruling Sheds Light On Extraterritoriality In IP Law
A recent Seventh Circuit decision involving the Defend Trade Secrets Act, allowing for broader international application of trade secrets laws, highlights a difference in how trade secrets are treated compared to other areas of intellectual property law, say Armin Ghiam and Maria Montenegro-Bernardo at Hunton.
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Opinion
Texas Judges Ignored ERISA's Core To Stall Fiduciary Rule
Two recent rulings from Texas federal courts, which rely on a plainly wrong reading of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to effectively strike a forthcoming rule that would impose functional fiduciary duties onto sellers of investment services, may expose financially unsophisticated 401(k) participants to peddlers of misleading advice, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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2nd Circ. Ruling Reaffirms Short-Swing Claims Have Standing
The Second Circuit's recent ruling in Packer v. Raging Capital reversing the dismissal of a shareholder's Section 16(b) derivative suit seeking to recover short-swing profits for lack of constitutional standing settles the uncertainty of the district court's decision, which could have undercut Congress' intent in crafting Section 16(b) in the first place, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?
A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.
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Insurance Lessons From 11th Circ. Ruling On Policy Grammar
The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in ECB v. Chubb Insurance, holding that missing punctuation didn't change the clear meaning of a professional services policy, offers policyholder takeaways about the uncertainty that can arise when courts interpret insurance policy language based on obscure grammatical canons, say Hugh Lumpkin and Garrett Nemeroff at Reed Smith.