Appellate

  • July 17, 2025

    4th Circ. Orders New Trial After Doc Acquitted In Fraud Case

    A Fourth Circuit panel ordered a new trial for a doctor who received a judge's acquittal after a jury found him guilty of alleged healthcare fraud, finding that the jury had sufficient evidence to convict, but the case was "close," and the district court was correct in hedging and allowing another shot at the case.

  • July 17, 2025

    5th Circ. Won't Reinstate Fired Officer's Age Bias Fight

    The Fifth Circuit refused to reopen a former deputy constable's lawsuit alleging that a Texas county fired him because he was a middle-aged man, ruling Thursday that it found no reason to disturb a lower court's dismissal of the case.

  • July 17, 2025

    Firm Seeks NC Top Court's Take On Ex-Partner's Benefits Fight

    Cranfill Sumner LLP asked North Carolina's top court on Thursday to take up its case challenging a former partner's workers' compensation award, saying a lower court made a mistake in ruling his equity stake in the firm doesn't offset the amount he's owed.

  • July 17, 2025

    Banning Of Courtroom Snoozer Prompts New NY Murder Trial

    A man convicted of murder in Queens will get a new trial, a New York appeals court has ruled, finding that because his friend was permanently barred from watching the proceedings after falling asleep in court, the defendant was denied his Constitutional right to a public trial.

  • July 17, 2025

    IRS Leaker Asks DC Circ. To Bar Comments By Ex-Employer

    A tech worker appealing a five-year sentence for leaking tax returns while on the job at the IRS through contractor Booz Allen asked the D.C. Circuit on Thursday to block his former employer from weighing in, saying the company's opinion that he should finish his prison term is irrelevant.

  • July 17, 2025

    Neb. Asks Justices To Resolve River Dispute With Colo.

    Nebraska is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve its claims that Colorado is failing to deliver water from the South Platte River according to the terms of an early 20th-century compact.

  • July 17, 2025

    Calif. Supreme Court Won't Look At Meal-Break Waivers

    The California Supreme Court declined to weigh in on a case in which veterinarians claimed that the prospective waivers from state meal-break requirements that an operator of veterinary hospitals rolled out were illegal, leaving undisturbed a panel's decision in favor of the hospitals.

  • July 17, 2025

    6th Circ. Says Axed Expert Reports Doom Hip Implant Suit

    The Sixth Circuit has sided with a medical device maker in a lawsuit brought by a man who alleged a component of his hip implant was faulty due to a manufacturing defect, saying the lower court correctly excluded his experts for their lack of knowledge about the surgery or the company's manufacturing processes.

  • July 17, 2025

    5th Circ. Affirms Nix Of Doctor's Captive Insurance Deductions

    The owner of a Texas urgent care network is not entitled to $1 million in tax deductions for insurance premiums he paid to inside companies, the Fifth Circuit ruled, affirming the U.S. Tax Court's decision that the payments were not actually for insurance.

  • July 17, 2025

    Trouble Interpreting Nonverbal Witness Dooms Murder Verdict

    Massachusetts' highest court on Thursday found that a man convicted of murder is entitled to a new trial because a key witness against him is nonverbal and interpreters were not able to effectively communicate with her while she was on the stand.

  • July 17, 2025

    Ga. Litigator Turned Appeals Judge Named As State Justice

    Georgia Gov. Brian P. Kemp on Thursday announced his appointment of a Georgia Court of Appeals Judge as the next state Supreme Court justice, turning to a judge who dissented from an opinion to disqualify a district attorney in an election interference case against President Donald Trump and others.

  • July 17, 2025

    Iowa Church Says DEA Can't 'Pocket Veto' Drug Exemption

    An Iowa church is asking the D.C. Circuit to force the Drug Enforcement Administration to rule on an application it filed more than six years ago for a religious exemption to use a psychedelic in its services, saying the DEA shouldn't be allowed to "pocket veto" the application and leave the church hanging.

  • July 17, 2025

    Dems Walk Out On Vote Of Emil Bove For 3rd Circ.

    The Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee walked out of the vote on Emil Bove's Third Circuit nomination on Thursday morning after Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., accused committee chair Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, of subverting committee rules by not acknowledging his request to speak and rushing through the nomination.

  • July 17, 2025

    Watchdog Raises Concerns On 9th Circ. Nominee's Crypto Work

    President Donald Trump's nominee for the Ninth Circuit has a long record of representing cryptocurrency companies, which a watchdog group fears could aid what it calls the president's "self-enrichment" with digital currency.

  • July 16, 2025

    11th Circ. Nixes Walmart Win, Backs ALJ Removal Restriction

    The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday ruled in a published opinion that a removal restriction for administrative law judges is constitutional, reversing Walmart's win in a lawsuit that had blocked a chief administrative law judge from deciding on immigration-related complaints against the hypermarket company.

  • July 16, 2025

    Dallas Beats Suit By Motorist Hit By Police Car

    Sovereign immunity shields municipalities in instances where their police officers run red lights with their warning sirens off during emergency calls, according to a Texas appeals court, which ruled against a motorist who was hit by a Dallas police patrol vehicle.

  • July 16, 2025

    Pittsburgh Defense Atty Suspended After Soliciting 'Teen' Decoy

    A Pittsburgh criminal defense attorney agreed to have his law license suspended after he was convicted and sentenced to up to seven years in state prison for soliciting sex from what he thought was a 15-year-old girl, according to an order filed Wednesday with Pennsylvania's Supreme Court.

  • July 16, 2025

    4th Circ. Upends Gated Community's Win In Fair Housing Row

    The owner of several assisted-living group homes for seniors won a second chance Tuesday to press claims that his Maryland gated community is illegally refusing to let him open a new home there, with the Fourth Circuit ruling that a reasonable jury could find violations of the federal Fair Housing Act.

  • July 16, 2025

    8th Circ. Sends Part Of OptumRx Pricing Fight To Arbitration

    The Eighth Circuit partially reversed a ruling Wednesday that denied pharmacy benefits manager OptumRx's bid to send a drugstore's proposed class action over generics prescription reimbursements to arbitration, finding that OptumRx waived arbitration as to three claims, but an arbitrator must decide the fate of two recently pleaded claims.

  • July 16, 2025

    Nonprofits Taking Immigrant Legal Aid Fight To DC Circ.

    Nonprofit groups that are trying to stop the U.S. Department of Justice from cutting off funding to four programs that provide legal information to noncitizens are taking their fight with the Trump administration to the D.C. Circuit after a federal judge killed their lawsuit.

  • July 16, 2025

    Pharmacy Benefit Managers Say Ohio Can't Recast Suit

    The state of Ohio can't "recast its complaint on appeal" in order to convince the Sixth Circuit that its enforcement suit accusing two pharmacy benefit managers of working to raise the cost of prescription drugs belongs in state court, those managers have told the appellate court.

  • July 16, 2025

    Trump Taps Ex-Thomas, Kavanaugh Clerk For 3rd Circ.

    President Donald Trump announced on social media Wednesday that he has chosen a Catholic University of America law professor, who is currently serving in the White House Counsel's office and has clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, to serve on the Third Circuit.

  • July 16, 2025

    2nd Circ. Backs Argentina In Bondholders' $360M Debt Suit

    Argentine debtholders claiming the country owes them more than $360 million in improperly withheld payments lost their case before the Second Circuit on Wednesday, which ruled that the bonds' governing documents prohibited the lawsuits.

  • July 16, 2025

    Bojangles Managers Ask To Redo Cert. After 4th Circ. Setback

    Managers at the fast-food chain Bojangles asked a North Carolina federal judge Wednesday to certify more than a dozen subclasses in their wage and hour case, arguing that there's still a path forward after the Fourth Circuit sent them back to the drawing board on certification.

  • July 16, 2025

    8th Circ. Backs Enhanced Sentence In SD Carjacking Case

    The Eighth Circuit ruled on Wednesday that a man convicted of aiding and abetting a carjacking and various firearms charges cannot have his nearly 20-year prison term overturned after being given a sentence enhancement.

Expert Analysis

  • A Word On Ensuring Precision In Patent Claim Construction

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Express Mobile v. Meta Platforms, overruling the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's interpretation of the term "style," highlights the importance of articulating claim constructions that are as clear as possible, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.

  • What 9th Circ. Cracker Barrel Ruling Means For FLSA Cert.

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    The Ninth Circuit's decision in Harrington v. Cracker Barrel suggests a settling of two procedural trends in Fair Labor Standards Act jurisprudence — when to issue notice and where nationwide collectives can be filed — rather than deepening circuit splits, says Rebecca Ojserkis at Cohen Milstein.

  • Series

    Playing Mah-Jongg Makes Me A Better Mediator

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    Mah-jongg rewards patience, pattern recognition, adaptability and keen observation, all skills that are invaluable to my role as a mediator, and to all mediating parties, says Marina Corodemus.

  • How Latest High Court Rulings Refine Employment Law

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    The 2024-2025 U.S. Supreme Court term did not radically rewrite employment law, but sharpened focus on textual fidelity, procedural rigor and the boundaries of statutory relief, say attorneys at Krevolin & Horst.

  • Calif. Air Waivers Fight Fuels Automakers', States' Uncertainty

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    The unprecedented attempt by Congress and the Trump administration to kill the Clean Air Act waivers supporting California's vehicle emissions standards will eventually end up in the U.S. Supreme Court — but meanwhile, vehicle manufacturers, and states following California's standards, are left in limbo, says John Watson at Spencer Fane.

  • Diversity, Equity, Indictment? Contractor Risks After Kousisis

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Kousisis v. U.S. decision, holding that economic loss is not required to sustain wire fraud charges related to fraudulent inducement, may extend criminal liability to government contractors that make false diversity, equity and inclusion certifications, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Navigating Client Trauma

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    Law schools don't train students to handle repeated exposure to clients' traumatic experiences, but for litigators practicing in areas like civil rights and personal injury, success depends on the ability to view cases clinically and to recognize when you may need to seek help, says Katie Bennett at Robins Kaplan.

  • 9th Circ. Customs Ruling A Limited Win For FCA Plaintiffs

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    While the decision last month in Island Industries v. Sigma may be welcome news for False Claims Act relators, under binding precedent courts within the Ninth Circuit still do not have jurisdiction to adjudicate customs-based FCA claims pursued by the government, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Opinion

    4 Former Justices Would Likely Frown On Litigation Funding

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    As courts increasingly confront cases involving hidden litigation finance contracts, the jurisprudence of four former U.S. Supreme Court justices establishes a constitutional framework that risks erosion by undisclosed financial interests, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

  • Quantifying Trading-Based Damages Using Price Impact

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will likely increasingly rely on price impact analyses to demonstrate pecuniary harm from trading-related misconduct, meaning measuring price impact will be helpful in challenging SEC disgorgement, determining appropriate remedies, and assessing loss causation and damages in private litigation, says Vyacheslav Fos at Boston College and Erin Smith at Compass Lexecon.

  • How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery

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    E-discovery has reached a turning point where document review is no longer just about procedural tasks like identifying relevance and redacting privilege — rather, generative artificial intelligence tools now allow attorneys to draw connections, extract meaning and tell a coherent story, says Rose Jones at Hilgers Graben.

  • How McKesson Ruling Will Inform Interpretations Of The TCPA

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    Amid the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson, we can expect to see both plaintiffs and defendants utilizing the decision to revisit the Federal Communications Commission's past Telephone Consumer Protection Act interpretations and decisions they did not like, says Jason McElroy at Saul Ewing.

  • Justices Rethink Minimum Contacts For Foreign Entities

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    Two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Devas v. Antrix and Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization, suggest that federal statutes may confer personal jurisdiction over foreign entities that have little to no contact with the U.S. — a significant departure from traditional due process principles, says Gary Shaw at Pillsbury.

  • Opinion

    High Court Must Overrule Outdated Patent Eligibility Doctrine

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    A certiorari petition should directly ask the U.S. Supreme Court to correct its 1972 patent decision in Gottschalk v. Benson, the critical point where patent eligibility law veered from the statutory text toward judicial policymaking, says Robert Greenspoon at Dunlap Bennett.

  • Examining TCPA Jurisprudence A Year After Loper Bright

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    One year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, lower court decisions demonstrate that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act will continue to evolve as long-standing interpretations of the act are analyzed with a fresh lens, says Aaron Gallardo at Kilpatrick.

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