Appellate

  • October 16, 2025

    Aerospace Workers Appeal 401(k) Suit Toss To 9th Circ.

    Aerospace technology company workers told a California federal court Thursday that they'll seek Ninth Circuit review of the court's September decision to toss their proposed class action alleging an employee 401(k) plan was saddled with costly and underperforming investment options. 

  • October 16, 2025

    Justices Urged To Hear Mich. Tax Foreclosure Case

    A property owner has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on her case alleging a Michigan county improperly kept the excess proceeds of her tax-foreclosed home sale, arguing the justices should settle a conflict among circuits and calling the state's process to claim such proceeds too restrictive.

  • October 16, 2025

    4th Circ. OKs $811M Award In CFPB Immigrant Bond Co. Suit

    The Fourth Circuit has affirmed an $811 million judgment awarded to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in its enforcement case against immigrant bond companies accused of engaging in abusive practices.

  • October 16, 2025

    Justices Asked To Rethink Gellert Seitz Malpractice Ruling

    Lawyers for a homebuilder are asking Delaware's Supreme Court to reconsider its decision affirming the dismissal of a legal malpractice suit against Gellert Seitz Busenkell & Brown LLC over damages the builder said it suffered due to the firm's negligence handling loan-restructuring disputes, arguing that key issues have been left unresolved.

  • October 16, 2025

    Creek Freedmen Seek Contempt Ruling Over Citizenship Delay

    Two members of the Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band are seeking to hold the Creek Nation's principal chief and its citizenship board in contempt, alleging that their refusal to issue enrollment cards is a blatant violation of a tribal Supreme Court order that cannot be tolerated.

  • October 16, 2025

    5th Circ. Calls For Narrow Sanctions In Southwest Bias Fight

    The Fifth Circuit stood by its decision to scuttle a contempt order mandating religious bias training for attorneys representing Southwest Airlines in a flight attendant's discrimination suit, but tweaked a May panel ruling to instruct a trial court to impose "narrowly tailored" sanctions.

  • October 16, 2025

    3rd Circ. Says FLSA Doesn't Limit Class Member Settlements

    The Fair Labor Standards Act tackles only who can litigate claims and is silent on whether settlement class members who have not opted into a collective can release their claims under the federal law, the Third Circuit found Thursday.

  • October 16, 2025

    Music Giants Say Cox Case Isn't About Grandma Losing Wi-Fi

    Leading music publishers have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm that internet service providers can be contributorily liable for their customers' piracy if they fail to take action, saying a jury verdict against Cox Communications that led to a $1 billion award showed that the company "made a deliberate and egregious decision" to put profits first.

  • October 16, 2025

    3rd Circ. Denies DOL's Bid For 2nd Look At H-2A Fine Powers

    The full Third Circuit won't weigh whether the U.S. Department of Labor had the authority to use in-house administrative proceedings to impose more than $580,000 in fines on a New Jersey farm for what the department said were violations of the H-2A visa program.

  • October 15, 2025

    5th Circ. Upholds Bargaining Order Against Nexstar

    A Fifth Circuit panel affirmed a bargaining order issued by the National Labor Relations Board against Nexstar on Wednesday, rejecting the media company's attempt to shed an obligation to negotiate with a newly installed Communications Workers of America affiliate at two of its Denver television stations.

  • October 15, 2025

    Monster Energy Gets Another Shot At Camping Gear IP Claims

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday found that a lower court erred in throwing out Monster Energy's trademark infringement suit against the manufacturers of 4Monster camping gear, finding that a reasonable juror could find that the marks are confusingly similar.

  • October 15, 2025

    Fla. Bar Can't Escape $1.6M Default Judgment In Injury Case

    A split Florida appellate panel Wednesday affirmed a $1.6 million default judgment against a bar that had been sued over a woman's injuries, saying the drinking establishment's arguments about the lawsuit being served on a mystery woman named "Georgia" were meritless.

  • October 15, 2025

    Justices Allow Federal Gov't To Argue In Army Vet Injury Suit

    The federal government has been allowed to weigh in on whether a U.S. Army veteran can revive his state-based injury claims against a military defense contractor in connection with a 2016 suicide bombing in Afghanistan, the U.S. Supreme Court announced.

  • October 15, 2025

    Goldstein Can't Dismiss 2016 Tax Charges As Time-Barred

    A Maryland federal judge denied SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein's motion to dismiss four of the 22 federal tax charges brought against him in January, ruling that his defense that the counts stemming from the 2016 tax year should be time-barred will have to be raised at trial.

  • October 15, 2025

    Justices Told PTAB Has No Business Reviewing Expired IP

    Gesture Technology Partners LLC urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to consider whether the Patent Trial and Appeal Board can review expired patents, pushing back on arguments from the government and several tech giants that the justices have already ruled it can't.

  • October 15, 2025

    Texas Panel Asks Why $12M Verdict Higher Than Project Cost

    A Texas appeals panel pushed a developer to justify a roughly $12 million verdict against a construction company given the developer paid around that amount to build the apartment at the center of the suit, asking Wednesday why the developer was entitled to that sum.

  • October 15, 2025

    3rd Circ. Clears Cannabis REIT In Investor Fraud Suit

    The Third Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of a securities fraud class action against a cannabis-focused real estate investment trust that alleged the trust violated securities laws by ignoring red flags about a tenant, with the panel finding that investors failed to show they were intentionally misled.

  • October 15, 2025

    'Lapse In Judgment' Didn't Merit Atty DQ, Ga. Panel Rules

    The Georgia Court of Appeals reversed a trial court's disqualification of an attorney from a property dispute over discussions the lawyer had that initiated property damage central to the case, ruling that while the talks showed a "lapse in judgment," they did not warrant his removal.

  • October 15, 2025

    Justices Doubt Need For Probable Cause In Emergency Entry

    U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday seemed reluctant to raise the standard police must meet to enter a home without a warrant during a potential emergency, with several saying they did not see a reason to disturb past rulings on the subject.

  • October 15, 2025

    Smart Thermostat Makers Keep PTAB, ITC Wins At Fed. Circ.

    Causam Enterprises owns the electrical utilities control patent it has accused ecobee and others of infringing with smart thermostats, but the patent is not valid, the Federal Circuit concluded Wednesday in a pair of precedential opinions.

  • October 15, 2025

    Texas Appeals Court Pushes Cigna On Payments To Hospitals

    A Texas appeals court seemed skeptical of Cigna Healthcare of Texas Inc.'s claim that once a patient gets hospitalized, any subsequent treatment should be classified as emergency care, asking Wednesday why Cigna should get to escape a lawsuit claiming it underpaid multiple hospitals.

  • October 15, 2025

    Professor Takes 'Rapunzel' TM Case To Supreme Court

    A law professor seeking to challenge a "Rapunzel" trademark as a consumer of fairy-tale toy characters has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her out after the Federal Circuit upheld a finding that she lacked standing because her alleged injury wasn't commercial in nature.

  • October 15, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Won't Halt Magistrate Trial In Google Patent Case

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday denied a request from a location tracking patent owner to prevent a magistrate judge from holding a bench trial on Google's equitable defenses to his infringement claims, saying the patent owner had not shown that proceeding with the case and filing an appeal after a judgment would be inadequate.

  • October 15, 2025

    High Court Leans Toward Limiting Voting Rights Act Suits

    The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative supermajority seemed ready Wednesday to further limit the use of the Voting Rights Act in challenging alleged racial discrimination in legislative redistricting, but appeared divided over how to accomplish that.

  • October 15, 2025

    Parents Urge 9th Circ. To Reject Meta's Section 230 Appeal

    Parents and school districts are urging the Ninth Circuit to reject Meta Platforms Inc.'s bid for immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, saying the company behind Facebook and Instagram can't use the measure for vaguely defined publishing-related activity.

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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