Appellate

  • June 24, 2025

    Calif. AG Asks 9th Circ. To Undo Limits On Pay-For-Delay Ban

    California enforcers on Monday asked the Ninth Circuit to overturn a district court's decision that a state law restricting "reverse payment" settlements between brand-name and generic-drug makers cannot be used to regulate deals that were struck outside the Golden State.

  • June 24, 2025

    2nd Circ. Says Salvadoran Man Derived Citizenship Via Mom

    A divided Second Circuit panel vacated a more than decade-old removal order for a Salvadoran man convicted of robbery and burglary, saying he derived U.S. citizenship when his mother was naturalized 40 years ago.

  • June 24, 2025

    1st Circ. Undoes Inflated Biz Interruption Award For Drink Co.

    A Puerto Rico federal court wrongly maintained an award against an insurer that exceeded a beverage manufacturer's actual business income and extra expenses losses and was not supported by evidence at trial, the First Circuit held, reducing the total award from $1 million to approximately $686,000.

  • June 24, 2025

    Faulty Comparisons Doom Nordstrom 401(k) Fee Suit

    Nordstrom dodged a proposed class action claiming it saddled its 401(k) plan with excessive fees and used forfeited plan funds to offset its own contributions, with a Washington state federal judge saying inaccurate data and flawed comparisons to other plans couldn't sustain the case.

  • June 24, 2025

    Ga. High Court Balks At Housing Authority's Immunity Stance

    The Supreme Court of Georgia has tossed a ruling that sovereign immunity can shield a local housing authority from a shooting victim's lawsuit, saying Tuesday that lower courts had wrongly extended the state government's immunity to a city, and from there to the authority.

  • June 24, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Adds Groombridge Wu Partner To Advisory Council

    The Federal Circuit said Tuesday that it will add Jennifer Wu, a founding partner at Groombridge Wu Baughman & Stone, to an advisory council that studies and makes recommendations to the court's rules and operating procedures.

  • June 24, 2025

    Driver Must Serve Prison Time In DUI Case, Fla. Panel Rules

    A Florida appellate panel ruled that a driver convicted in the drunken driving-related death of a motorcyclist must serve the minimum time of four years in prison, saying the lower court didn't have the authority to suspend the mandatory sentence for a DUI manslaughter charge.

  • June 24, 2025

    Conn. Court OKs Records Use To Revoke Man's Probation

    A Connecticut appeals court has found that records from a residential treatment program could be admitted as evidence as they upheld the revocation of probation for a man convicted in two separate criminal court cases of larceny and sexual assault.

  • June 24, 2025

    Apple Assails 'Fundamentally Unfair' App Order At 9th Circ.

    Apple urged the Ninth Circuit on Monday to nix a district court's "unduly punitive" mandate blocking it from charging any commission on iPhone app purchases made outside its systems, arguing an Epic Games injunction redux goes far beyond the original order and attacks conduct that's not illegal under California law.

  • June 24, 2025

    Ga. Justices Hold Off On Considering Wrongful Death Cap

    The Supreme Court of Georgia declined Tuesday to consider whether the state's statutory cap on noneconomic damages can be applied to wrongful death suits, staving off for now a push by business lobbies to put a hard ceiling on plaintiffs' recoveries in such cases.

  • June 24, 2025

    ByteDance Can't Arbitrate Pay Bias Suit, Calif. Court Says

    A California state appellate court has rejected TikTok parent ByteDance Inc.'s bid to make a former employee arbitrate pay discrimination claims against it, saying that an underlying arbitration agreement was unenforceable for requiring her to arbitrate claims while preserving all the Chinese internet technology company's rights and remedies.

  • June 24, 2025

    Texas A&M Escapes Prof's Pregnancy Leave FMLA Suit

    A state appeals court freed Texas A&M University on Tuesday from a lawsuit brought by a professor who was denied tenure, finding that her pregnancy-related leaves fell under a portion of the Family Medical Leave Act under which the university has immunity.

  • June 24, 2025

    Mich. Court Says Nonprofit Can't Co-Own Power Project

    A Michigan state appellate court on Monday found that the Michigan Public Power Agency's electric transmission lines lack the physical connection required under a 2021 law to co-own two new electric grid upgrade projects, marking the first time an appellate court has tackled the relatively new infrastructure statute.

  • June 24, 2025

    3rd Circ. Pick Told DOJ To Defy Courts, Whistleblower Says

    A top career official at the U.S. Department of Justice who was fired has come forward with a whistleblower complaint alleging Third Circuit judicial nominee Emil Bove, who was acting deputy attorney general at the beginning of the year, sought to defy court orders.

  • June 24, 2025

    Co. Slams 'Overheated' Reed Smith Brief In Shipping Row

    Reed Smith should not be allowed to halt court proceedings amid its effort to hold onto a client file sought by postbankruptcy owners of Eletson Holdings Inc., a reorganized international shipping company, amid its ongoing dispute with Levona Holdings Ltd., according to briefs both sides filed before the Second Circuit.

  • June 24, 2025

    Pa. Tax Ruling Boosts Nonprofits' Competitive Edge, Attys Say

    A recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling clarifying that competitive executive compensation isn't a threat to the tax-exempt status for nonprofits has the added bonus of helping charities compete for and retain talent, attorneys tell Law360.

  • June 24, 2025

    Mich. Panel Grants New Murder Trial Over Phone Data Use

    A split Michigan appellate panel has ordered a new trial for a man convicted of murder because of illegally seized cellphone evidence used in his trial.

  • June 24, 2025

    Gaming Co. Asks 11th Circ. To Uphold Malpractice Coverage

    A gaming company and a law firm asked the Eleventh Circuit to reject an insurer's bid to avoid representing the firm in a malpractice case, arguing that if at least one claim in an underlying complaint was covered, the insurer couldn't apply a misappropriation exclusion.

  • June 24, 2025

    Trump Hones Immunity Argument In 2nd Circ. Carroll Appeal

    Counsel for President Donald Trump told the Second Circuit on Tuesday that he did not "unequivocally and explicitly" waive presidential immunity before a jury awarded writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in their defamation battle, refining the theory that he cannot be held liable.

  • June 24, 2025

    Pollution Exclusion Applies Without Exception, AIG Unit Says

    An AIG unit urged the Illinois Supreme Court to find that a permit or regulation allowing a company to discharge toxins into the environment has no bearing on the application of a pollution exclusion, saying "pollution is pollution" regardless of government authorization.

  • June 24, 2025

    DHS Says District Court Defying Justices' Third Country Order

    The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to clarify its order allowing the government to send noncitizens to countries they have no connection to with little or no prior warning, after a Massachusetts federal judge ruled the decision doesn't apply to men currently held at a U.S. military base in Djibouti.

  • June 24, 2025

    Robbery Intent Enough For Murder Rap, Conn. Justices Rule

    Connecticut can secure a murder conviction for a man whose robbery attempt resulted in a fatal shooting — even though he didn't pull the trigger — because it didn't need to prove the shooter was an accessory to the would-be thief, according to a state high court opinion released Tuesday. 

  • June 24, 2025

    Judiciary Warns Congress Of Cyber Risks To PACER

    PACER, the online public repository of federal court documents, is vulnerable to cyberthreats, a top judiciary official told members of Congress on Tuesday.

  • June 24, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Backs Unified Patents' PTAB Win Over Streaming IP

    The Federal Circuit refused to revive a pair of claims in a DivX streaming patent, backing a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision that said challenger Unified Patents was able to show the claims were invalid.

  • June 24, 2025

    10th Circ. Rejects Ex-GC's Sanctions Bid Against Loeb & Loeb

    The Tenth Circuit has sided with a district court's decision dismissing a bid by the former general counsel of a medical device company to have Loeb & Loeb LLP sanctioned for bringing what he said was a baseless lawsuit against him on behalf of his former employer.

Expert Analysis

  • Making The Case For Rest In The Legal Profession

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    For too long, a culture of overwork has plagued the legal profession, but research shows that attorneys need rest to perform optimally and sustainably, so legal organizations and individuals must implement strategies that allow for restoration, says Marissa Alert at MDA Wellness, Carol Ross-Burnett at CRB Global, and Denise Robinson at The Still Center.

  • 1st Circ. IMessage Ruling Illustrates Wire Fraud Circuit Split

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    The First Circuit’s recent decision that text messages exchanged wholly within Massachusetts but transmitted by the internet count as interstate commerce spotlights a split in how circuits interpret intrastate actions under the federal wire fraud statute, perhaps prompting U.S. Supreme Court review, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • 4 Ways Women Attorneys Can Build A Legal Legacy

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    This Women’s History Month, women attorneys should consider what small, day-to-day actions they can take to help leave a lasting impact for future generations, even if it means mentoring one person or taking 10 minutes to make a plan, says Jackie Prester, a former shareholder at Baker Donelson.

  • Justices' Revival Ruling In Bias Suit Exceeds Procedural Issue

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Waetzig v. Halliburton allowed the plaintiff in an age discrimination lawsuit to move to reopen his case after arbitration, but the seemingly straightforward decision on a procedural issue raises complex questions for employment law practitioners, says Christopher Sakauye at Dykema.

  • Cleanup Claim Characterization Key For Timeliness Inquiry

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    The Tenth Circuit's recent ruling in Atlantic Richfield Co. v. NL Industries, determining that ARCO's contribution claim was timely, highlights the importance of accurately characterizing a claim for recoupment of environmental cleanup costs as a cost-recovery action or contribution to avoid dismissal or recharacterization of the claim, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

  • A Judge's Pointers For Adding Spice To Dry Legal Writing

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    U.S. District Judge Fred Biery shares a few key lessons about how to go against the grain of the legal writing tradition by adding color to bland judicial opinions, such as by telling a human story and injecting literary devices where possible.

  • A Closer Look At Money Laundering Sentencing Issues

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    Federal money laundering cases are on the rise, often involving lengthy prison sentences for defendants who have little to no criminal history, but a closer look at the statistics and case law reveal some potentially valuable arguments that defense attorneys should keep in their arsenal, says Sarah Sulkowski at Gelber & Santillo.

  • Justices Likely To Issue Narrow Ruling In $1.3B Award Dispute

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    After last week's argument in Devas v. Antrix, the Supreme Court appears likely to reverse the holding that minimum contacts are required before a federal court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a foreign state and remand the case for further litigation on other important constitutional questions, say attorneys at Cleary. 

  • Pleading Rules At Stake In High Court Hamas Banking Case

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    While a case between victims of Hamas terrorist attacks and a Lebanese bank, recently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, appears to ask a narrow question of which civil procedure rules apply to requests to reopen final judgments, how the justices rule could drastically change pleading strategies for future plaintiffs, say attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney.

  • What's At Stake In High Court Transgender Care Suit

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    The outcome of U.S. v. Skrmetti will have critical implications for the rights of transgender youth and their access to gender-affirming care, and will likely affect other areas of law and policy involving transgender individuals, including education, employment, healthcare and civil rights, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Considerations As Trump Admin Continues To Curtail CFPB

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    Recent sweeping moves from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new leadership have signaled a major shift in the agency's trajectory, and regulated entities should prepare for broader implications in both the near and long term, say attorneys at Pryor Cashman.

  • 6th Circ. Ruling Paves Path Out Of Loper Bright 'Twilight Zone'

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright ruling created a twilight zone between express statutory delegations that trigger agency deference and implicit ones that do not, but the Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in Moctezuma-Reyes v. Garland crafted a two-part test for resolving cases within this gray area, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • NCAA Rulings Signal Game Change For Athlete Classification

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    A Tennessee federal court's recent decision in Pavia v. NCAA adds to a growing call to consider classifying college athletes as employees under federal law, a change that would have unexpected, potentially prohibitive costs for schools, says J.R. Webster Cucovatz at Gilson Daub.

  • Copyright Ruling Could Extend US Terminations Worldwide

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    If upheld on appeal, Vetter v. Resnik, a recent ruling from a Louisiana federal court, could extend the geographical scope of U.S. copyright termination rights to foreign territories, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • Recent Cases Clarify FCA Kickback Pleading Standards

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    Two recently resolved cases involving pharmaceutical manufacturers may make it more difficult for False Claims Act defendants facing kickback scheme allegations to get claims dismissed for lack of evidence, say Li Yu at Bernstein Litowitz, Ellen London at London & Noar, and Gregg Shapiro at Gregg Shapiro Law.

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