Appellate

  • June 30, 2025

    9th Circ. Nixes Suit Against Allianz Over $6B Fraud Sentence

    A man can't bring securities fraud claims against Allianz SE after one of the German financial services giant's former businesses pled guilty to investment fund fraud and was ordered to pay roughly $6 billion, the Ninth Circuit ruled, finding he failed to sufficiently allege Allianz SE itself acted fraudulently.

  • June 30, 2025

    Detainees Say Alien Enemies Act Meant For 'Large Scale' War

    A group of Venezuelans facing deportation over accusations of gang affiliation told the Fifth Circuit on Monday that the nation's founders didn't intend for a rarely invoked 1798 law to be used for anything other than "large-scale" war.

  • June 30, 2025

    Supreme Court May Shape Future Of ISP Liability In Cox Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Monday to take on a $1 billion battle between major music publishers and Cox Communications Inc. could set new liability boundaries for internet service providers that have faced significant damages for allegedly not curbing users who repeatedly download songs illegally.

  • June 30, 2025

    NY Court Grants Man New Trial, Allows Affirmative Defense

    A man convicted of murder for his role in a robbery that left one victim dead should have been allowed to present evidence that he didn't know his codefendants were planning a crime when he drove them to the scene, a New York state appeals court said, granting him a new trial.

  • June 30, 2025

    DC Circ. Tosses Conn. LPTV Station's Licensing Challenge

    A D.C. Circuit panel rejected a Connecticut television licensee's challenge to the eligibility criteria used to determine which stations qualify for small-market protections provided under a federal law aimed at safeguarding local and rural broadcasting.

  • June 30, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Affirms Mixed PTAB Rulings On Computing IP

    The Federal Circuit on Monday backed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's finding that Amazon was able to show a Swarm Technology computer processing patent was invalid but refused to throw out a separate patent.

  • June 30, 2025

    Texas Panel Says Suit Challenging Abortion Travel Is Unripe

    A split Texas appeals court panel found Monday that several anti-abortion groups lack standing to sue the city of San Antonio for allegedly earmarking money to pay for out-of-state abortion travel, saying the money had not gone out yet and the groups' claims were not ripe.

  • June 30, 2025

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Delaware's Supreme Court was kept busy this past week with litigants' attempts to challenge its previous decisions, as well as those of Delaware's Court of Chancery, which included an argument that the state's high court incorrectly ruled in favor of energy company Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP by rejecting the Chancery's decision upholding class claims branding the call-in of public shares unfair. In case you missed it, here's the latest from the Delaware Chancery Court.

  • June 30, 2025

    Supreme Court Passes On FSIA Terrorism Exception Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to revive litigation filed by victims of nonlethal terrorist attacks seeking to hold Iran and Syria accountable as alleged state sponsors of terrorism, nixing a petition that sought clarity on the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act's terrorism exception.

  • June 30, 2025

    Del. Justices Uphold State Sale Of Long-Dormant Stock

    Rejecting a doctor's claim that the risk of a state seizure and sale of his long-unchecked stock was "inherently unknowable," Delaware's Supreme Court preserved on Monday a lower court's finding that the statute of limitations barred his attempt to reclaim securities purportedly worth some $600,000 when sold.

  • June 30, 2025

    6th Circ. Says Venue Unclear In $28M Ford Supplier Dispute

    The Sixth Circuit on Monday ordered a Michigan federal court to reconsider whether a $28 million auto parts supplier dispute over the halting of orders for electric vehicle parts belongs in the U.S. or Mexico, finding the companies' evolving documents and conflicting venue clauses create too much ambiguity.

  • June 30, 2025

    Ex-Defender Tells 4th Circ. Bias Hearing Would've Been Futile

    A former assistant public defender looking to revive her bias suit fought Monday to convince the Fourth Circuit that it would have been futile to wait for a final hearing on her sexual harassment claim through the judiciary's internal complaint process before quitting, citing in part her boss's alleged favoritism of the accused party.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Won't Disturb 10th Circ. Oklahoma PBM Law Ruling

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the state of Oklahoma's challenge to a Tenth Circuit decision that found parts of a recently enacted law regulating pharmacy benefit managers were preempted by federal benefits laws and Medicare Part D, cementing an industry group's win in the case.

  • June 30, 2025

    Texas Justices Scrap New-Trial Order For 3 SpaceX Contractors

    Comments to a jury alleging attorneys planned a "shakedown" do not warrant a new trial for three men awarded less in damages than they hoped after their truck was hit in a crash caused by a commuting SpaceX engineer, the Texas Supreme Court said Friday, saying the men's counsel did not seek redress at the time.

  • June 30, 2025

    4th Circ. Won't Rethink Tossed Pregnancy Bias Suit

    The Fourth Circuit has said it would not reconsider the dismissal of a lawsuit in which a former medical center worker claimed she was denied fair accommodation and fired due to pregnancy bias.

  • June 30, 2025

    Top State & Local Tax Cases Of 2025: Midyear Report

    From the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of a group of Catholic charities seeking an unemployment tax exemption to the New York Supreme Court ruling on the state's rule governing the application of P.L. 86-272, it's been a busy first half of the year for state and local tax. Here, Law360 looks at some of the top state and local tax cases of the past six months.

  • June 30, 2025

    Fla. Man Gets New Sentence Due To Ineffective Atty

    A Florida man convicted of molestation charges will be resentenced after an appeals court Friday agreed that his appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to object to an erroneously calculated sentence pronounced without the defendant present.

  • June 30, 2025

    Pa. Judges Reduce $4.65M Bus Death Verdict To $500K

    A panel of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court on Monday reduced a $4.65 million verdict in favor of the family of a woman killed when she was hit by a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority bus down to $500,000, saying the verdict is subject to a statutory limit in the state's sovereign immunity law.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Decline Appeal Over State Law Question Certification

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined accepting a petition for certiorari attacking the Ninth Circuit's "uniquely standardless approach" for asking state supreme courts to answer questions of state law, in an appeal over putative class action claims that two life insurers violated California statutes concerning benefit denials.

  • June 30, 2025

    Sotomayor Urges Tenn. To Address Jury Instruction Issue

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that Tennessee's high court should fix a logical knot that she says makes it impossible to get a verdict of voluntary manslaughter in the state, in a statement on Monday that came alongside the court's refusal to review a second-degree murder case centering on jury instructions.

  • June 30, 2025

    Trump Admin Appeals Perkins Coie Case To DC Circ.

    The Trump administration announced in D.C. federal court on Monday that it's not giving up on its effort to punish Perkins Coie LLP through an executive order, even after losing four court rulings that found its actions in this and three similar cases are unconstitutional.

  • June 30, 2025

    Immigrant Groups Urge DC Circ. To Stop IRS-ICE Info Deal

    Tax privacy law bars the IRS from sharing taxpayer addresses with immigration authorities, even to facilitate criminal investigations, immigrant advocacy groups told the D.C. Circuit, urging it to stanch an information-sharing deal that claims to help the government probe immigrants who have avoided deportation.

  • June 30, 2025

    Mich. Justices Won't Revisit Voter Intimidation Robocall Case

    The Michigan Supreme Court has said it will not reexamine a case against conservative provocateurs charged with leading a misinformation campaign urging Black Detroiters not to vote by mail in the 2020 election, leaving in place an order finding their actions could be considered voter intimidation.

  • June 30, 2025

    Ripple To Abandon Appeal After NY Judge Rebuffed SEC Deal

    Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse has said the blockchain firm plans to drop its appeal in its landmark case with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, ending the matter after the New York federal judge overseeing the case refused to sign off on a settlement that would've truncated a court-ordered $125 million penalty.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Decline To Hear Ex-Tesla Worker's Whistleblower Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a petition filed by a former Tesla employee who claimed he was retaliated against for reporting various forms of alleged misconduct at a Nevada factory to both company management and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Expert Analysis

  • 5th Circ. Ruling Is Latest Signal Of Shaky Qui Tam Landscape

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    In his recent concurring opinion in U.S. v. Peripheral Vascular Associates, a Fifth Circuit judge joined a growing list of jurists suggesting that the False Claims Act's whistleblower provisions are unconstitutional, underscoring that acceptance of qui tam relators can no longer be taken for granted, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • How Attys Can Use A Therapy Model To Help Triggered Clients

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    Attorneys can lean on key principles from a psychotherapeutic paradigm known as the "Internal Family Systems" model to help manage triggered clients and get settlement negotiations back on track, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.

  • Tracking The Evolution Of Liability Management Exercises

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    As liability management exercises face increasing legal scrutiny, understanding the history of these debt restructuring tools can help explain how the playbook keeps adapting — and why the next move is always just one ruling or transaction away, say attorneys at Weil.

  • Navigating Florida's Bad Faith Reforms After Appellate Ruling

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    A Florida appellate court's recent decision is among the first to interpret two significant amendments to the state's insurance bad faith law, and its holding that one of the statutes could not apply retroactively may affect insurers' interpretation of the other statute, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • 3 Steps For In-House Counsel To Assess Litigation Claims

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    Before a potential economic downturn, in-house attorneys should investigate whether their company is sitting on hidden litigation claims that could unlock large recoveries to help the business withstand tough times, says Will Burgess at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    Teaching College Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving as an adjunct college professor has taught me the importance of building rapport, communicating effectively, and persuading individuals to critically analyze the difference between what they think and what they know — principles that have helped to improve my practice of law, says Sheria Clarke at Nelson Mullins.

  • A New Tool For Assessing Kickback Risks In Health Marketing

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    The Seventh Circuit's recent decision in U.S. v. Sorensen, reversing a conviction after trial of a durable medical equipment distributor, highlights two principle considerations for determining whether payments to marketers in healthcare are unlawful under the Anti-Kickback Statute, says Elisha Kobre at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Maximizing Employer Defenses After Calif. Meal Waiver Ruling

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    A California state appeals court's recent decision in Bradsbery v. Vicar Operating, finding that revocable meal period waivers prospectively signed by employees are enforceable, offers employers four steps to proactively reduce their exposure to meal period claims and bolster their defenses in a potential lawsuit, say attorneys at Fisher Phillips.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Enviro To Mid-Law

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    Practitioners leaving a longtime government role for private practice — as when I departed the U.S. Department of Justice’s environmental enforcement division — should prioritize finding a firm that shares their principles, values their experience and will invest in their transition, says John Cruden at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • Independent Contractor Rule Up In The Air Under New DOL

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    In several recent court challenges, the U.S. Department of Labor has indicated its intent to revoke the 2024 independent contractor rule, sending a clear signal that it will not defend the Biden-era rule on the merits in anticipation of further rulemaking, say attorneys at Jackson Lewis.

  • Why Trade Cases May Put Maple Leaf Deference On Review

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    When litigation challenging the president’s trade actions reaches the Federal Circuit, the court will have to reevaluate the Maple Leaf standard in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 Loper Bright decision limiting Chevron-like deference to cases involving statutory provisions in which Congress delegated discretionary authority to the executive branch, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • A Look At Probabilistic Tracing After High Court's Slack Ruling

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    Recent decisions following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Slack v. Pirani have increased the difficulty of pleading Securities Act claims for securities issued in direct listings by rejecting the use of statistical probabilities to establish that share purchases were traceable to a challenged registration statement, says Jonathan Richman at Brown Rudnick.

  • Legal Ethics Considerations For Law Firm Pro Bono Deals

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    If a law firm enters into a pro bono deal with the Trump administration in exchange for avoiding or removing an executive order, it has an ethical obligation to create a written settlement agreement with specific terms, which would mitigate some potential conflict of interest problems, says Andrew Altschul at Buchanan Angeli.

  • How To Address FCA Risk After 4th Circ. Ruling On DEI Orders

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    Following the Fourth Circuit's ruling in National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education v. Trump, which freed the administration to enforce executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs, government contractors should take stock of potentially unlawful DEI programs, given their heightened risk under the False Claims Act, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Del. Dispatch: Open Issues After Corp. Law Amendments

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    Recent amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law represent a significant change in the future structuring of boards and how the First State will approach conflicted transactions, but Delaware courts may interpret the amendments narrowly, limiting their impact, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

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