Appellate

  • March 17, 2026

    Tyler Perry's 'Mad Black Woman' TM Win Affirmed By 9th Circ.

    The Ninth Circuit on Monday affirmed Tyler Perry's win over an actress alleging a filmed version of his play "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" infringed her trademark by including her name in the credits, finding the name use is fair use because she actually did appear in the video.

  • March 17, 2026

    2nd Circ. Panel Not Sold On Ivy League Players' Antitrust Suit

    A Second Circuit panel seemed inclined Tuesday to uphold a Connecticut federal judge's dismissal of a challenge to the Ivy League's ban on athletic scholarships, though one judge suggested reviving the case to probe whether students properly pled antitrust injury.

  • March 17, 2026

    Pa. Schools' Property Appeal Policy Ruled Unconstitutional

    A Pennsylvania school district's policy of only appealing property assessments over $500,000, which resulted in appeals involving several properties owned by a mall, violates the state's constitution, an appeals court affirmed Tuesday.

  • March 17, 2026

    Chief Justice Says Personal Attacks On Judges 'Got To Stop'

    Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday condemned the personal attacks on federal judges that have become increasingly common during President Donald Trump's second term in office — and that are often launched by the president himself — and defended the daily work of the judiciary. 

  • March 17, 2026

    2nd Circ. Kills Contempt Order In Starbucks False Ad Suit

    A New York federal judge overstepped in holding an attorney in contempt for filing what the lower court deemed a "meritless" false advertising lawsuit over the amount of potassium in a Starbucks coffee flavor, the Second Circuit ruled Tuesday.

  • March 17, 2026

    NJ Justices Create Attorney Readmission Board

    New Jersey's highest court announced Tuesday it formally established a new body charged with overseeing readmissions of disbarred lawyers through changes to the state's standards for attorney conduct.

  • March 17, 2026

    Medical Goods Co. Can't Appeal Insurance Reimbursement

    A medical equipment supplier is not a "health care provider" under the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act and thus cannot challenge an insurer's payment for an injured worker's medical supplies, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled.

  • March 17, 2026

    State Farm's $25K Crash Deal Stands, Ga. Appeals Court Says

    A $25,000 settlement between State Farm and a man involved in a car crash should not have been dismissed at his request, a Georgia appeals court ruled, finding that a binding settlement formed when the insurer agreed in writing to the statutory material terms in the man's offer.

  • March 17, 2026

    DOL Can't Fine NJ Farm Over H-2A Program, Justices Told

    The U.S. Department of Labor's request to the U.S. Supreme Court to mull whether the department can fine a New Jersey farm for what it alleged were H-2A program violations is based on a misconception, the farm told the justices, urging them to deny the petition.

  • March 17, 2026

    Ga. Atty Disbarred For Cutting Client Contact, Keeping Funds

    The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday disbarred an attorney found to have violated the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct in three client matters, allegedly cutting off communication with clients without terminating representation and failing to release settlement funds in his possession despite multiple court orders.

  • March 17, 2026

    9th Circ. Affirms Enhanced Sentence For Illegal Reentry

    A Ninth Circuit panel ruled a California federal judge properly enhanced a man's sentence for a second illegal reentry conviction based on a prior conviction for making false statements to officers who arrested him for entering the U.S. without authorization.

  • March 17, 2026

    4th Circ. Seems Leery Of Plant Closure Suit Against PE Firm

    The Fourth Circuit was skeptical Tuesday of ex-workers' bid to revive a proposed class action accusing a private equity firm of violating federal laws when it abruptly shut down a manufacturing plant, hinting that dropping the firm from a prior suit over the closure may preclude their case.

  • March 16, 2026

    PBGC Keen On Dishing Out Opinion Letters, Director Says

    The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has revamped its website to encourage attorneys to seek opinion letters about how the Employee Retirement Income Security Act applies to specific scenarios. PBGC Director Janet Dhillon spoke to Law360 about that effort, the PBGC's latest financial report to Congress and her goals for the agency.

  • March 16, 2026

    1st Circ. Affirms Block Of Trump's 'Unprecedented' Aid Freeze

    The First Circuit on Monday mostly upheld a lower court's order blocking the Trump administration from enacting a "sweeping and unprecedented categorical 'freeze' of federal financial assistance," ruling that the states involved in the suit will likely successfully show that the federal government acted arbitrarily and capriciously.

  • March 16, 2026

    DC Circ. Judge Skeptical Of DOJ's Quick Removal Argument

    A D.C. circuit judge didn't appear to be buying the Trump administration's argument as to why advocacy groups should not be allowed to challenge three U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement policies related to the deportation and expedited removal of noncitizens.

  • March 16, 2026

    NJ Panel Presses AG On Withheld Police Discipline Data

    A New Jersey appellate panel grilled a deputy attorney general Monday over the attorney general office's refusal to release Essex County's police misconduct data to the Office of the Public Defender, questioning whether confidentiality claims justify withholding information the OPD calls essential to transparency and criminal defense.

  • March 16, 2026

    Md. Appeals Court Upholds Ax Of MedStar Data Sharing Suit

    A Maryland state appeals court refused to revive a proposed class action accusing MedStar Health Inc. of illegally sharing patients' personal information with Facebook and Google, finding that the type of data that was allegedly divulged isn't protected by the state's wiretap statute.

  • March 16, 2026

    OCC Calls For Preemption Of Ill. Swipe-Fee Law At 7th Circ.

    A top U.S. banking regulator is seconding the banking industry's call for the Seventh Circuit to block Illinois' tax and tip swipe-fee ban, arguing a lower-court judge missed the "forest for the trees" in ruling the state-law restrictions are enforceable against banks it oversees.

  • March 16, 2026

    Davis Wright Picks Up Former Acting US Attorney In Seattle

    A 23-year veteran of the U.S. Department of Justice who spent much of 2025 as acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington joined Davis Wright Tremaine LLP's Seattle office as a partner, the firm announced Monday.

  • March 16, 2026

    Trump Taps Vance For Fraud Task Force, Bashing Blue States

    President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order creating a task force chaired by Vice President JD Vance that aims to curb "fraud, waste and abuse" in federal housing, food and other benefit programs, with the president alleging "staggering fraud and waste" in Minnesota and other Democratic-led states.

  • March 16, 2026

    Boris Epshteyn Targeted Over Trump Bid To 'Coerce' BigLaw

    Lawyers, law professors and retired judges led by two nonprofits urged the New York state courts' ethics committee on Monday to investigate Boris Epshteyn's involvement in President Donald Trump's efforts to "intimidate and coerce" BigLaw firms into pro bono agreements with the administration.

  • March 16, 2026

    3rd Circ. Allows YouTube History As Evidence In Fraud Case

    The Third Circuit Monday upheld the convictions of a New York man who defrauded elderly people with fake Publishers Clearing House prizes, rejecting his argument that the trial court improperly admitted evidence that he watched YouTube videos discussing such schemes in detail.

  • March 16, 2026

    NJ Justices Question Eminent Domain Use In Land Swap

    New Jersey high court justices on Monday appeared skeptical that the township of Jackson properly used eminent domain when it combined condemned land with other public property in an exchange for land intended for use as open space.

  • March 16, 2026

    Enviro Groups, Industry Sue EPA Over NOx Emission Standards

    The Sierra Club challenged new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules on gas-fired power plant emissions, alleging Monday the amended regulations are "woefully inadequate" because they do little to protect the public from dangerous pollution, while an industry group sued separately over new source performance standards for turbines.

  • March 16, 2026

    Norfolk Southern Worker's $4.9M Injury Verdict Upheld In Ind.

    An Indiana appeals court on Monday upheld a $4.9 million judgment awarded to a railyard worker injured in a train collision, rejecting Norfolk Southern's argument that federal railroad regulations barred the worker's Federal Employers' Liability Act claim.

Expert Analysis

  • 2nd Circ. Peloton Ruling Emphasizes Disclosure Context

    Author Photo

    The Second Circuit’s recent decision to revive shareholders’ suit alleging that Peloton made materially misleading statements makes clear that public companies must continually review risk disclosures to determine if previous hypotheticals have materialized, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Series

    Mindfulness Meditation Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Mindful meditation enables me to drop the ego, and in helping me to keep sight of what’s important, permits me to learn from the other side and become a reliable counselor, says Roy Wyman at Bass Berry.

  • Lessons From 7th Circ. Decision Affirming $183M FCA Verdict

    Author Photo

    The Seventh Circuit's decision to uphold a $183 million False Claims Act award against Eli Lilly engages substantively with recurring materiality and scienter questions and provides insights into appellate review of complex trial court judgments, say Ellen London at London & Naor, Li Yu at Bernstein Litowitz and Kimberly Friday at Osborn Maledon.

  • How Calif. High Court Is Rethinking Forum Selection Clauses

    Author Photo

    Two recent cases before the California Supreme Court show that the state is shifting toward greater enforcement of freely negotiated forum selection clauses between sophisticated parties, so litigators need to revisit old assumptions about the breadth of California's public policy exception, says Josh Patashnik at Perkins Coie.

  • AI Litigation Tools Can Enhance Case Assessment, Strategy

    Author Photo

    Civil litigators can use artificial intelligence tools to strengthen case assessment and aid in early strategy development, as long as they address the risks and ethical considerations that accompany these uses, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • Attys Beware: Generative AI Can Also Hallucinate Metadata

    Author Photo

    In addition to the well-known problem of AI-generated hallucinations in legal documents, AI tools can also hallucinate metadata — threatening the integrity of discovery, the reliability of evidence and the ability to definitively identify the provenance of electronic documents, say attorneys at Law & Forensics.

  • How 9th Circ. Ruling Deepens SEC Disgorgement Circuit Split

    Author Photo

    The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Sripetch creates opposing disgorgement rules in the two circuits where the SEC brings a large proportion of enforcement actions — the Second and Ninth — and increases the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will step in, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • Calif. Justices Continued Anti-Arbitration Trend This Term

    Author Photo

    In the 2024-2025 term, the California Supreme Court justices continued to narrow arbitration's reach under state law, despite state courts' extreme caseload backlog and even as they embraced contractual autonomy in other contexts, says Josephine Petrick at The Norton Law Firm.

  • DC Circuit Charts Path On FERC Orders In Loper Bright Era

    Author Photo

    The D.C. Circuit's recent decision in Solar Energy Industries Association v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, upholding the agency's assessment of a power production facility's output, laid out an approach for addressing statutory interpretation in FERC appeals in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's game-changing Loper Bright decision, say attorneys at Bracewell.

  • Lessons From Fed. Circ. On Expert Testimony In Patent Cases

    Author Photo

    Several recent decisions from the Federal Circuit are notable for their treatment of expert testimony, with relevance to the three pillars of every patent case — infringement, invalidity and damages — and offer lessons on ensuring that expert testimony is both admissible and sufficient to support the jury's verdict, say attorneys at Honigman.

  • When Atty Ethics Violations Give Rise To Causes Of Action

    Author Photo

    Though the Model Rules of Professional Conduct make clear that a violation of the rules does not automatically create a cause of action, attorneys should beware of a few scenarios in which they could face lawsuits for ethical lapses, says Brian Faughnan at Faughnan Law.

  • Fed. Circ. In September: The Printed Matter Doctrine Expands

    Author Photo

    The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Bayer v. Mylan represents an extension of the doctrine that adding new words to an existing product or method will not support patentability unless there is a functional relationship, bringing new considerations for both patent holders and challengers, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Justices' LabCorp Punt Leaves Deeper Class Cert. Circuit Split

    Author Photo

    In its ruling in LabCorp v. Davis, the U.S. Supreme Court left unresolved a standing-related class certification issue that has plagued class action jurisprudence for years — and subsequent conflicting decisions among federal circuit courts have left district courts and litigants struggling with conflicting and uncertain standards, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • State Of Insurance: Q3 Notes From Pennsylvania

    Author Photo

    Todd Leon at Marshall Dennehey discusses three notable Pennsylvania auto insurance developments from the third quarter, including the Third Circuit weighing in on actual cash value, a state appellate court opining on the regular use exclusion and state legislators introducing a bill to increase property damage minimums.

  • Opinion

    Courts Must Continue Protecting Plaintiffs In Mass Arbitration

    Author Photo

    In recent years, many companies have imposed onerous protocols that function to frustrate plaintiffs' ability to seek justice through mass arbitration, but a series of welcome court decisions in recent months indicate that the pendulum might be swinging back toward plaintiffs, say Raphael Janove and Sasha Jones at Janove Law.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Appellate archive.