Appellate

  • September 10, 2025

    11th Circ. Tosses Gun Conviction Over Alabama Loophole

    The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday threw out the conviction of an Alabama man charged with illegally having a gun after a prior felony, ruling that because the state offense to which he pled guilty did not require imprisonment, it did not trigger the federal firearm ban for felons.

  • September 10, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Won't Revisit Double-Patenting, Soda TM Appeals

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday declined to revisit its decisions in a trio of intellectual property cases, including one where it upheld an Acadia Pharmaceuticals Parkinson's disease drug patent and addressed double-patenting, and another deeming "Kist" and "Sunkist" soft drink marks confusingly similar.

  • September 10, 2025

    Pa. Court Upholds Defense Verdict In Throat Surgery Suit

    The Pennsylvania Superior Court on Wednesday affirmed a jury verdict in favor of an anesthesiologist accused of causing a patient's trachea tear following throat surgery, saying the doctor's expert witness didn't introduce new testimony at trial.

  • September 10, 2025

    Denver Fights $14M Verdict Over Protester Abuse Claims

    A Tenth Circuit panel pressed both sides Wednesday over whether jurors should have heard testimony from an investigator that Denver says unfairly tainted a trial which yielded a nearly $14 million verdict to 12 protesters over clashes with police during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in the city.

  • September 10, 2025

    Cannabis Co. Says Battle With Activists Was Tossed Too Soon

    A multistate cannabis company told a New Jersey state appeals court on Wednesday that its lawsuit against local opponents of a cultivation facility was prematurely dismissed, while the activists countered that the case amounted to a strategic lawsuit against public participation cloaked in land-use litigation.

  • September 10, 2025

    2nd Circ. OKs Verizon's $47M FCC Fine, Splitting With 5th Circ.

    The Second Circuit upheld Wednesday the Federal Communications Commission's $46.9 million fine against Verizon Communications Inc. for misuse of device-location data, rejecting Verizon's arguments that the data falls outside federal privacy protections and that such a penalty without a jury trial was unconstitutional, creating a split with the Fifth Circuit.

  • September 10, 2025

    NC Justice Probes 'Scalia-Style' View Of Waste Fee Law

    A North Carolina Supreme Court justice probed the expansiveness of counsel's argument over a county's solid waste ordinance Wednesday, wondering if channeling a "Justice Scalia"-style reading of the text suggests that a property owner could hire a private waste collector just once a year to sidestep an annual fee.

  • September 10, 2025

    En Banc 11th Circ. Ruling Hints At Broad Reach For Skrmetti

    The Eleventh Circuit invoking a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that backed a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for minors to rule against a transgender Georgia sheriff's deputy who challenged her health plan's coverage exclusions invites lower courts to import the justices' rationale into workplace discrimination cases, experts say.  

  • September 10, 2025

    Ga. Stroke Patient Seeks New Trial Over Misdiagnosis Claims

    A woman who says that an emergency room doctor at an Atlanta-area hospital failed to diagnose her stroke in time to save her from lifelong brain damage urged the Georgia Court of Appeals Wednesday to grant her a new trial, telling the court that "the record is absolutely silent" about the doctor's purported ordering of exams that might have turned the tide.

  • September 10, 2025

    Ga. Panel Says Privilege Can Cover Unlicensed In-House Atty

    The Georgia Court of Appeals said a trial court rightly found that Church's Chicken and its chief legal officer were protected by attorney-client privilege in a franchisee's contract suit, finding privilege can sometimes cover communications between a corporation and unlicensed in-house counsel.

  • September 10, 2025

    6th Circ. Splits In Racial Bias Suit Over Hearsay Evidence

    A divided Sixth Circuit panel upheld an elevator manufacturer's defeat of a former employee's retaliation suit Wednesday, saying a human resources representative's secondhand statement about the reason for the employee's termination was correctly kept out of the case.

  • September 10, 2025

    Del. Justices Urged To Revive $10.5B Zendesk Deal Challenge

    An attorney for stockholders of software-as-a-service business Zendesk Inc. told Delaware's Supreme Court Wednesday that a conflict at the heart of a challenge to the company's $10.5 billion take-private deal with a private equity consortium was undisclosed at the time of its approval.

  • September 10, 2025

    State AGs Back Trans Worker In Liberty U.'s 4th Circ. Appeal

    A group of 19 states and Washington, D.C., urged the Fourth Circuit to back a trial court's decision to keep a former Liberty University employee's transgender bias case in court, arguing the religious university's interpretation of the First Amendment would decimate anti-discrimination efforts.

  • September 10, 2025

    Md. Appeals Court Says Psychoactive Hemp Wares Illegal

    A Maryland appeals court on Tuesday ruled that products containing psychoactive compounds derived from hemp are illegal, delivering a blow to a coalition of hemp interests that brought a constitutional challenge to the state's recreational marijuana legalization law.

  • September 10, 2025

    Texas Panel Says Expert Not Qualified In Facelift Suit

    A panel of the Texas appellate court has excluded an expert report offered by a woman suing her plastic surgeon over an allegedly botched facelift, saying the anesthesiologist did not establish that he is qualified to opine on the surgery and claims in question.

  • September 10, 2025

    3rd Circ. Questions NJ's Bid To Block Kalshi's Sports Bets

    The Third Circuit seemed prepared on Wednesday to block New Jersey from enforcing a sports gambling ban on trading platform KalshiEx, with at least one judge arguing the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's authority to regulate the event contracts space "seems quite broad."

  • September 10, 2025

    FTC Warns Healthcare Employers About Noncompetes

    The Federal Trade Commission has sent letters warning healthcare employers and staffing companies not to include overly broad noncompete restrictions in their employment contracts and urged them to conduct a review to ensure they comply with the law.

  • September 10, 2025

    Biz Groups Ask 4th Circ. To Revisit Ethylene Oxide Class Suit

    Business groups have urged the Fourth Circuit to reconsider a recent ruling that allowed a West Virginia woman's proposed class action to proceed against Union Carbide Corp. and Covestro LLC over ethylene oxide exposure, arguing that she doesn't have ground for her medical-monitoring claims.

  • September 10, 2025

    Fla. Panel Says State's Open-Carry Ban Is Unconstitutional

    A Florida appeals court on Wednesday unanimously struck down a state law that restricted the open carry of firearms, saying the statute was incompatible with the Second Amendment because it was at odds with a "historical tradition of firearms regulation" in the U.S.

  • September 10, 2025

    Meet The Attys Now Fighting Judge Newman's Suspension

    Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's main attorney in the fight against her suspension from the appeals court has departed from the New Civil Liberties Alliance, leaving his former colleagues to head the litigation.

  • September 10, 2025

    Ohio Appeals Court Orders Retrial For Invalid Jury Trial Waiver

    A state appeals court in Ohio has ruled that a pro se appellant accused of double murder and a weapons charge must be retried because he was unfairly denied a jury trial without verbally waiving his rights in open court.

  • September 10, 2025

    4th Circ. Hears Neb. Tribe's Fight For Children's Repatriation

    The U.S. Army can't say that the remains of two children entombed in a former Pennsylvania Indian boarding school are not part of a collection or holding, counsel for a Nebraska tribe told a Fourth Circuit panel on Wednesday in seeking the return of the remains to their tribe, arguing that they were buried and re-buried without tribal consent.

  • September 10, 2025

    Fla. Court Affirms $32M Verdict For Trinidad And Tobago

    A Florida appeals court Wednesday affirmed a jury verdict finding that a trio of businessmen conspired to defraud the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago out of more than $32 million in a bid-rigging scheme that involved the government awarding hyperinflated airport construction contracts.

  • September 10, 2025

    Texas Justices Wary Of Shifting Franchise Tax Calculation

    The Texas Supreme Court on Wednesday pushed an energy company to explain why the Texas tax code would make it eligible for a refund for bunker oil sold in the Lone Star State, asking where it should look in the law to create a "destination test" for state franchise taxes.

  • September 10, 2025

    Broadcom Urges Fed. Circ. To Undo Netflix's Patent Wins

    Broadcom has told the Federal Circuit that a California federal judge wrongly invalidated two data patents it asserted against Netflix, saying the judge erred in finding that the patents cover steps that could be carried out by a traffic cop or a 19th century switchboard operator.

Expert Analysis

  • Patent Claim Lessons From Fed. Circ.'s Teva Decision

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Janssen v. Teva is an important precedent for parties drafting patent claims or litigating obviousness where the prior art has potentially overlapping ranges for a claimed element, and may be particularly instructive to patent applicants in the pharmaceutical field, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Adapting To The Age Of AI

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    Though law school may not have specifically taught us how to use generative artificial intelligence to help with our daily legal tasks, it did provide us the mental building blocks necessary for adapting to this new technology — and the judgment to discern what shouldn’t be automated, says Pamela Dorian at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Ch. 11 Ruling Voiding $2M Litigation Funding Sends A Warning

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    A recent Texas bankruptcy court decision that a postconfirmation litigation trust has no obligations to repay a completely drawn down $2 million litigation funding agreement serves as a warning for estate administrators and funders to properly disclose the intended financing, say attorneys at Kleinberg Kaplan.

  • A Changing Playbook For Fighting Records Requests In Del.

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    The Delaware Supreme Court's recent decision in Wong v. Amazon, reversing the denial of an inspection demand brought by a stockholder, serves as a stark warning to corporations challenging books and records requests, making clear that companies cannot defeat such demands solely by attacking the scope of their stated purpose, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • Demystifying The Civil Procedure Rules Amendment Process

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    Every year, an advisory committee receives dozens of proposals to amend the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, most of which are never adopted — but a few pointers can help maximize the likelihood that an amendment will be adopted, says Josh Gardner at DLA Piper.

  • How The 5th, DC Circuits Agreed On FCC Forfeiture Orders

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    The Fifth and D.C. Circuits split this year on the Federal Communications Commission's process for adjudicating enforcement actions, but both implicitly recognized the problem with penalizing a party based on a forfeiture order that has not yet been challenged in any way in court, says Jared Marx at HWG.

  • With Obligor Ruling, Ohio Justices Calm Lending Waters

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    A recent decision by the Ohio Supreme Court, affirming a fundamental principle that lenders have no duty to disclose material risks to obligors, provides clarity for commercial lending practices in Ohio and beyond, and offers a reminder of the risks presented by guarantee arrangements, says Carrie Brosius at Vorys.

  • 'Solicit' Ruling Offers Proxy Advisers Compliance Relief

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    The D.C. Circuit recently found that proxy voting advice does not fall under the legal definition of "solicitation," significantly narrowing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's regulatory power over such advisers, offering stability to the proxy advisory industry and providing temporary relief from new compliance burdens, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 7th Circ. FLSA Notice Test Adds Flexibility, Raises Questions

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    In Richards v. Eli Lilly, the Seventh Circuit created a new approach for district courts to determine whether to issue notice to opt-in plaintiffs in Fair Labor Standards Act collective actions, but its road map leaves many unanswered questions, says Rebecca Ojserkis at Cohen Milstein.

  • How 2nd Circ. Cannabis Ruling Upends NY Licensing

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    A recent Second Circuit decision in Variscite NY Four v. New York, holding that New York's extra-priority cannabis licensing preference for applicants with in-state marijuana convictions violates the dormant commerce clause, underscores that state-legal cannabis markets remain subject to the same constitutional constraints as other economic markets, say attorneys at Harris Beach.

  • Parenting Skills That Can Help Lawyers Thrive Professionally

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    As kids head back to school, the time is ripe for lawyers who are parents to consider how they can incorporate their parenting skills to build a deep, meaningful and sustainable legal practice, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Enablement Standard Insights From Fed. Circ. Agilent Ruling

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    The Federal Circuit's recent enablement standard decision in Agilent v. Synthego underscores three critical takeaways for patent practitioners, including reaffirmation that the enablement inquiry under Section 102 of the Patent Act is distinct from the inquiry under Section 112, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: September Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses seven decisions pertaining to attorney fees in class action settlements, the predominance requirement in automobile insurance cases, how the no mootness exception applies if the named plaintiff is potentially subject to a strong individual defense, and more.

  • Series

    Teaching Trial Advocacy Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    Teaching trial advocacy skills to other lawyers makes us better litigators because it makes us question our default methods, connect to young attorneys with new perspectives and focus on the needs of the real people at the heart of every trial, say Reuben Guttman, Veronica Finkelstein and Joleen Youngers.

  • The Crucial Question Left Unanswered In EpicentRx Decision

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    The California Supreme Court recently issued its long-awaited decision in EpicentRx Inc. v. Superior Court, resolving a dispute regarding the enforceability of forum selection clauses, but the question remains whether private companies can trust that courts will continue to consistently enforce forum selection clauses in corporate charters, says John Yow at Yow PC.

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