Appellate

  • August 12, 2025

    Split Del. Justices Back Insurers In 3M Earplug Coverage Fight

    A split Delaware Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court's finding that defense costs paid by 3M in underlying multidistrict litigation over the company's combat earplugs could not satisfy the self-insured retention of subsidiary Aearo Technologies' insurance policies.

  • August 12, 2025

    Judge, Terumo Attorney Spar Over 'Final Judgment' Case

    A Colorado Appeals Court judge and an attorney for Terumo disagreed strongly on the interpretation of a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that could impact a now-dismissed class action against the medical equipment sterilization company in which a man alleges the district court incorrectly forbade him from filing an amended complaint.

  • August 12, 2025

    Split Calif. High Court Upholds Validity Of Arbitration Fee Rule

    A California statute waiving arbitration rights for a party that does not timely pay arbitration fees is not preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act, a split California Supreme Court ruled, saying the state law doesn't disfavor arbitration and is meant to deter parties from employing "strategic nonpayment" of fees.

  • August 12, 2025

    Loper Bright Neutered In 6th Circ., Tenn. Tells Supreme Court

    There is "growing confusion among the circuits" regarding the U.S. Supreme Court's rejection of judicial deference to regulators, as evidenced by a Sixth Circuit ruling that negates much of the high court's Loper Bright ruling, Tennessee told the justices in a new petition.

  • August 12, 2025

    Feds Appeal Expedited Removal Pause At DC Circ.

    The Trump administration has appealed a D.C. federal judge's order pausing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's ability to subject noncitizens who were paroled into the country to expedited removal proceedings. 

  • August 12, 2025

    Justices Urged To Maintain Limits On Calif. Immigration Stops

    Immigration rights groups and individuals challenging recent federal immigration operations in Los Angeles urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to pause an order that temporarily prohibits the government from conducting indiscriminate immigration stops, saying the order bars only what is unlawful.

  • August 12, 2025

    Ex-Raiders Coach Keeps Claims Over NFL Leak In Open Court

    Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden will get to keep his claims of character assassination against the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell out of arbitration, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled in a split decision, with the majority calling the contract unconscionable.

  • August 12, 2025

    DC Circ. Rules Pole-Camera Footage Doesn't Require Warrant

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday ruled that pole-mounted surveillance cameras installed by police can be accessed without a warrant by law enforcement, and upheld the conviction of a man on federal drug and firearms charges as a result of the camera footage.

  • August 12, 2025

    4th Circ. Won't Consider Man's Unconstitutional Arrest Case

    A North Carolina man arrested while protesting a Confederate monument in the wake of the death of George Floyd in 2020 cannot have his arrest declared unconstitutional by a federal court, the Fourth Circuit ruled Tuesday, sending the matter back to state court for lack of jurisdiction.

  • August 12, 2025

    Meta's Discovery Win Faces 'Immense' Fallout, 9th Circ. Told

    The California Attorney General's Office urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to reverse a lower court's order requiring third-party state agencies to respond to Meta Platforms' discovery demands in multidistrict litigation over social media's alleged harms, saying the "egregiously wrong" order will have "immense" consequences.

  • August 12, 2025

    Docs Take NJ Telemedicine Restrictions Fight To 3rd Circ.

    A group of doctors and patients have appealed the dismissal of their challenge to a New Jersey law that says out-of-state doctors can't practice telemedicine with Garden State patients unless they're licensed there, telling the Third Circuit that the rule deprives people of potentially life-saving consultation.

  • August 12, 2025

    DC Circ. Sides With DOJ On Ga. Voting Law Doc Disclosure

    A D.C. Circuit panel on Tuesday largely reversed a trial court's holding that the U.S. Department of Justice must disclose most communications with private co-litigants in lawsuits challenging a controversial Georgia voting law, finding the communications qualify as exempt "intra-agency" communications under the Freedom of Information Act.

  • August 12, 2025

    CenturyLink Can't Duck $1.3M Wash. 911 Outage Fine

    CenturyLink isn't going to be able to get out from under a $1.3 million penalty that Washington state slapped the telecom with after an outage in 2018 left people across the entire state unable to call 911 for two days, a state appeals court ruled.

  • August 12, 2025

    Reynolds Asks Justices To Eye Patent Damages In $95M Case

    R.J. Reynolds has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a $95 million verdict against it for infringing Altria vape patents, saying the Federal Circuit is flouting high court precedent that patent damages can only be based on the value of the patented features.

  • August 12, 2025

    9th Circ. Reverses Trade Secrets Striking In Biotech Suit

    The Ninth Circuit found Tuesday that a lower court prematurely struck certain trade secrets from a DNA sequencing analysis company's lawsuit alleging a competing business swiped its customer database, marketing plan and other business materials.

  • August 12, 2025

    Colo. Ski Resort Fights Court Order On Attorney Ethics

    A ski resort asked the Colorado Supreme Court on Monday to reverse a court order imposing sanctions on its attorneys for not assisting plaintiff's expert witness with interpreting GPS coordinates for the location of a ski accident that led to a damages lawsuit.

  • August 12, 2025

    Worker's Flu Shot Ruling Goes Too Far, 5th Circ. Dissent Says

    A Fifth Circuit judge on Monday said a woman briefly suspended from Texas Children's Hospital over her refusal to get a flu vaccine should be able to pursue her religious discrimination suit even though the hospital ultimately accommodated her beliefs.

  • August 12, 2025

    9th Circ. Doubts Contractor Stance On ICE Facility Access

    A Ninth Circuit judge appeared skeptical on Tuesday of government contractor GEO Group's stance on federal authorities' role in denying Washington health inspectors access to an immigrant detention facility, while also suggesting the company had "potentially" raised a defense sufficient to keep an underlying dispute in federal court.

  • August 12, 2025

    Google Wants Epic Order Paused For Potential High Court Bid

    Google has asked the Ninth Circuit to keep an order requiring it to allow more competition for the Play Store on Android devices on hold while it seeks a rehearing, and potentially a review by the Supreme Court, in the antitrust case being brought by Fortnite developer Epic Games.

  • August 12, 2025

    8th Circ. Affirms Discharge Of Student Debt Owed To Bank

    The Eighth Circuit on Tuesday sided with a bankruptcy judge in discharging a woman's student loan debt owed to a North Dakota bank, saying the lower court had not made a clear error in concluding that paying off the remaining balance would pose an undue hardship.

  • August 12, 2025

    3rd Circ. Spurns Perrigo Investor's Bid To Avoid $97M Deal

    A major shareholder in Perrigo Co. PLC has been barred from opting out of a $97 million securities class action settlement, after the Third Circuit held in a precedential opinion on Tuesday that the investor must bear the consequences of its counsel's failure to timely request exclusion.

  • August 12, 2025

    4th Circ. Affirms Toss Of Last Claim In CSX Flooding Suit

    The Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment Tuesday to CSX Transportation Inc. on a remaining breach of contract claim in a suit by residents and businesses of Lumberton, North Carolina, who claim CSX wrongly prevented the city from sandbagging its railroad route to prevent flooding during storms in 2016 and 2018.

  • August 12, 2025

    NJ Appeals Court Clarifies Ghost Gun Law, Affirms Sentence

    A New Jersey state appeals court found in a matter of first impression that a man who bought ghost gun kits in Pennsylvania, where they are legal, could be charged when he brought the non-serialized, unlicensed weapons back to his Garden State home, affirming his three-year sentence.

  • August 12, 2025

    Feds Say High Court Case Supports Discord Trader Indictment

    Federal prosecutors and a group of men accused of running a $114 million pump-and-dump stock scheme over Discord have made their case for whether a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision means a judge was correct in tossing a 21-count indictment against the men.

  • August 12, 2025

    4th Circ. Lifts Block On DOGE's Data Access At 3 Agencies

    A split Fourth Circuit panel vacated a block Tuesday on the Department of Government Efficiency's access to personal information held by three federal agencies, prescribing an exacting appraisal of the challenging unions' chances of winning all aspects of the case.

Expert Analysis

  • Gauging The Risky Business Of Business Risk Disclosures

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    With the recent rise of securities fraud actions based on external events — like a data breach or environmental disaster — that drive down stock prices, risk disclosures have become more of a sword for the plaintiffs bar than a shield for public companies, now the subject of a growing circuit split, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.

  • How Justices' Ruling Limits Options To Challenge DHS Orders

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    In Riley v. Bondi, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that a 30-day deadline for challenging deportation orders begins when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issues a final administrative review order, opening the door for the government to effectively bar circuit court review in future similar cases, says Kevin Gregg at Kurzban Kurzban.

  • Series

    Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

  • Purdue Case Could Transform Patent Obviousness Analyses

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    If accepted for review by the U.S. Supreme Court, Purdue Pharma v. Accord Healthcare — concerning whether Purdue's abuse-deterrent opioid formulation patents were invalid as obvious — could significantly shift how courts weigh secondary considerations in patent obviousness analyses, say attorneys at Lathrop.

  • NM Cyber Ruling Will Spur Litigation As Coverage Remedy

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    In Kane v. Beazley, the New Mexico Court of Appeals recently found that a cyber liability provision insuring security breaches included coverage for funds transfer fraud, implicitly and incorrectly motivating policyholders to commence litigation to avoid contractual limitations on cyber coverages, say attorneys at Zelle.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Self-Care

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    Law schools don’t teach the mental, physical and emotional health maintenance tools necessary to deal with the profession's many demands, but practicing self-care is an important key to success that can help to improve focus, manage stress and reduce burnout, says Rachel Leonard​​​​​​​ at MG+M.

  • Texas' Cactus Ruling Clarifies 'Produced Water' Rules

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    The Texas Supreme Court's decision in Cactus Water Services v. COG Operating, holding that mineral interest lessees have the rights to water extracted alongside oil and gas, should benefit industry players by clarifying the rules — but it leaves important questions about royalties unresolved, say attorneys at Yetter Coleman.

  • ABA Opinion Makes It A Bit Easier To Drop A 'Hot Potato'

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    The American Bar Association's recent ethics opinion clarifies when attorneys may terminate clients without good cause, though courts may still disqualify a lawyer who drops a client like a hot potato, so sending a closeout letter is always a best practice, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • How Political Divisions Are Stalling Pa. Energy Development

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    Despite possessing the nation's second-largest natural gas reserves and a legacy of energy infrastructure, Pennsylvania faces a fragmented and politically charged path to developing the energy resources it will need in the future, thanks to legislative gridlock, divided public opinion and competing energy interests, says Andrew Levine at Stradley Ronon.

  • How High Court Ruling Can Aid Judgment Enforcement In US

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    In CC/Devas (Mauritius) v. Antrix, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that only two steps are required to keep a foreign sovereign in federal court, making it a little easier for investors to successfully bring foreign states and sovereign-owned and -controlled entities into U.S. courts, says Kristie Blase at Felicello Law.

  • What High Court's Tenn. Trans Care Ruling Means Nationally

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti, upholding a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors, is fairly limited in scope and closely tailored to the specific language of Tennessee's law, but it may have implications for challenges to similar laws in other states, say attorneys at Hall Render.

  • Justices Rewrite Rules For Challenging Enviro Agency Actions

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    Three recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings — Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, Oklahoma v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and EPA v. Calumet Shreveport Refining — form a jurisprudential watershed in administrative and environmental law, affirming statutory standing and venue provisions as the backbone of coherent judicial review, say attorneys at GableGotwals.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • High Court ACA Ruling May Harm Preventative Care

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Kennedy v. Braidwood last week, ruling that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary has authority over an Affordable Care Act preventive care task force, risks harming the credibility of the task force and could open the door to politicians dictating clinical recommendations, says Michael Kolber at Manatt.

  • Opinion

    Subject Matter Eligibility Test Should Return To Preemption

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    Subject matter eligibility has posed challenges for patentees due to courts' arbitrary and confusing reasoning, but adopting a two-part preemption test could align the applicant, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the courts, says Manav Das at McDonnell Boehnen.

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