Appellate

  • May 04, 2026

    Mich. Justices To Hear Best Buy Arbitration Dispute Case

    The Michigan Supreme Court has ordered oral arguments on whether an employee arbitration agreement used by Best Buy Co. Inc. is enforceable, directing the parties to address how a recent precedent on adhesion contracts applies and if federal law preempts that analysis.

  • May 04, 2026

    10th Circ. Upholds CBP Officer's Conviction Sans Video

    A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer sentenced to over 1.5 years in prison for depriving a man of his rights at a New Mexico port of entry and falsifying a report about the incident cannot have his conviction overturned, a Tenth Circuit panel said on Monday.

  • May 04, 2026

    Split 7th Circ. Refuses To Revive Kohl's Consumer Arbitration

    The Seventh Circuit has declined to revive arbitration claims against Kohl's over alleged false discounts that were nixed by the American Arbitration Association after the department store chain refused to register its arbitration agreement, a prerequisite for the claims to proceed.

  • May 04, 2026

    Md. Hospital Had Duty To Warn Of Patient's Violent Statements

    A Maryland appellate panel has said the family of a woman killed by her husband days after he was sent home from psychiatric care can move forward with their wrongful death lawsuit, finding the hospital had a duty to warn those living with the man of homicidal statements he made during his inpatient treatment.

  • May 04, 2026

    Mass. Justices Uneasy Over Judge's Handling Of ICE Incident

    Massachusetts' top court on Monday appeared concerned that a state district court judge in 2018 offered to detain a defendant sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as the justices considered a public reprimand.

  • May 04, 2026

    Justices Urged Not To Take Up Macy's Thryv Challenge

    Macy's Inc.'s challenge to a Ninth Circuit ruling upholding a National Labor Relations Board order to reinstate strikers misstates the controlling precedent and mounts an "academic" attack on the board's heightened remedies, the operating engineers said Monday in a brief opposing U.S. Supreme Court review.

  • May 04, 2026

    Orrick Partner Jumps To Pillsbury IP Team In LA

    A longtime Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP partner has joined the Los Angeles office of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, bringing years of experience in intellectual property litigation and expertise in the Copyright Act and Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

  • May 04, 2026

    Mass. Justices Hint Tax Cut Measure Summary Is Confusing

    Massachusetts' highest court on Monday was critical of the summary for a ballot proposal to reduce the state income tax during a trio of oral arguments on voter initiatives, including separate measures to repeal recreational marijuana legalization and to eliminate one-party primary elections.

  • May 04, 2026

    Conn. Justices Scoff At Shooter's Self-Defense Claim

    The Connecticut Supreme Court on Monday upheld the murder conviction of a man who claimed prosecutors failed to disprove that he acted in self-defense, and declined the defendant's request to adopt what the justices called a "more flexible standard" for instructing a jury on lesser included offenses.

  • May 04, 2026

    Noncitizens Sue Texas Over Arrest Law After 5th Circ. Ruling

    Two noncitizens filed a proposed class action Monday in federal court seeking to block parts of Texas' migrant arrest law from taking effect, less than two weeks after the full Fifth Circuit ruled that immigrant-rights groups and a Texas county lacked standing to challenge the law.

  • May 04, 2026

    1st Circ. Skeptical Of Challenge To CDC Puppy Import Ban

    A panel of First Circuit judges on Monday seemed dubious of a challenge to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ban on the import of dogs younger than 6 months old, saying the agency seems to have multiple bases for the new rule.

  • May 04, 2026

    Kalshi 'Swimming Upstream' In Appeal, Mass. Justices Say

    Prediction market KalshiEX may be facing long odds in its effort to convince Massachusetts' highest court that its sports-related offerings are governed by federal commodities regulators and not subject to state gaming laws, several justices suggested Monday.

  • May 04, 2026

    4th Circ. Says Abortion Protester Doesn't Deserve Jury Trial

    An abortion protester who blocked the doors to a Columbia, South Carolina, clinic did not have the right to a jury trial because the crime, for which he was sentenced to six months in jail and fined $1,000, was not serious enough to warrant it, a Fourth Circuit panel said.

  • May 04, 2026

    2nd Circ. Bars Out-Of-State Drivers In Bimbo Bakeries OT Suit

    Out-of-state delivery drivers can't pursue their wage claims against Bimbo Bakeries in a Vermont federal court, the Second Circuit ruled Monday, finding their claims aren't tied closely enough to the company's activities in the state.

  • May 04, 2026

    DOJ Seeks To Freeze Jan. 6 Civil Suits Against Trump

    The U.S. Department of Justice is calling for a halt to discovery in consolidated lawsuits against President Donald Trump over his involvement in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol while the D.C. Circuit decides whether he should be immune from the litigation.

  • May 04, 2026

    1st Circ. Hints Justices May Settle Immigrant Bond Fight

    The First Circuit on Monday weighed a challenge to the Trump administration's policy of detaining unauthorized immigrants without bond during removal proceedings, even as one judge noted that the issue has already divided appellate panels and will likely need to be sorted out by the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • May 04, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Won't Restore Poultry Treatment Patent Suit

    The Federal Circuit on Monday refused to revive a lawsuit accusing a unit of food safety company Fortrex of infringing a patent on a way to treat poultry, agreeing with an Arkansas federal judge that a key word in the patent wasn't properly defined.

  • May 04, 2026

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled a wide-ranging docket of deal disputes, advancement fights, stockholder suits and contract claims, with several matters turning on timing, forum limits and the remedies available when transactions or governance agreements break down.

  • May 04, 2026

    Justices Won't Review Dismissal Of Inmate's 'Malicious' Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a pro se lawsuit brought by a man incarcerated in Florida against a nurse he accused of denying him medical care, leaving intact lower court rulings that dismissed his action as "malicious" and were later affirmed on separate grounds.

  • May 04, 2026

    Supreme Court Halts Abortion Drug Telehealth Ruling

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday temporarily reinstated telehealth access for the abortion medication mifepristone, pausing a lower-court order that had blocked by-mail and remote prescriptions.

  • May 04, 2026

    Justices Won't Hear Anti-Vaxxer Medical Board Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it will not review a petition brought by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on behalf of doctors who challenged a Washington state medical board's investigation into an alleged COVID-19 misinformation campaign.

  • May 04, 2026

    Justices Rebuff BNSF Bid To Curb Post-Mallory Forum Shopping

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear BNSF Railway Co.'s challenge to a Minnesota business-registration law that the rail giant contends was improperly invoked to haul it into state court by an out-of-state plaintiff over alleged out-of-state harms.

  • May 01, 2026

    NJ Court Says Gun Law Doesn't Justify Firing Cops Over Pot

    The federal Gun Control Act's prohibition on cannabis users possessing firearms does not preempt New Jersey's cannabis legalization law, a New Jersey state appeals court ruled Friday, rejecting Jersey City's bid to use the federal law to justify the firing of two police officers who tested positive for cannabinoids.

  • May 01, 2026

    Pharma Aims Torpedo At FCA After Bombshell 9th Circ. Ruling

    A burgeoning campaign against the False Claims Act's whistleblower mechanism is suddenly center stage at the Ninth Circuit, where pharmaceutical companies say a momentous new ruling "illustrates perfectly" the constitutional concerns of U.S. Supreme Court justices regarding FCA enforcement.

  • May 01, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs Tesla In Challenge To Race Bias Arbitration

    The Ninth Circuit rejected an appeal by a Black former Tesla employee who challenged the company's arbitration win over his claims of racial discrimination, agreeing with a California federal judge Friday that the plaintiff failed to meet the "high bar" to overturn the award.

Expert Analysis

  • 2 Strands Of Patent Law In High Court's 'Skinny Label' Case

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    Amarin v. Hikma, which is set for oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court this month, highlights the distinction between two different strands of intellectual property law — analogizing a patent to either a property deed or a home, says Jonas McDavit at Spencer West.

  • Justices' Geofence Ruling May Test 4th Amendment's Future

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    When the U.S. Supreme Court decides in Chatrie v. U.S. whether law enforcement may use geofence warrants to compel Google to disclose location history data, the ruling is likely to become an important statement about the future of Fourth Amendment law in data-driven investigations, says Duncan Levin at Levin & Associates.

  • Series

    NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    In the first quarter of 2026, New York's banking developments were headlined by initiatives to expand oversight of financial institutions and strengthen consumer protection laws, including a new framework for buy now, pay later lenders, a sweeping debt collection rule and a revised corporate self-disclosure program for financial crimes, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Seeking A Policy Fix As Merger Reporting Fight Continues

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    A recently announced request by the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice for public comment on the Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger reporting requirements, as litigation challenging the commission's updated requirements continues, suggests the government's willingness to address how best to support modern merger enforcement without unduly burdening filing parties, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Opinion

    Wash. Amazon Ruling Should Reshape Suicide Liability

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    The Washington Supreme Court's reinstatement of negligence claims in Scott v. Amazon.com, brought by the families of people who died by suicide after purchasing chemicals online, signals a reckoning for digital commerce and the rejection of the defense that online marketplaces are merely passive technology platforms, says Donald Fountain at Clark Fountain.

  • Axed Trade Secret Award Cautions Against Bundling Damages

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent ruling in Trinseo v. Harper, vacating a $75 million jury verdict for trade secret misappropriation due to a bundled damages model, offers a strong reminder to apportion damages so a jury can award a nonspeculative figure when it credits only some alleged secrets, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • 2 Rulings Poke Holes In Mandatory Restitution Framework

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Ellingburg v. U.S., as well as the Third Circuit’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Abrams, provide criminal defense practitioners with new tools to challenge Mandatory Victims Restitution Act orders, and highlight several restitution-related issues that converged in the recent prosecution of former Frank CEO Charlie Javice, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • Pivotal 6th Circ. Ruling Threatens Decades Of NLRB Decisions

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    The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Brown-Forman v. National Labor Relations Board fundamentally challenged the NLRB's long-standing practice of establishing policies through adjudication rather than formal rulemaking, giving employers and unions a new avenue to procedurally attack the vast majority of its rules, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • Exploring When Fraud Asset Freezes Limit Right To Pick Atty

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    The defendant’s claim in the Seventh Circuit’s pending U.S. v. Shah case that the government restrained his assets until he couldn’t afford his chosen counsel presents a useful case study in how criminal forfeiture procedure interacts with U.S. Supreme Court rulings on Sixth Amendment rights and appealing complex fraud convictions, says Elisha Kobre at Sheppard.

  • How Justices' GEO Ruling Resets Gov't Contractor Litigation

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent GEO Group v. Menocal decision, holding that government contractors cannot immediately exit cases via interlocutory appeals, may increase litigation costs, strengthen plaintiffs' leverage in settlement negotiations and dampen the government's ability to attract bids on high-risk or sensitive projects, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Appellate Strategy Lessons From Pa. Excess Coverage Ruling

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    In FedEx v. National Union Fire Insurance, a Pennsylvania state court recently set forth a clear holding that policyholders may recover postjudgment interest under excess liability insurance policies only when the policy language expressly allows, offering important takeaways for planning appeals, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • Defense Counsel Options Widen As No-Bill Rate Increases

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    Citizens impaneled on grand juries in politically motivated cases who are reasserting their role as a critical check on state power could provide criminal defense attorneys an opportunity to pursue seldom-used preindictment strategies, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • How Cos. Can Prepare For 'Made In America' Ad Scrutiny

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    The Trump administration's executive order to combat fraudulent "Made in America" claims in consumer-facing advertising, along with actions by the Federal Trade Commission, suggest a potential increased focus on consumer protection and pricing-related matters, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Similar-Looking Designs May Not Always Prove Infringement

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Range of Motion Products v. Armaid is a reminder that even a strikingly similar design might not be found to infringe upon a patented design once design features driven by functionality are filtered out from consideration, say attorneys at BCLP.

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