Appellate

  • July 01, 2025

    Racist Jury Selection Affords Ala. Death Row Inmate New Trial

    A Black man sentenced to death by the state of Alabama for murdering a sheriff has been granted a new trial by the Eleventh Circuit, which found that the state violated his constitutional right to equal protection by habitually eliminating potential Black jurors from cases like his in a discriminatory manner.

  • July 01, 2025

    NYT Says Palin Can't Get New Defamation Trial, Recusal

    The New York Times urged a New York federal judge to refuse Sarah Palin's request for a new trial and judge after a jury rejected her defamation claims over a 2017 editorial, saying her arguments misunderstood circuit court rulings in the long-running case and skipped a procedural bar.

  • July 01, 2025

    Illinois Court Orders Additional Look At Shooting Conviction

    An appeals court in Illinois has ruled that a man accused of committing a drive-by shooting in Chicago must be given a second chance at a postconviction petition because his counsel had not properly made arguments about evidence that could exonerate him.

  • July 01, 2025

    4th Circ. Backs Order To Release Georgetown Academic

    The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday denied the Trump administration's attempt to halt a Virginia federal court order requiring it to release a Georgetown University fellow from immigration detention, rejecting the government's claim that his lawsuit was filed in the wrong venue.

  • July 01, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Detainee's CIA Torture Suit

    A Washington federal judge was right to dismiss a Guantánamo Bay detainee's tort claims against two psychologists who helped the CIA pioneer so-called enhanced interrogation techniques on him after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a Ninth Circuit panel ruled.

  • July 01, 2025

    Valve Can't Sue Firms Over Alleged Gamer Arbitration Scheme

    Valve Corp. cannot sue two law firms over a purported scheme to manipulate arbitration pacts between the video game seller and its customers, a Washington state appellate court has ruled, recognizing that the firms are shielded from liability because their actions were part of their work representing the consumers.

  • July 01, 2025

    Supreme Court Taps Latham Atty In Campaign Spending Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court has turned to Latham & Watkins LLP's Roman Martinez to defend caps on coordinated campaign spending as amicus counsel in a case on tap for next term.

  • July 01, 2025

    4th Circ. Urged To Rethink Decision Affirming $8M KBR Award

    A Kuwaiti construction company wants the Fourth Circuit to reconsider whether it missed a deadline to seek vacatur of an $8 million arbitral award favoring Kellogg Brown & Root International Inc. in a dispute over a U.S. Army contract, arguing Monday that its decision creates an "unworkable" rule.

  • July 01, 2025

    5th Circ. Backs Dallas Short-Term Lending Ordinance

    The Fifth Circuit denied a short-term lender's request for a court order blocking a Dallas city ordinance that created new hurdles for lenders, saying Tuesday the short-term lender did not demonstrate that the ordinance would shut down the industry.

  • July 01, 2025

    DC Circ. Tosses Mich. Utility's Grid Upgrade Challenge

    A D.C. Circuit panel Tuesday upheld the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's refusal to grant a Michigan transmission owner sole ownership of grid upgrades needed to serve a Michigan solar farm, rejecting arguments that existing agreements guaranteed it full ownership rights.

  • July 01, 2025

    DC Circ. OKs Trump Firing Of Privacy Board Dems, For Now

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday halted a lower court's order that blocked the Trump administration from firing two Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, suggesting in a per curiam order that members of the oversight board lacked adjudicatory functions that could shield them from termination.

  • July 01, 2025

    5 Federal Circuit Clashes To Watch In July

    The Federal Circuit's argument calendar this month includes Apple's bid to undo a ruling that caused a blood oxygen monitor feature to be pulled from the Apple Watch, and a challenge by Sonos to a decision that torpedoed its $32.5 million speaker patent verdict against Google.

  • July 01, 2025

    Apple Backers Raise Price, Privilege Concerns At 9th Circ.

    Trade groups and advocacy organizations have raised a series of concerns with the Ninth Circuit about a federal district court mandate blocking Apple from charging commissions on iPhone app purchases made outside its systems, arguing an Epic Games Inc. injunction redux improperly compels speech, imperils price-setting autonomy and threatens legal privilege.

  • July 01, 2025

    DC Circ. Says NLRB Rightly Axed Claim Of Union Betrayal

    A split D.C. Circuit has upheld the National Labor Relations Board's dismissal of allegations that a transportation union betrayed a member by suggesting that he be fired after a spat with a co-worker, with the majority saying Tuesday that the NLRB properly determined that the suggestion wasn't serious.

  • July 01, 2025

    ACLU Wants To Oppose Ex-Yale Student's Defamation Suit

    Saying the issue is too important to sit out, the ACLU's Connecticut litigation arm and other nonprofits have asked a state appeals court's permission to file a friend-of-court brief to support different organizations that filed a rejected amicus brief in a separate case and were sued for defamation.

  • July 01, 2025

    4th Circ. Affirms CVS Win In Vaccine Injury Suit

    CVS Pharmacy can't be held liable for the chronic neurological injuries a woman suffered due to the allegedly improper injection of two vaccines, the Fourth Circuit ruled Tuesday in a published opinion, noting that federal law shields the company for one of the shots, and it's unclear which caused the harm.

  • July 01, 2025

    Full Fed. Circ. Rejects Mylan Rehearing Bid In Patent Case

    The full Federal Circuit on Tuesday shot down Mylan's request for the court to reconsider a March ruling that the company's planned generic version of schizophrenia drug Invega Trinza would cause physicians to infringe a Janssen patent.

  • July 01, 2025

    Calif. Panel Backs Warner Bros.' Win In Writer's Film Theft Suit

    A California appeals court refused to revive a writer's lawsuit alleging Warner Bros.' film "Life of the Party" was a "cinematic clone" of her concept about a mother going to college with her daughter, ruling Monday the evidence shows the film was independently created without knowledge of the plaintiff's ideas.

  • July 01, 2025

    Mich. Judge Probes Conflict In Ex-GC's Whistleblower Suit

    A Michigan appellate judge Tuesday pressed an attorney representing a town's former general counsel for proof that his client was fired for reporting what he described as corruption, suggesting his role as both human resources director and general counsel may have created inherent conflicts justifying the dismissal.

  • July 01, 2025

    All Eyes On Congress After FCC Subsidy's High Court Win

    Supporters of the Federal Communications Commission's subsidies for phone and broadband service notched a clear win at the U.S. Supreme Court last week when justices upheld the Universal Service Fund's levy on telecom companies, but lawmakers now face pressure to beef up the $9 billion program's revenue sources.

  • July 01, 2025

    RI Urges 1st Circ. To Toss Challenge To Pot License Regs

    Rhode Island marijuana regulators told the First Circuit on Tuesday that a lower court federal judge was correct to toss a constitutional challenge to the state's cannabis regulations, which had not yet been published when the lawsuit was initially filed.

  • July 01, 2025

    Hurricane Beryl Lawsuits Combined Into MDL

    The Texas Multi-District Litigation Panel has agreed to consolidate cases stemming from a July 2024 hurricane into an MDL.

  • July 01, 2025

    Compounding Restitution Is Unconstitutional, High Court Told

    Nonprofits, think tanks and legal scholars filed briefs this week urging the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that a federal law requiring criminals to continue paying restitution with compounding interest for decades after conviction is unconstitutional because it can exponentially increase punishment for a crime.

  • July 01, 2025

    No New Trial, But $10.5M Ga. MedMal Verdict Could Be Cut

    A Georgia OB-GYN practice that was hit with a $10.5 million verdict over the death of prematurely delivered twins was denied a shot at a new trial Tuesday by the Georgia Court of Appeals, but could get a chance to slash the judgment thanks to a recent Supreme Court of Georgia ruling.

  • July 01, 2025

    Unvaccinated Ex-Staffer Can Pursue Leaked Health Info Claims

    A Missouri appeals court on Tuesday revived a former hospital staffer's claims that her former employer failed to protect her medical records while she was a patient, leading to her coworkers finding out she was unvaccinated against the COVID-19 virus and them harassing her until she resigned.

Expert Analysis

  • Google Damages Ruling Offers Lessons For Testifying Experts

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in EcoFactor v. Google represents a shift in how courts evaluate expert testimony in patent cases, offering a practical guide for how litigators and testifying experts can refine their work, says Adam Rhoten at Secretariat.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • One Year On, Davidson Holds Lessons On 'Health Halo' Claims

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    A year after the Ninth Circuit's Davidson v. Sprout Foods decision — which raised the bar for so-called health halo claims — food and beverage companies can draw insights from its finding, subsequently expanded on by other courts, that plaintiffs must be specific when alleging fraud in healthfulness marketing, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Justices' NRC Ruling Raises New Regulatory Questions

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    In Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court avoided ruling on the NRC's authority to license private, temporary nuclear waste storage facilities — and this failure to reach the merits question creates new regulatory uncertainty where none had existed for decades, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Rocket Mortgage Appeal May Push Justices To Curb Classes

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    Should the U.S. Supreme Court agree to hear Alig v. Rocket Mortgage, the resulting decision could limit class sizes based on commonality under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Evidence as opposed to standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, say attorneys at Carr Maloney.

  • 3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later

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    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • Trending At The PTAB: Shifts In Parallel Proceedings Strategy

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    Dynamics are changing between the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and federal courts, with two recent discretionary denials and one Federal Circuit decision offering takeaways for both patent owners and challengers navigating parallel proceedings, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • What Businesses Need To Know To Avoid VPPA Class Actions

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    Divergent rulings by the Second, Sixth and Seventh Circuits about the scope of the Video Privacy Protection Act have highlighted the difficulty of applying a statute conceived to regulate the now-obsolete brick-and-mortar video store sector in today's internet economy, say attorneys at DTO Law.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

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    My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Opinion

    IRS Should Work With Industry On Microcaptive Regs

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    The IRS should engage with microcaptive insurance owners to develop better regulations on these arrangements or risk the emergence of common law guidance as taxpayers with legitimate programs seek relief in the federal courts, says Dustin Carlson at SRA 831(b) Admin.

  • FLSA Interpretation Patterns Emerge 1 Year After Loper Bright

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    One year after the U.S. Supreme Court's monumental decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, four distinct avenues of judicial decision-making have taken shape among lower courts that are responding to their newfound freedom in interpreting the Fair Labor Standards Act through U.S. Department of Labor regulations, say attorneys at Kutak Rock.

  • A Pattern Emerges In Justices' Evaluation Of Veteran Statute

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    The recent Soto v. U.S. decision that the statute of limitations for certain military-related claims does not apply to combat-related special compensation exemplifies the U.S. Supreme Court's view, emerging in two other recent opinions, that it is a reviewing court's obligation to determine the best interpretation of the language used by Congress, says attorney Kenneth Carpenter.

  • Fed. Circ. In May: Evaluating Opportunistic Trademark Filings

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    The Federal Circuit's decision last month in the "US Space Force" trademark case gives the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board additional clarity when working through opportunistic trademark filings, particularly when the mark's value is primarily due to the potential value of a false connection, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Opinion

    Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

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    The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.

  • Drawbacks For Taxpayers From Justices' Levy Dispute Ruling

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    The Supreme Court's June decision in Commissioner v. Zuch, holding the Tax Court lacks jurisdiction to resolve disputes where the IRS has stopped pursuing a levy, may require taxpayers to explore new tactics for mitigating the increased difficulty of appealing their liability via collection due process hearings, says Matthew Roberts at Meadows Collier.

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