Appellate

  • March 04, 2026

    Mass. Justices Doubt New Suit Over Hot-Button Housing Law

    Massachusetts' top court on Wednesday seemed poised to knock down a challenge to a controversial law requiring multifamily housing near Boston-area transit facilities, hinting that a town challenging the new measure had made compliance more difficult and expensive than it needed to be.

  • March 04, 2026

    BREAKING: Justices Limit Courts' Purview Over Persecution Findings

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday restrained federal courts' ability to review determinations from the Board of Immigration Appeals over whether the past mistreatment of asylum seekers constitutes persecution, saying courts must apply a deferential substantial evidence review to the board's judgment.

  • March 04, 2026

    Supreme Court Rejects NJ Immunity Defense In NY, Pa. Suits

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that New Jersey cannot shield its public transit system from personal injury lawsuits by out-of-state plaintiffs under the doctrine of sovereign immunity.

  • March 03, 2026

    ClearPlay, Dish Face Off At Fed. Circ. Over $469M Verdict

    The Federal Circuit is set to decide whether to reinstate a $469 million jury verdict that was wiped out by a Utah federal judge weeks after a jury awarded it to ClearPlay over claims Dish Network infringed the company's patents for technology that skips over sex and swearing in movies.

  • March 03, 2026

    6th Circ. Weighs If Special Ed Suit Must Exhaust IDEA

    The Sixth Circuit wrestled Tuesday with whether a proposed class action accusing a Michigan school district and state education officials of widespread special education failures can move forward in federal court or must go through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's administrative process.

  • March 03, 2026

    Trump Plan To Reopen Coal Plant Is Illegal, Wash. AG Says

    Washington state's attorney general and five environmental watchdogs are challenging the Trump administration's effort to reopen a decommissioned coal power plant in Chehalis, Washington, arguing that the U.S. Department of Energy lacks the authority to force the plant back into operation.

  • March 03, 2026

    Judge Lifts Stay After 9th Circ. Ruling In Gila River Dispute

    An Arizona federal judge has lifted a stay in a water rights lawsuit following a Ninth Circuit decision finding he prematurely sided with the Gila River Indian Community in a separate but similar suit when landowners appealed a summary judgment order favoring the tribal group.

  • March 03, 2026

    EPA Fights Fluoridated Water IQ Risk Finding At 9th Circ.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to reverse a ruling that the EPA's current "optimal" level of fluoride in drinking water poses an unreasonable risk of lowering children's IQ, arguing that the trial judge improperly held his ruling in abeyance for years to await more scientific evidence.

  • March 03, 2026

    Split 9th Circ. Tells EPA To Review Cadmium's Species Impact

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must analyze how its revised water quality standards for cadmium would affect endangered species, a split Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday, upholding a conservation organization's victory in a lawsuit over the agency's guidance tripling the levels of the heavy metal allowed in U.S. waters.

  • March 03, 2026

    Tunnel Funding Freeze Fight Is In Wrong Court, 2nd Circ. Told

    New York and New Jersey's federal lawsuit challenging a freeze on Gateway Tunnel funding must be dismissed because it falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Department of Transportation argued to the Second Circuit on Tuesday.

  • March 03, 2026

    11th Circ. Backs Dismissal Of Fee Dispute From BCBS MDL

    The Eleventh Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of an attorney fee dispute between two lawyers on the plaintiffs' side of a $2.8 billion Blue Cross Blue Shield multidistrict litigation, ruling Tuesday that neither an oral deal nor a letter between the two lawyers was binding on their payouts.

  • March 03, 2026

    7th Circ. Expedites Bank Appeal Of Ill. Swipe-Fee Law

    The Seventh Circuit granted banking and credit union trade groups' bid to fast-track their appeal over the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act after they asked to schedule the case for a decision before the law banning swipe fees on tax and tip payments takes effect July 1.

  • March 03, 2026

    7th Circ. Wary Of Bid For Counterfeiting Damages Explainer

    The Seventh Circuit seemed skeptical Tuesday of an online clothing retailer's challenge to its minimal damages award against an alleged counterfeiter, while suggesting the retailer also seemingly tried to "run away from" its district court judge.

  • March 03, 2026

    Terminix Wins Coverage For $8M Pesticide Exposure Award

    An excess insurer must cover part of an $8 million judgment entered against Terminix in a pesticide exposure suit, the Ninth Circuit said Tuesday, affirming that the underlying injury arose out of Terminix's product for the purposes of the policy's "products-completed operations hazard" coverage.

  • March 03, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs Captain's Conviction In Dive Boat Fire Tragedy

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday upheld a seaman's manslaughter conviction for the captain of a boat that caught fire killing 34 people, citing "overwhelming evidence" of his gross negligence including failure to train staff on fire safety, not enlisting a roving patrol and being the first to abandon the burning ship.

  • March 03, 2026

    Justices Skeptical That Appeal Waivers Shield Bad Sentences

    Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court grilled a U.S. Department of Justice attorney Tuesday over arguments that defendants who take plea deals with appeal waivers cannot fight even extreme and unconstitutional sentences in appellate courts.

  • March 03, 2026

    Inova Defeats Nurses' COVID Vax Bias Suits At 4th Circ.

    The Fourth Circuit refused Tuesday to revive suits from nurse anesthetists who said they faced religious and disability discrimination when they were fired for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19, ruling that nonprofit healthcare provider Inova wasn't their employer.

  • March 03, 2026

    Apple Asks 9th Circ. To Rethink Part Of App Store Injunction

    Apple asked the Ninth Circuit to reconsider part of a panel decision that largely affirmed an injunction in the case being brought by Epic Games Inc. that blocked the tech giant from charging developers "prohibitive" commissions on iPhone app purchases made outside its payment systems.

  • March 03, 2026

    Ex-SEC Attys Back Disgorgement Limits Before High Court

    Nearly two dozen former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission attorneys are among those urging the U.S. Supreme Court to put an end to the agency collecting disgorgement from those accused of wrongdoing without first identifying victims of the alleged fraud at hand. 

  • March 03, 2026

    Ex-FDA Leaders Rebut Contraception Rollbacks At 3rd Circ.

    Former FDA commissioners argued that Trump-era religious exemptions for birth control coverage jeopardize public health and distort medical science, in an animus brief filed Monday with the Third Circuit.

  • March 03, 2026

    Wash. Panel Reverses $11M Tax Award To Insurance Co.

    A Washington state appeals panel handed a win to Washington's Department of Revenue on Tuesday, reversing a lower court's order that the department owed a $10.9 million tax refund to a title insurance and settlement services company.

  • March 03, 2026

    NC Doctor's Bid For New Trial Is Too Late, Judge Says

    A North Carolina federal judge has refused to order a new trial for a doctor convicted of participating in an $11 million Medicare fraud scheme, finding that because the motion did not contain new evidence, the deadline to request another trial has passed.

  • March 03, 2026

    5th Circ. Unsure Grid Hookup Request Cap Hurts States

    A Fifth Circuit panel appeared skeptical that Louisiana and Mississippi utility regulators deserve an exemption from the cap on the number of electricity generation projects in a regional grid operator's interconnection request queue, asking Tuesday if any state had previously enjoyed a waiver.

  • March 03, 2026

    5th Circ. Hints Coverage Turns On Crash Suits, Not Policies

    A Fifth Circuit judge on Tuesday zeroed in on the allegations in more than two dozen lawsuits stemming from a 130-vehicle pileup in Fort Worth as the court weighed whether an insurer has a duty to defend a trio of contractors who expanded the toll road where the fatal crashes occurred.

  • March 03, 2026

    Sanofi Gets Approval For Interlocutory Appeal In Taxotere MDL

    Pharmaceutical company Sanofi will get a chance to ask the Fifth Circuit to end multidistrict litigation claiming it failed to warn cancer patients about the risk of eye injuries caused by its chemotherapy drug Taxotere, arguing that a label ruling that allowed generic-drug makers out of the case should also apply to it.

Expert Analysis

  • How Recent Del. Rulings Clarify M&A Deal Fraud Carveouts

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    Two recent Delaware decisions have provided clarity regarding when a party can or cannot rely on representations made during the course of an M&A transaction, particularly on the scope and enforceability of antireliance provisions, and on representations they knew or should have known were false, says Anthony Boccamazzo at Olshan Frome.

  • High Court's 'Skinny Label' Case May Tackle Wider Questions

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming decision in Hikma v. Amarin will have important ramifications for broader debates over what defines a generic version of a drug, and the pending case is already altering patent practice, say attorneys at Taft.

  • Aligning Microsoft Tools With NYC Bar AI Recording Guidance

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    The New York City Bar Association’s recently issued formal opinion, providing ethical guidance on artificial intelligence-assisted recording, transcription and summarization, raises immediate questions about data governance and e-discovery for companies that use Microsoft 365 and Copilot, say Staci Kaliner, Martin Tully and John Collins at Redgrave.

  • 11th Circ. NextEra Ruling Broadens Loss Causation Standard

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    The Eleventh Circuit's recent Jastram v. NextEra Energy decision significantly expands the loss causation standard at the motion-to-dismiss stage and may lead to suits predicated on more tenuous connections between company disclosures and alleged misstatements, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: March Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four recent rulings from January and identifies practice tips from cases involving allegations of violations of consumer fraud regulations, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, employment law and breach of contract statutes.

  • Where 5th Circ. Ruling Fits In ERISA Arbitration Landscape

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent decision in Parrott v. International Bancshares, holding that an Employee Retirement Income Security Act plan may consent to arbitration, must be understood against the backdrop of a developing body of appellate authority addressing ERISA arbitration, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • 5 Different AI Systems Raise Distinct Privilege Issues

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    A New York federal court’s recent U.S. v. Heppner decision, holding that a defendant’s use of Claude was not privileged, only addressed one narrow artificial intelligence system, but lawyers must recognize that the spectrum of AI tools raises different confidentiality and privilege questions, says Heidi Nadel at HP.

  • After Learning Resources: A Practical Guide For US Importers

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    Following the U.S. Supreme Court's Feb. 20 decision in Learning Resources v. Trump, U.S. importers and consumers on whom tariffs were imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act can seek relief through existing administrative procedures or a yet-to-be-determined bespoke refund mechanism, and should plan for more changes in the tariff landscape, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Opinion

    AI-Assisted Arbitration Needs Safeguards To Ensure Fairness

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    As tribunals and arbitral institutions increasingly use artificial intelligence tools in their decision-making processes, ​​​​​​​clear disclosure standards and procedural safeguards are necessary to ensure that efficiency gains do not erode the fairness principles on which arbitration depends, says Alexander Lima at Wesco International.

  • Logistics Update: What Immigrant Driver Rule Means For Cos.

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    The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's new final rule restricting issuance of commerical driver's licenses for nondomiciled drivers will have immediate operational implications for motor carriers, but the broader effects will ripple through relationships between service providers and their sources of freight, including brokers and shippers, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • How Del. High Court's Moelis Reversal Fits Into DExit Debate

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    By declining to decide the facial validity of the provisions at issue in Moelis & Co. v. West Palm Beach Firefighters Pension Fund, the Delaware Supreme Court's recent reversal of the Court of Chancery's 2024 ruling highlights broader implications for the ongoing debate over whether companies should incorporate elsewhere, say attorneys at Akin.

  • What's Next After NLRB Dismissal Of SpaceX Suit

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    Though the National Labor Relations Board’s recent decision to dismiss its long-running unfair labor practice complaint against SpaceX on jurisdictional grounds temporarily resolves a circuit split over injunctions, constitutional and employee-classification questions remain, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Series

    Playing Piano Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing piano and practicing law share many parallels relating to managing complexity: Just as hearing an entire musical passage in my head allows me to reliably deliver the message, thinking about the audience's impression helps me create a legal narrative that keeps the reader engaged, says Michael Shepherd at Fish & Richardson.

  • 11th Circ. May Bring Tectonic Shift To FCA Qui Tam Actions

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    The Eleventh Circuit's upcoming decision in Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates, assessing whether the False Claims Act permits ordinary citizens to stand as officers of the federal government, could significantly limit private relators' ability to bring FCA actions, say attorneys at Saul Ewing.

  • What 4th Circ.-Approved DEI Ban Means For Employers

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    The Fourth Circuit’s recent lifting of the injunction against two executive orders banning recipients of federal funds from conducting diversity, equity and inclusion programs means employers should conduct audits to minimize their risk of violating federal antidiscrimination laws or the False Claims Act, says Jonathan Segal at Duane Morris.

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