Appellate

  • July 10, 2025

    IRS Leaker Fairly Sentenced To 5 Years, Gov't Tells DC Circ.

    The judge who sentenced an IRS contractor for leaking thousands of wealthy people's tax returns to the media, including those of President Donald Trump, kept an open mind when she decided to deliver the maximum five-year prison term, the government told the D.C. Circuit, arguing the sentence was fair.

  • July 10, 2025

    Fla. Atty Suspended After Conviction In Embezzlement Case

    The Florida Supreme Court has suspended a lawyer who was found guilty at a June retrial of embezzling from an Orlando law firm where she worked as a paralegal before acquiring her law license.

  • July 10, 2025

    Jazz Looks To Block Avadel From Asking For Sleep Drug OK

    Jazz Pharmaceuticals wants a Delaware federal judge to block Avadel CNS Pharmaceuticals from seeking U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for its Lumryz drug to treat the sleep disorder idiopathic hypersomnia, after the Federal Circuit sent the case back to the lower court.

  • July 10, 2025

    11th Circ. Keeps County Win In Prison Promotion Bias Row

    The Eleventh Circuit kept intact a Georgia district court's decision to toss a county prison counselor's suit claiming she was passed over for promotion because of her gender, ruling Thursday that she lacked evidence to support a discrimination claim.

  • July 10, 2025

    6th Circ. Sinks Ex-Christian School Dean's Racial Bias Claims

    A Christian school's onetime dean of students cannot have his dismissed race and sex discrimination lawsuit revived because his former position falls under a ministerial exception that bars employment claims, the Sixth Circuit has found.

  • July 10, 2025

    Conn. Panel Will Again Hear Ex-Alex Jones Atty's Ethics Case

    The Connecticut Appellate Court will hear former Alex Jones attorney Norm Pattis' second appeal of his already-reduced, two-week suspension for allowing a former associate to send Sandy Hook medical records to other Jones attorneys who had not signed a confidentiality order.

  • July 10, 2025

    Senate Tees Up 6th Circ. Nom Vote As 1st Of 2nd Trump Term

    The first judicial confirmation of the second Trump administration was readied on Thursday, with the U.S. Senate voting 51-43 to end debate on the nomination of Whitney Hermandorfer to the Sixth Circuit.

  • July 10, 2025

    DOL Urges 9th Circ. To OK Toss Of HP 401(k) Forfeiture Suit

    The U.S. Department of Labor urged the Ninth Circuit to reject HP Inc. workers' bid to revive a proposed class action alleging forfeited employee 401(k) plan contributions were mismanaged, arguing a lower court properly tossed the case for failure to state a claim for violating federal benefits law.

  • July 10, 2025

    10th Circ. Affirms Sentence In $1B Energy Tax Credit Scheme

    A leader of a renewable-energy scheme that illicitly sought $1 billion in tax credits failed to persuade the Tenth Circuit to overturn his conviction by arguing that jurors were biased when his lawyer was identified as having helped Michael Jackson beat child molestation charges.

  • July 10, 2025

    Dems Say 3rd Circ. Nominee Urged DOJ To Ignore Courts

    Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee on Thursday unveiled 150 pages of documents, which they say substantiate whistleblower allegations against Third Circuit nominee Emil Bove and raise concerns about his conduct during his tenure at the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • July 09, 2025

    2nd Circ. Axes Conviction Over False Text-To-Vote Memes

    The Second Circuit on Wednesday overturned the conspiracy conviction of a onetime Twitter influencer who worked to convince Democrats in November 2016 they could cast votes for president by text message, saying there was scant proof he coordinated with others.

  • July 09, 2025

    California Court Allows Worker To Pursue 'Headless' PAGA Suit

    A California appeals court panel held Monday that a worker who dismissed his individual claims against his former employer for civil penalties under California's Private Attorneys General Act can still pursue claims solely on behalf of other aggrieved employees in a so-called headless PAGA action.

  • July 09, 2025

    EPA Violated ESA With Nitrogen, Soot Standards, Group Says

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated the Endangered Species Act when it approved air quality standards for two pollutants without properly analyzing their effects on animals and plants, the Center for Biological Diversity told the D.C. Circuit Tuesday.

  • July 09, 2025

    Florida Court Nixes $5.8M Ruling, Says Loans Not Securities

    Florida's Third District Court of Appeal on Wednesday reversed and remanded a roughly $5.8 million judgment in a dispute regarding loan participation agreements between a commercial lender and an investment firm, saying the agreements weren't securities and were instead "routine commercial transactions."

  • July 09, 2025

    Amazon Customer Grilled On Whole Foods Ad Suit At 9th Circ.

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared critical on Wednesday of a consumer's claim that Amazon duped Prime members by pulling its free Whole Foods grocery delivery perk, as the judges pointed to subscriber terms allowing the e-commerce giant to change the benefits package.

  • July 09, 2025

    2nd Circ. Backs Convictions For $150M 'Psychic' Fraud

    The Second Circuit upheld Wednesday a Canadian man's 10-year prison sentence and fraud convictions stemming from a decades-long $150 million direct mailing psychic scheme that defrauded elderly victims, ruling there was sufficient evidence he intended to harm his customers who received something different from what was advertised. 

  • July 09, 2025

    10th Circ. Backs Insurance Co. In Disabled Worker's Fee Fight

    The Tenth Circuit declined to revive a disabled worker's suit claiming a life insurance company owed her attorney fees after she successfully challenged its decision to cancel her benefits, ruling that federal law doesn't allow her to sue for legal expenses if a benefit dispute doesn't go to court.

  • July 09, 2025

    Split 9th Circ. Upholds Death Sentence In Murder Case

    An Arizona man who authorities say was a white supremacist lost a bid to overturn his death penalty sentence for killing his roommates — one of whom was pregnant — after a split Ninth Circuit panel found Wednesday that his trial attorney's performance did not violate his rights.

  • July 09, 2025

    Woman Claims Unwanted Insanity Defense Prejudiced Jury

    A woman who was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2023 has urged the North Carolina Supreme Court to reverse a lower court's opinion that she is not entitled to relief after the possibility of an insanity defense was introduced into her trial against her wishes.

  • July 09, 2025

    NJ Panel Revives Doctor's Fight Against Noncompete Clause

    A New Jersey appellate panel revived on Wednesday a physician's lawsuit challenging the enforceability of a restrictive covenant in his employment contract, ruling that the lower court prematurely dismissed the case without resolving key factual disputes.

  • July 09, 2025

    3rd Circ. Probes 'Disruption' By Alt-Right Ex-Prof's Speech

    A Third Circuit panel pressed the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Wednesday to show that what it called racist off-campus comments by a professor had caused such a disruption that it had to fire him, with one judge asking where they should draw the First Amendment line for free speech.

  • July 09, 2025

    2nd Circ. Pressed For Second Look At Novel Trading Dispute

    An Estée Lauder shareholder is calling for the full bench of the Second Circuit to rehear a case he argues created a "judicially sanctioned loophole" that allows corporate insiders to retain profits they made on short-swing profits.

  • July 09, 2025

    7th Circ. Nixes Rail Sharing Order Power For Subpar Service

    Federal regulators can't give themselves power to order rail carriers to share shipments with their rivals unless the incumbent railroad's service is "inadequate," a Seventh Circuit panel said in striking a Surface Transportation Board rule designed to empower such mandates when service merely fails certain reliability metrics.

  • July 09, 2025

    8th Circ. Finds 'Chicken Coop' Trade Secrets Fight Can't Fly

    The Eighth Circuit will not reinstate an Iowa restaurant operator's lawsuit seeking a declaration that it did not misappropriate the trade secrets of another restaurant of the same name in Nebraska, saying there is no federal question that federal courts can answer.

  • July 09, 2025

    Mich. High Court Affirms Short-Term Rental Deed Restrictions

    The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a private Lake Michigan community's rules bar local property owners from using their lots as short-term rentals.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Kousisis Concurrence Maps FCA Defense To Anti-DEI Suits

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    Justice Clarence Thomas' recent concurrence in Kousisis v. U.S. lays out how federal funding recipients could use the high standard for materiality in government fraud cases to fight the U.S. Justice Department’s threatened False Claims Act suits against payees deviating from the administration’s anti-DEI policies, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Justices' Review Of Fluor May Alter Gov't Contractor Liability

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to review Hencely v. Fluor, a case involving a soldier’s personal injury claims against a government contractor, suggests the justices could reconsider a long-standing test for determining whether contractors are shielded from state-tort liability, says Lisa Himes at Rogers Joseph.

  • 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.

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