Appellate

  • September 30, 2026

    23andMe Beats Calif.'s Bankruptcy Sale Privacy Challenge

    A Missouri federal judge on Tuesday denied California's bid to undo the $305 million bankruptcy sale of 23andMe over concerns that the sale sidestepped state consumer data protections, ruling that the state lacks standing to challenge the sale and that the court's "good-faith" findings aren't clearly erroneous.  

  • September 30, 2026

    Texas Court Revives Suit Over Sponge Left In Surgery Patient

    A Texas appellate court on Wednesday revived a medical malpractice suit accusing three radiologists of failing to identify a surgical sponge left inside a patient after open-heart surgery, saying there is a factual dispute over whether the plaintiffs acted with sufficient diligence to overcome a statute-of-limitations defense.

  • September 30, 2026

    3rd Circ. Topples Materiality Rule For Securities Suits

    The Third Circuit on Wednesday revived a securities fraud class action against pharmaceutical company Ocugen Inc., scrapping a decades-old circuit rule that treated a stock price's failure to move after a corrective disclosure as conclusive proof that an alleged misstatement was immaterial.

  • September 30, 2026

    11th Circ. Skeptical Of PACE Lenders' CFPB Rule Challenge

    An Eleventh Circuit panel on Wednesday appeared poised to reject an industry challenge to Biden-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rules for providers of property-assessed clean-energy loans, repeatedly questioning claims that the agency overstepped its authority.

  • September 30, 2026

    Ga. Judge Must Justify No Sanctions In Alice-Doomed IP Case

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday ordered a Georgia federal judge to explain why it wasn't appropriate to sanction Epic Tech LLC when there were three major signs the patent it asserted against Pen-Tech Associates Inc. was invalid.

  • September 30, 2026

    Fla. Panel Says Hot-Car Conviction Needs Knowledge Element

    A Florida state appeals court Wednesday ruled that a nanny convicted of felony murder after forgetting she left a 10-month-old inside a hot car should be tried again, saying prosecutors used an improper underlying charge as a basis for the felony murder charge.

  • September 30, 2026

    3rd Circ. Calls Westlaw AI Fight 'Ordinary Copyright Case'

    The Third Circuit said the first appellate fight over artificial intelligence training and fair use ultimately came down to an "ordinary copyright case," affirming that Ross Intelligence infringed Thomson Reuters' Westlaw headnotes when it used them to train a competing legal research platform.

  • September 30, 2026

    3rd Circ. Probes Payment Recipients In Fund's $100M Tax Row

    A Third Circuit panel examined dealer-and-customer relations under accounting rules governing their transactions on Wednesday to determine whether the Internal Revenue Service was right to slap a $100 million tax bill against a Cayman Islands hedge fund for payments tied to U.S. portfolio companies.

  • September 30, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Backs PTAB Ax Of Twist Drill Patent Claims

    A Chinese inventor lost his attempt to revive claims in his twist drill patent he accused a Minnesota company of infringing on Wednesday when the Federal Circuit backed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's invalidation of the claims.

  • September 30, 2026

    Biz Groups Urge 5th Circ. To Back Texas Derivative-Suits Limit

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Texas Association of Business on Wednesday urged the Fifth Circuit to uphold the dismissal of a Southwest Airlines shareholder's derivative suit, saying Texas law properly blocks such suits for those who hold less than 3% of shares.

  • September 30, 2026

    Amazon, Investor Clash Over Del. Forum Limits On Records

    Amazon.com Inc. and a stockholder seeking company records clashed before the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday over whether the investor should be restricted to using those documents in Delaware litigation, with the stockholder arguing the condition is too broad and Amazon saying it protects against duplicative lawsuits in multiple courts.

  • September 30, 2026

    States Back AGs' 6th Circ. Bid To Keep RealPage Rent Claims

    A contingent of 25 states is backing a Sixth Circuit appeal from several other state-level enforcers challenging settlements in private litigation that could block them from seeking damages over claims that landlords used RealPage's software to collude on residential rental rates.

  • September 30, 2026

    11th Circ. Seems Wary Of Ga. Campaign Finance Challenge

    The Eleventh Circuit appeared reluctant Wednesday to revive the Libertarian Party of Georgia and the Georgia Green Party's challenge to a Peach State campaign finance statute they say gives traditional political parties an unfair advantage, pressing their attorney on whether they had standing to sue. 

  • September 30, 2026

    Ohio High Court Says Omitted Self-Defense Instruction OK

    A divided Ohio Supreme Court has upheld a man's conviction for firing a gun and hitting his neighbor's house, finding that the man could not prove that the trial court's failure to provide a self-defense instruction — which he had not requested — was an obvious error.

  • September 30, 2026

    3 States Ask High Court To Block Abortion Shield Laws

    Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to strike down shield laws for reproductive care in New York, California and Massachusetts, alleging they illegally allow the mailing of abortion medication into states that restrict or ban abortion.

  • September 30, 2026

    Landowners Seek 11th Circ. Redo On Easement Value Cut

    Three Georgia conservation easement donors asked the full Eleventh Circuit to review a panel's split decision to slash the value of an easement they donated from $18 million to $1 million, saying the decision failed to take into account the property's highest and best use.

  • September 30, 2026

    NJ Co. Says PPE Stockpiling Was Chinese Sovereign Activity

    A New Jersey company accused of helping China hoard personal protective equipment to create a monopoly at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic told the Eleventh Circuit that a lower court erred in finding that the allegations fall within the commercial activity exception to sovereign immunity.

  • September 30, 2026

    Ex-BDO Partner Says Board Retaliated With Equity Cut

    A former BDO USA partner urged the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday to revive claims that the accounting firm improperly stripped him of equity after he announced plans to retire, arguing that even broad contractual discretion cannot be used in bad faith or retaliation.

  • September 30, 2026

    DOJ Atty Picked For Judgeship Probed On Fulton County Raid

    A top U.S. Department of Justice official tapped for a federal judgeship faced questions from Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday about the department's investigation in Fulton County, Georgia, over Trump's allegations of fraud in the 2020 election.

  • September 30, 2026

    Split 9th Circ. Keeps Ariz. Land Swap In Place

    The Ninth Circuit won't rethink a decision to allow a 2,500-acre land exchange within Arizona's Tonto National Forest that tribal nations and conservation groups say will destroy a sacred Apache worship site, with several judges voicing opposition in a pair of dissents and a statement saying the circuit court's 2024 decision in the dispute was wrong.

  • September 30, 2026

    Detainees Urge Justices To Deny Prison Co.'s Wage Appeal

    Immigrant detainees and Washington state asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a prison operator's bid to review a ruling on minimum wages for detention facility workers, arguing a federal agency changed the underlying rules months before the government urged the court to take the case.

  • September 30, 2026

    Crocs Takes ITC Appeal Timing Issue To Supreme Court

    Crocs Inc. wants the U.S. Supreme Court to take a look at when a federal agency's ruling becomes appealable, after the Federal Circuit found the clogs maker was too late in challenging a mixed U.S. International Trade Commission trademark ruling that generated two appeal deadlines.

  • September 30, 2026

    Mass. Panel Tosses Minor's Gun Charges Over Illegal Frisk

    Gun charges against a minor must be thrown out because Boston police did not have justification to search the minor for weapons after ordering him out of a vehicle, a Massachusetts appellate panel ruled Wednesday.

  • September 30, 2026

    Pa. Justices To Weigh If Murder Sentence Rule Is Retroactive

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will decide whether its March ruling ending mandatory life sentences for second-degree murder should be applied retroactively to prisoners already serving those sentences.

  • September 30, 2026

    2nd Circ. Says EFAA Bars Arbitration Of Ex-Exec's Entire Suit

    The Second Circuit ruled Wednesday that an ex-executive can keep her case in court after asserting sexual harassment claims against a Texas law firm, ruling the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault Act shields her whole suit from arbitration — not just her sexual misconduct claims.

Expert Analysis

  • 3rd Circ. Hotel Ruling Flags Key Issues In Dynamic Pricing

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    The Third Circuit's recent decision in Cornish-Adebiyi v. Caesars Entertainment relies on allegations that competitors used nonpublic data to set real-time rates considered exorbitant, highlighting both the potential risks and substantial benefits of utilizing emerging technologies, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • 4th Circ. Class Cert. Ruling Offers Tips For Damages Experts

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    The Fourth Circuit's recent decision reversing class certification in litigation against Boeing raises the cost of a bare-bones damages model proposal for plaintiffs, but it also clarifies what a defensible proposal should contain, say Alok Khare and Erica Rose at FTI Consulting.

  • Opinion

    'Plain Meaning' Requires Plainer Meaning In IP Litigation

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Socket Solutions v. Import Global highlights the frequent ambiguity surrounding courts' references to "plain meaning" in patent claim construction — an ambiguity that should be resolved by courts, not litigants, say attorneys at Klarquist Sparkman.

  • What To Know As Legal Duty To Consider AI Takes Shape

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    While the U.K. Jurisdiction Taskforce’s recent statement on liability for artificial intelligence harms is nonbinding for both U.K. and U.S. lawyers, it highlights the importance of being able to distinguish between the availability of a tool and a professional obligation to use it, say Jonny Frank and Michael Costa at StoneTurn.

  • Patent Ruling Shows Concrete Tech Solution Key To Eligibility

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    The Federal Circuit’s recent Ceiva Opco v. Amazon.com decision offers an important reminder that software-related inventions can remain patent eligible when they claim a concrete technological solution to a specific problem, says Irah Donner at Manatt.

  • Appellate Vape Rulings May Expand State Regulation Powers

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    Two recent federal appeals courts decisions rejecting Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act preemption challenges to state electronic nicotine delivery systems directory laws signal an emerging appellate consensus that could significantly expand states' power to regulate vaping product sales where federal enforcement falls short, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • How Solar Fraud Case Affects Lender Oversight Of Dealers

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to review the Third Circuit's ruling in Migliore v. Sunlight Financial means that residential solar finance companies are protected from vicarious liability for deceptive acts by independent solar dealers — but lenders must still take steps to guard against dealer misconduct, says Rand Manasse at Green Lane Partners.

  • Fed. Circ. Rulings Emphasize Adjudicative Access And Review

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    Decisions from the Federal Circuit's 2026 docket indicate that the court is increasingly paying attention to whether tribunals possess authority to act, meaning practitioners will need to properly address procedural hurdles before they can argue the merits of a case, say attorneys at Reichman Jorgensen.

  • Amazon v. Perplexity Ruling Limits CFAA Reach Over AI Tools

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Amazon v. Perplexity provides important early guidance on how the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act applies to agentic artificial intelligence, and is the latest in a line of rulings in which courts have declined to stretch existing statutes to broadly regulate AI, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Managing OSHA Mental Illness Logs After 5th Circ. Vacatur

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    Employers with facilities in multiple states need to carefully weigh their recordkeeping procedures following the Fifth Circuit’s recent decision that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cannot require employers to log work-related mental illness, as inconsistent logs across facilities may raise other issues, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • Expect More Probes After 3rd Circ. Algorithmic Pricing Ruling

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    The Third Circuit's recent decision in Cornish-Adebiyi v. Caesars Entertainment, allowing algorithmic price-fixing claims to proceed past motions to dismiss, may serve as a road map for how to contend with increased litigation risk in this developing area of antitrust law, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • Series

    Being In A Band Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing shows in storied New York City venues and rehearsing with my bandmates in poorly ventilated rooms helped develop the professional qualities I rely on as a litigator, including an ability to collaborate with strong-minded equals and the determination to treat each client with singular focus, says Eliad Shapiro at Herrick Feinstein.

  • Notable Q2 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    After 2026's second quarter, there is more authority rejecting class certification on total loss valuation theories from courts at the federal circuit, federal district and state appellate level — along with a resolution of a novel issue of depreciation on a wildfire claim, says Kevin Zimmerman at BakerHostetler.

  • 10th Circ. Ruling Undermines False Ad 'Two Clicks' Rule

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    The Tenth Circuit’s recent ruling in KetoNatural Pet Foods v. Hill's Pet Nutrition substantially challenges a long-standing assumption that a company can avoid responsibility for promotional claims simply because the consumer encountered them by clicking a hyperlink to a third-party website, say attorneys at Venable.

  • How Drug Trial Prediction Markets Pose Insider Trading Risks

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    Multiple prediction market platforms have recently announced plans to offer event contracts related to clinical trial outcomes and regulatory decisions, creating new insider trading risks by expanding the group of people possessing related material nonpublic information far beyond traditional corporate insiders, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

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