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Appellate
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June 12, 2024
EPA Tells DC Circ. Emissions Rules Should Stay In Place
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has fired back at attempts to pause two final rules establishing greenhouse gas emissions standards for power plants and expanded methane emissions control requirements for oil and gas infrastructure, urging the D.C. Circuit to keep the rules in place amid myriad legal challenges.
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June 12, 2024
11th Circ. Won't Rehear Ruling In Pratt & Whitney Cancer Case
The full Eleventh Circuit won't review a panel's affirmation of a jury verdict win for defense contractor Pratt & Whitney that found it had failed to exercise reasonable care when disposing of radioactive materials but also freed it from liability for the pediatric cancer cases that emerged in a Florida neighborhood.
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June 12, 2024
9th Circ. Questions Arbitration Carveout For AmEx Workers
A Ninth Circuit panel seemed inclined Wednesday to force four white former American Express employees to arbitrate their proposed class action claims alleging race bias.
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June 12, 2024
32 AGs Urge Justices Take Up Okla. PBM Law Fight
Thirty-two attorneys general urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Oklahoma's petition for review of a Tenth Circuit decision holding that federal law preempted portions of a state law regulating pharmacy benefit managers, arguing the justices needed to intervene to resolve a circuit split.
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June 12, 2024
Energy Co. Says Specialist Can't Get Arbitration Exemption
A Houston natural gas company told a Texas appellate court Wednesday that an environmental specialist injured in a pipeline explosion isn't covered by an exemption for interstate commerce work in the Federal Arbitration Act, arguing that allowing him to claim the exemption would be akin to allowing a janitor to do the same.
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June 12, 2024
FTC Asks 4th Circ. To Pause Novant Hospital Purchase
The Federal Trade Commission has asked the Fourth Circuit to pause Novant Health's purchase of a North Carolina hospital while enforcers appeal an order from the lower court that refused to put the deal on hold for the commission's in-house merger challenge.
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June 12, 2024
Loan Co. Owners Say SEC Improperly Expanded Receivership
A couple accused of scamming 1,200 investors out of nearly half a billion dollars asked the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to reverse an order expanding a receivership of their merchant loan business, arguing their due process rights were violated when their personal assets were added to the receivership.
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June 12, 2024
Conn. Justices Nix Health Dept. Worker's Whistleblower Claim
The Connecticut Supreme Court has trounced a public health official's claim that she was fired for blowing the whistle on appointees who lacked mandatory credentials, upholding her termination but also backing her simultaneous pursuit of a union grievance and an administrative complaint.
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June 12, 2024
6th Circ. Says Worker's Anti-Vax Bias Suit Prematurely Tossed
A trial court was too tough on a Christian job seeker when it threw out her religious bias lawsuit against an in-home healthcare provider that she alleged turned her away for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the Sixth Circuit ruled Wednesday.
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June 12, 2024
Feds Urge 5th Circ. Against Fast-Tracking Parole Suit
The Biden administration rebuked a Texas-led coalition's efforts to fast-track its challenge to an immigration program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, telling the Fifth Circuit the states won't suffer financial injury from the program while the case is underway.
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June 12, 2024
Atty Fights For Reinstatement In NC After Conviction
Disbarred attorney Gregory Bartko pressed the North Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday to give him a shot at reinstatement, arguing that his 2010 conviction for fraud and money laundering doesn't allow the state bar organization to outright reject his request for being licensed again.
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June 12, 2024
Ga. Appeals Seat Winner Accused Of Fraud Over Residency
An unsuccessful candidate for a Georgia Court of Appeals seat has launched a bid challenging the victory of a former state bar leader, arguing that he committed election fraud when he lied about living in Atlanta when he qualified as a candidate.
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June 12, 2024
Dershowitz Wants Jury To Decide Defamation Suit Against CNN
An attorney for law scholar Alan Dershowitz told an Eleventh Circuit panel Wednesday the court should revive a $300 million defamation lawsuit against CNN, arguing that a jury should decide whether the news network is liable for intentionally omitting Dershowitz's statements in broadcasts over former President Donald Trump's 2020 impeachment trial.
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June 12, 2024
Pleading Flaw Sinks $1.5M Malpractice Award In Miami
A Miami appeals court on Wednesday vacated a $1.5 million legal malpractice arbitration award against The Ferraro Law Firm, finding the arbitrator had not followed pleading guidelines fairly in awarding the seven-figure award to the firm's ex-client, Royal Merchant Holdings LLC.
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June 12, 2024
Kelly Hart Atty, North Texas Judge Picked For Biz Court Seats
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced four more appointments to the statewide business court on Wednesday, a day after announcing his first picks for the state's newest appellate courts.
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June 12, 2024
Massachusetts Pot Shop To Take Union Fight To 1st Circ.
A Massachusetts cannabis retailer found to have engaged in union busting is appealing a district court order that directed it to bargain with a United Food and Commercial Workers local and to offer to rehire two fired union supporters.
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June 12, 2024
Bannon Looks To Avoid Prison Amid Contempt Appeals
Donald Trump ally Stephen Bannon wants the D.C. Circuit to put off his four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress while he continues to challenge the conviction, contending that the case is likely to pique the interest of the U.S. Supreme Court.
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June 12, 2024
EPA Urges DC Circ. To Uphold Chemical Rule Deadline
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday asked the D.C. Circuit to reject a Louisiana-based neoprene manufacturer's bid to immediately block the EPA from enforcing a chemical emissions rule that will directly affect the company.
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June 12, 2024
2nd Circ. Partially Nixes Injunction Over Amazon Firing
The Second Circuit vacated on Wednesday a New York federal judge's order barring Amazon from firing workers for engaging in union activity, saying the judge did not explain why she imposed the broad prohibition while at the same time finding the company did not have to rehire a fired union activist.
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June 12, 2024
Biden Names Prosecutors, Judge For 3 District Courts
President Joe Biden announced nominees Wednesday for district courts in Minnesota, California and Pennsylvania.
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June 11, 2024
Psychiatrist Can't Ax Verdict Over ADHD Drug Death
A Missouri appeals court on Tuesday refused to let a psychiatrist off the hook for a $5 million jury verdict — later reduced to less than $1 million — that found that he had negligently prescribed amphetamines to a patient with a history of abusing them, ultimately resulting in a brain hemorrhage that killed her.
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June 11, 2024
Ohio Justices Will Review Bid To Toss Neck Injury Suit
The Ohio Supreme Court said on Tuesday it would review an appellate court decision that pulled Mid-Ohio Physicians LLP and one of its doctors back into a medical malpractice lawsuit after they had escaped liability by leaning on the statute of limitations.
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June 11, 2024
6th Circ. Judge Doubts Clinic's Standing To Block Bias Law
During Sixth Circuit arguments Tuesday probing whether a Christian medical clinic can block Michigan from targeting it for refusing to facilitate gender transitions, one judge searched for evidence that the clinic is actually at risk of being prosecuted under the state's civil rights law.
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June 11, 2024
2nd Circ. Cites Macquarie In Booting Suit Over Go-Private Deal
The Second Circuit refused to revive a proposed class action accusing a real estate services provider of artificially depressing share prices, applying apparently for the first time the U.S. Supreme Court's Macquarie decision on alleged failures to disclose certain information.
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June 11, 2024
DC Circ. Affirms Petrobras' Immunity Denial In Fraud Case
The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the denial of Petrobras' immunity defense against an investor fraud lawsuit filed after the petroleum company was implicated in a sprawling bribery scheme, ruling that the alleged fraud caused a direct impact on the United States sufficient to pull Petrobras into the court's jurisdiction.
Expert Analysis
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Key Antitrust Class Certification Questions Remain Unclear
The U.S. Supreme Court, by recently rejecting certiorari in Visa v. National ATM, turned down the opportunity to clarify how to analyze disputed evidence bearing on the certification of antitrust class actions, leaving the applicable standards unclear instead of resolving this split of authority, says Jonathan Berman at Jones Day.
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E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data
Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.
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What's Notable In JAMS' New Mass Arbitration Rules
The Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services’ recently released guidelines, coming on the heels of similar American Arbitration Association amendments, suggests that mass arbitrations will remain an efficient means for consumers to vindicate their rights against companies, say Jonathan Waisnor and Brandon Heitmann at Labaton Keller.
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Fostering Employee Retention Amid Shaky DEI Landscape
Ongoing challenges to the legality of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs are complicating efforts to use DEI as an employee retention tool, but with the right strategic approach employers can continue to recruit and retain diverse talent — even after the FTC’s ban on noncompetes, says Ally Coll at the Purple Method.
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'Fat Leonard' Case Shows High Bar For Rescinding Guilty Plea
Prosecutors’ recent move in the “Fat Leonard” bribery case, supporting several defendants’ motions to withdraw their guilty pleas, is extremely unusual – and its contrast with other prosecutions demonstrates that the procedural safeguards at plea hearings are far from enough, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.
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Justices Clarify FAA But Leave Behind Important Questions
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Bissonnette v. LePage firmly shuts the door on any argument that the Federal Arbitration Act's Section 1 exemption is limited to transportation workers whose employers transport goods on behalf of others, but two major issues remain unresolved, say Joshua Wesneski and Crystal Weeks at Weil.
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Is The Digital Accessibility Storm Almost Over?
Though private businesses have faced a decadelong deluge of digital accessibility complaints in the absence of clear regulations or uniformity among the courts, attorneys at Epstein Becker address how recent federal courts’ pushback against serial Americans with Disabilities Act plaintiffs and the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed government accessibility standards may presage a break in the downpour.
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Rebuttal
Double-Patenting Ruling Shows Terminal Disclaimers' Value
While a recent Law360 guest article seems to argue that the Federal Circuit’s Cellect decision last year robs patent owners of lawful patent term, the ruling actually identifies how terminal disclaimers are the solution to the problem of obviousness-type double patenting, say Jane Love and Robert Trenchard at Gibson Dunn.
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Series
Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.
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How Courts Are Interpreting Fed. Circ. IPR Estoppel Ruling
In the year since the Federal Circuit’s Ironburg ruling, which clarified the scope of inter partes and post-grant review estoppel, district court decisions show that application of IPR or PGR estoppel may become a resource-intensive inquiry, say Whitney Meier Howard and Michelle Lavrichenko at Venable.
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Mid-2024 FCA Enforcement And Litigation Trends To Watch
Reviewing notable False Claims Act trends and enforcement efforts in the last year and a half reveals that healthcare is a key enforcement priority for the U.S. Department of Justice, and the road ahead may bring clarification on Anti-Kickback Statute causation and willfulness standards, along with increased focus on private equity, cybersecurity and self-disclosure, say attorneys at Epstein Becker.
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2nd Circ. Eminent Domain Ruling Empowers Municipalities
The Second Circuit's recent decision in Brinkmann v. Town of Southold, finding that a pretextual taking does not violate the Fifth Amendment's takings clause, gives municipalities a powerful tool with which to block unwanted development projects, even in bad faith, say James O'Connor and Benjamin Sugarman at Phillips Lytle.
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Opinion
SEC Doesn't Have Legal Authority For Climate Disclosure Rule
Instead of making the required legal argument to establish its authority, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosure rule hides behind more than 1,000 references to materiality to give the appearance that its rule is legally defensible, says Bernard Sharfman at RealClearFoundation.
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Breaking Down 4th Circ. Pendent Appellate Jurisdiction Ruling
As illustrated by the Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Elegant Massage v. State Farm, denying class certification and granting a motion to dismiss, federal appellate courts continue to struggle with defining the scope of pendent appellate jurisdiction — or jurisdiction over nonfinal orders below, says Joan Steinman at the Chicago-Kent College of Law.
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What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron
With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.