Appellate

  • August 12, 2025

    4th Circ. Affirms Toss Of Last Claim In CSX Flooding Suit

    The Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment Tuesday to CSX Transportation Inc. on a remaining breach of contract claim in a suit by residents and businesses of Lumberton, North Carolina, who claim CSX wrongly prevented the city from sandbagging its railroad route to prevent flooding during storms in 2016 and 2018.

  • August 12, 2025

    NJ Appeals Court Clarifies Ghost Gun Law, Affirms Sentence

    A New Jersey state appeals court found in a matter of first impression that a man who bought ghost gun kits in Pennsylvania, where they are legal, could be charged when he brought the non-serialized, unlicensed weapons back to his Garden State home, affirming his three-year sentence.

  • August 12, 2025

    Feds Say High Court Case Supports Discord Trader Indictment

    Federal prosecutors and a group of men accused of running a $114 million pump-and-dump stock scheme over Discord have made their case for whether a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision means a judge was correct in tossing a 21-count indictment against the men.

  • August 12, 2025

    4th Circ. Lifts Block On DOGE's Data Access At 3 Agencies

    A split Fourth Circuit panel vacated a block Tuesday on the Department of Government Efficiency's access to personal information held by three federal agencies, prescribing an exacting appraisal of the challenging unions' chances of winning all aspects of the case.

  • August 12, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Real Estate Co.'s IRS Contract Dispute

    A real estate company failed to show that the Internal Revenue Service improperly blocked its bid to continue leasing office space to the agency after agency employees complained about the building, the Federal Circuit said Tuesday, affirming a Court of Federal Claims ruling.

  • August 12, 2025

    11th Circ. Suggests 'Bad Drafting' Led NCR To Benefit Liability

    The Eleventh Circuit signaled Tuesday that it will likely uphold an early win by former executives of a Georgia e-commerce company who said they were short-changed in payouts from a "top hat" benefits plan, telling the company it couldn't escape the "bad drafting" of its contract.

  • August 12, 2025

    Teamsters Fund Fights Debt Recalculation Order At 7th Circ.

    The Seventh Circuit should overturn an Illinois federal judge's order for a Teamsters pension fund to recalculate a concrete company's debt, the fund argued, saying the fund's original finding that the company owed roughly $23 million was correct.

  • August 12, 2025

    Groups Urge IRS To Resist Pressure To Share Taxpayer Info

    Advocacy groups urged the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday to keep resisting presidential pressure to share confidential tax-return information with immigration enforcement authorities, saying the abrupt departure of the agency's new commissioner highlights the need for oversight.

  • August 12, 2025

    Trump Nominates 5 To Mississippi, Alabama Federal Courts

    President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday five judicial nominees for federal courts in Mississippi and Alabama, one of whom Trump tried to put on the bench in his first term.

  • August 12, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Rejects Another Fannie, Freddie Investor Suit

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit accusing the federal government of profiting off Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to other shareholders' detriment, saying the case was seeking to rehash arguments the court rejected three years ago.

  • August 12, 2025

    2nd Circ. Rules Dormant Commerce Clause Covers Marijuana

    A split Second Circuit panel on Tuesday ruled that, despite marijuana's federal illegality, the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from privileging their own residents when awarding licenses to cannabis businesses.

  • August 12, 2025

    Ohio Court Orders Resentencing Over Disclosure Failures

    An Ohio state appeals court has ruled that a man given an indefinite sentence for a series of assaults must be resentenced after a trial court failed to adequately inform him about his sentence when it was handed down.

  • August 12, 2025

    Rising Star: Jones Day's Brinton Lucas

    Brinton Lucas of Jones Day successfully challenged a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule requiring public companies to describe their reasoning behind stock buybacks, earning him a spot among the appellate law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • August 12, 2025

    DOJ Demurs On Lawsuit Seeking Emil Bove Docs

    The U.S. Department of Justice is contesting a watchdog's lawsuit seeking to obtain public records requests on now-Third Circuit Judge Emil Bove, who was formerly President Donald Trump's criminal attorney and a top DOJ official.

  • August 12, 2025

    Insurer Pushes 11th Circ. To Avoid Malpractice Coverage

    An insurance company has told the Eleventh Circuit it should not have to foot the bill to defend its client against a federal malpractice suit in Atlanta, arguing its policy contains a carveout for claims involving "conversion, improper comingling, or misappropriation," and asking the appellate court to review an earlier dismissal de novo.

  • August 12, 2025

    11th Circ. Wary Of Individual Arbitration Push In ESOP Fight

    The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday appeared unlikely to force individual arbitration of a federal benefits lawsuit alleging that a legal technology company's employee stock ownership plan shares were undervalued in a plan termination, with multiple judges questioning the validity of an arbitration provision in ESOP plan documents.

  • August 12, 2025

    6th Circ. Says Officials' Cabin Search Violated 4th Amendment

    The Sixth Circuit on Monday upheld a lower court's decision denying qualified immunity to Michigan officials who entered a family's property without a warrant or permission, ruling the mini cabins they inspected were protected as homes under the Fourth Amendment and the search was unreasonable.

  • August 11, 2025

    5th Circ. Backs Mexican Banks' Subpoena For Fraud Case

    The Fifth Circuit on Monday refused to revive a Mexican businessman's motion to quash a subpoena stemming from major Mexican financial institutions' efforts to obtain discovery as they pursue claims that the businessman absconded with $32 million in loans, saying it detected "no error" in a lower court's denial.

  • August 11, 2025

    9th Circ. Affirms SEC Win In Life Insurance Investment Row

    The Ninth Circuit ruled in a published opinion Monday that fractional interests in life settlements are investment contracts and thus securities, backing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's win against Pacific West Capital Group agents, who the SEC alleged sold unregistered securities and didn't properly register as broker-dealers.

  • August 11, 2025

    2nd Circ. Revives Hezbollah Terrorism Suit Against Bank

    The Second Circuit held Monday that a Lebanese bank is subject to the personal jurisdiction of New York courts on claims over its predecessor's alleged assistance to Hezbollah, citing the state highest court's certified answer in the case while also reasoning that the bank being subjected to the state's jurisdiction was foreseeable.

  • August 11, 2025

    11th Circ. Nixes Ineffective-Counsel Claim In Salmonella Case

    Peanut Corp. of America's former president and a food broker convicted for their roles in a salmonella outbreak that killed nine people and sickened more than 700 cannot throw out their prison sentences, the Eleventh Circuit ruled Monday, rejecting their assertion of ineffective counsel.

  • August 11, 2025

    Ohio Justice's Suit Over Partisan Label Rule Moves Forward

    Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner's challenge to a state law requiring judicial candidates to list their political party affiliations on general election ballots will go on after a federal judge ruled the justice sufficiently alleged that her First Amendment rights were violated.

  • August 11, 2025

    11th Circ. Rejects Speedy Trial Claim In MetroPCS Robberies

    The Eleventh Circuit will not overturn the conviction of a man arrested in a string of MetroPCS store robberies in Miami, saying that even though the government may have violated the Speedy Trial Act, the man missed the window to challenge the charges.

  • August 11, 2025

    Justices Told USAA's $218M Win Threatened By Inconsistency

    The Federal Circuit's decision to let the Patent Trial and Appeal Board invalidate patents at the heart of the United Services Automobile Association's recently reversed $218 million infringement verdict against PNC Bank, endorsed allowing government agencies to issue contradictory rulings without explaining themselves, USAA has told the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • August 11, 2025

    2nd Circ. Revives Ex-Fed Worker's COVID Vax Exemption Suit

    The Second Circuit has revived a former employee's claims against the Federal Reserve Bank of New York over its COVID-19 vaccination requirement, saying Monday there was a disputed issue of fact over whether the executive assistant had a genuine religious objection.

Expert Analysis

  • Diversity, Equity, Indictment? Contractor Risks After Kousisis

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Kousisis v. U.S. decision, holding that economic loss is not required to sustain wire fraud charges related to fraudulent inducement, may extend criminal liability to government contractors that make false diversity, equity and inclusion certifications, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Navigating Client Trauma

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    Law schools don't train students to handle repeated exposure to clients' traumatic experiences, but for litigators practicing in areas like civil rights and personal injury, success depends on the ability to view cases clinically and to recognize when you may need to seek help, says Katie Bennett at Robins Kaplan.

  • 9th Circ. Customs Ruling A Limited Win For FCA Plaintiffs

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    While the decision last month in Island Industries v. Sigma may be welcome news for False Claims Act relators, under binding precedent courts within the Ninth Circuit still do not have jurisdiction to adjudicate customs-based FCA claims pursued by the government, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Opinion

    4 Former Justices Would Likely Frown On Litigation Funding

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    As courts increasingly confront cases involving hidden litigation finance contracts, the jurisprudence of four former U.S. Supreme Court justices establishes a constitutional framework that risks erosion by undisclosed financial interests, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

  • Quantifying Trading-Based Damages Using Price Impact

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will likely increasingly rely on price impact analyses to demonstrate pecuniary harm from trading-related misconduct, meaning measuring price impact will be helpful in challenging SEC disgorgement, determining appropriate remedies, and assessing loss causation and damages in private litigation, says Vyacheslav Fos at Boston College and Erin Smith at Compass Lexecon.

  • How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery

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    E-discovery has reached a turning point where document review is no longer just about procedural tasks like identifying relevance and redacting privilege — rather, generative artificial intelligence tools now allow attorneys to draw connections, extract meaning and tell a coherent story, says Rose Jones at Hilgers Graben.

  • How McKesson Ruling Will Inform Interpretations Of The TCPA

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    Amid the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson, we can expect to see both plaintiffs and defendants utilizing the decision to revisit the Federal Communications Commission's past Telephone Consumer Protection Act interpretations and decisions they did not like, says Jason McElroy at Saul Ewing.

  • Justices Rethink Minimum Contacts For Foreign Entities

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    Two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Devas v. Antrix and Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization, suggest that federal statutes may confer personal jurisdiction over foreign entities that have little to no contact with the U.S. — a significant departure from traditional due process principles, says Gary Shaw at Pillsbury.

  • Opinion

    High Court Must Overrule Outdated Patent Eligibility Doctrine

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    A certiorari petition should directly ask the U.S. Supreme Court to correct its 1972 patent decision in Gottschalk v. Benson, the critical point where patent eligibility law veered from the statutory text toward judicial policymaking, says Robert Greenspoon at Dunlap Bennett.

  • Examining TCPA Jurisprudence A Year After Loper Bright

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    One year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, lower court decisions demonstrate that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act will continue to evolve as long-standing interpretations of the act are analyzed with a fresh lens, says Aaron Gallardo at Kilpatrick.

  • Gauging The Risky Business Of Business Risk Disclosures

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    With the recent rise of securities fraud actions based on external events — like a data breach or environmental disaster — that drive down stock prices, risk disclosures have become more of a sword for the plaintiffs bar than a shield for public companies, now the subject of a growing circuit split, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.

  • How Justices' Ruling Limits Options To Challenge DHS Orders

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    In Riley v. Bondi, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that a 30-day deadline for challenging deportation orders begins when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issues a final administrative review order, opening the door for the government to effectively bar circuit court review in future similar cases, says Kevin Gregg at Kurzban Kurzban.

  • Series

    Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

  • Purdue Case Could Transform Patent Obviousness Analyses

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    If accepted for review by the U.S. Supreme Court, Purdue Pharma v. Accord Healthcare — concerning whether Purdue's abuse-deterrent opioid formulation patents were invalid as obvious — could significantly shift how courts weigh secondary considerations in patent obviousness analyses, say attorneys at Lathrop.

  • NM Cyber Ruling Will Spur Litigation As Coverage Remedy

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    In Kane v. Beazley, the New Mexico Court of Appeals recently found that a cyber liability provision insuring security breaches included coverage for funds transfer fraud, implicitly and incorrectly motivating policyholders to commence litigation to avoid contractual limitations on cyber coverages, say attorneys at Zelle.

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