Appellate

  • May 22, 2026

    USPTO Defends Squires' Axed PTAB Decision At Fed. Circ.

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is arguing that the Federal Circuit should reject a patent challenger's appeal of Director John Squires' reversal of its successful case against a lottery ticket patent, saying the company doesn't have the right to appeal.

  • May 22, 2026

    Justices' ERISA Ruling May Raise Withdrawal Liability Costs

    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent holding that multiemployer plan actuaries can retroactively change the assumptions used to calculate employers' withdrawal liability could increase the price tag for pulling out of those pension plans, attorneys say.

  • May 22, 2026

    Khalil Seeks Justices' Review Of 3rd Circ. Detention Ruling

    Mahmoud Khalil said Friday that he will turn to the U.S. Supreme Court after the full Third Circuit declined to rehear a split panel decision overturning district court orders releasing him from immigration detention and prohibiting his retention and removal.

  • May 22, 2026

    4th Circ. Revives Suit Accusing Cops Of Faking Evidence

    The Fourth Circuit has ruled in a published opinion that two brothers who were wrongfully convicted of murder two decades ago can move forward with claims that detectives with the Baltimore Police Department coerced a key witness into falsely asserting their role in the crime.

  • May 22, 2026

    4th Circ. Says Atty's Hospital Fraud Claims Not Med Mal

    The Fourth Circuit has revived an attorney's suit against a Maryland hospital, saying while the claims may be related to medical malpractice that he alleges he suffered under a doctor working at the hospital, the fraud and conspiracy claims are not medical malpractice.

  • May 22, 2026

    Health Workers Say US Solicitor Wrong In NY Vax Case

    The U.S. solicitor general's position that the nation's highest court shouldn't take up a religious bias suit over a New York state COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers incorrectly claimed that accommodations were obtainable, the mandate's challengers told the justices Friday.

  • May 22, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Won't Save Aerial Imagery Roof-Measuring Patents

    The Federal Circuit on Friday refused to revive a pair of patents covering a system for measuring a roof by using aerial imagery, rejecting the patent owner's arguments over how the Patent Trial and Appeal Board interpreted key phrases.

  • May 22, 2026

    Disney, Cameron Look To Escape Suit Over 'Avatar' Sequels

    Disney, film director James Cameron and his production company, Lightstorm Entertainment Inc., are urging a California federal judge to throw out a suit alleging the sequels in the "Avatar" movie franchise ripped off a writer's ideas, calling most of the case a "conspiratorial fantasy."

  • May 22, 2026

    USPTO Tells Justices To Skip Dolby Interested Party Case

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject Dolby Laboratories' appeal seeking to require Unified Patents to name the interested parties in a patent challenge, saying Dolby lacks standing and that revised USPTO policies now require such disclosures in future cases.

  • May 22, 2026

    7th Circ. Not Sure 'Call' Means 'Text' Under TCPA

    Seventh Circuit panelists have expressed skepticism that text messages could be considered "telephone calls" under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's do-not-call provisions.

  • May 22, 2026

    $30M In Tax Fraud Penalties Didn't Need Juries, Justices Told

    The IRS did not violate a group of taxpayers' rights to jury trials when it hit them with more than $30 million in penalties for tax fraud, the agency told the U.S. Supreme Court, maintaining that the Eleventh Circuit's decision to deny them juries should stand.

  • May 22, 2026

    Wis. Justices Turn Away Skechers' License Deal Tax Fight

    Wisconsin's top court let stand a ruling that found Skechers USA lacked purpose — other than avoiding taxes — for creating a subsidiary and entering into transactions with it that resulted in the company claiming nearly half a billion dollars in deductions in the state.

  • May 22, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Restores $82M Award Against Ford In IP Fight

    The Federal Circuit on Friday reinstated a jury's $82.3 million contract award to Versata Software Inc. against Ford Motor Co. and ordered a new trial on trade secret damages, finding in a precedential decision that the lower court improperly limited available damages theories.

  • May 22, 2026

    Google Urges DC Circ. To Nix DOJ's Search Win

    Google told the D.C. Circuit Friday the government is using antitrust law to punish a successful competitor as it looks to overturn a trial court's ruling finding that Google illegally maintained its search monopoly.

  • May 22, 2026

    'Can't Just Make Up Names And Sue,' 7th Circ. Judge Says

    A Seventh Circuit judge rebuked a lawyer for naming a "made up" entity, rather than the correct institution, in a workplace sexual harassment lawsuit against the Wisconsin Court System and a former judge, demanding the error be corrected immediately.

  • May 22, 2026

    Justices Won't Upend Ruling Making Ga. Ethics Claims Public

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused Friday to vacate an Eleventh Circuit ruling that allowed Georgia's judicial watchdog to publicize allegations that two unsuccessful Georgia Supreme Court candidates violated ethics rules, shortly after the pair argued the election did not moot the case.

  • May 22, 2026

    States Tell Justices Colo. Climate Suit Threatens Sovereignty

    Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania and 23 other states urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that allowed local communities to pursue climate change damages under state law, arguing it jeopardizes states' constitutional right to govern themselves.

  • May 22, 2026

    Prosecutors Seek $1.98M Forfeiture In Goldstein Case

    Federal prosecutors are seeking a nearly $2 million forfeiture judgment against convicted SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein and asking a Maryland federal judge to turn the Supreme Court lawyer's Northwest D.C. home over to the government to pay it.

  • May 22, 2026

    Port Authority's Immunity Bid Fails In Pier Project Row Appeal

    The Connecticut Port Authority cannot assert sovereign immunity to dodge a subcontractor's lawsuit over unpaid work on a pier project because it is not an "arm of the state," an appellate panel found Friday.

  • May 22, 2026

    Ky. Mom Brings School Survey Copyright Case To High Court

    A Kentucky mother has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her case seeking a copy of a student mental-health survey against Pearson and her local school district, saying the case presents an important question about whether courts can decide whether it's fair use to request copyrighted materials under state open records law.

  • May 22, 2026

    11th Circ. Backs Ga. Cops' Immunity In Drug Detention

    The Eleventh Circuit backed an early win Friday for four Georgia police officers accused of unlawfully seizing and using excessive force against a woman suspected of overdosing, relying upon a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that the probable cause standard doesn't apply to "emergency aid" situations.

  • May 22, 2026

    6th Circ. Says Insurer Owes Coverage For Ohio Building Fire

    A Liberty Mutual unit wrongfully denied an Ohio property owner's claim for coverage for a building that burned down during renovation, the Sixth Circuit ruled, finding the policy's requirement to erect a fence around a construction site unenforceable.

  • May 22, 2026

    Seven County's Legacy Still Unwritten A Year Later

    The U.S. Supreme Court's curtailment of federal environmental reviews in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition et al. v. Eagle County was seen as a game changer for project development, but one year later, cautious business sentiment has left its legacy untested.

  • May 21, 2026

    Apple Wants Justices To Review Epic Games Contempt Order

    Apple Inc. has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on exactly when and how civil contempt sanctions can be issued for violating a court order, arguing that the Ninth Circuit missed the mark by upholding such sanctions against Apple in its App Store battle with Epic Games.

  • May 21, 2026

    Jules Decision Provides Arbitration Certainty Post-Badgerow

    The U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous decision last week finding that federal courts that have sent a dispute to arbitration have jurisdiction in subsequent enforcement proceedings has provided much-needed guidance for practitioners who saw uncertainty sown four years ago following a previous arbitration-related ruling.

Expert Analysis

  • How 2nd Circ. Gave Loper Bright Real Force In SEC Cases

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    The Second Circuit's recent decision in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Amah offers one of the first clear indications of how courts will operationalize Loper Bright, signaling that long-standing SEC enforcement theories resting on ambiguous definitional provisions are now subject to more rigorous judicial scrutiny, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Opinion

    Time To Fix The Accountability Gap In Freight Logistics

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    In Montgomery v. Caribe Transport, the U.S. Supreme Court must resolve an urgent question: whether freight broker selection in trucking accidents is categorically protected — meaning unreasonable safety decisions are insulated from liability — or subject to accountability under traditional negligence principles, says Amanda Demanda at Amanda Demanda Injury Lawyers.

  • 2 Strands Of Patent Law In High Court's 'Skinny Label' Case

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    Amarin v. Hikma, which is set for oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court this month, highlights the distinction between two different strands of intellectual property law — analogizing a patent to either a property deed or a home, says Jonas McDavit at Spencer West.

  • Justices' Geofence Ruling May Test 4th Amendment's Future

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    When the U.S. Supreme Court decides in Chatrie v. U.S. whether law enforcement may use geofence warrants to compel Google to disclose location history data, the ruling is likely to become an important statement about the future of Fourth Amendment law in data-driven investigations, says Duncan Levin at Levin & Associates.

  • Series

    NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    In the first quarter of 2026, New York's banking developments were headlined by initiatives to expand oversight of financial institutions and strengthen consumer protection laws, including a new framework for buy now, pay later lenders, a sweeping debt collection rule and a revised corporate self-disclosure program for financial crimes, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Seeking A Policy Fix As Merger Reporting Fight Continues

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    A recently announced request by the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice for public comment on the Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger reporting requirements, as litigation challenging the commission's updated requirements continues, suggests the government's willingness to address how best to support modern merger enforcement without unduly burdening filing parties, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Opinion

    Wash. Amazon Ruling Should Reshape Suicide Liability

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    The Washington Supreme Court's reinstatement of negligence claims in Scott v. Amazon.com, brought by the families of people who died by suicide after purchasing chemicals online, signals a reckoning for digital commerce and the rejection of the defense that online marketplaces are merely passive technology platforms, says Donald Fountain at Clark Fountain.

  • Axed Trade Secret Award Cautions Against Bundling Damages

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent ruling in Trinseo v. Harper, vacating a $75 million jury verdict for trade secret misappropriation due to a bundled damages model, offers a strong reminder to apportion damages so a jury can award a nonspeculative figure when it credits only some alleged secrets, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • 2 Rulings Poke Holes In Mandatory Restitution Framework

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Ellingburg v. U.S., as well as the Third Circuit’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Abrams, provide criminal defense practitioners with new tools to challenge Mandatory Victims Restitution Act orders, and highlight several restitution-related issues that converged in the recent prosecution of former Frank CEO Charlie Javice, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • Pivotal 6th Circ. Ruling Threatens Decades Of NLRB Decisions

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    The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Brown-Forman v. National Labor Relations Board fundamentally challenged the NLRB's long-standing practice of establishing policies through adjudication rather than formal rulemaking, giving employers and unions a new avenue to procedurally attack the vast majority of its rules, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • Exploring When Fraud Asset Freezes Limit Right To Pick Atty

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    The defendant’s claim in the Seventh Circuit’s pending U.S. v. Shah case that the government restrained his assets until he couldn’t afford his chosen counsel presents a useful case study in how criminal forfeiture procedure interacts with U.S. Supreme Court rulings on Sixth Amendment rights and appealing complex fraud convictions, says Elisha Kobre at Sheppard.

  • How Justices' GEO Ruling Resets Gov't Contractor Litigation

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent GEO Group v. Menocal decision, holding that government contractors cannot immediately exit cases via interlocutory appeals, may increase litigation costs, strengthen plaintiffs' leverage in settlement negotiations and dampen the government's ability to attract bids on high-risk or sensitive projects, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Appellate Strategy Lessons From Pa. Excess Coverage Ruling

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    In FedEx v. National Union Fire Insurance, a Pennsylvania state court recently set forth a clear holding that policyholders may recover postjudgment interest under excess liability insurance policies only when the policy language expressly allows, offering important takeaways for planning appeals, say attorneys at Hunton.

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