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Appellate
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April 18, 2024
Mich. High Court Takes Up Insurer Garnishment Dispute
The Michigan Supreme Court agreed Thursday to consider whether an insurer's supposed bad faith refusal to settle a claim can be litigated in a garnishment action in The Burlington Insurance Co.'s appeal of an injured worker's attempt to collect the unsatisfied portion of a $13.7 million judgment.
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April 18, 2024
Colo. Panel Says UIM Insurers Didn't Meet State Requirements
USAA and State Farm didn't meet statutory requirements before asserting that a mutual insured didn't comply with their claim inquiring following a motor vehicle incident, a Colorado state appeals court ruled Thursday, adding USAA was required to conduct a claim investigation independent of State Farm's.
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April 18, 2024
Fed. Circ. Maintains Newman Can't Invalidate Disability Law
Suspended U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman has still not proven that the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act has no constitutional uses and should therefore be invalidated, the Federal Circuit's judicial council told a D.C. federal judge Thursday.
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April 18, 2024
$100M Arbitration Award Restored In Colo. Dispensary Fight
A Colorado appellate panel on Thursday largely reinstated a roughly $100 million arbitration award in a dispute between former business partners in the cannabis dispensary chain Native Roots, finding no basis to conclude the arbitrator was biased.
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April 18, 2024
4th Circ. Vacates Enviro Win In Mining Co. Permit Ruling
The special receiver for a defunct mining company can transfer mining permits for a site formerly owned by Patriot Coal Corp., the Fourth Circuit ruled, finding that a West Virginia federal judge interpreted a consent decree providing for mine shutdown and cleanup too broadly.
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April 18, 2024
Ga. Cargo Co. Says Marks Are Generic In $15M IP Dispute
A Georgia-based cargo company urged the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday to reverse a $15 million judgment awarded to a competitor over trademark violations, saying the intellectual property that it's accused of using is generic.
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April 18, 2024
6th Circ. Axes Ex-Perrigo Worker's Drug Test Firing Suit
The Sixth Circuit refused to reinstate a bias suit from a worker who said drugmaker L. Perrigo Co. unlawfully fired him after lip balm caused him to test positive for marijuana, saying he didn't show that age or disability discrimination motivated the decision to let him go.
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April 18, 2024
3rd Circ. Unclear If 'Session Replay' Web Code Directed At Pa.
A Third Circuit panel seemed torn Thursday over whether websites like those of Papa John's or Mattress Firm "directed conduct" at Pennsylvania when they ran "session replay" software to track users' visits and whether that gave courts in the Keystone State jurisdiction over users' claims that such tracking violated laws against wiretapping.
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April 18, 2024
Mich. Supreme Court To Hear Jet's Pizza Settlement Appeal
A woman arguing that her settlement with a Jet's Pizza delivery driver should not have snuffed out her vicarious-liability claim against the driver's employer will get a hearing before Michigan's highest court.
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April 18, 2024
Sugar Co. Urges 11th Circ. To Revive Helms-Burton Suit
North American Sugar Industries Inc. asked the Eleventh Circuit Thursday to revive its suit accusing several companies that shipped wind turbines to Cuba of violating the Helms-Burton Act, saying the trial court erred in tossing its claims for lack of jurisdiction.
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April 18, 2024
Bank Regulators Appeal Texas Judge's Halt Of New CRA Rules
Federal regulators said Thursday that they are appealing a Texas federal judge's decision to block their rollout of new community lending rules amid a legal challenge from the banking industry.
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April 18, 2024
Red States Back Call To Overturn Nasdaq Diversity Rule
Utah and 23 other Republican-led states have filed an amicus brief asking the full Fifth Circuit to vacate a Nasdaq board diversity rule and declare it unconstitutional, saying the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which approved the rule, is "affirmatively perpetuating" race-based discrimination instead of eliminating it.
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April 18, 2024
Ga. Election Spending Case Belonged In State Court, AG Says
Attorneys representing the Georgia Attorney General's Office and a state campaign finance commission urged the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday to overturn a ruling preventing their investigation of election spending by a pair of nonprofits founded by Stacey Abrams, citing the so-called Younger abstention doctrine.
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April 18, 2024
Dems Propose Inspector General For High Court, Judiciary
Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would create an inspector general's office for the judicial branch to investigate and report on allegations of misconduct lodged against U.S. Supreme Court justices, as well as judges throughout the federal judiciary.
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April 18, 2024
NY Appeals Court Revives AI Firm CLO's Claim For Pay
In a significant ruling for executives and professionals, a New York state appeals court has reversed the dismissal of key claims in a former chief legal officer's lawsuit alleging he wasn't paid all wages owed after his employment ended at artificial intelligence company Amelia US LLC.
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April 18, 2024
No Redo For Insurers In COVID-19 Coverage Row, Tribe Says
The Ninth Circuit should stand by its decision ordering an AIG unit and other insurers to litigate the Suquamish Tribe's COVID-19 business interruption claims in tribal court, the tribe told the appeals court, saying the insurers' request for a do-over distorts the panel's decision and controlling law.
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April 18, 2024
Ousted Clerk Was A 'Loose Cannon,' NC Justices Told
An attorney who started proceedings that led to the ouster of former Franklin County Clerk of Court Patricia Chastain urged the North Carolina Supreme Court to keep her out of office, arguing that she undermined judicial authority through a series of incidents, including a "vulgar" accidental call to a magistrate judge.
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April 18, 2024
9th Circ. Affirms Rosette's Win In Tribe Representation Fight
The Ninth Circuit has backed a federal district court ruling that found Rosette LLP is not responsible for using allegedly false advertising to induce the Quechan Tribe to drop Williams & Cochrane LLP as counsel on the verge of closing a lucrative gambling contract.
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April 18, 2024
3rd Circ. Hesitates To Hear Hunter Biden Appeal In Gun Case
The Third Circuit suggested it may be premature to hear Hunter Biden's appeal of a Delaware federal court's denial of his three motions to dismiss felony firearm charges.
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April 18, 2024
7th Circ. Nom Heads To Senate Despite GOP Backlog Criticism
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced five judicial nominees Thursday, including U.S. District Judge Nancy L. Maldonado, a nominee for the Seventh Circuit, whom Republicans had questioned about a backlog of cases in her court.
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April 18, 2024
Coast Guard's Dredging Barge Approval Upheld At 5th Circ.
The U.S. Coast Guard properly certified a dredging vessel with foreign-made components to work in the Houston Shipping Channel, according to a Fifth Circuit panel ruling that the maritime service deserved court deference to interpret its own regulations.
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April 18, 2024
Sidney Powell Dodges Sanctions From Texas Bar
Embattled Trump attorney Sidney Powell has dodged sanctions from the Texas state bar's disciplinary wing, with a state appellate court ruling Thursday that the Commission for Lawyer Discipline didn't bring enough solid arguments to the table to merit a redo of the case.
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April 17, 2024
Experts Unjustly Barred In Fla. Cancer Suit, 11th Circ. Told
A group of Florida families urged the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to overturn a jury verdict that found defense contractor Pratt & Whitney wasn't liable for a cancer cluster near the company's former rocket testing site, saying the court abused its discretion when excluding their expert witnesses.
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April 17, 2024
Ethics Panel Douses Judge DQ Talk In 5th Circ. CFPB Case
A judicial ethics panel has concluded that recusal isn't automatically required for the Fifth Circuit judge whose financial disclosures have fueled calls for his disqualification from litigation challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 credit card late fee rule.
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April 17, 2024
7th Circ. Affirms Toss Of Indy TV Network's Bias Claims
The Seventh Circuit upheld the lower court's toss of a Black-owned broadcasting company's racial discrimination claims against DirecTV and Dish Network, agreeing that the underlying retransmission negotiation dispute was a matter of bargaining power, not bias.
Expert Analysis
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Disney Copyright Expiration Spurs Trademark Questions
While the recent expiration of Disney’s Steamboat Willie copyright is not likely to have an immediate impact, it could provide clarity on the extent to which trademark rights in character names and appearance affect what others can do with characters from works whose copyright has expired, says Bryan Wheelock at Harness IP.
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Texas Insurance Ruling Could Restore Finality To Appraisal
The Texas Supreme Court's decision in Rodriguez v. Safeco, determining that full payment of an appraisal award precludes recovery of attorney fees, indicates a potential return to an era in which timely payment undoubtedly disposes of all possible policyholder claims, says Karl Schulz at Cozen O'Connor.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Zero-Point Offender Eligibility May Hinge On Meaning Of 'And'
Some white collar defendants’ eligibility for the new zero-point offender sentencing adjustment comes down to whether the word “and” really means “and” — a question the U.S. Supreme Court is set to resolve in its upcoming Pulsifer v. U.S. decision, which could affect thousands of incarcerated people, say Brandon McCarthy and Nikita Yogeshwarun at Katten.
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Valeant Ruling May Pave Way For Patent-Based FCA Suits
The Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling in Silbersher v. Valeant marks a significant development in False Claims Act jurisprudence, opens new avenues for litigation and potentially raises the stakes for patent applicants who intend to do business with the government, say Joshua Robbins and Rick Taché at Buchalter.
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A Former Bankruptcy Judge Talks 'Undue Hardship'
Former U.S. bankruptcy judge Robert Gordon reflects on his journey from student borrower to judicial observer, highlighting the challenges faced by modern students burdened with student loan debt and advocating for reform in bankruptcy laws, particularly regarding the "undue hardship" element of discharge.
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Recent Rulings Add Dimension To Justices' Maui Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court's 2020 decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund established new factual criteria for determining when the Clean Water Act applies to groundwater — and recent decisions from the Ninth and Tenth Circuits have clarified how litigants can make use of the Maui standard, says Steven Hoch at Clark Hill.
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Strategies For Single-Member Special Litigation Committees
The Delaware Supreme Court's recent order in the Baker Hughes derivative litigation allowing testimony from a single-member special litigation committee highlights the fact that, while single-member SLCs are subject to heightened scrutiny, they can also provide unique opportunities, says Josh Bloom at MoloLamken.
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10th Circ. Ruling Means More Okla. Oilfield Pollution Litigation
By applying Oklahoma's statutory definitions of pollution to a private landowner's claim for negligence for the first time, the Tenth Circuit's recent decision in Lazy S Ranch v. Valero will likely make it harder to obtain summary judgment in oilfield contamination cases, and will lead to more litigation, say attorneys at GableGotwals.
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Race Bias Defense Considerations After 11th Circ. Ruling
In Tynes v. Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that the McDonnell Douglas test for employment discrimination cases is merely an evidentiary framework, so employers relying on it as a substantive standard of liability may need to rethink their litigation strategy, says Helen Jay at Phelps Dunbar.
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How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.
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Fed. Circ. In Feb.: Using Prior Products To Invalidate A Patent
The Federal Circuit's recent Weber v. Provisu ruling, that prior-product operating manuals constituted printed publications that can be used to invalidate patents in an inter partes review proceeding, makes it easier for a petitioner to invalidate a patent, say Sean Murray and Jeremiah Helm at Knobbe Martens.
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7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves
As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.
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What's At Stake In Pending Fed. Circ. Design Patent Test Case
The full Federal Circuit recently heard argument in LKQ v. GM Global, a case concerning patent obviousness in the aftermarket for auto parts; the court's decision will likely influence how design patents are obtained, enforced and challenged, and affect the broader innovation ecosystem, says Larry DeMeo at Hunton.
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Series
Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.