Analysis

Uncertainty Surrounds Judge Newman's 11th Circ. Transfer

By Dani Kass

Chief Justice John Roberts' order to transfer the Federal Circuit Judicial Council's disability investigation of a suspended 99-year-old judge to another court offers the neutral evaluation the judge has long been asking for, but attorneys are concerned about the transparency of the proceeding.

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Alito Explains Recusal But Says It Shouldn't Become Practice

By Katie Buehler

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said this week he "reluctantly" recused himself from a dispute that could decide whether state and local government can sue Big Oil in state courts for damages related to greenhouse gas emissions, while suggesting the high court's members shouldn't make a practice of explaining their reasons for stepping away from cases.

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4th Circ. Says FCC Defied Congress Through Political Ad Rule

By Courtney Bublé

A split Fourth Circuit panel Wednesday granted a request from Democratic candidates to force the Federal Communications Commission to issue a ruling on whether broadcasters may only charge the lowest possible rate for ads purchased by political committees attached to candidates.

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3rd Circ. Upends Sandoz's $61.6M Award Against UTC

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Third Circuit panel on Wednesday erased Sandoz Inc.'s $61.6 million award in a breach of contract case against United Therapeutics Corp., in a decision that sidesteps the major pharmaceutical company's request to reinstate a $137.2 million damages calculation that had been halved by the trial judge.

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Justices Wary Of Prolonging Guam Ammo Disposal Suit

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared wary of ruling that a Guam-based nonprofit can't challenge the U.S. Air Force's plan to explode expired munitions because its application to do so has yet to be approved by the territory's Environmental Protection Agency.

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Justices' Docs Should Belong To Public, Gov't Watchdogs Say

By Jack Karp

Nearly two dozen government accountability groups are calling for Congress to enact a law that would make U.S. Supreme Court justices' papers government property that would someday be available to the public.

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States Urge Justices To Fix Prediction Markets' Legal 'Chaos'

By Katryna Perera

A coalition of 39 states and the District of Columbia urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to resolve a circuit split over the regulation of prediction markets like Kalshi, saying the industry's "aggressive theory of preemption" threatens states' sovereignty and ability to protect their residents. 

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Feds Back High Court Review Of Robinhood Disclosure Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

The Trump administration urged the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday to take up Robinhood Markets Inc.'s bid to clarify securities issuers' liability for omitting material interim financial information from registration statements, saying the Ninth Circuit erroneously imposes liability by "collapsing" two elements of a misleading-omissions violation.

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Fed. Circ. Won't Rehear Axed $49M Verdict In Stent Fight

By Elliot Weld

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday denied a bid from the University of Texas to get a panel to rehear its patent infringement case where a $49.4 million jury verdict against Boston Scientific was overturned.

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1st Circ. Skeptical Of Legal Basis For IRS-ICE Data Sharing

By Julie Manganis

The First Circuit repeatedly suggested during a hearing Wednesday that the Trump administration's use of a privacy exception in the tax code for criminal investigations to justify demanding tax records of noncitizens could allow it to target nearly anyone's private returns.

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1st Circ. Seems Torn On DOJ Bid For Trans Care Records

By Chris Villani

The First Circuit on Wednesday appeared divided over whether the Trump administration may access a wide array of documents related to gender-affirming care at Boston Children's Hospital, with judges asking pointed questions of lawyers on both sides.

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1st Circ. Presses NEA On 'Gender Ideology' Grant Criteria

By Carolyn Muyskens

A First Circuit panel had sharp questions for the federal government Wednesday about its decision to disfavor National Endowment for the Arts grant applicants who "promote gender ideology," with one judge saying the arts program is supposed to be insulated from politics.

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1st Circ. Clearing Appeals Over Old FCC Jail Phone Cap Order

By Nadia Dreid

The First Circuit is clearing up a tangle of appeals it has on its plate challenging the Federal Communications Commission's prison phone rate caps after the agency threw a wrench in the plan by updating those regulations post-oral argument.

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Excess Insurers Tell 4th Circ. Under Armour Owes Interest

By Danielle Ferguson

Five excess insurers told the Fourth Circuit that Under Armour Inc. must pay prejudgment interest on its return of $90 million in advanced coverage for defense costs, arguing a Maryland federal judge erred in determining they weren't owed interest under state law.

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5th Circ. Backs DOL In Suit Over Withheld Plan Contributions

By Patrick Hoff

The Fifth Circuit refused to upend the U.S. Department of Labor's win in a suit accusing a Louisiana contracting company executive of unlawfully keeping the insurance contributions deducted from employees' paychecks, rejecting his argument that he wasn't responsible for administering the company's benefit plans.

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Late Notice Bars Roof Damage Coverage, 5th Circ. Affirms

By Hope Patti

An insurer owed no coverage under a 2022 commercial property policy for damage that a Texas building sustained during a June 2018 hailstorm, the Fifth Circuit said, finding that the carrier was prejudiced by the property owner's four-year delay in providing notice.

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5th Circ. Ponders Stanford Scheme Receiver's $30M Fee Bid

By Spencer Brewer

A Fifth Circuit judge on Wednesday questioned the rationale for restraining a portion of a receiver's fees, as the lawyer who clawed back $2.8 billion for victims of Robert Allen Stanford's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme argued he was entitled to $30 million.

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5th Circ. Won't Revive Suit Against Dishwasher Water Rule

By Gautama Mehta

The Fifth Circuit agreed with a Texas federal court that the Energy Policy and Conservation Act requires suits challenging federal water efficiency standards for appliances to be filed in circuit court.

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Family Tells 5th Circ. Penske Can't Evade Crash Liability

By Linda Chiem

The family of a man killed in a Texas collision said a Fifth Circuit panel faithfully followed federal law when it revived its lawsuit alleging freight broker and trucking giant Penske is vicariously liable for the 2018 accident, and en banc review before the full court is unwarranted.

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8th Circ. Upholds $35,000 Costs Award In DAPL Protest Case

By Crystal Owens

An Eighth Circuit panel has upheld a lower court's award of more than $35,000 in costs to Morton County, North Dakota, and its officials in a challenge by an environmentalist who was severely injured by law enforcement during a protest over the Dakota Access pipeline.

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Brief

9th Circ. OKs 90-Day Stay For Maker Of Eye Drops

By Nadia Dreid

The Ninth Circuit isn't going to rehear its decision preserving a win in a case accusing the maker of Clear Eyes drops of illegal price discrimination in favor of Costco, but it will hold off on issuing the mandate while the eye drop maker appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Texas Justices Push Exxon On Explosion Suit Coverage Bid

By Spencer Brewer

The Texas Supreme Court pressed Exxon Mobil Corp. to explain why an AIG unit should have to pay $25 million of a $35 million settlement arising from a deadly 2013 explosion at the oil giant's refinery in Beaumont, asking Wednesday if the company had control over the workers who were injured.

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Pa. Justices To Review Geofence Challenge Post-Chatrie

By Brandon Lowrey

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed this week to hear a challenge to a geofence warrant just months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Chatrie v. U.S. that such warrants implicate Fourth Amendment search protections.

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Jets' Arbitration Bid In Firing Case Meets Skeptical Panel

By Carla Baranauckas

A New Jersey appellate court on Wednesday questioned the New York Jets' bid to limit a federal arbitration exemption to sexual harassment victims and reporters, probing whether the law might also protect an employee who claims she was fired because of harassment allegations involving others.

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Immunomedics Founder Says Deal Triggered $365M Pay Claim

By Jarek Rutz

The founder of Immunomedics urged Delaware's highest court Wednesday to reinstate his roughly $365 million compensation claim against the biotechnology company, alleging Gilead Sciences Inc. became an "affiliate" when it bought Immunomedics for $21 billion and that his employment agreement therefore reaches Gilead's revenues.

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ATG Hid Alliance In Chancery Proxy Fight, Del. Justices Told

By Jarek Rutz

Empery Digital Inc. directors urged the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday to reverse a ruling requiring activist investor ATG Capital Opportunities Fund LP's board nominees to stand for election, arguing ATG failed to disclose an alleged voting arrangement with another stockholder, while ATG maintained the company is trying to impose disclosure requirements its bylaws do not contain.

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NC Panel Nixes Challenge To Confederate Memorial's Removal

By Hayley Fowler

A nonprofit honoring Confederate soldiers has no standing to challenge the relocation of a Confederate monument to a local courthouse, a North Carolina Court of Appeals panel ruled Wednesday in affirming dismissal of the group's lawsuit.

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Ga. Appeals Court Grapples With Nurses' COVID-Era Pay Fight

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia appeals court wrestled Wednesday with whether nurses who traveled to Florida for jobs at state-run COVID-19 testing sites were owed pay just for showing up in the Sunshine State — or if being assigned a shift triggered a staffing company's pay obligations. 

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Mich. Judge Questions Push To Revive Abortion Restrictions

By Dan McKay

A Michigan judge Wednesday called a state law requiring medical providers to give parenting information and a picture of a fetus to patients seeking an abortion a "hindrance" that is out of step with a voter-approved right to reproductive freedom.

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Mich. Justices Skeptical Of City Immunity In Drowning Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday peppered attorneys with questions on whether governmental immunity applies in a wrongful death suit over a teen's drowning at a city-run public lake beach, with the justices questioning whether the city adequately proved it doesn't use beach profits for other purposes.

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Eldercare Co.'s Wage Class Fight Bound For Wash. High Court

By Ben Adlin

Washington's highest court agreed Tuesday to take up whether an appellate panel rightly revived two workers' proposed wage-and-hour class action against an eldercare provider despite the plaintiffs' membership in a separate class action against the company that was previously settled.

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Ark. Panel Says Insurers Must Defend Walmart Opioid Suits

By Hope Patti

Insurers for Walmart must defend the retail giant against underlying suits claiming its sale of prescription painkillers contributed to the opioid epidemic, an Arkansas state appeals court affirmed Wednesday, finding that the suits allege accidental conduct and are seeking damages because of bodily injury.

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Colo. Panel Mulls Telecom Co.'s Challenge To $24M Judgment

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado wireless internet company urged a Colorado appellate court Wednesday to overturn a $24 million judgment against it that the company says came without due process, fielding the panel's questions on the appropriate standard to use in evaluating the company's appraisal dispute with its shareholders.

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Ritz-Carlton Fights Condo $55M Property Tax Hike On Appeal

By Zach Dupont

A Colorado Court of Appeals panel Wednesday probed whether 54 condominium units at the Ritz-Carlton should be valued as whole fee-simple units, or at a lower valuation to accommodate the fractional-ownership model used at the Colorado mountain property.

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W.Va. Case Could Be An Existential Threat To Citizen Suits

Environmental citizen suits supplement enforcement by federal agencies that can't be in all places at all times — but litigants in a West Virginia federal court are arguing that such suits are unconstitutional, and those arguments could gain ground in the current legal landscape, says David Romine at Langsam Stevens.

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Series

Illinois Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

Recent banking developments in Illinois include significant new consumer protection legislation, three meaningful Seventh Circuit decisions, and a high-profile constitutional challenge to the state's new digital asset tax, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

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Why And How To Build A Neurodiversity-Informed Practice

By better understanding neurodiversity and implementing simple accommodations for clients with autism, ADHD or learning differences, attorneys can build stronger relationships with those who may otherwise struggle to obtain and benefit from legal services, while developing good habits that will benefit everyone they represent, says Ting Cheung at Sanford Heisler.

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Omni Bridgeway Raises $1B For New Litigation Funding

By Ryan Boysen

Litigation funder Omni Bridgeway has raised a new $1 billion fund from mostly repeat investors, with plans to deploy the money broadly across countries and case types while avoiding debt leverage.

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California Federal Judge Jeffrey White To Retire After 24 Years

By Bonnie Eslinger

Senior U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White will retire at the end of the year after nearly a quarter-century on the federal bench in Northern California.

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ABA Accreditor Leader Remembered For Passion And Intellect

By Emma Cueto

After her sudden death while leading the American Bar Association council that handles law school accreditation, Melissa Hart is being remembered as a passionate and fiercely intelligent jurist, mentor and leader who will be missed as the council navigates numerous challenges to its accreditor status.

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