Expert Analysis

• Opinion

  Punitive Damages Awards Should Be Limited To 1st Instance

  

  Recent verdicts in different cases against Johnson & Johnson and Monsanto showcase a trend of multiple punitive damages being awarded to different plaintiffs for the same course of conduct by a single defendant, a practice that should be deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, says Jacob Mihm at Polales Horton.

• How Calif. High Court Is Rethinking Forum Selection Clauses

  

  Two recent cases before the California Supreme Court show that the state is shifting toward greater enforcement of freely negotiated forum selection clauses between sophisticated parties, so litigators need to revisit old assumptions about the breadth of California's public policy exception, says Josh Patashnik at Perkins Coie.

• AI Litigation Tools Can Enhance Case Assessment, Strategy

  

  Civil litigators can use artificial intelligence tools to strengthen case assessment and aid in early strategy development, as long as they address the risks and ethical considerations that accompany these uses, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

• Attys Beware: Generative AI Can Also Hallucinate Metadata

  

  In addition to the well-known problem of AI-generated hallucinations in legal documents, AI tools can also hallucinate metadata — threatening the integrity of discovery, the reliability of evidence and the ability to definitively identify the provenance of electronic documents, say attorneys at Law & Forensics.

• Calif. Justices Continued Anti-Arbitration Trend This Term

  

  In the 2024-2025 term, the California Supreme Court justices continued to narrow arbitration's reach under state law, despite state courts' extreme caseload backlog and even as they embraced contractual autonomy in other contexts, says Josephine Petrick at The Norton Law Firm.

• Balancing Reliability, Competition In FERC's Pipeline Proposal

  

  The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's proposed transparency requirements for interstate natural gas pipelines endeavor to improve electric system reliability but could also unintentionally foster coordination, says Lyle Larson at Balch & Bingham.

• When Atty Ethics Violations Give Rise To Causes Of Action

  

  Though the Model Rules of Professional Conduct make clear that a violation of the rules does not automatically create a cause of action, attorneys should beware of a few scenarios in which they could face lawsuits for ethical lapses, says Brian Faughnan at Faughnan Law.

• Navigating EPA Compliance As Gov't Shutdown Continues

  

  As the federal government shutdown drags on, industries regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can expect application and permitting delays, limited guidance from EPA personnel regarding compliance matters, and stalled court proceedings — but there are strategies that can help companies deal with these problems, says Lauren Behan at Goldberg Segalla.

• Justices' LabCorp Punt Leaves Deeper Class Cert. Circuit Split

  

  In its ruling in LabCorp v. Davis, the U.S. Supreme Court left unresolved a standing-related class certification issue that has plagued class action jurisprudence for years — and subsequent conflicting decisions among federal circuit courts have left district courts and litigants struggling with conflicting and uncertain standards, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

• State Of Insurance: Q3 Notes From Pennsylvania

  

  Todd Leon at Marshall Dennehey discusses three notable Pennsylvania auto insurance developments from the third quarter, including the Third Circuit weighing in on actual cash value, a state appellate court opining on the regular use exclusion and state legislators introducing a bill to increase property damage minimums.

• How Calif. Zoning Bill Is Addressing The Housing Crisis

  

  The recently signed S.B. 79 represents a significant step in California's ongoing efforts to address the housing crisis by upzoning properties near qualifying transit stations in urban counties, but counsel advising on S.B. 79 will have to carefully parse eligibility and compliance with the bill and related statutes, says Jennifer Lynch at Manatt.

• Series

  Practicing Stoicism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Practicing Stoicism, by applying reason to ignore my emotions and govern my decisions, has enabled me to approach challenging situations in a structured way, ultimately providing advice singularly devoted to a client's interest, says John Baranello at Moses & Singer.

• Broader Eligibility For AI-Related Patents May Be Coming

  

  A series of recent developments from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office appears to signal that claims involving improvement in the operation of a machine learning model are now more likely to be considered patent-eligible, and that patent examiners may focus on questions of novelty and nonobviousness and less so on subject matter eligibility, say attorneys at Kilpatrick.

• How Courts Treat Nonservice Clauses For Financial Advisers

  

  Financial advisers considering a job change should carefully consider recent cases that examine controlling state law for nonservice and nonacceptance provisions to prepare for potential legal challenges from former firms, says Andrew Shedlock at Kutak Rock.

• Series

  The Biz Court Digest: Texas, One Year In

  

  A year after the Texas Business Court's first decision, it's clear that Texas didn't just copy Delaware and instead built something uniquely its own, combining specialization with constitutional accountability and creating a model that looks forward without losing touch with the state's democratic and statutory roots, says Chris Bankler at Jackson Walker.