Appellate

  • December 17, 2024

    5th Circ. Tosses EPA Rule After Agency Loses Docs

    The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday granted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's unusual request that the court vacate a challenged 2016 rule that partially disapproved regional haze plans created by Texas and Oklahoma and imposed a federal plan.

  • December 17, 2024

    The Biggest Georgia Legal Developments Of 2024

    From navigating bombshell prosecutor romance allegations in the Georgia election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump and his co-defendants to vacating a $1.7 billion verdict against Ford Motor Co. in a fatal "Super Duty" rollover case, to seeing the state's longest-running criminal trial to a close, 2024 was a busy year for courts in the Peach State. 

  • December 17, 2024

    X Can't Seal Corporate Info In $500M Severance Dispute

    A California federal judge refused Tuesday to allow X Corp. and Elon Musk to file under seal the company's corporate disclosure statement in a dispute over X's failure to adequately pay severance to former workers, saying there's no evidence that disclosing this information would harm the company.

  • December 17, 2024

    Insurers Freed From Multivehicle House Collision Row

    The Michigan Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's decision, finding that the insurers of vehicles damaged during a 2019 semitruck accident were not responsible for paying for a home that was also destroyed in the incident because the other cars' involvement in the melee was secondary.

  • December 17, 2024

    3M Fights Michigan's Mootness Claims In PFAS Rule Suit

    Michigan is wrong to allege that 3M's challenge to rules on PFAS in tap water is moot, the company has told the state Supreme Court, claiming it will still be affected by the challenged regulations despite the state's arguments that new regulations supersede them.

  • December 17, 2024

    Woman Gets NJ Transit Bus Injury Suit Revived

    A New Jersey appeals panel on Tuesday reversed an order tossing a woman's suit against New Jersey Transit Corp. alleging she was injured when the bus she was on suddenly stopped, causing her to fall.

  • December 17, 2024

    Tulsa Tribal Jurisdiction Fight Is Paused For Settlement Talks

    An Oklahoma federal judge has hit pause on a dispute between the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the city of Tulsa over jurisdictional rights after the parties asked for time to participate in settlement discussions.

  • December 17, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Guts Ruling On $367M Alaska Port Dispute

    A Federal Circuit panel partially vacated a ruling that found the federal Maritime Administration breached two contract agreements with Anchorage related to a Port of Alaska upgrade and expansion, and awarded the city $367 million in damages.

  • December 17, 2024

    Split Pa. High Court Revives Kleinbard Fee Row Over DA Work

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday revived Kleinbard LLC's bid to get Lancaster County to pay for legal work on behalf of a former district attorney, reasoning that a lower court hastily rejected the firm's factual assertions. 

  • December 17, 2024

    PBS Atty Rolls The Dice With New Supreme Court Board Game

    A forthcoming board game designed by Talia Rosen, an associate general counsel for PBS and lifelong gaming enthusiast, lets players experience the history of the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • December 17, 2024

    11th Circ. Affirms NLRB Bargain Order Against Chemical Co.

    A chemical manufacturer must comply with a National Labor Relations Board decision ordering it to negotiate with a United Food and Commercial Workers affiliate, the Eleventh Circuit found, rejecting the company's claim that two ballots that could have swayed the vote outcome should have counted.

  • December 17, 2024

    Pa. Supreme Court Says Judge's Side Job Sinks Tax Rulings

    A Pennsylvania state judge who held a side job on a Philadelphia tax appeals board had nullified rulings he made on a local hospital's tax cases, the state's Supreme Court said Tuesday, reasoning that holding both jobs was a "constitutionally impermissible conflict of duties."

  • December 17, 2024

    Possible 6th Circ. Picks Now That Biden's Nominee Is Done

    A district judge, state Supreme Court justice and a former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member are among the contenders for a seat on the Sixth Circuit when the outgoing judge retires, a pending vacancy that had been a matter of contention between Tennessee's senators and the Biden administration.

  • December 17, 2024

    5th Circ. Preserves Feds' ACA Trans Health Policy

    The Fifth Circuit upended a Texas court decision that invalidated a federal agency interpretation of the Affordable Care Act's provision on nondiscrimination in healthcare, keeping intact federal policy that prohibits insurers from discriminating against individuals seeking treatment for gender dysphoria.

  • December 17, 2024

    Colo. Atty Accused Of Poaching Seeks State Justices' Take

    It's time for Colorado's Supreme Court to weigh whether law firms may prohibit attorneys from soliciting co-workers to depart their firm together, a lawyer accused of soliciting BigLaw firms to poach her department from a Denver personal injury firm argued Monday, asserting the case is a matter of first impression.

  • December 17, 2024

    1st Circ. Revives Bias Case Against Rhode Island Vets Agency

    The First Circuit breathed new life into a former Rhode Island official's employment discrimination case, ruling that the evidence could be reasonably interpreted as showing she was terminated due to her gender or sexual orientation.

  • December 17, 2024

    Justices Urged To Let Stand Ex-Wife's Tax Payment Suit

    A woman who said the IRS wrongly applied her tax payment to her ex-husband's bill asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let stand a Third Circuit ruling allowing her to challenge it, saying the decision doesn't conflict with any other rulings and involves an issue that rarely occurs.

  • December 16, 2024

    Circuit-By-Circuit Guide To 2024's Most Memorable Moments

    One judge said a litigant's position would cause "an effing nightmare," and another decried the legal community's silence amid "illegitimate aspersions." Public officials literally trashed one court's opinion, and fateful rulings dealt with controversial politicians, social media and decades of environmental policy. Those were just a few appellate highlights in 2024, a year teeming with memorable moments both substantive and sensational.

  • December 16, 2024

    3rd Circ. Revives Disability Retaliation Suit Against Accenture

    The Third Circuit revived disability discrimination and age bias claims Monday brought by a former employee of professional services company Accenture, finding the worker presented enough evidence that suggested her supervisor's frustration at the accommodations she needed after being injured resulted in her termination.

  • December 16, 2024

    TikTok Brings Sale-Or-Ban Fight To High Court

    TikTok asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to stay a federal law that would force its owners to divest from the wildly popular social media app or shut its U.S. operation down just before Donald Trump's inauguration, saying his administration should get a say in the app's fate.

  • December 16, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Vacates Centripetal Patent Win At PTAB

    The Federal Circuit has thrown out a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision that found the Silicon Valley-based cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks failed to show that a Centripetal Networks patent for a way to improve the flow of data was invalid, kicking the case back to the board.

  • December 16, 2024

    11th Circ. Says Citrus Grower's Coverage Row Was Ripe

    A citrus grower's bid for damages from its insurer in connection with environmental remediation costs was ripe, the Eleventh Circuit said, reviving the case after finding that a Florida district court wrongly dismissed it by conflating the issue of ripeness with the merits of the grower's claims.

  • December 16, 2024

    Oracle's 'Copyright War' Will Go On, 9th Circ. Says

    Ninth Circuit judges decided on Monday that a "pitched copyright war" going for over a decade between Oracle and a software company that markets third-party software support to Oracle customers has not gone on for long enough, finding that a Nevada federal judge turned out to be quite wrong about what constitutes a "derivative" work.

  • December 16, 2024

    NY Judge Denies Trump's 1st Immunity Dismissal Motion

    The New York state judge overseeing President-elect Donald Trump's hush money case denied the first of his immunity-based dismissal motions on Monday, finding that the trial evidence in the criminal case was not tainted by "official acts" evidence from his first term in office.

  • December 16, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Suit Over Starz Strip Club Drama

    The Ninth Circuit on Monday refused to revive a playwright's lawsuit claiming that Starz Entertainment copied her stage musical for the strip club drama series "P-Valley," saying the works weren't substantially close to one another.

Expert Analysis

  • Behind 3rd Circ. Ruling On College Athletes' FLSA Eligibility

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    The Third Circuit's decision that college athletes are not precluded from bringing a claim under the Fair Labor Standards Act raises key questions about the practical consequences of treating collegiate athletes as employees, such as Title IX equal pay claims and potential eligibility for all employment benefits, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Patent Lessons From 4 Federal Circuit Reversals In July

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    The Federal Circuit’s July reversal of four cases, all of which were Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions, highlights lessons for patent practitioners regarding the scope of estoppel provisions, potential issues with obtaining certain substitute claims, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.

  • 'Greenhushing': Why Some Cos. Are Keeping Quiet On ESG

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    A wave of ESG-related litigation and regulations have led some companies to retreat altogether from any public statements about their ESG goals, a trend known as "greenhushing" that was at the center of a recent D.C. court decision involving Coca-Cola, say Gonzalo Mon and Katie Rogers at Kelley Drye.

  • Video Game Release Highlights TM Pitfalls Of App Store

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    The upcoming release of poker video game Balatro in Apple's App Store underscores the tradeoff of keyword advertising and trademark protection for indie developers who, unlike corporate counterparts, lack resources but seek to maximize the reach of their game, say Parmida Enkeshafi and Simon Pulman at Pryor Cashman.

  • Opinion

    More Guidance Needed On Appellate Amicus Recusals

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    Instead of eliminating the right for amici to file briefs on consent, as per the recently proposed Federal Appellate Rules amendment, the Judicial Conference's Committee on Codes of Judicial Conduct should issue guidance on situations in which amicus filings should lead to circuit judge recusals, says Alan Morrison at George Washington University Law School.

  • Mich. Whistleblower Ruling Expands Retaliation Remedies

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    The Michigan Supreme Court's recent Occupational Health and Safety Act decision in Stegall v. Resource Technology is important because it increases the potential exposure for defendants in public policy retaliation cases, providing plaintiffs with additional claims, say Aaron Burrell and Timothy Howlett at Dickinson Wright.

  • Patent Owner Estoppel Questions In The Wake Of SoftView

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's seldom-litigated Rule 42.73(d)(3) on Patent Trial and Appeal Board estoppel was recently brought to the forefront in the Federal Circuit's SoftView v. Apple decision, highlighting uncertainties in this aspect of patent practice, say David Haars and Richard Crudo at Sterne Kessler.

  • What VC Fund Settlement Means For DEI Grant Programs

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    An unexpected settlement in American Alliance for Equal Rights v. Fearless Fund, based on specific details of an Atlanta venture capital fund's challenged minority grant program, leaves the legal landscape wide open for organizations with similar programs supporting diversity, equity and inclusion to chart a path forward, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Nuclear Waste Storage Questions Justices May Soon Address

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    The petition for the U.S. Supreme Court to review U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas stands out for a number of reasons — including a deepening circuit split regarding the NRC's nuclear waste storage authority under the Atomic Energy Act, and broader administrative law implications, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

  • Fed. Circ. Ruling Creates New Rule For Certification Marks

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    The Federal Circuit's decision last month in Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac v. Cologne & Cognac Entertainment is significant in that it establishes a new standard for assessing evidence of third-party uses of a certification mark in deciding whether the mark is famous, say Samantha Katze and Lisa Rosaya at Manatt.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Conservation Rule Already Faces Challenges

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    The Bureau of Land Management's interpretation of land "use" in its Conservation and Landscape Health Rule is contrary to the agency's past practice and other Federal Land Policy and Management Act provisions, leaving the rule exposed in four legal challenges that may carry greater force in the wake of Loper Bright, say Stacey Bosshardt and Stephanie Regenold at Perkins Coie.

  • 11 Patent Cases To Watch At Fed. Circ. And High Court

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    As we head into fall, there are 11 patent cases to monitor, touching on a range of issues that could affect patent strategy, such as biotech innovation, administrative rulemaking and patent eligibility, say Edward Lanquist and Wesley Barbee at Baker Donelson.

  • Opinion

    3rd. Circ. Got It Right On Cancer Warning Claims Preemption

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    The Third Circuit's recent, eminently sensible ruling in a failure-to-warn case against Roundup manufacturer Monsanto, holding that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act preempts state law claims, provides a road map that other courts should adopt, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation.

  • How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

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    Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.

  • 7th Circ. Rulings Offer Employee Vaccine Exemption Guidance

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    Dawn Solowey and Samantha Brooks at Seyfarth explain how two recent Seventh Circuit rulings in Passarella v. Aspirus and Bube v. Aspirus could affect litigation involving employee vaccine exemptions, and discuss employer best practices for handling accommodation requests that include both religious and secular concerns.

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