Appellate

  • November 20, 2024

    Colo. Justices Doubtful Students' COVID Fee Suit Will Survive

    Colorado's justices were skeptical Wednesday that Colorado State University students seeking fee refunds for coronavirus campus shutdowns can bring an unjust enrichment claim, with one justice saying the students' attorney is advocating for an "enormous" extension of existing law.

  • November 20, 2024

    En Banc DC Circ. Eyes Court Power Over FEC

    The D.C. Circuit's decision to sit for its first en banc rehearing since 2021 might signal that the court is inclined to reconsider an oft-challenged precedent barring judges from second-guessing federal election regulators when they decline to take enforcement actions, experts say.

  • November 20, 2024

    Michigan Hospital Can't Escape Amputee's Malpractice Claims

    A Michigan appeals court refused to throw out an expert opinion proffered by a patient who alleges that doctors and staffers at a Michigan hospital are responsible for the loss of his right hand, but said the trial court must fully evaluate whether the expert is qualified under state Supreme Court precedent.

  • November 20, 2024

    11th Circ. Told Everglades Project Will Reduce Water Supplies

    Several Florida sugar growers urged the Eleventh Circuit Wednesday to reverse a decision allowing an Everglades flood control project to proceed, saying a lower court wrongly accepted a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers impact analysis that will result in water supply loss to the surrounding area.

  • November 20, 2024

    10th Circ. Questions Sunoco Bid To Nix $180M Royalty Ruling

    Tenth Circuit judges on Wednesday weighed Sunoco Inc.'s latest bid to undo a $180 million judgment for withholding late interest payments on oil royalties to Oklahoma landowners, and sharply questioned the company's argument that the class action should never have been certified.

  • November 20, 2024

    Foley Shouldn't Face Data Breach Claims, Calif. Panel Says

    A California appellate panel affirmed the dismissal of Accellion Inc.'s cross-complaint against law firm Foley & Lardner LLP in an insurance company's lawsuit claiming the software-maker should be held liable for a $1 million ransomware attack that targeted the law firm, finding that Accellion's cross-claims are untimely.

  • November 20, 2024

    10th Circ. Side-Eyes Gas Royalty Claims Against Chevron Unit

    Tenth Circuit judges on Wednesday seemed skeptical of a Colorado oil and gas company's class claim that a Chevron Corp. subsidiary owes it a royalty payment on infrastructure improvements undertaken by a third company.

  • November 20, 2024

    NJ Court Must Revisit Assessor's Workplace Retaliation Claim

    A New Jersey trial court must revisit a municipal tax assessor's workplace retaliation claim as the case used by the court in its decision doesn't exempt assessors from the state's employee protection law, an appellate panel ruled Wednesday.

  • November 20, 2024

    FERC Made Climate Case For Tennessee Pipeline, DC Circ. Told

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission properly considered the climate change benefits of a Tennessee pipeline project that will serve a Tennessee Valley Authority gas-fired power plant set to replace a coal-fired plant, the project's developers and customers told the D.C. Circuit.

  • November 20, 2024

    3rd Circ. Reins In Novel Use Of Atty-Client Privilege Exception

    While attorney-client privilege typically falls away for communications about a client's intentions in making their will after they have died, the Third Circuit on Wednesday declined to expand that exception to include communications from third parties about the deceased.

  • November 20, 2024

    3 States To Challenge Abortion Regs After Docs Drop Claims

    Anti-abortion medical groups that were dealt a loss by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year have now dropped out of their lawsuit challenging federal approvals for mifepristone, leaving Missouri, Idaho and Kansas to carry on litigation over the abortion medication.

  • November 20, 2024

    Ex-Fla. Official Says Litigation Privilege Bars Defamation Suit

    A former Florida banking regulator fired because of sexual harassment allegations told the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday that a lawyer's defamation claims against him were barred by the litigation privilege because they are based entirely on claims made in a lawsuit.

  • November 20, 2024

    Washington State, DC District Court Picks Secure Seats

    The Senate on Wednesday voted 50-48 to confirm Washington Court of Appeals Judge Rebecca L. Pennell to the Eastern District of Washington and 50-49 to confirm Amir Ali, former president and executive director of the MacArthur Justice Center and co-director of the Criminal Justice Appellate Clinic at Harvard Law School, to the District of Columbia.

  • November 20, 2024

    Fla. Judge Can't Get Free Speech Ruling In Ethics Case

    A hearing panel chair for the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission on Wednesday denied a state judge's attempt to prevent authorities from presenting evidence or argument that her "philosophical beliefs" violated judicial ethics guidelines because she improperly used a particular kind of motion.

  • November 20, 2024

    Flint School Atty Can't Get Immunity In Defamation Case

    Outside counsel for Flint Community Schools who accused her predecessor of overcharging the public school district is not entitled to a form of immunity that shields government officials from liability for statements made during official proceedings, a state appellate court panel ruled on Tuesday.

  • November 20, 2024

    Georgia Justices Won't Consider DA's Bid To Escape Suit

    A Georgia district attorney being sued over her policy to not prosecute low-level marijuana possession can't dodge the suit after the state's supreme court refused to take on the case, marking the latest blow to the DA who lost her reelection bid this month.

  • November 20, 2024

    US Chamber Backs Fla. City In ADA Retirement Benefits Suit

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged the U.S. Supreme Court to back the Eleventh Circuit's determination that federal disability law doesn't protect former employees from post-employment bias, arguing a former Florida firefighter is trying to stretch the statute beyond what Congress intended.

  • November 20, 2024

    Pa. Justices Ask Why CBD Isn't 'Medicine' For Hurt Workers

    Justices on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court questioned Wednesday why they should accept an insurer's assertion that hemp-derived CBD oil should be deemed dangerous, when an injured attorney's physician had prescribed it for pain relief as part of his workers' compensation treatment plan.

  • November 20, 2024

    Trump Wants 'Immediate Dismissal' Of NY Hush Money Case

    President-elect Donald Trump's legal team told the New York judge who presided over his hush money trial that his conviction should be thrown out due to his "overwhelming victory" at the polls, according to a filing released Wednesday.

  • November 19, 2024

    Monsanto's Bid To Pause PCB Trial Again Shot Down

    A Washington state appellate commissioner on Friday again refused to undo a trial court's decision not to pause a chemical poisoning tort trial playing out in Seattle, rejecting Monsanto's contention that the court committed "obvious error" in letting the trial proceed while the state's highest court decides a similar case.

  • November 19, 2024

    Ex-OpenSea Staffer Says Insider Trading Verdict Must Fall

    A former OpenSea manager accused of insider trading from digital tokens sold on his employer's platform urged the Second Circuit Tuesday to overturn his conviction, saying his ideas about what to feature on his company's website cannot be construed as property.

  • November 19, 2024

    High Court Urged To Let Courts Scrutinize Agency Rulings

    District courts should be allowed to question rather than grant "absolute deference" to the Federal Communications Commission's interpretation of key statutory terms in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a chiropractic group contended Monday in calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a junk fax class action.

  • November 19, 2024

    DHS Gets Immigration Board To Revive Removal Proceeding

    The Board of Immigration Appeals on Tuesday sustained the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's bid to revive removal proceedings against a Guatemalan woman and her son, saying an immigration judge was wrong not to apply BIA precedent when terminating their proceedings.

  • November 19, 2024

    DC Circ. Wonders Where To Land On Terrorism Liability Claims

    Hypotheticals were flying Tuesday morning at the D.C. Circuit, where a three-judge panel spent more than two hours trying to figure out whether a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision means they need to stop the revival of a suit accusing pharmaceutical companies of funding terrorism in Iraq.

  • November 19, 2024

    Keep Colo. Interest Rate Opt-Out Law Blocked, 10th Circ. Told

    A coalition of organizations representing the financial services industry has urged the Tenth Circuit to uphold a district court's injunction against a Colorado interest rate opt-out law, arguing the state's attempt to reframe the federal provision allowing the opt-out as a consumer protection measure ignores the underlying statute's history as rooted in federalist principles.

Expert Analysis

  • Litigation Strategies In View Of New Double Patenting Rulings

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    Recent Federal Circuit decisions, including in Allergan v. MSN, raise several issues that patent owners should understand and consider addressing proactively regarding obviousness-type double patenting, at least in their prosecution strategies, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • High Court 'Violent Crimes' Case Tangled Up In Hypotheticals

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    In Delligatti v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next week on whether attempted murder constitutes a crime of violence, and because the court’s interpretive approach thus far has relied on hairsplitting legal hypotheticals with absurd results, Congress should repeal the underlying statute, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.

  • Tracking The Slow Movement Of AI Copyright Cases

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    The tech community may be expecting a prompt resolution on whether products generated by artificial intelligence are a fair use of copyrighted works, but legal history shows that a response to this question — at the heart of over 30 pending cases — will take years, say attorneys at White & Case.

  • How Property Insurance Coverage Shrank After The Pandemic

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    Insurers litigating property claims are leveraging rulings that provided relief in the COVID-19 context to reverse the former majority rule on physical loss or damage in all contexts, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Considering Chevron's End Through A State Tax Lens

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    States took the lead in encouraging Chevron's demise, turning away from Chevron-type deference in state tax administration ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, a trend likely to accelerate as courts take a more active role in interpreting tax laws, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Curious Case Of FTC's Amicus Brief In Teva Fed. Circ. Appeal

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    Attorneys at BCLP explore the Federal Trade Commission's backing of Amneal's Orange Book-delisting efforts on Teva ahead of a key Federal Circuit hearing in a case between the two pharmaceutical companies, and wonder if the FTC amicus brief indicates a future trend, especially in the next administration.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • When 'Patented' Goes Beyond Inventorship In False Ad Cases

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    The Federal Circuit's recent false advertising holding in Crocs v. Effervescent is significant because it offers a nuanced yet realistic understanding of what false claims about a product's status as "patented" can mean, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • 2nd Circ. Hostile Workplace Ruling Widens Arbitration Pitfalls

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision, affirming the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act applies to a worker whose workplace hostility claims arose before the law’s 2022 enactment, widens the scope of the law — and the risks of unenforceable arbitration agreements for employers, say attorneys at Hinshaw.

  • 2nd Circ. Maxwell Ruling Adds To Confusion Over NPA Reach

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision upholding Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction made an analytical leap in applying plea agreement precedent to a nonprosecution agreement, compounding a circuit split and providing lessons for defense counsel, say attorneys at Kropf Moseley.

  • The Fed. Circ. In October: Aetna And License-Term Review

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision that Aetna's credit card licensing agreement with AlexSam did not give the insurer immunity from patent infringement claims serves to warn licensees to read their contracts carefully, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Recent Developments In Insurance Coverage For FCA Claims

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    As the U.S. Department of Justice continues its vigorous False Claims Act enforcement, companies looking to their insurers to help defray the costs of an investigation or settlement should note recent decisions on which types of policies cover FCA claims, which policy periods apply and which portions of FCA-related losses are covered, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

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