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October 23, 2024
EPA's GHG Power Plant Rule Is Achievable, Scientists Say
A half-dozen prominent scientists and engineers have told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's plan to tap carbon capture and sequestration technology to reduce power plants' greenhouse gas pollution is on point and readily achievable.
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October 23, 2024
Mich. Panel Reverses Insurer's $1.2M Fire Subrogation Win
A Michigan state appeals court rejected a property insurer's subrogation bid against commercial tenants over a roughly $1.2 million building fire, finding that while the tenants' lease generally required them to keep their property in good condition, there was no specific provision holding them liable for their own negligence.
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October 23, 2024
Fed. Circ. Backs Customs Duties On Importer's Steel Tubing
An importer couldn't convince the Federal Circuit that steel tubing that includes insulating materials could be imported as duty-free insulating conduits, with the panel saying Wednesday the materials aren't enough for the product to be insulating.
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October 23, 2024
Judges Hint Settlement May Have Waived Atty's Free Speech
Attorney Timothy Brignole and his Hartford law firm, Brignole Bush & Lewis LLC, may have surrendered free speech rights when they signed a nondisparagement agreement with a former employee, stripping them of the ability to claim First Amendment protection over comments attributed to them in a lawsuit, judges of the Connecticut Appellate Court hinted Wednesday.
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October 23, 2024
No More Coverage For Paper Co.'s Pollution Claim, Panel Says
A WestRock Co. subsidiary that owned a Montana paper mill later identified as a Superfund site isn't entitled to additional coverage from its AIG insurer, an Illinois state appeals court ruled, saying two pollution conditions on the property were related and subject to a single $5 million limit of liability.
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October 23, 2024
Late Smoker's Spouse Can Argue Survivor's Benefits At Retrial
The husband of a deceased smoker whose $157 million win against tobacco companies was erased can claim surviving spouse damages under Florida's Wrongful Death Act on retrial even though he was not married to his partner at the time he was diagnosed with lung disease, according to an opinion released Wednesday by a Florida appeals court.
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October 23, 2024
No Xenophobia Taint In Fired Prof's Jury Trial, Panel Says
An Ohio state appellate court has upheld a jury's finding that a Cincinnati medical center did not violate employment law when it fired a tenured associate professor, rejecting the professor's argument that the medical center attempted to stoke "xenophobic bias" in the jury by mentioning his Chinese heritage during trial.
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October 23, 2024
3 Things To Know About Proposed OTC Contraception Regs
The Biden administration's proposal to require private health insurers to pick up the cost of over-the-counter contraception could increase access for an estimated 52 million women. Here are three things to know about the newly proposed regulations.
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October 23, 2024
Full 9th Circ. Passes On SF Nurses' Salary Basis Case
The full Ninth Circuit said Wednesday it won't reconsider a panel's ruling that it wasn't clear whether a group of San Francisco city nurses in two consolidated cases were paid on a salary basis and could therefore be considered overtime-exempt.
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October 23, 2024
1st Circ. Sets Oral Arguments In Boies' Cannabis Suit For Dec. 5
The First Circuit has scheduled oral arguments in an appeal by a group of cannabis businesses, represented by litigator David Boies, challenging the federal prohibition on marijuana.
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October 23, 2024
Del. Justices Urged To Revive Oracle-NetSuite Deal Challenge
An attorney for Oracle Corp. stockholders rattled off a barrage of alleged disclosure failures, analytical flaws and errant deference decisions Wednesday during a Delaware Supreme Court appeal from the Chancery Court's toss last year of a challenge to the company's $9.3 billion acquisition of NetSuite Corp. in 2016.
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October 23, 2024
9th Circ. Judge Suggests Equity Pact Counts As Wash. Loan
A Ninth Circuit judge said Wednesday he was "struggling with" a company's stance that its equity-sharing agreement with two homeowners in Washington state doesn't amount to a loan covered by state laws regulating reverse mortgages, saying the arrangement appears to check the boxes of the statutory definition.
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October 23, 2024
Amazon Must Face Drivers' Tip Suit Despite FTC Settlement
A Washington federal judge largely refused Wednesday to toss a proposed class action accusing Amazon of violating Evergreen State laws by withholding portions of drivers' tips, saying the claims are still valid despite the Federal Trade Commission reaching a nearly $62 million deal with the company over the same alleged conduct.
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October 23, 2024
Telecom Group Sues To Cancel FTC's 'Click To Cancel' Rule
A major cable and internet industry group and others sued the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday over its new "click to cancel" rule, asking the Fifth Circuit to vacate the regulation one week after it was adopted in a 3-2 commission vote.
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October 23, 2024
Colo. Justices Leery of Tossing Fraudster's Sentence
Colorado Supreme Court justices appeared doubtful Wednesday that a convicted fraudster could avoid his sentence of 20 years probation after he served four years in prison, suggesting that while there was practically little difference from a previous sentence they threw out, it no longer violated state law.
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October 23, 2024
Religion Law Can't Save Sacred Worship Site, High Court Told
A law designed to protect religious freedom can't help an Apache nonprofit's bid to save a sacred worship site in Arizona from destruction, the federal government said, arguing that the tribe is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to nullify a congressional statute crafted to allow federal third-party land transfers.
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October 23, 2024
Navarro Seeks Justices' Review Of Presidential Records Ruling
Former Trump administration adviser Peter Navarro has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a circuit court's ruling that the federal government can use the Presidential Records Act to force Navarro to hand over emails from his tenure at the White House.
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October 23, 2024
NC Justices Scrutinize Scope Of Liability Shield In COVID Law
An attorney for a doctor accused of medical malpractice faced sharp questioning Wednesday as North Carolina justices pushed him to define how much protection from liability was granted by an emergency law enacted to safeguard the state's healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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October 23, 2024
High Court Won't Pause Google's Subpoena Of State Agency
The U.S. Supreme Court refused Wednesday to block Google's request for documents in a case accusing the tech giant of monopolizing key digital ad technology as a South Carolina agency challenges an order forcing it to comply with the subpoena.
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October 23, 2024
Insurers Slam Mich. No-Fault Ruling As 'Judicial Activism'
A trade group representing Michigan insurers said an appellate court ruling in a medical provider's suit over nonpayment of auto insurance benefits could encourage gamesmanship in no-fault insurance litigation, in a friend-of-the-court brief filed on Tuesday with the state's top court.
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October 23, 2024
Legal Doctrine Can't Revive Med Mal Case, Ga. Panel Says
The Georgia Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal of a suit alleging a doctor's failure to discontinue a cancer patient's steroid prescription caused him to suffer ailments related to long-term steroid use, saying the time-barred suit can't be saved by the so-called continuous treatment doctrine.
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October 23, 2024
EPA Can't Restart Crafting Smog Rule, DC Circ. Told
A group of Democratic-led state governments is telling the D.C. Circuit that the Clean Air Act doesn't mandate reconsideration of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2023 "Good Neighbor" emissions regulation as two steel manufacturers say.
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October 23, 2024
United Worker Fired Over Online Pics Gets Bias Suit Revived
A California appeals court revived a United Airlines flight attendant's sex bias suit claiming she was unlawfully fired for appearing in uniform on a social media page advertising her OnlyFans account, crediting her argument that male flight attendants didn't face the same consequences for similar behavior.
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October 23, 2024
9th Circ. Orders Michael Avenatti To Be Resentenced
The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday ordered the resentencing of Michael Avenatti over his California conviction for tax violations and stealing from clients, saying the lower court made multiple mistakes when it handed down a 14-year prison term to the onetime celebrity attorney.
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October 23, 2024
5th Circ. Upholds Workers' Win In Health Co. Wage Suit
A group of workers for an at-home healthcare company are employees, not independent contractors, a Fifth Circuit panel ruled, affirming a Louisiana federal court decision in three consolidated cases claiming the company cheated workers out of overtime.
Expert Analysis
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Patent Owner Estoppel Questions In The Wake Of SoftView
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.
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What VC Fund Settlement Means For DEI Grant Programs
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.
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Nuclear Waste Storage Questions Justices May Soon Address
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.
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Fed. Circ. Ruling Creates New Rule For Certification Marks
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.
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Series
After Chevron: Conservation Rule Already Faces Challenges
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.
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11 Patent Cases To Watch At Fed. Circ. And High Court
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.
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Opinion
3rd. Circ. Got It Right On Cancer Warning Claims Preemption
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.
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How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations
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.
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7th Circ. Rulings Offer Employee Vaccine Exemption Guidance
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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The Fed. Circ. In August: Secret Sales And Public Disclosures
Two recent Federal Circuit rulings — Sanho v. Kaijet and Celanese International v. ITC — highlight that inventors should publicly and promptly disclose their inventions, as a secret sale will not suffice as a disclosure, and file their patent applications within a year of public disclosure, say Sean Murray and Jeremiah Helm at Knobbe Martens.
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The State Law Landscape After Justices' Social Media Ruling
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent NetChoice ruling on social media platforms’ First Amendment rights, it’s still unclear if state content moderation laws are constitutional, leaving online operators to face a patchwork of regulation, and the potential for the issue to return to the high court, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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Employers Should Not Neglect Paid Military Leave Compliance
An August decision from the Ninth Circuit and the settlement of a long-running class action, both examining paid leave requirements under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, are part of a nationwide trend that should prompt employers to review their military leave policies to avoid potential litigation and reputational damage, says Bradford Kelley at Littler.
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Unpacking Jurisdiction Issues In 3rd Circ. Arbitration Ruling
The Third Circuit's recent ruling in George v. Rushmore Service Center could be interpreted to establish three principles regarding district courts' jurisdiction to enter arbitration-related orders under the Federal Arbitration Act, two of which may lead to confusion, says David Cinotti at Pashman Stein.
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Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles
Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.
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How NJ Temp Equal Pay Survived A Constitutional Challenge
The Third Circuit recently gave the New Jersey Temporary Workers' Bill of Rights a new lease on life by systematically dismantling multiple theories of the act's unconstitutionality brought by staffing agencies hoping to delay their new equal pay and benefits obligations, say attorneys at Duane Morris.