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Appellate
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October 18, 2024
Jan. 6 Witness Said Trump Speech May Have Been 'Political'
Donald Trump's speech at a rally before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol may have been "political" rather than in his official capacity as president, witness testimony unsealed Friday in his D.C. election interference case said.
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October 18, 2024
Fed. Circ. Sinks BofA's Fight Over Image Recognition Patents
Bank of America had no luck Friday in an appeal seeking to revive a handful of challenges targeting patents owned by companies run by billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong that are suing the bank in California federal court.
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October 18, 2024
Timeshare Co. Preyed On Fla. Servicemember, High Court Told
A Florida U.S. Army soldier and his wife petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to review their case against Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited Inc., disputing that his contract isn't legal under the Military Lending Act because the company used predatory tactics to sell him a timeshare.
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October 18, 2024
Ill. Justices Find Broad COVID Immunity For Health Facilities
The Illinois Supreme Court on Friday read broad immunity into an emergency order that immunized healthcare facilities aiding the state's COVID-19 response, saying the order shields those facilities from ordinary negligence claims during that time, not just ones directly relating to their pandemic care.
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October 18, 2024
States, Public Health Groups Defend EPA Power Plant Rule
A group of 21 states and the District of Columbia called on the D.C. Circuit on Friday to reject myriad challengers' attempts to unravel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's plan to control greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
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October 18, 2024
Fed. Circ. Says HUD Owes No More For Canceled Contracts
The Federal Circuit on Friday refused to grant a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development contractor costs and damages for the cancelation of contracts to sell foreclosed properties, saying HUD owed no more than the contractual minimums already paid.
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October 18, 2024
Tech Cos. Ask 9th Circ. To Skip DMCA Probe In GitHub IP Suit
Microsoft, GitHub and OpenAI have told the Ninth Circuit to rebuff an interlocutory appeal petition from a group of anonymous software developers who want clarity on whether the Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires an infringing copy to be identical to the original to claim a DMCA violation, saying the injury the group alleges is theoretical.
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October 18, 2024
Fed. Circ. Won't Question Reviving Vascepa Skinny Label Row
The Federal Circuit has said the full appellate court will not rethink a panel's decision reinstating Vascepa maker Amarin Pharma Inc.'s skinny label patent case against rival U.K. drugmaker Hikma.
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October 18, 2024
5th Circ. Partially Upholds $2M Win In Hurricane Coverage Suit
The Fifth Circuit has upheld in part a Louisiana church's more than $2 million judgment win against an insurer that was accused of not paying enough for the church's hurricane damage claims.
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October 18, 2024
5th Circ. Won't Revive Immigrant Investors' RICO Suit
The Fifth Circuit refused to revive a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act lawsuit brought by foreign investors who claim they were offered fraudulent franchise opportunities in the United States as a way to obtain residency visas, finding that the plaintiffs didn't allege a cognizable enterprise.
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October 18, 2024
1st Circ. OKs Prosecution Of Alleged Illicit Medical Pot Grow
The First Circuit has determined that the federal prosecution of two Mainers accused of running an unlawful marijuana cultivation operation can continue despite a federal policy that bans the U.S. Department of Justice from bringing cases against medical cannabis entities.
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October 18, 2024
Ohio High Court Restores Developer's FHA Penalty Suit
The Ohio Supreme Court has revived a developer's attempt to recoup some of a Fair Housing Act penalty from franchisees who built inaccessible multifamily housing, finding Friday the lower courts jumped the gun when they found the developer's claims were preempted by the FHA.
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October 18, 2024
Crypto Coder Asks 2nd Circ. To Delay Expert Witness Reveal
The founder of cryptocurrency service provider Tornado Cash urged the Second Circuit on Friday to pause a district court judge's order for him to disclose who he might call as an expert witness at an upcoming money laundering and sanctions trial.
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October 18, 2024
Feds Defend Bribery Charge Against NYC Mayor Adams
Federal prosecutors pushed back Friday on New York City Mayor Eric Adams' attempt to erase a bribery charge from his indictment, arguing that while Adams claims his acts were "routine" and allowed under a recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent, a jury could still find his alleged favor trading illegal.
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October 18, 2024
AGs Slam 4th Circ. Bid To Restore NC Abortion Drug Limits
In a joint amicus brief to the Fourth Circuit, a coalition of 17 states and the District of Columbia has said the abortion drug mifepristone is a part of women's reproductive healthcare, assailing the "needless" limits that states including North Carolina have sought to impose on the drug's access.
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October 18, 2024
High Court Bar's Future: Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar
U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar is a once-in-a-generation talent who uses her seemingly endless knowledge of case facts and related law — along with her quick wit — to routinely spar with an often antithetical U.S. Supreme Court over some of the most consequential issues in a given term, experts and court watchers say.
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October 18, 2024
Chemical Cos. Say Firefighter Didn't Fix Standing In PFAS Suit
3M Co. and two other chemical firms urged an Ohio federal judge to dismiss a firefighter's revised lawsuit over so-called forever chemicals, arguing that the allegations are plagued by the same shortcomings the Sixth Circuit flagged when it vacated class certification last year.
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October 18, 2024
Ore. Water Rights Issues Grounded In State Law, 9th Circ. Told
The Klamath Irrigation District is asking the Ninth Circuit to certify two questions to the Oregon Supreme Court concerning the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's authority to use and control the use of water under Oregon law.
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October 18, 2024
$50B Russia, Yukos Case Poses New Questions For DC Circ.
A D.C. Circuit panel suggested during oral arguments Friday that Russia's bid to revive its sovereign immunity claim in a $50 billion arbitration enforcement case poses some new legal questions for the appeals court.
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October 18, 2024
Justices Told To Skip RFID Patent Row Over Standing
A Texas company that saw its patent infringement suit revived against a tech company is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reject its rival's petition to review that decision, saying there's "almost 100 years" of legal precedent backing its ownership of the radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology patent in the case.
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October 18, 2024
Travis Scott Appeal Is 'Self-Inflicted' Issue, Trial Plaintiffs Say
Three Astroworld plaintiffs set to have their day in court next week hit back at Travis Scott's bid for settlement information, telling a Texas appeals court that the rapper's motion is a manufactured "emergency" based on "incorrect argument."
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October 18, 2024
Mich. Supreme Court Spurns Challenge To UMich Gun Ban
The Michigan Supreme Court declined Friday to review the constitutionality of the University of Michigan's campus firearms ban, leaving in place a lower court's ruling that the policy does not violate the Second Amendment.
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October 18, 2024
Fed. Circ. Partly Restores Suit Over Utility Line Patent
The Federal Circuit has revived part of a lawsuit that alleged Metrotech Corp. infringed a competitor's patent covering ways for finding underground utility lines, finding that a lower court needs to take another look at key patent terminology.
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October 18, 2024
FERC Extension For Pipeline Spur Warranted, DC Circ. Told
The developer of a southern spur of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and two potential customers are asking the D.C. Circuit to nix conservation groups' challenge of a construction deadline extension the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted for the so-called Southgate project.
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October 18, 2024
DC Firms Look To Exit Suit Over $120M Iraq Award
Pierson Ferdinand LLP and another boutique firm have urged the D.C. Circuit to let them withdraw as counsel for Iraq as the country looks to overturn an order allowing a construction firm permission to go after Iraqi assets to satisfy a $120 million judgment, saying the country owes some $25,000 in legal fees and has stopped responding to the firms' inquiries on the litigation.
Expert Analysis
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Tips For Tax Equity-Tax Credit Transfers That Pass IRS Muster
Although the Internal Revenue Service has increased its scrutiny of complex partnership structures, which must demonstrate their economic substance and business purpose, recent cases and IRS guidance together provide a reliable road map for creating legitimate tax equity structures, say Ian Boccaccio and Michael Messina at Ryan Tax.
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7th Circ. Ruling Sheds Light On Extraterritoriality In IP Law
A recent Seventh Circuit decision involving the Defend Trade Secrets Act, allowing for broader international application of trade secrets laws, highlights a difference in how trade secrets are treated compared to other areas of intellectual property law, say Armin Ghiam and Maria Montenegro-Bernardo at Hunton.
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Opinion
Texas Judges Ignored ERISA's Core To Stall Fiduciary Rule
Two recent rulings from Texas federal courts, which rely on a plainly wrong reading of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to effectively strike a forthcoming rule that would impose functional fiduciary duties onto sellers of investment services, may expose financially unsophisticated 401(k) participants to peddlers of misleading advice, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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2nd Circ. Ruling Reaffirms Short-Swing Claims Have Standing
The Second Circuit's recent ruling in Packer v. Raging Capital reversing the dismissal of a shareholder's Section 16(b) derivative suit seeking to recover short-swing profits for lack of constitutional standing settles the uncertainty of the district court's decision, which could have undercut Congress' intent in crafting Section 16(b) in the first place, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?
A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.
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Insurance Lessons From 11th Circ. Ruling On Policy Grammar
The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in ECB v. Chubb Insurance, holding that missing punctuation didn't change the clear meaning of a professional services policy, offers policyholder takeaways about the uncertainty that can arise when courts interpret insurance policy language based on obscure grammatical canons, say Hugh Lumpkin and Garrett Nemeroff at Reed Smith.
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How High Court Ruling Is Shaping Homelessness Policies
The U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson to allow enforcement of local ordinances against overnight camping is already spurring new policies to manage homelessness, but the court's ruling does not grant jurisdictions unfettered power, say Kathryn Kafka and Alex Merritt at Sheppard Mullin.
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DOJ Paths To Limit FARA Fallout From Wynn's DC Circ. Win
After the D.C. Circuit’s recent Attorney General v. Wynn ruling, holding that the government cannot compel retroactive registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the U.S. Department of Justice has a few options to limit the decision’s impact on enforcement, say attorneys at MoFo.
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Series
Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.
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Series
After Chevron: Challenges Loom For PBGC Actions
After Loper Bright, two recent actions taken by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. already under scrutiny seem destined to be challenged and resolved under the new standard of judicial deference, which will greatly affect employers with potential withdrawal liability exposure, say Robert Perry and David Pixley at Jackson Lewis.
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Unpacking Executive Privilege, Contempt In Recent Cases
The U.S. House of Representatives’ recent move to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress is the latest example in a growing trend of executive privilege disputes, and serves as a warning to private citizens and corporate leaders who are in communication with the president, says Kristina Moore at Womble Bond.
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Gilead Drug Ruling Creates Corporate Governance Dilemma
If upheld, a California state appellate court's decision — finding that Gilead is liable for delaying commercialization of a safer HIV drug to maximize profits on another drug — threatens to undermine long-standing rules of corporate law and exposes companies to liability for decisions based on sound business judgment, says Shireen Barday at Pallas.
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Class Action Law Makes An LLC A 'Jurisdictional Platypus'
The applicability of Section 1332(d)(10) of the Class Action Fairness Act is still widely misunderstood — and given the ambiguous nature of limited liability companies, the law will likely continue to confound courts and litigants — so parties should be prepared for a range of outcomes, says Andrew Gunem at Strauss Borrelli.
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3 Notes For Arbitration Agreements After Calif. Ruling
After last month's California Supreme Court decision in Ramirez v. Charter Communications invalidated several arbitration clauses in the company's employee contracts as unconscionable, companies should ensure their own arbitration agreements steer clear of three major pitfalls identified by the court, say attorneys at Cooley.
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Jarkesy Ruling May Redefine Jury Role In Patent Fraud
Regardless of whether the U.S. Supreme Court’s Jarkesy ruling implicates the direction of inequitable conduct, which requires showing that the patentee made material statements or omissions to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the decision has created opportunities for defendants to argue more substantively for jury trials than ever before, say attorneys at Cadwalader.