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Appellate
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July 03, 2024
5 Argument Sessions Benefits Attys Should Watch For In July
Republican state attorneys general will try to convince the Fifth Circuit to knock down a U.S. Department of Labor rule covering how retirement plan managers can consider environmental and social factors when picking investments, while Kellogg workers will challenge class action waivers at the Sixth Circuit. Here are five argument sessions coming up this month that benefits attorneys should keep an eye on.
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July 03, 2024
One Judge Not Enough For TCPA Deal's Toss, 11th Circ. Told
An Alabama woman has said a recent Eleventh Circuit decision tossing her and other class members' $35 million settlement with GoDaddy.com should get another look from a three-judge panel because outstanding questions about which of the panel's opinions control are poised to sow confusion with the district court.
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July 03, 2024
Wash. Justices Say City RV Camping Ban Is Constitutional
The Washington Supreme Court upheld a city ordinance on Wednesday banning recreational vehicles and trailers from parking on municipal streets for more than four hours, rejecting a man's argument that the law violated his constitutional travel rights by barring him from living indefinitely in his 23-foot trailer on city property.
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July 03, 2024
No 'Unfettered Discretion' For Zoning Boards: Mich. Justices
The Michigan Supreme Court has held that conditionally rezoning a property is only valid if the property's proposed use is already allowed under a town's ordinances, instructing a trial court to determine whether a racing dragway is a permitted use under a township's commercial zone.
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July 03, 2024
Cannabis Cos. To Take Constitutional Challenge To 1st Circ.
A group of cannabis businesses challenging the federal prohibition on marijuana gave notice of appeal Wednesday to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
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July 03, 2024
Doctor Who Won $12M Assault Case Can't Revive USC Claims
A female doctor who won a $12 million verdict against a male colleague over a sexual assault at a Los Angeles County hospital affiliated with USC's Keck School of Medicine can't revive sexual harassment claims against the university and the county, a California appellate court held.
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July 03, 2024
'Who Does That?' 7th Circ. Pans Walmart's Price Audit Theory
The Seventh Circuit on Wednesday revived a class action accusing Walmart of systematically posting lower prices on shelves than it actually charges, rejecting the retailer's argument that the onus is on customers to keep track of prices as they're juggling various distractions during checkout.
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July 03, 2024
2nd Circ. Backs NY Campaign Finance Laws Favoring Parties
The Second Circuit on Wednesday rejected a constitutional challenge to New York state campaign finance laws that created a stricter set of rules for candidate-nominating independent bodies than for more established political parties.
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July 03, 2024
NC Solicitor General Faces GOP Roadblock To 4th Circ. Bench
President Joe Biden's selection of North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Y. Park for a Fourth Circuit seat tops off a distinguished resume that includes a Harvard Law degree and a stint at Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP, but he still faces an uphill road to the bench amid pushback from Tar Heel State senators.
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July 03, 2024
Contentious Ala. Gender Care Case Partly Paused
Favoring "judicial efficiency," an Alabama federal court has partially granted the Biden administration's opposed motion to stay a case challenging the state's ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth while the U.S. Supreme Court reviews a similar Tennessee ban, though some briefing, including for summary judgment, was permitted to proceed.
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July 03, 2024
Google Defeats Online Media Patent Suit At Fed. Circ.
A Federal Circuit panel on Wednesday backed Google LLC's win in a California federal suit accusing it of infringing patents on creating layered web-based communications like ads and websites.
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July 03, 2024
9th Circ. Says Carjacking Is Not Reason For Removal
The Ninth Circuit has ruled the 2006 carjacking conviction of a Salvadoran immigrant isn't enough to deport him because carjacking alone "is not a categorical crime of violence" under federal law.
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July 03, 2024
Ohio Ambulance Co. Keeps Win In Air Horn Injury Suit
An Ohio state appeals panel has affirmed a jury verdict in favor of Emergency Medical Transport Inc. in a suit by a woman who alleges her hearing was damaged by an air horn on one of its ambulances, saying a dispute over whether EMT's own ambulance indeed caused the injury was what ultimately blocked the jury instruction she wanted.
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July 03, 2024
Mich. Justices Skip Dinsmore Ex-Client's Malpractice Appeal
Michigan's top court won't review a ruling dismissing a cannabis company's lawsuit against Dinsmore & Shohl LLP that alleged the firm reneged on an agreement to help the company apply for a dispensary license hours before the paperwork was due.
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July 03, 2024
DLA Piper Adds McGuireWoods' Downtown LA Shop Lead
McGuireWoods LLP's former Los Angeles downtown office head is taking her class action and complex litigation-focused practice in finance, technology, aerospace and oil industries to DLA Piper, the firm announced this week.
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July 03, 2024
Mass. Court Partially Revives Trooper's Bias Suit
An intermediate-level appellate panel in Massachusetts on Wednesday partially revived a suit brought by a state trooper who claimed she faced retaliation and was treated differently after breaking up with a colleague.
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July 03, 2024
1st Circ. Hands Hearing Loss Biotech Win In Stock-Drop Suit
A panel of the First Circuit declined to revive an investor class action alleging that a hearing loss treatment company and some of its executives concealed disappointing clinical trial results, saying there was no evidence the company had knowingly made false statements about the trial.
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July 03, 2024
NC Appeals Court OKs Hospital's 'Facility Fees' For ER Patient
The North Carolina Court of Appeals has found that Novant Health was allowed to charge an emergency room patient "facility fees" because a contract she signed for healthcare included language requiring payment for anything not covered by insurance.
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July 03, 2024
2nd Circ. Overturns Enforcement Of $2B In Venezuelan Bonds
The Second Circuit on Wednesday overturned the enforcement of nearly $2 billion in defaulted bonds issued by Venezuela's state-owned oil company, following a ruling from New York's highest court that Venezuelan law, not New York law, governs the validity of the bonds.
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July 03, 2024
After Chevron Deference: What Lawyers Need To Know
This term, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference, a precedent established 40 years ago that said when judges could defer to federal agencies' interpretations of law in rulemaking. Here, catch up with Law360's coverage of what is likely to happen next.
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July 03, 2024
Biden's New Picks Include NC Solicitor General For 4th Circ.
President Joe Biden announced four new judicial nominees on Wednesday, including one for the Fourth Circuit.
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July 02, 2024
Data Breach Suits Drive Consumer Protection Docket Growth
Federal consumer protection lawsuits are back on the rise after nearly a decade of steady decline, with disputes over increasingly prevalent data breaches fueling the uptick, according to a Wednesday report by Lex Machina.
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July 02, 2024
11th Circ. Reverses $500K Insurer Benefit In Climber's Death
The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday reversed a lower court decision saying Reliance Standard Life Insurance had to pay $500,000 in benefits to the sons of a mountaineer who died ascending a peak in Pakistan, ruling that the life insurer wasn't unreasonable in determining that the climber didn't die by accident.
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July 02, 2024
Immigration Attys Cautiously Optimistic After Chevron Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that courts no longer have to defer to federal agencies' interpretations of ambiguous statutes could help some immigrants fight removal orders while serving as a buffer against partisan challenges to executive immigration actions.
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July 02, 2024
IT Workers Say Chevron's End Dooms Spouse Work Permits
Ex-information technology workers told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning decades-old precedent instructing judges about when they can defer to federal agencies' interpretations of law buoys their challenge to an Obama-era program allowing work permits for some spouses of highly skilled foreign workers.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
SEC Doesn't Have Legal Authority For Climate Disclosure Rule
Instead of making the required legal argument to establish its authority, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosure rule hides behind more than 1,000 references to materiality to give the appearance that its rule is legally defensible, says Bernard Sharfman at RealClearFoundation.
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Breaking Down 4th Circ. Pendent Appellate Jurisdiction Ruling
As illustrated by the Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Elegant Massage v. State Farm, denying class certification and granting a motion to dismiss, federal appellate courts continue to struggle with defining the scope of pendent appellate jurisdiction — or jurisdiction over nonfinal orders below, says Joan Steinman at the Chicago-Kent College of Law.
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What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron
With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.
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Patent Damages Jury Verdicts Aren't Always End Of The Story
Recent outcomes demonstrate that patent damages jury verdicts are often challenged and are overturned approximately one-third of the time, and successful verdict challenges typically occur at the appellate level and concern patent validity and infringement, say James Donohue and Marie Sanyal at Charles River.
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Justices' Title VII Ruling Requires Greater Employer Vigilance
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Muldrow v. St. Louis ruling expands the types of employment decisions that can be challenged under Title VII, so employers will need to carefully review decisions that affect a term, condition or privilege of employment, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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End Of Acquitted Conduct Sentencing Can Spark More Reform
The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s recent end to factoring acquitted conduct into federal sentences could signal the start of a more constitutionally sound advisory scheme, but Congress and the Supreme Court must first authorize the commission to resolve two constitutional errors baked into its guidelines, say Mark Allenbaugh at SentencingStats.com and Alan Ellis at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.
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NY Tax Talk: Primary Function Is Key Analysis For Sales Tax
Two sales tax cases recently decided by New York's Appellate Division illustrate why both taxpayers and the state's Department of Revenue subscribe to the primary function test, a logical way to determine whether business transactions are subject to sales tax, say Elizabeth Cha and Jeremy Gove at Eversheds Sutherland.
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Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions
Mark Johnson and Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler discuss notable insurance class action decisions from the first quarter of the year ranging from salvage vehicle titling to rate discrimination based on premium-setting software.
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Why High Court May Have Rejected IP Obviousness Appeal
Attorneys at Womble Bond analyze possible reasons the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Vanda Pharmaceuticals' request to review the Federal Circuit’s reasonable expectation of success standard for determining obviousness, including that the court was unpersuaded by the company's argument that Amgen v. Sanofi places a bind on drug developers.
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Opinion
Time To Fix NYC's Broken Property Assessment System
A New York appellate court's decision to revive Tax Equity Now New York v. City of New York may force the city to revamp its outdated and unfair real estate tax assessment system, which could be fixed with a couple of simple changes, says Seth Feldman at Romer Debbas.
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Ill. Justices' Ruling Answers Corporate Defamation Questions
The Illinois Supreme Court's recent unanimous decision in Project44 v. FourKites provides needed certainty and direction for lower courts considering defamation cases involving communications to corporate officers from third parties outside the corporation, which could result in fewer unwarranted motions to dismiss in trial courts and nonmeritorious appeals, says Phillip Zisook at Schoenberg Finkel.
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As Arbitrator Bias Claims Rise, Disclosure Standards Evolve
The growth in post-award challenges based on arbitrators' alleged conflicts of interest has led to the release of new guidance and new case law on the topic — both supporting the view that professional familiarity alone does not translate to a lack of impartiality, say attorneys at Skadden.
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6th Circ. Bias Ruling Shows Job Evaluations Are Key Defense
In Wehrly v. Allstate, the Sixth Circuit recently declined to revive a terminated employee’s federal and state religious discrimination and retaliation claims, illustrating that an employer’s strongest defense in such cases is a documented employment evaluation history that justifies an adverse action, says Michael Luchsinger at Segal Mccambridge.
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Social Media Free Speech Issues Are Trending At High Court
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision examining what constitutes state action on social media can be viewed in conjunction with oral arguments in two other cases to indicate that the court sees a need for more clarity regarding how social media usage implicates the First Amendment, say attorneys at Kean Miller.
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The Fed. Circ. In April: Hurdles Remain For Generics
The Federal Circuit’s recent Salix v. Norwich ruling — where Salix's brand-name drug's patents were invalidated — is a reminder to patent practitioners that invalidating a competitor's patents may not guarantee abbreviated new drug application approval, say Sean Murray and Jeremiah Helm at Knobbe Martens.