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Appellate
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June 14, 2024
11th Circ. Shows Insurers Preference In D&O Coverage Row
The Eleventh Circuit appeared poised to affirm a Florida district court's finding that the successor of an insurance services firm is not owed coverage for underlying shareholder-related litigation under 2017 claims-made policies because the claims are connected to ones made under a 2016 policy.
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June 14, 2024
FCA Boss' N-Word Use Not Enough For Racial Bias Suit
A Black FCA worker's allegations that his supervisor used the N-word twice and that it was written on the bathroom wall are not enough to prove he experienced a hostile work environment or was prevented from doing his job, a Michigan appeal panel has ruled.
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June 14, 2024
5th Circ. Says Jury Instructions Deeply 'Flawed' In Tax Suit
A Fifth Circuit panel has found that the jury instructions for a $580,000 tax dispute were "irredeemably flawed," vacating the verdict and handing a loss to a partnership that claimed it had reasonable cause for its tax filing problems due to an employee's mental health issues.
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June 14, 2024
Blistering Dissents Belie Justices' Penchant For Consensus
Thirteen days into June, the U.S. Supreme Court had recorded one of the highest rates of unanimous decisions in the past four decades. But the era of historic consensus was tarnished a bit Friday when the court issued three split decisions and two scathing dissents highlighting how much the nine justices differ.
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June 14, 2024
Uri Pricing Upheld After Lower Court 'Strayed From Its Lane'
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday said that the Public Utility Commission of Texas acted within its authority when it set a single price for electricity at the market cap during 2021 winter storm Uri, overturning a blockbuster decision by a lower court that upheld its two pricing orders.
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June 14, 2024
Justices Are Asked To Wade Into Blood Pressure Drug IP Fight
United Therapeutics is taking its patent case seeking to stop a rival from selling a drug that competes with its blockbuster treatment for high blood pressure to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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June 14, 2024
9th Circ. Revives Union Pacific Workers' Disability Bias Suits
The Ninth Circuit on Friday reversed Union Pacific Railroad's wins in three worker disability discrimination lawsuits involving plaintiffs with color-vision concerns, saying the lower court incorrectly determined that their individual claims were time-barred after an Eighth Circuit decision decertifying a thousands-strong class in similar litigation against the company.
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June 14, 2024
Monsanto Says Wash. Ruling Axes $275M PCB Verdict
Monsanto has asked a Washington state appeals court to reverse a $275 million verdict against it in a suit over polychlorinated biphenyls exposure at a school site, saying a recent reversal of a $185 million verdict by the court in another case greatly bolsters its argument for another reversal.
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June 14, 2024
3rd Circ. Merges 3 Challenges To Medicare Drug Price Talks
The Third Circuit will hear three separate appeals challenging Medicare's drug price negotiations together, according to a new order consolidating cases brought by AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Janssen Pharmaceuticals in New Jersey and Delaware federal courts.
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June 14, 2024
Florida Says It Can Control Own Speech In 'Stop WOKE' Suit
Florida officials urged an Eleventh Circuit panel on Friday to unblock a state law known as the Stop WOKE Act that restricts classroom discussion of race and gender, saying it does not violate the First Amendment because government should be allowed to "freely select the views it wants to express."
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June 14, 2024
Split DC Circ. Rejects NY's Electricity Rate Challenge
A split D.C. Circuit panel rejected Friday a New York utility regulator's attempt to unravel the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of the state grid operator's wholesale electricity rates, leaving in place an estimated 17-year lifespan for new fossil-fueled power plants.
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June 14, 2024
Industry Groups End 2nd Circ. Case Over NY Broadband Law
Six trade groups said Friday they will end a Second Circuit challenge to a New York law that requires internet service providers to offer low-cost broadband service plans.
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June 14, 2024
US Urges 5th Circ. To Back $2M Tax Bill For Tire Imports
The Fifth Circuit should overturn a lower court's ruling that a Houston truck company was not an importer responsible for nearly $2 million in excise taxes on tires it bought from a Chinese manufacturer, the U.S. told the Fifth Circuit on Friday.
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June 14, 2024
9th Circ. Balks At Gas Buyers' Price-Fix Fight Over Trump Pact
A Ninth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Friday of efforts to revive a proposed antitrust class action alleging that Chevron, Exxon Mobil and others fixed gasoline prices following the Trump administration's 2020 oil production deal with Russia and Saudi Arabia, with each judge doubting that federal courts have jurisdiction over the dispute.
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June 14, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Recharge Energizer Battery False Ad Suit
Energizer defeated a proposed class action accusing it of fraudulently touting its AA Max batteries are "up to 50% longer lasting," after the Ninth Circuit said Friday reasonable consumers wouldn't be misled by the statement since it doesn't promise they'll always last 50% longer than competing products in all applications.
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June 14, 2024
2nd Circ. Suspects Paralegal's Video Leaks Were Valid Threats
The Second Circuit on Friday seemed skeptical of a former U.S. Department of Justice paralegal's attempt to trim a 33-month sentence for helping her gang-affiliated son expose two associates who cooperated with a law enforcement probe into a 2018 robbery, questioning why the recordings at issue couldn't be considered threats.
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June 14, 2024
Colo. Town Says It Took Resort Co.'s Land To Protect Sheep
A Colorado town has told a state appeals court it was justified in condemning and taking over local land that was owned by The Vail Corp. because the town needed to preserve wildlife space for a bighorn sheep herd.
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June 14, 2024
3rd Circ. Won't Halt 'Made In America' False Ad Ruling
The Third Circuit will not pause an injunction against Albion Engineering Co. for falsely marketing its caulking guns as made in the United States, according to a Friday order declining to hold off the New Jersey federal court's order while the firm appeals.
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June 14, 2024
Novant Urges 4th Circ. To Reject FTC's 'Emergency' Bid
Novant Health told the Fourth Circuit there is no need to block its planned North Carolina hospital purchase while the Federal Trade Commission pushes a merger challenge, saying the deal will increase competition by preventing the hospitals from closing.
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June 14, 2024
DOJ Can't Force Retroactive FARA Registration, DC Circ. Says
The U.S. Department of Justice can't force casino magnate Steve Wynn to retroactively register as a foreign agent because his alleged lobbying efforts on behalf of China ended years ago, a D.C. Circuit panel ruled Friday.
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June 14, 2024
Off The Bench: Ex-Players Claim NIL, Loss For Trans Swimmer
In this week's Off The Bench, the 1983 men's college basketball champions want a piece of the loot the NCAA made off of their names, swimmer Lia Thomas loses in her bid to overturn an international trans athlete ban, and the House gets a bill through committee that would keep college athletes from becoming employees.
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June 14, 2024
DC Circ. Backs FERC Climate Reviews In Pipeline Project Row
The D.C. Circuit on Friday appeared to endorse the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's current method of evaluating the climate change impacts of gas infrastructure projects in approval in rejecting an environmental group's challenge of the agency's pipeline upgrade project serving the New York City area.
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June 14, 2024
Healthcare Worker's Solo PAGA Claim Heads To Arbitration
A California state appeals court ruled an employee's individual wage claims under the state's Private Attorneys General Act should be heard in arbitration, overturning a lower court's decision to keep the lawsuit in state court and finding the arbitration agreement encompassed the worker's claims.
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June 14, 2024
Pa. Court Allows 'Special Prosecutor' For Philly Transit
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner cannot stop the Pennsylvania Legislature and the state attorney general from appointing a "special prosecutor" to handle crimes within the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, according to a split state appellate court Friday.
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June 14, 2024
DOJ Declines To Prosecute AG Garland For Contempt
The U.S. Department of Justice is declining to prosecute Attorney General Merrick Garland after the House voted earlier this week to hold him in contempt for not turning over audio recordings of the president and his ghostwriter speaking with special counsel Robert Hur for his investigation into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents.
Expert Analysis
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Payment Provision Lessons From NJ Construction Ruling
A New Jersey appellate court's decision in Bil-Jim v. Wyncrest, holding that an American Institute of Architects contract was not an installment contract, highlights both the complexities of statute of limitations calculations and the significant consequences that can arise from minor differences in contract language, say Mitchell Taraschi and Zac Brower at Connell Foley.
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The Fed. Circ. In February: A Reminder On Procedure Rule 28
Because the Federal Circuit does not often issue a sua sponte precedential order emphasizing an important rule of practice, it is useful to look at how the court applied the restrictions of appellate procedure Rule 28 in Promptu v. Comcast last month, and in cases that preceded it, say Jeremiah Helm and Sean Murray at Knobbe Martens.
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SC Ruling Reinforces All Sums Coverage Trend
A South Carolina state court's recent ruling in Covil v. Pennsylvania National is the latest in a series of decisions, dating back to the 2016 New York Court of Appeals ruling in Viking Pump, that reject insurers' pro rata allocation argument, further supporting that all sums coverage is required whenever a loss could be covered under a policy in any other year, say Raymond Mascia and Thomas Dupont at Anderson Kill.
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A Defense Strategy For Addressing Copyright Fee-Shifting
Permissive fee-shifting under Section 505 of the Copyright Act poses unique challenges for copyright defendants, carrying an outsize impact on the economic incentive structure in copyright litigation, but relying on a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure may offer a potential solution by allowing defendants to recover attorney fees, say Hugh Marbury and Molly Shaffer at Cozen O'Connor.
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Opinion
Neb. Justices Should Weigh IRC Terms In Dividend Tax Case
Nebraska’s highest court, which will hear oral arguments in Precision CastParts v. Department of Revenue on April 1, should recognize that the Internal Revenue Code provides key clues to defining “dividends received or deemed to be received,” and therefore limits Nebraska’s tax on foreign-sourced corporate income, says Joseph Schmidt at Ryan.
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Contract Disputes Recap: Facts Differ But Same Rules Apply
Zachary Jacobson and Sarah Barney at Seyfarth examine two decisions illustrating that reliance on a technicality may not save an otherwise untimely appeal, and that enforcement of commercial terms and conditions under a federal supply schedule contract may be possible.
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Del. Supreme Court Insurance Ruling Aids In Defining 'Claim'
The recent Delaware Supreme Court decision in Zurich v. Syngenta, finding that a presuit letter did not constitute a claim for insurance purposes, sets out a three-factor test to help policyholders distinguish when a demand rises to the level of a claim, says Lara Langeneckert at Barnes & Thornburg.
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Series
Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.
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Judge-Shopping Policy Revisal May Make Issue Worse
The Judicial Conference at its March meeting unveiled a revised policy with the stated goal of limiting litigants’ ability to judge-shop in patent cases, but the policy may actually exacerbate the problem by tying the issue to judge-shopping in polarizing political cases, making reform more difficult, say Robert Niemeier and William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.
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2nd Circ. Baby Food Ruling Disregards FDA's Expertise
The Second Circuit's recent decision in White v. Beech-Nut Nutrition, refusing to defer litigation over heavy metals in baby food until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration weighs in on the issue, provides no indication that courts will resolve the issue with greater efficiency than the FDA, say attorneys at Phillips Lytle.
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Where 9th Circ. Lowe's Ruling Leaves PAGA Jurisprudence
Leah Kennedy and Carolyn Wheeler at Katz Banks discuss the legal landscape and controlling precedent around the Private Attorneys General Act that led to the Ninth Circuit's Johnson v. Lowe's decision last month on individual PAGA wage claims, and explore the open questions that it leaves.
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Opinion
5th Circ. NFL Disability Ruling Turns ERISA On Its Head
The Fifth Circuit's March 15 ruling in Cloud v. NFL Player Retirement Plan upheld the plan's finding that an NFL player was not entitled to reclassification because he couldn't show changed circumstances, which is contrary to the goal of accurate Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims processing, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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How Fieldwood Ch. 11 Ruling Bolsters Section 363 Confidence
The Fifth Circuit’s recent ruling in Fieldwood Energy’s Chapter 11 cases, which clarified that challenges to integral aspects of a bankruptcy sale are statutorily moot under Section 363(m) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, should bolster the confidence of prospective purchasers in these sales, say attorneys at V&E.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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2nd Circ.'s Binance Locus Test Adds Risk For Blockchain Cos.
The Second Circuit’s recent use of the irrevocable liability test to rule a class action may proceed against decentralized crypto exchange Binance heightens the possibility that other blockchain-based businesses with domestic customers and digital infrastructure will find themselves subject to U.S. securities laws, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.