Appellate

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • October 23, 2024

    Feds Urge High Court To Deny Cig Cos.' Bid To Ax New Rule

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court not to grant certiorari to a group of tobacco companies aiming to vacate a rule requiring larger warnings on cigarette boxes, saying the Fifth Circuit rightly found the proposed warnings don't violate the First Amendment's protection against compelled speech.

  • October 23, 2024

    9th Circ. Backs Injury Firm's Win In Fight Over Google Ads

    The Ninth Circuit has upheld an Arizona federal court's ruling in favor of a Tempe-based personal injury firm that was sued by another personal injury firm, Lerner & Rowe, over its purchases of Google advertising search terms, with the judges finding little "actual confusion" was caused by the advertising strategy.

  • October 23, 2024

    'MetaBirkins' TM Appeal May Split 2nd Circ. On Art Question

    A Second Circuit panel appeared divided Wednesday over whether a Los Angeles man should be liable for infringing Hermès International's handbag trademarks with his "MetaBirkins" nonfungible tokens, with two judges seemingly siding with the Paris designer and one with the purported artist.

  • October 23, 2024

    Ga. Justices Say Open Records Suit Against DA Can Proceed

    The Supreme Court of Georgia said a district attorney for the Peach State's Western Judicial Circuit must face an Open Records Act suit claiming she withheld records, and that one of her arguments to escape the suit "fundamentally misunderstands Georgia's separation-of-powers doctrine."

  • October 23, 2024

    Court Doubts Tax Program Is A Subsidy, Remands Steel Duty

    The U.S. Court of International Trade remanded a countervailing tariff on Turkish steel rebar for the U.S. Department of Commerce to explain why it treated a broadly available tax exemption as a subsidy conferring an unfair trade advantage.

  • October 23, 2024

    2nd Circ. Backs Early Wells Fargo Win In $100M RMBS Case

    The Second Circuit on Wednesday approved an early win for Wells Fargo in a lawsuit brought by Commerzbank AG alleging it lost $100 million investing in residential mortgage-backed securities, saying the German lender didn't have standing to sue.

  • October 22, 2024

    Texas Firm 'Tortured' Barratry Case, Appeals Court Hears

    A Texas law firm accused of ambulance chasing told a state appeals court that the opposition had "tortured" the case, saying during oral arguments Tuesday that Bandas Law Firm PC pursued the case merely as an extortion racket.

  • October 22, 2024

    Ex-Yale Student Wants Full Acquittal Record Sent To DHS

    An expelled Yale University student on Tuesday urged the Second Circuit to quickly vacate orders barring him from giving the U.S. Department of Homeland Security an unredacted transcript that resulted in his acquittal of sex crimes, saying a delay could seal his deportation and thus his execution by the Taliban.

  • October 22, 2024

    'Dewberry' Ruling Doesn't Threaten Corporate Veil, Justices Told

    An engineering company that won millions of dollars in a trademark case against a real estate developer that tried to use the "Dewberry" name for a hotel told the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to let that ruling stand, arguing that the Fourth Circuit ruling in its favor doesn't undermine the corporate veil.

  • October 22, 2024

    Colo. Justices Suggest Remanding 'Half-Baked' Privilege Case

    Colorado Supreme Court justices appeared reluctant Tuesday to do more than remand a case over whether attorney-client privilege protects communications by an insurance company's lawyers with engineers hired for processing a claim, with two justices calling the appeal "half-baked" since the trial judge admitted she used the wrong standard.

  • October 22, 2024

    Calif. Panel Says Panera Must Face PAGA Claims

    A California state appeals court on Monday reversed a state trial court's ruling compelling a Panera restaurant employee to arbitrate Private Attorneys General Act claims against the bakery and café chain, saying an arbitration agreement the worker had entered explicitly excluded PAGA claims.

  • October 22, 2024

    Copper Mining Co. Asks High Court To Toss Sacred Site Suit

    A copper mining company that wants to build operations in a tribally sacred part of the Tonto National Forest has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to toss a challenge to a Ninth Circuit ruling that allows for the transfer of nearly 2,500 acres of land.

Expert Analysis

  • Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

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    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.

  • How NJ Temp Equal Pay Survived A Constitutional Challenge

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    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.

  • Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.

  • What We Know From Early Cyberinsurance Rulings

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    Recent cyber disruption incidents, like the Crowdstrike outage and the CDK Global cyberattack this summer, highlight the necessity of understanding legal interpretations of cyberinsurance coverage — an area in which there has been little litigation thus far, say Peter Halprin and Rebecca Schwarz at Haynes Boone.

  • 6th Circ. Ruling Highlights Complexity Of ERISA Preemption

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    The Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in Standard Insurance v. Guy — that the defendant couldn't collect his mother’s life insurance after being convicted of murdering his parents — illustrates how courts must engage in mental gymnastics to avoid the broad reach of Employee Retirement Income Security Act preemption, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • Strategies To Defend Against Healthcare Nuclear Verdicts

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    The healthcare industry is increasingly the target of megaclaims, particularly those alleging medical malpractice, but attorneys representing providers can use a few tools to push back on flimsy litigation and reduce the likelihood of a nuclear verdict, says LaMar Jost at Wheeler Trigg.

  • 5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond

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    As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.

  • Series

    After Chevron: SEC Climate And ESG Rules Likely Doomed

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    Under the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Loper Bright, without agency deference, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure and environmental, social and governance rules would likely be found lacking in statutory support and vacated by the courts, says Justin Chretien at Carlton Fields.

  • Assessing Whether Jarkesy May Limit FINRA Prosecutions

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Jarkesy v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, holding that civil securities fraud defendants are entitled to jury trials, may cause unpredictable results when applied to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority prosecutions, say Barry Temkin and Kate DiGeronimo at Mound Cotton.

  • The Bank Preemption Ripple Effects After Cantero, Flagstar

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    The importance of federal preemption for financial institutions will only increase as technology-driven innovations evolve, which is why the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Cantero v. Bank of America and vacatur of Kivett v. Flagstar Bank have real modern-day significance for national banks, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • IP Hot Topic: The Intersection Of Trademark And Antitrust Law

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    Antitrust claims – like those in the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent case against Apple – are increasingly influencing trademark disputes and enforcement practices, demonstrating how antitrust law can dilute the power of a trademark, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Series

    Being An Opera Singer Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    My journey from the stage to the courtroom has shown that the skills I honed as an opera singer – punctuality, memorization, creativity and more – have all played a vital role in my success as an attorney, says Gerard D'Emilio at GableGotwals.

  • How Law Firms Can Avoid 'Collaboration Drag'

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    Law firm decision making can be stifled by “collaboration drag” — characterized by too many pointless meetings, too much peer feedback and too little dissent — but a few strategies can help stakeholders improve decision-making processes and build consensus, says Steve Groom at Miles Mediation.

  • Election Outlook: A Precedent Primer On Content Moderation

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    With the 2024 election season now in full swing, online platforms will face difficult and politically sensitive decisions about content moderation, but U.S. Supreme Court decisions from last term offer much-needed certainty about their rights, say Jonathan Blavin and Helen White at Munger Tolles.

  • When The Supreme Court Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade

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    Instead of grousing about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning long-standing precedents, attorneys should look to history for examples of how enterprising legal minds molded difficult decisions to their advantage, and figure out how to work with the cards they’ve been dealt, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

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