Appellate

  • March 20, 2025

    8th Circ. Won't Nix Deportation Of Woman For Pot Offense

    The Eighth Circuit declined to review a Board of Immigration Appeals finding that a Mexican national is removable for her conviction of possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, and that the conviction makes her ineligible for cancellation of removal.

  • March 19, 2025

    Full 9th Circ. Quizzes BNSF On Reasons For Conductor Firing

    The en banc Ninth Circuit hinted Wednesday it might stand by a panel's earlier ruling overturning BNSF Railway Co.'s win in an ex-conductor's retaliation suit, with several judges expressing skepticism the railway had shown he would've been fired for dishonesty and insubordination even if he hadn't refused to stop conducting a brake test.

  • March 19, 2025

    GM Seeks Full 6th Circ. Guidance Amid Class Action Surge

    Sixth Circuit judges on Wednesday dug into whether they should undo a panel's ruling upholding class certification for consumers who allege General Motors sold vehicles with defective transmissions, as the automaker urged the judges to give courts guidance on class certification at a time the circuit has been "inundated" with class actions.

  • March 19, 2025

    Texas Justices OK With Venue Appeal Despite 'Politics' Involved

    A Texas Supreme Court justice lamented Wednesday that venue choice has become "a matter of politics," but told counsel for the family of a girl killed when a bus ran into her that the law seemingly gives the opposing party the right to appeal a venue decision from the trial court.

  • March 19, 2025

    DC Circ.'s Copyright Denial Of AI Art Is A Sign Of Future Fights

    A computer scientist's quest to register artwork made by his artificial intelligence system hit another roadblock this week when the D.C. Circuit concluded that only human authors qualify for copyright protection, but his case foreshadows complex questions that courts and perhaps Congress will have to grapple with as the technology evolves.

  • March 19, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Says Lacking License Dooms DOD Fuel Deal Protest

    The Federal Circuit refused Wednesday to revive a case challenging a $134 million sole-source fuel supply contract for the U.S. military in Djibouti, saying the challenger wasn't eligible for the deal even if the Defense Logistics Agency had opened it up to competition.

  • March 19, 2025

    Ex-U.S. Rep. Loses 2nd Circ. Appeal In Insider Trading Case

    Former Indiana Rep. Stephen Buyer has failed to convince the Second Circuit to overturn his insider trading conviction or to grant him a new trial, with the appellate court ruling Wednesday to keep his 22-month sentence intact.

  • March 19, 2025

    Ga. Justices Consider Election Board's Rulemaking Authority

    Georgia's Supreme Court justices on Wednesday considered whether a trial court judge correctly blocked the enforcement of controversial State Election Board rules put in place before last year's general election, weighing arguments about whether the rulemaking aligned with the constitution's separation of powers.

  • March 19, 2025

    Retirees' Discovery Bid Rejected In Hilton Pension Suit

    A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday refused to reopen discovery in a decades-old suit against Hilton Hotels Corp. filed by retirees who won on claims that the company violated federal benefits law by shortchanging their pensions, citing a lack of evidence in the record that Hilton wasn't complying with the court's judgment.

  • March 19, 2025

    Fla. Court Affirms Boardwalk Easement, Despite Defunct Law

    Florida's First District Court of Appeal confirmed Wednesday that Walton County, Florida, had a right to a public easement on a beach, finding it need not have exercised that right before the federal government repealed the law under which the land was conveyed to private owners.

  • March 19, 2025

    Ill. Justices Probe Wholesalers' Knowledge Of Tainted Cilantro

    Justices on Illinois' top court on Wednesday pressed attorneys in a case over allegedly contaminated cilantro to address when two wholesalers had actual knowledge the product may have made people sick, and what moment triggered a duty by a distributor to give notice for an implied warranty of merchantability claim.

  • March 19, 2025

    8th Circuit Rejects Minn. Tribe's Jurisdiction Rehearing Bid

    The Eighth Circuit on Wednesday denied a Minnesota tribe's request for a panel or en banc rehearing on a decision to remand and vacate its challenge over law enforcement jurisdiction on its reservation after it told the court last month that its assessment of the case conflicts with precedent.

  • March 19, 2025

    Texas Justices Skeptical Boeing Can Dodge Airline Union Suit

    Texas Supreme Court justices seemed wary of Boeing Co.'s argument that a pilot's union can't sue over lost compensation after a pair of deadly crashes involving the company's 737 Max airplanes, saying during oral arguments Wednesday it was seemingly making "policy arguments for Congress."

  • March 19, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Backs Partial Ax Of 'Money Mart' TM In Pawn Fight

    The Federal Circuit has backed the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's finding that two Dollar Financial Group trademark registrations for the phrase "Money Mart" can't be used for pawn brokerages and pawn shops.

  • March 19, 2025

    White House Says It Will Obey Court Orders But Faults Judges

    White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday the Trump administration will comply with court orders, but continued to escalate its verbal attacks on the judiciary.

  • March 19, 2025

    Plane Parts Maker Beats NC Appeal In Fatal Crash Suit

    Continental Aerospace Technologies Inc. defeated an appeal of its win in a products liability lawsuit stemming from the deaths of two pilots who crashed in one of the manufacturer's planes, with the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruling the plaintiffs failed to differentiate their claims of a defective engine manual with those about the allegedly faulty aircraft.

  • March 19, 2025

    Procedural Flub Ends Peeping Nurse Appeal, NC Panel Says

    A North Carolina state appellate panel on Wednesday axed an appeal in a negligence suit alleging a county allowed a nursing assistant to secretly film women at a county-owned clinic, saying the court lacks jurisdiction because the order being appealed wasn't final.

  • March 19, 2025

    Mich. Senate Asks High Court To Fast-Track Stalled Bill Case

    The Michigan Senate has appealed directly to the Great Lakes State's highest court, saying the court's swift intervention is needed to resolve a "constitutional confrontation" that arose when the House refused to send passed legislation to the governor.

  • March 19, 2025

    7th Circ. Orders Tax Court To Clarify ESOP Suit Dismissal

    The Seventh Circuit axed the U.S. Tax Court's dismissal of a transit company's suit over an employee stock ownership plan, saying the lower court must specify that it lacked the authority to review the case because it was filed before the IRS completed an exam.

  • March 19, 2025

    8th Circ. Upholds No-Coverage Ruling In Floor Paint Suit

    A flooring company's insurer has no duty to cover roughly $134,000 in costs to remove and replace a vinyl floor because of a subcontractor's shoddy painting, the Eighth Circuit ruled Wednesday, rejecting the company's position that an exception in a faulty work exclusion applied to restore coverage.

  • March 19, 2025

    6th Circ. Says Pharmacist Doesn't Owe Tax On Forfeited IRA

    A pharmacist doing time for running a Kentucky pill mill doesn't owe taxes on his forfeited retirement account, the Sixth Circuit ruled Wednesday, reversing a U.S. Tax Court decision that upheld what the appeals court described as an unexpected punishment.

  • March 19, 2025

    Activist Asks 9th Circ. To Revive Meta, Twitter RICO Fight

    Political activist Laura Loomer urged the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday to revive her latest racketeering lawsuit alleging Meta and Twitter conspired with the government to censor conservative voices, arguing the lawsuit is distinct from three prior suits in part because this case involves accounts she used as a political candidate.

  • March 19, 2025

    10th Circ. Says 'Corner-Crossing' Hunters Didn't Trespass

    A Tenth Circuit panel has ruled that Wyoming hunters who used an A-frame ladder to cross over private property to access public lands didn't trespass, finding an 1885 American frontier law protects the public's right to "corner-cross" and access public lands that are otherwise enclosed by private property.

  • March 19, 2025

    Mich. Judges Fret Over Danger Of Proposed Disclosure Rules

    Michigan Supreme Court justices on Wednesday heard feedback on proposed changes to judicial canons to broaden judges' financial disclosure requirements and expressed concern over the need to balance transparency and accountability with the safety of judges and their families amid a rise in threats against the judiciary.

  • March 19, 2025

    Ohio Opioid Judge Says Texas Court Should Hear Appeal Bid

    An Ohio federal judge overseeing multidistrict opioid litigation denied Albertsons Cos.' request to appeal its summary judgment loss in the bellwether case brought by a Texas county, saying Wednesday that since pretrial proceedings are now done, the appeal should head to the appellate court for the Lone Star State.

Expert Analysis

  • Tracking The Slow Movement Of AI Copyright Cases

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    The tech community may be expecting a prompt resolution on whether products generated by artificial intelligence are a fair use of copyrighted works, but legal history shows that a response to this question — at the heart of over 30 pending cases — will take years, say attorneys at White & Case.

  • How Property Insurance Coverage Shrank After The Pandemic

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    Insurers litigating property claims are leveraging rulings that provided relief in the COVID-19 context to reverse the former majority rule on physical loss or damage in all contexts, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Considering Chevron's End Through A State Tax Lens

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    States took the lead in encouraging Chevron's demise, turning away from Chevron-type deference in state tax administration ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, a trend likely to accelerate as courts take a more active role in interpreting tax laws, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Curious Case Of FTC's Amicus Brief In Teva Fed. Circ. Appeal

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    Attorneys at BCLP explore the Federal Trade Commission's backing of Amneal's Orange Book-delisting efforts on Teva ahead of a key Federal Circuit hearing in a case between the two pharmaceutical companies, and wonder if the FTC amicus brief indicates a future trend, especially in the next administration.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • When 'Patented' Goes Beyond Inventorship In False Ad Cases

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    The Federal Circuit's recent false advertising holding in Crocs v. Effervescent is significant because it offers a nuanced yet realistic understanding of what false claims about a product's status as "patented" can mean, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • 2nd Circ. Hostile Workplace Ruling Widens Arbitration Pitfalls

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision, affirming the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act applies to a worker whose workplace hostility claims arose before the law’s 2022 enactment, widens the scope of the law — and the risks of unenforceable arbitration agreements for employers, say attorneys at Hinshaw.

  • 2nd Circ. Maxwell Ruling Adds To Confusion Over NPA Reach

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision upholding Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction made an analytical leap in applying plea agreement precedent to a nonprosecution agreement, compounding a circuit split and providing lessons for defense counsel, say attorneys at Kropf Moseley.

  • The Fed. Circ. In October: Aetna And License-Term Review

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision that Aetna's credit card licensing agreement with AlexSam did not give the insurer immunity from patent infringement claims serves to warn licensees to read their contracts carefully, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Recent Developments In Insurance Coverage For FCA Claims

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    As the U.S. Department of Justice continues its vigorous False Claims Act enforcement, companies looking to their insurers to help defray the costs of an investigation or settlement should note recent decisions on which types of policies cover FCA claims, which policy periods apply and which portions of FCA-related losses are covered, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Boosting Confidence In Pennsylvania's Election System

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    As Election Day nears, Pennsylvania is facing an intense flurry of litigation, including an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court centered on mail-in and provisional ballots, but the state's election system is robust, and attorneys from all practice areas have an important role to play in ensuring confidence in and access to our election system, says Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie.

  • Takeaways From The IRS' Crypto Doc Summons Win

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    A recent First Circuit decision holding that taxpayers do not have a Fourth Amendment reasonable expectation of privacy in cryptocurrency transaction records should prompt both taxpayers and exchanges to take stock of past transactions and future plans, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • A Novel Expansion Of Alien Tort Statute In 9th Circ.

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    The Ninth Circuit's Doe v. Cisco rehearing denial allows a new invocation of the Alien Tort Statute to proceed, which could capture the U.S. Supreme Court's attention, and has potentially dramatic consequences for U.S. companies doing business with foreign governments, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

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    Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.

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