Appellate

  • October 28, 2024

    'Mutual Combat' Halts Revival Of Ga. Eatery Shooting Claims

    The mutual combat doctrine dooms a premises liability claim a Georgia man filed against a property owner after he was shot outside an Atlanta-area Ethiopian restaurant by a convicted felon working security, the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled Monday.

  • October 28, 2024

    Surge In Nicotine Fee Suits Shows Wellness Program Risks

    A recent crop of suits accusing large employers of violating nondiscrimination provisions in federal benefits law by making workers who use nicotine pay more for health insurance underscore the risk of using fees to offset healthcare costs, attorneys say. Here are five nicotine surcharge suits to keep an eye on.

  • October 28, 2024

    FTC, DOJ Tell 9th Circ. Google Wrong On Play Store Fixes

    Federal antitrust enforcers told the Ninth Circuit there should be consequences after a jury found Google monopolized the Android app distribution market, as Google pushes to keep a court order paused in the antitrust case being brought by Epic Games.

  • October 28, 2024

    2nd Circ. Enforces NLRB Order Against Theater Co.

    The Second Circuit has enforced a National Labor Relations Board order compelling a theatrical production company to hand over certain documents to the Actors' Equity Association, saying Monday the company can't cite a concern that the union might publicize the information as a reason to withhold it.

  • October 28, 2024

    Supreme Court Keeps 5th Circuit Horse Racing Ruling On Ice

    A Fifth Circuit ruling that declared the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's oversight of federal horse safety regulation to be unconstitutional was put on hold by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday while it decides whether to hear the authority's appeal.

  • October 28, 2024

    Law Prof Calls Out Atty Fees, Workarounds In NAR Deal

    A University at Buffalo Law School professor on Monday urged a federal judge to reject the National Association of Realtors' $1 billion settlement in an antitrust class action, arguing the deal only serves to enrich lawyers in the case while allowing an anticompetitive system to continue.

  • October 28, 2024

    Conn. Justices Eye Lesson For Attys In Deathbed Will Case

    Connecticut's highest court on Monday seemed skeptical of an attorney's bid to avoid negligence and contract law claims by three people who did not receive portions of a combined $845,368 gift from a TD Ameritrade account because bank beneficiary forms stymied a testator's deathbed will.

  • October 28, 2024

    Transgender Inmate's Suit Meets Skeptical 2nd Circ. Judge

    A Second Circuit judge pressed counsel for a transgender inmate Monday to explain how prison officials in Connecticut were supposed to know that their failure to refer the inmate to specific gender dysphoria treatment would constitute cruel and unusual punishment, noting that relevant case law may not have put them on notice.

  • October 28, 2024

    5th Circ. Balks At Ballots Received After Election Day

    The Fifth Circuit has ruled against Mississippi being able to count ballots received after Election Day, but it is unlikely to have an effect on the upcoming election.

  • October 28, 2024

    Mass. Court's Wiretap Ruling May Be Bad Omen For Plaintiffs

    A ruling by the Massachusetts high court rejecting wiretap claims over website operators' use of tracking software like Meta Pixel and Google Analytics shows the steep climb plaintiffs may continue to face as they try to apply older laws to modern technologies, experts told Law360.

  • October 28, 2024

    DC Circ. Told Carbon Tech Doesn't Back EPA Power Plant Rule

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can't show that carbon capture and sequestration technology can be used now to meet its new emissions requirements for power plants, necessitating vacatur, Republican-led states and industry challengers told the D.C. Circuit.

  • October 28, 2024

    9th Circ. Says Amazon Auto-Renewal Suit Is Too Late

    The Ninth Circuit said Monday that a proposed class action accusing Amazon of duping Prime subscribers into paying for memberships in its audiobook seller, Audible, was filed after a three-year statute of limitations under New York law had expired.

  • October 28, 2024

    Hotel Guests Ask 3rd Circ. To Look At Algorithm Price-Fix Suit

    Three Atlantic City guests are taking their beef with hotel-casinos to the Third Circuit after a New Jersey federal court threw out their lawsuit that accused hotel owners in the town of using an algorithm to inflate the price of rooms.

  • October 28, 2024

    RNC Asks High Court To Stop Pa. Provisional Ballot Rule

    The Republican Party urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to freeze a ruling from Pennsylvania's top court allowing voters whose mail-in ballots are rejected as defective to submit provisional ballots as replacements, claiming the late change to voting rules in a key battleground state could "taint" the 2024 election.

  • October 28, 2024

    New Jury Ordered In 'Cop City' Trial Over Court Closure

    A defendant in the sprawling, 61-person racketeering indictment of protesters against Atlanta's controversial "Cop City" police training center will get another shot at jury selection after the Georgia Court of Appeals said Monday that a Fulton County trial judge unjustifiably closed her courtroom to the public and the press.

  • October 28, 2024

    5th Circ. Affirms Texas Health Coordinator Is Not Tax-Exempt

    A Texas nonprofit corporation that coordinates healthcare mostly for privately insured patients does not qualify for tax-exempt status because its business fails to help the larger community, the Fifth Circuit ruled Monday in affirming a U.S. Tax Court decision.

  • October 28, 2024

    NJ Suspends Ex-Carter Ledyard Partner After NY Disbarment

    The New Jersey Supreme Court has ordered the indefinite suspension of a former Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP partner, two years after a New York state appeals court disbarred the lawyer for ignoring subpoenas and failing to cooperate in a fee investigation.

  • October 28, 2024

    Farm Co. Can't Push Worker's Wage Suit To Arbitration

    A California appeals court refused to send to arbitration a farm laborer's suit accusing a farm labor contractor of shorting workers on wages, saying the company can't rely on an arbitration pact that one of its clients signed with the workers.

  • October 28, 2024

    Cleary Adds Northern Calif. Deputy Criminal Chief As Partner

    The deputy chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California has joined Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP's Bay Area office as a partner in the Americas litigation practice, the firm said Monday.

  • October 28, 2024

    Va. Asks High Court To Reinstate Voter Rolls Purge

    Virginia asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to pause a district court order prohibiting the state from continuing a systematic removal of suspected noncitizens from its voting rolls this close to Election Day, arguing a federal "quiet period" law only protects citizens from last-minute changes to their voting status.

  • October 25, 2024

    5th Circ. Punts Musk Tweet Lawfulness, But Axes NLRB Order

    An en banc Fifth Circuit majority on Friday overturned a National Labor Relations Board decision that a tweet Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent during a United Auto Workers unionization campaign violated federal labor law, while the court's dissenting members criticized the majority's decision as "logically incoherent."

  • October 25, 2024

    Entergy Struggles To Challenge FERC Decision At DC Circ.

    The D.C. Circuit is set to decide whether or not utility giant Entergy will be allowed to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's rejection of a plan that would change capacity market rules, after finding that it would give Entergy too much market power.

  • October 25, 2024

    NEPA Rail Ruling Backers Flood Justices With Amicus Briefs

    Former federal officials, states, Colorado cities, two law schools and 30 members of Congress are all urging the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm a ruling overturning federal approval for a rail project to haul crude oil out of Utah, rather than reinvent the National Environmental Policy Act as project supporters propose.

  • October 25, 2024

    Va. Takes Block Of Voter Purge Program Straight To 4th Circ.

    The state of Virginia lodged an immediate appeal at the Fourth Circuit on Friday after a federal judge said the state can't continue a voter removal program so close to Election Day and must re-register those already purged.

  • October 25, 2024

    2nd Circ. Denies BNP Quick Appeal In Sudan Refugee Suit

    The Second Circuit rejected BNP Paribas SA's attempt to immediately appeal a New York federal judge's May ruling certifying a class of Sudanese refugee plaintiffs in litigation accusing the bank of funding the former Sudan government's human rights violations.

Expert Analysis

  • Defamation Law Changes May Be Brewing At Supreme Court

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's significant rightward shift has produced dramatic changes in many areas of the law, and the long-standing "actual malice" standard protecting speech about public figures could be the next precedent to fall, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers

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    Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.

  • Breaking Down Director Review Timing At The PTAB

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    Attorneys at Fish & Richardson examine the complexities of director review of a Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruling, including timelines for requests and decisions, and how these factors influence related district court cases.

  • Behind 3rd Circ. Ruling On College Athletes' FLSA Eligibility

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    The Third Circuit's decision that college athletes are not precluded from bringing a claim under the Fair Labor Standards Act raises key questions about the practical consequences of treating collegiate athletes as employees, such as Title IX equal pay claims and potential eligibility for all employment benefits, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Patent Lessons From 4 Federal Circuit Reversals In July

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    The Federal Circuit’s July reversal of four cases, all of which were Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions, highlights lessons for patent practitioners regarding the scope of estoppel provisions, potential issues with obtaining certain substitute claims, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.

  • 'Greenhushing': Why Some Cos. Are Keeping Quiet On ESG

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    A wave of ESG-related litigation and regulations have led some companies to retreat altogether from any public statements about their ESG goals, a trend known as "greenhushing" that was at the center of a recent D.C. court decision involving Coca-Cola, say Gonzalo Mon and Katie Rogers at Kelley Drye.

  • Video Game Release Highlights TM Pitfalls Of App Store

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    The upcoming release of poker video game Balatro in Apple's App Store underscores the tradeoff of keyword advertising and trademark protection for indie developers who, unlike corporate counterparts, lack resources but seek to maximize the reach of their game, say Parmida Enkeshafi and Simon Pulman at Pryor Cashman.

  • Opinion

    More Guidance Needed On Appellate Amicus Recusals

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    Instead of eliminating the right for amici to file briefs on consent, as per the recently proposed Federal Appellate Rules amendment, the Judicial Conference's Committee on Codes of Judicial Conduct should issue guidance on situations in which amicus filings should lead to circuit judge recusals, says Alan Morrison at George Washington University Law School.

  • Mich. Whistleblower Ruling Expands Retaliation Remedies

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    The Michigan Supreme Court's recent Occupational Health and Safety Act decision in Stegall v. Resource Technology is important because it increases the potential exposure for defendants in public policy retaliation cases, providing plaintiffs with additional claims, say Aaron Burrell and Timothy Howlett at Dickinson Wright.

  • Patent Owner Estoppel Questions In The Wake Of SoftView

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's seldom-litigated Rule 42.73(d)(3) on Patent Trial and Appeal Board estoppel was recently brought to the forefront in the Federal Circuit's SoftView v. Apple decision, highlighting uncertainties in this aspect of patent practice, say David Haars and Richard Crudo at Sterne Kessler.

  • What VC Fund Settlement Means For DEI Grant Programs

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    An unexpected settlement in American Alliance for Equal Rights v. Fearless Fund, based on specific details of an Atlanta venture capital fund's challenged minority grant program, leaves the legal landscape wide open for organizations with similar programs supporting diversity, equity and inclusion to chart a path forward, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Nuclear Waste Storage Questions Justices May Soon Address

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    The petition for the U.S. Supreme Court to review U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas stands out for a number of reasons — including a deepening circuit split regarding the NRC's nuclear waste storage authority under the Atomic Energy Act, and broader administrative law implications, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

  • Fed. Circ. Ruling Creates New Rule For Certification Marks

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    The Federal Circuit's decision last month in Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac v. Cologne & Cognac Entertainment is significant in that it establishes a new standard for assessing evidence of third-party uses of a certification mark in deciding whether the mark is famous, say Samantha Katze and Lisa Rosaya at Manatt.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Conservation Rule Already Faces Challenges

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    The Bureau of Land Management's interpretation of land "use" in its Conservation and Landscape Health Rule is contrary to the agency's past practice and other Federal Land Policy and Management Act provisions, leaving the rule exposed in four legal challenges that may carry greater force in the wake of Loper Bright, say Stacey Bosshardt and Stephanie Regenold at Perkins Coie.

  • 11 Patent Cases To Watch At Fed. Circ. And High Court

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    As we head into fall, there are 11 patent cases to monitor, touching on a range of issues that could affect patent strategy, such as biotech innovation, administrative rulemaking and patent eligibility, say Edward Lanquist and Wesley Barbee at Baker Donelson.

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