Appellate

  • November 18, 2024

    Justices Urged To Pass On 3rd Circ. CFPB Loan Trust Case

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to deny an appeal by a group of student loan trusts fighting an enforcement action by the agency, arguing that industry concerns about the Third Circuit case are overblown and unavailing.

  • November 18, 2024

    9th Circ. Judges Seem Split In Trans Woman's Spa Bias Case

    Ninth Circuit judges debated Monday whether a nude Korean spa's ban on patrons who "present" as male discriminates against transgender women without gender-affirming surgery, with one judge asking how it was different from barring Black patrons and another who went to a similar spa as a boy in Korea seeming to suggest customers had a right to choose whom to be naked in front of.

  • November 18, 2024

    Industry Group Wants Trump-Era SEC Proxy Rules Reinstated

    The National Association of Manufacturers has urged the D.C. Circuit to reverse a ruling that struck down a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regulation on proxy voting, arguing the ruling severely limits the agency's regulatory power without any statutory backing.

  • November 18, 2024

    J&J Posts $1.17B Bond For Del. Merger Milestone Appeal

    Johnson & Johnson Inc. has posted a $1.167 billion surety-backed bond ahead of its planned appeal challenging a Delaware Chancery Court's finding that it owes more than $1 billion to a medical robotics developer's former shareholders caught up in a post-acquisition dispute.

  • November 18, 2024

    Clemson, Florida State Ask NC Top Court To Toss ACC Suits

    Florida State and Clemson universities urged the North Carolina Supreme Court to toss lawsuits brought by the Atlantic Coast Conference over grant of rights contracts, saying the institutions' sovereign immunities aren't waived just because they've agreed to be members of the conference.

  • November 18, 2024

    Worker Urges High Court To Fix Rift In Axed Age Bias Suit

    A former Halliburton employee asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to overturn a Tenth Circuit order shuttering his age bias suit after finding he couldn't challenge an arbitration award because the case was voluntarily dismissed, arguing the ruling creates a "twilight zone" in the law.

  • November 18, 2024

    Pa. Justices Tell Defiant Counties To Shelve Undated Ballots

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a split order Monday halting a handful of counties that were counting mail-in ballots with missing or incorrect dates on their outer envelopes, in response to complaints from the Republican National Committee and Republican Senate frontrunner Dave McCormick, although one justice said the case isn't ripe.

  • November 18, 2024

    Full 2nd Circ. Asked To Weigh Sheeran's 'Let's Get It On' Win

    Structured Asset Sales LLC has asked the full Second Circuit to review a panel's opinion that Ed Sheeran's hit "Thinking Out Loud" did not copy Marvin Gaye's classic "Let's Get It On," arguing the panel incorrectly affirmed a lower court's ruling that the Copyright Act of 1909 only protected the Motown song's sheet music.

  • November 18, 2024

    Justices Urged To Deny TCPA Class Certification Challenge

    A Florida-based financial services company found to have violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for sending fax ads to nearly 60,000 recipients is telling the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a petition from one of those respondents that sought to turn the case into a class action.

  • November 18, 2024

    Surgeon Keeps Trial Win In Colitis Wrongful Death Suit

    A New Jersey state appeals court won't upend a surgeon's trial victory in a suit alleging that he improperly treated an 81-year-old's colitis, leading to her death, finding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by blocking the woman's family from replacing their medical expert.

  • November 18, 2024

    SEC Sued Over FINRA's One-Day Bond Reporting Timeline

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been hit with a lawsuit seeking to overturn a newly adopted rule that will require brokerage firms to report bond transactions more quickly, with the suing organization previously claiming there was no evidence justifying a need for such a change.

  • November 18, 2024

    State Farm Keeps Win In Suit Over Fatal Domestic Shootings

    An Ohio state appeals court on Monday backed State Farm's early win in a dispute between the estates of two deceased romantic partners following shootings that left both dead, with the three-judge panel concluding that the lower court rightly ruled that the insurer's policies with the boyfriend did not cover the incident.

  • November 18, 2024

    NASCAR Says Clause Removal Shows Fast Appeal Unjustified

    NASCAR told the Fourth Circuit on Monday it has removed a controversial clause in its open-team agreements, making it unnecessary to fast-track an injunction appeal by two racing teams, one owned by Michael Jordan, that are suing the organization for alleged monopolistic practices.

  • November 18, 2024

    Judge Surprised Circle K Fired Clerk Who Touched Robber

    A Tenth Circuit judge appeared stunned Monday that Circle K dismissed an elderly convenience store clerk after its management concluded the worker violated company policy when she physically confronted an armed robber.

  • November 18, 2024

    Texas Appeals Court Finds Telecom Laws Violate Gift Rules

    A state appellate court handed dozens of Texas cities a clean-sweep victory in their fight against statewide bargains for telecommunications providers, finding Friday a state law dealing with the fees municipalities can charge telecom companies runs counter to the Texas Constitution.

  • November 18, 2024

    DC Circ. Skeptical Of Conn. LPTV Station's Market Claim

    A panel of D.C. Circuit judges wondered Monday how a Connecticut television licensee's challenge to the way the government determines which stations qualify for small-market protections squared with the text of the statute, as the Federal Communications Commission argued that the law's clear text dooms the station's bid to base eligibility on census data rather than Nielsen Media Research market data.

  • November 18, 2024

    Hyundai Keeps Trial Win In $17M Suit Over Fatal Crash

    A Kentucky appellate panel won't undo a defense verdict for Hyundai Motor America Inc. in a $17 million suit by a family who alleged a manufacturing defect led to three deaths in a head-on collision, rejecting arguments that evidence was improperly admitted in the case.

  • November 18, 2024

    Mich. Justices Spurn Restaurant Group's COVID Appeal

    The Michigan Supreme Court has turned down an appeal from a bar and restaurant association seeking to recoup its members' lost profits from the state's enforcement of COVID-19 public health measures, after tossing individual restaurants' claims earlier this year. 

  • November 18, 2024

    5th Circ. Eyes Procedure In 1st NLRB Constitutionality Cases

    The Fifth Circuit appears poised to punt — for now — on the issue of the National Labor Relations Board's constitutionality after a panel questioned on Monday whether SpaceX and Amazon have valid challenges to "effective" denials of their efforts to thwart prosecution for alleged labor violations.

  • November 18, 2024

    Justices Urged To Review Landlords' COVID Eviction Ban Suit

    A group of trade associations and a nonprofit urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to grant a review petition filed by landlords claiming they lost $100 million as a result of Los Angeles' COVID-19 eviction moratorium, which ended in January.

  • November 18, 2024

    EPA Has No Choice But To Rethink Smog Rule, DC Circ. Told

    U.S. Steel Corp. told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was obligated to reconsider its so-called "good neighbor" smog emissions rule after it was partially invalidated by a court, arguing the agency's own brief confirms that its refusal to do so was improper.

  • November 18, 2024

    Mo. Bank Properly Valued At $1.1M, Commission Rules

    A Missouri property that is owned and operated by a bank branch was properly valued at $1.1 million, the state's tax commission ruled, saying the bank's appraiser was not persuasive in her argument that the value should be lowered to $725,000.

  • November 18, 2024

    Colo. Justices Should Plug Damages Cap 'Loophole,' Co. Says

    A construction company has urged Colorado's justices to find that a subcontractor's claim over a workplace fall is subject to a $15,000 damages cap, arguing in a petition that the sole proprietor opted out of workers' compensation benefits and can't make a "loophole" to sue for millions.

  • November 18, 2024

    1st Circ. Denies Lizzie Borden House Infringement Claim

    The First Circuit won't bar a Massachusetts coffee shop from using the first name of historical figure Lizzie Borden and an image of an ax, finding that the company that owns and runs Borden's family home as a museum and bed and breakfast is unlikely to prove a trademark infringement claim.

  • November 18, 2024

    Medical Group Wants Justices To Review IP Safe Harbor Fight

    A medical device trade group has said the U.S. Supreme Court should take up an appeal of a Federal Circuit decision Edwards Lifesciences said broadened a drug-development safe harbor to avoid patent infringement, saying the circuit court misread the provision.

Expert Analysis

  • Navigating The Bankruptcy Terrain After Purdue Pharma

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma is having a significant impact on bankruptcies, with recent cases addressing nonconsensual third-party releases and opt-out mechanisms, and highlighting strategies practitioners can employ to avoid running afoul of the decision, say Brett Axelrod and Agostino Zammiello at Fox Rothschild.

  • 5 Considerations For Obviousness-Type Double Patenting

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent denial of certiorari for In re: Cellect highlights the current state of obviousness-type double patenting based on that case and another recent Federal Circuit decision, including that ODP is not fatal, that divisional applications are protected from ODP and more, says Fabian Koenigbauer at Ice Miller.

  • How To Avoid Risking Arbitration Award Confidentiality In NY

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    Though a Second Circuit decision last year seemed to create a confidentiality safe harbor for arbitration awards that had no ongoing compliance issues, a recent New York federal court ruling offers further guidance on the meaning of "ongoing compliance issues," says Matthew Iverson at Nelson Mullins.

  • How Project 2025 Could Upend Federal ESG Policies

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    If implemented, Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's policy playbook for a Republican presidential administration, would likely seek to deploy antitrust law to target ESG initiatives, limit pension fund managers' focus to pecuniary factors and spell doom for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate rule, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • E-Signature Best Practices For Employers After Calif. Ruling

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    In Garcia v. Stoneledge Furniture, a California appellate court found an arbitration agreement invalid after an employee raised doubts about the authenticity of its e-signature, underscoring the importance of employers implementing additional measures to verify the authenticity of electronically signed documents, say Ash Bhargava and Reece Bennett at Atkinson Andelson.

  • Patent Lessons From 7 Federal Circuit Reversals In August

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    The Federal Circuit’s seven vacated or reversed cases from August provide helpful clarity on obviousness-type double patenting, written description and indefiniteness, and suggest improved practices for petitioners and patent owners in inter partes review, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.

  • Smith's New Trump Indictment Is Case Study In Superseding

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    Special counsel Jack Smith’s recently revised Jan. 6 charges against former President Donald Trump provide lessons for prosecutors on how to effectively draft superseding indictments in order to buttress or streamline their case, as necessary, says Jessica Roth at Cardozo Law School.

  • Key Insurance Implications Of Hawaii's Historic GHG Ruling

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    In Aloha Petroleum v. National Union Fire Insurance, the Hawaii Supreme Court became the first state court to classify greenhouse gasses as pollutants barred from insurance coverage, a ruling likely to be afforded great weight by courts across the country, say Scott Seaman and Gar Lauerman at Hinshaw & Culbertson.

  • Use The Right Kind Of Feedback To Help Gen Z Attorneys

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    Generation Z associates bring unique perspectives and expectations to the workplace, so it’s imperative that supervising attorneys adapt their feedback approach in order to help young lawyers learn and grow — which is good for law firms, too, says Rachael Bosch at Fringe Professional Development.

  • What To Expect As Worker Bias Suit Heads To High Court

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    The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, which concerns how courts treat discrimination claims brought by majority group plaintiffs, and its decision could eliminate the background circumstances test, but is unlikely to significantly affect employers' diversity programs, say Victoria Slade and Alysa Mo at Davis Wright.

  • Opinion

    Congress Can And Must Enact A Supreme Court Ethics Code

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    As public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court dips to historic lows following reports raising conflict of interest concerns, Congress must exercise its constitutional power to enact a mandatory and enforceable code of ethics for the high court, says Muhammad Faridi, president of the New York City Bar Association.

  • What To Make Of Dueling Corporate Transparency Act Rulings

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    Although challenges to the Corporate Transparency Act abound — as highlighted by recent federal court decisions from Alabama and Oregon taking opposite positions on its constitutionality — the act is still law, so companies should comply with their filing requirements or face the potential consequences, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Perspectives

    The Pop Culture Docket: Justice Lebovits On Gilbert And Sullivan

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    Characters in the 19th century comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan break the rules of good lawyering by shamelessly throwing responsible critical thought to the wind, providing hilarious lessons for lawyers and judges on how to avoid a surfeit of traps and tribulations, say acting New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits and law student Tara Scown.

  • New TCPA Rule Faces Uncertain Future Post-Loper Bright

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    The Federal Communications Commission's new rule aiming to eliminate lead generators' use of unlawful robocalls is now in doubt with the U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision, and the Eleventh Circuit's Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC is poised to be a test case of the agency's ability to enforce the Telephone Consumer Protection Act post-Chevron, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • 6th Circ. Preemption Ruling Adds Uncertainty For Car Cos.

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    Automakers and their suppliers need uniformity under the law to create sufficient scale and viable markets — but the Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Fenner v. General Motors creates more uncertainty around the question of when state law consumer claims related to violations of federal vehicle emissions and fuel economy standards are preempted, say attorneys at Sidley.

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