Appellate

  • November 14, 2024

    Judge Slams Gov't For Resisting LA Campus Housing Orders

    A California federal judge has told the federal government that it can't "resist accountability," rejecting a bid to stay court-ordered construction of housing for military veterans on a Los Angeles campus.

  • November 14, 2024

    Full Fed. Circ. Won't Touch GoPro Patent Eligibility Argument

    The full Federal Circuit decided Thursday not to look further into arguments from GoPro Inc. that a September panel ruling on patents asserted against the camera company created "a breathtaking expansion of subject-matter eligibility."

  • November 14, 2024

    Wash. Justices Seem Split On Cannabis Co. Wage Suit

    The Washington State Supreme Court wrestled Thursday with whether the state labor department jumped the gun on filing an unpaid-wages suit against a marijuana company, with one justice questioning if the department exceeded its powers and another expressing concern that lax enforcement would allow companies to skip payments for years.

  • November 14, 2024

    Split 5th Circ. Affirms SEC's Kroger Proxy Decision

    A divided Fifth Circuit on Thursday rejected a "purely theoretical" challenge brought by conservative shareholders unhappy that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission greenlighted the exclusion of a shareholder proposal from Kroger Co.'s 2023 ballot, noting that the case was moot since the company authorized a vote on the proposal anyway.

  • November 14, 2024

    Webex 'Disrupters' Posing As Colo. Judges Force Tech Swap

    Colorado's chief justice said Thursday that a growth in "digital court disrupters" has prompted the state judicial department to start looking for a new software platform for hosting online court hearings, saying bad actors had started posing as justices to gain admittance to virtual courtrooms.

  • November 14, 2024

    Texas Court Tosses Devon Energy Suit Over NM Rig Injuries

    A Texas appeals panel on Thursday threw out a Louisiana worker's suit against Devon Energy Corp. over injuries he sustained while working at a New Mexico drilling rig, saying the trial court was wrong to find that the company had enough contact with Texas to be "at home" and under the court's jurisdiction.

  • November 14, 2024

    Takeda Rips Cert. Order's 'Whale Of Assumption' At 9th Circ.

    Takeda Pharmaceutical urged the Ninth Circuit on Thursday to reverse a ruling certifying a class of third-party payors who allege Takeda and Eli Lilly & Co. hid their anti-diabetes drug's bladder-cancer risks, arguing the lower court erroneously made a "whale of an assumption" that 56.7% of prescriptions wouldn't have been written with disclosures.

  • November 14, 2024

    Houston Back Wages Trial Was 'Circus,' Atty Tells Court

    A California attorney who lost his bid for back wages from a Houston commercial litigation firm where he was formerly an associate asked a Texas appeals court to order a new trial, writing that his former law firm's attorneys "turned the trial into a circus" about his personal life.

  • November 14, 2024

    Trump Names Solicitor General, SDNY Picks

    President-elect Donald Trump announced on Thursday he is tapping for solicitor general the lawyer who represented him before the U.S. Supreme Court and will name his former chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to be U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

  • November 14, 2024

    Wash. Justices Grill Lowe's Attorney In Fallen Fencing Case

    Washington State Supreme Court justices pushed back Thursday against a stance taken by Lowe's that a shopper injured by a fallen roll of wire fencing had presented inadequate evidence showing the accident could've been anticipated, with one justice remarking that the big box store seemed to "gloss over" key details in the case.

  • November 14, 2024

    Fla. High Court Upholds Utility Board's OK Of Rate Hikes

    Florida's Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed a state commission's approval of proposed electricity rate hikes intended for power grid upgrades, saying the increases are in the public interest and that portions of an expert's testimony were correctly excluded during a proceeding because they constituted opinions on legal issues.

  • November 14, 2024

    Trump Taps His Criminal Defense Lawyer For Deputy AG

    President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday picked his personal defense attorney Todd Blanche to serve as second-in-command at the U.S. Department of Justice as deputy attorney general.

  • November 14, 2024

    Notice Ruling For Mich. Claims Not Retroactive, Panel Says

    A Michigan Supreme Court ruling enforcing a notice requirement for lawsuits filed against the state government does not apply retroactively to cases filed in the last few years because it "reflected a 180-degree change in the law," a Michigan Court of Appeals panel said Wednesday. 

  • November 14, 2024

    Soldier Wants 4th Circ. Redo In Fluor Bombing Case

    An American soldier who was left with multiple neurological disabilities after a suicide bombing at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan called for a rehearing on the Fourth Circuit's split panel decision not to revive his tort claims against Fluor Corp., the contractor who hired the bomber to work the airfield.

  • November 14, 2024

    DC Circ. Says Zimbabwe Must Pay $440M In Land Dispute

    The D.C. Circuit has affirmed the enforcement of approximately $440 million of arbitral awards against Zimbabwe that were issued to a Swiss-German family and two forestry and sawmill companies, agreeing with a lower court that the country waived its sovereign immunity in the land dispute.

  • November 14, 2024

    Termination Agreement Sinks Pastry Shop Injury Suit

    A Pennsylvania appeals court won't revive an injury claim from a man who says he fell while delivering baked goods to Martin's Famous Pastry Shoppe Inc., saying an agreement to terminate their working relationship released any claims related to that relationship.

  • November 14, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Upend Certification In Nissan Sunroof Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday refused to undo class certification in a suit alleging Nissan North America Inc. sold vehicles with defective sunroofs prone to shattering, saying the trial court correctly found that there were common questions of law and fact among vehicle owners in the case.

  • November 14, 2024

    Gaetz's Slim Legal Resume Raises Concerns Over AG Role

    Having never served as a prosecutor and with minimal experience practicing law, Matt Gaetz would have the thinnest legal resume of any attorney general in recent history and would face a steep learning curve, including daunting leadership challenges, if he were to take up the reins of the U.S. Department of Justice, experts say.

  • November 14, 2024

    RNC, McCormick Say Pa. Counties Counting Ineligible Votes

    Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick and the Republican National Committee have filed separate lawsuits in Pennsylvania, claiming that multiple counties are improperly counting mail-in votes that state courts have previously held should have been disqualified.

  • November 14, 2024

    4th Circ. Nomination Sent To Full Senate With NC Senator's Ire

    The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced on Thursday the nomination of Ryan Young Park, solicitor general of North Carolina, to the Fourth Circuit, with one Republican senator repeating his warning that Park does not have the votes.

  • November 14, 2024

    9th Circ. Says Immigration Board Flubbed Priest's Asylum Bid

    The Ninth Circuit revived a Salvadoran priest's asylum bid, ruling that the Board of Immigration Appeals overlooked the connection between his alleged persecution and his refusal to use his influence as a church leader to support a major political party's agenda.

  • November 14, 2024

    Mass. Justices Open Show-Cause Hearings In Brothel Case

    Massachusetts' highest court said Thursday that the public may access hearings that will determine whether criminal charges will be brought against as-yet unidentified customers of a high-end brothel, a group that potentially includes public officials, corporate executives and individuals with security clearances.

  • November 14, 2024

    MVP: Hogan Lovells' Jessica Ellsworth

    Jessica Ellsworth of Hogan Lovells' appellate practice argued in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Danco Laboratories, leading to the overturning of a decision that threatened to block access to the company's abortion medication, and on behalf of Coinbase, resulting in a holding that it is up to judges, not arbitrators, to figure out if contracts between businesses and consumers have subtly superseded earlier agreements to proceed in arbitration rather than litigation. The back-to-back arguments helped earn her a spot as one of the 2024 Law360 Appellate MVPs.

  • November 14, 2024

    DC Circ. Won't Rethink Denial Of Church Tax Exemption

    The D.C. Circuit rejected a request to reconsider the tax status of an Iowa church that used a psychedelic drug in its rites, letting stand its decision that because the church uses a federally illegal drug, it isn't entitled to tax-exempt status.

  • November 13, 2024

    Docks Co. Urges 11th Circ. To Rehear Split Cuba Port Ruling

    Havana Docks Corp. has urged the Eleventh Circuit to grant a full panel rehearing over the court's split ruling to reverse a $440 million win against several luxury cruise companies for using a Cuba port terminal that was confiscated by the country's government, saying the ruling by a three-judge panel contradicted the law.

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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