Appellate

  • October 29, 2024

    Justice, Challenger Split On Backgrounds For The Bench

    Judge Patrick O'Grady, campaigning for the Michigan Supreme Court, says the current bench is sorely lacking the type of prior judicial experience he would bring. But sitting Justice Kyra Bolden argues the diversity of backgrounds among justices makes the court stronger.

  • October 29, 2024

    Ex-Development Director Asks 4th Circ. For Wage Ruling Redo

    A former development director for a North Carolina city urged the Fourth Circuit to rethink its opinion affirming the city's win on her unpaid overtime claims, saying it's not clear from the record that she was classified as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

  • October 29, 2024

    Mich. Top Court Won't Halt Ethics Claims Against Trump Allies

    Michigan's Supreme Court has refused to stop disciplinary proceedings against Sidney Powell and other lawyers who advanced former President Donald Trump's election fraud claims.

  • October 29, 2024

    2nd Circ. Says FBI Agents Immune From Suit Over No-Fly List

    The Second Circuit on Tuesday upheld a lower court's decision finding immunity for FBI agents who were accused of placing four Muslim men on a no-fly database after they declined to become informants.

  • October 29, 2024

    4th Circ. Unclear On LeClairRyan Founder's Tax Liability

    A Fourth Circuit panel appeared confused and noncommittal Tuesday as it wrestled with a narrow question of contract interpretation that could determine whether Gary LeClair of defunct LeClairRyan PLLC is on the hook for massive tax bills tied to the firm's collapse.

  • October 29, 2024

    5th Circ. Revives Pilots Union's Dispute With Southwest

    The Fifth Circuit has revived a union's dispute with Southwest Airlines over alleged retaliation against a worker for his union activity and sent it back to Texas federal court, saying the legal fight qualifies for an exception to the Railway Labor Act's mandatory arbitration rule.

  • October 29, 2024

    1st Circ. Scraps Securities Fraud Case Against 3D Printing Co.

    The First Circuit has affirmed a ruling throwing out a securities fraud lawsuit against 3D printing business Desktop Metal, finding the investor behind the action abandoned one of her claims and failed to adequately allege the other. 

  • October 29, 2024

    Circuit Judge Rips Atty's 'Unearned Windfall' In Liability Case

    Although the Sixth Circuit has affirmed a decision awarding roughly $353,000 to a Texas attorney in a decadelong fee dispute over his representation of a client in a product liability case, one circuit judge expressed "extreme disapproval" over the lawyer's conduct in the matter.

  • October 29, 2024

    Military Reservist Not Exempt From Extra Pay, Justices Told

    Military reservists are owed top-up pay if they're called to serve during a war or national emergency, regardless of whether they're directly serving in those events, a U.S. Coast Guard reservist told the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • October 28, 2024

    Union Pacific Told To Face Injury Retrial With Reinstated Expert

    Railroad giant Union Pacific must face retrial against an injured worker after a California appeals court ruled that an expert with decades of rail experience but no formal accident-analysis training was wrongly blocked from telling a jury how a freight train behaves when starting up.

  • October 28, 2024

    CFPB Asks DC Circ. To Topple PayPal's Wallet Disclosure Win

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has urged the D.C. Circuit to reverse PayPal's latest win against an agency rule that subjected Venmo-style digital wallets to some of the same fee disclosure requirements as reloadable prepaid cards, defending its basis for regulating the two products similarly.

  • October 28, 2024

    DC Circ. Won't Revisit Quinn Emanuel's $486M Award Fight

    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP lost its bid to get the D.C. Circuit to reconsider its decision in a dispute over the firm's authority to represent a port operating in a long-running legal spat with the Republic of Djibouti, according to an order issued Monday by a divided panel of judges.

  • October 28, 2024

    7th Circ. Signals Its Rulings Govern Citizens BIPA Policy Spat

    The Seventh Circuit seemed uninterested Monday in shifting focus from its own precedent to either newly certified questions or a state appellate decision to determine whether a district court correctly cleared Citizens Insurance Company of America of covering a biometric privacy suit.

  • October 28, 2024

    Handbag Cos. Turn To 2nd Circ. Over Pause On $8.5B Merger

    The owners of Michael Kors and Coach plan to ask the Second Circuit to review a New York federal judge's order granting the Federal Trade Commission's bid to halt an $8.5 billion merger between the companies while the agency conducts an in-house merger challenge, according to a notice filed Monday.

  • October 28, 2024

    Calif. High Court Says Judicial DQ Bids Must Be Timely

    The California Supreme Court on Monday held that an appellate court got it wrong by determining a timeliness requirement doesn't apply when a party alleges that a judge is disqualified due to bias, in a case that resulted in a $43.5 million judgment for hundreds of title company employees.

  • October 28, 2024

    9th Circ. Nixes Arbitration In Live Nation Ticket Sale Suit

    The Ninth Circuit affirmed Monday that Live Nation and Ticketmaster can't force consumer litigation over allegedly exorbitant ticket prices into arbitration, ruling in a published opinion that the underlying arbitration agreement linking to "borderline unintelligible" arbitral rules is unenforceable.

  • October 28, 2024

    Consciousness Not A Factor In $15M Pain And Suffering Verdict

    A urological surgeon can't trim a $15 million jury verdict awarded to the wife of an octogenarian patient who died due to the doctor's alleged negligence, a Georgia state appeals court has ruled, rejecting arguments that a patient can't get pain and suffering damages because he was mostly unconscious.

  • October 28, 2024

    Judge Leaves Patent Case After Fed. Circ. Undoes Ruling

    A Minnesota federal judge has recused himself from a patent dispute between Teleflex and Medtronic he has handled since 2019, saying he was "at a loss" on how to proceed after the Federal Circuit faulted his interpretation of terms in Teleflex's catheter patents.

  • October 28, 2024

    Colo. Will Decide How Judges Are Judged

    The Colorado Supreme Court could soon lose some of its control over judicial discipline, from the rules governing the process to who doles out punishment, as voters decide whether to adopt constitutional reforms following a scandal over hush-money allegations that ensnared a former chief justice and other top judiciary officials.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics

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    Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.

  • Perspectives

    DC Circ. Seizure Ruling Deepens 4th Amendment Circuit Split

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    The D.C. Circuit’s recent Asinor v. District of Columbia decision, holding that the government’s continued possession of seized property must be reasonable, furthers a split among circuit courts and portends how the text, history and tradition method might influence Fourth Amendment cases, say Ty Howard and Wayne Beckermann at Bradley Arant.

  • 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.

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