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Appellate
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October 11, 2024
Asbestos Claimants Say Kaiser Ch. 11 Plan Should Stand
Asbestos injury claimants in Kaiser Gypsum Co.'s bankruptcy case have asked the Fourth Circuit to uphold the company's Chapter 11 plan, saying the arguments against it by Kaiser's primary insurer are based on speculative harms.
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October 11, 2024
DOI Defends Offshore Lease Schedule At DC Circ.
The U.S. Department of the Interior defended its scaled-back offshore leasing program for 2024-2029 from dueling challenges at the D.C. Circuit, arguing it relied on "extensive quantitative and qualitative analyses" that it prepared over several years to reach its decision.
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October 11, 2024
Pa. Justices Won't Review Bible App Maker's Coverage Denial
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to hear a Bible app maker's coverage bid over a hacker's deletion of its videos and software stored on a GoDaddy Inc. server, letting stand an appeals panel's ruling in a case of first impression on what "your computers" means in a property policy.
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October 11, 2024
FERC Defends Keeping Calif. In Hydro Permitting Role
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission defended its conclusion that California's water board didn't waive its Clean Water Act permitting authority over two hydroelectric dams, telling the D.C. Circuit there's nothing to suggest there was a coordinated effort to string out the permitting process.
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October 11, 2024
Fed. Circ. Says USMCA Review Bars Importer's Duty Suit
The Federal Circuit has backed the U.S. Court of International Trade's dismissal of a Canadian lumber company's challenge to increased tariffs, saying the U.S. court couldn't take the case once a U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement panel began reviewing the duties.
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October 11, 2024
9th Circ. Backs Planned Parenthood's $14M Atty Fee Win
The Ninth Circuit upheld a nearly $14 million attorney fee award to Planned Parenthood after the reproductive health service provider won its suit claiming the Center for Medical Progress unlawfully recorded abortion service providers, saying Friday the award was not unreasonably disproportionate to the jury's $2.4 million damages award.
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October 11, 2024
Gruden Gets Another Play, Could Keep NFL Suit In Court
Former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden will have another shot to keep from arbitration his case over the NFL's alleged torpedoing of his contract with leaks of his inflammatory emails, as the entire Nevada Supreme Court will consider the proper venue for the heated dispute.
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October 11, 2024
Xcel, Colo. Co-Op Reach Deal To End Power Plant Appeal
Xcel Energy and a Colorado electric cooperative have told an intermediate state appellate court that they've reached a settlement in principle to avoid further appeals of a $26 million jury verdict against Xcel in a fight over the closure of a power plant.
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October 11, 2024
Nelson Mullins Can't Beat DQ In Foreign Exchange Fraud Suit
A Florida state appeals court panel unanimously sided with a trial court Friday in deciding that Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP can't represent the defendant in a lawsuit accusing him of duping the plaintiff into doing business with online foreign exchange platform FxWinning Ltd. because the firm previously represented the plaintiff in a "substantially related" suit against the company.
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October 11, 2024
Off The Bench: NCAA's NIL Deal Advances, QB Settles Again
In this week's Off The Bench, the NCAA and the athletes suing it over name, image and likeness money satisfy a judge with their proposed settlement revisions, an NFL quarterback settles yet another sexual assault accusation, and a legal battle between the NFL and one of its former reporters ends amicably.
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October 11, 2024
California High Court Rejects Bar Exam Alternative Program
The California Supreme Court has rejected a proposal that would have allowed bar applicants to submit a portfolio of work they did with real clients under supervision instead of taking the bar exam.
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October 10, 2024
Chutkan OKs Redacted Immunity Evidence In Trump Case
The D.C. federal judge overseeing the case that charges Donald Trump with scheming to subvert the 2020 election results will allow the public disclosure of some evidence related to the issue of his potential immunity, but will give the former president time to challenge the disclosure.
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October 10, 2024
Paxton Sanctions Attempt Is 'Intimidation Tactic,' Nonprofit Says
A Houston civil rights nonprofit focusing on immigration is calling a sanctions motion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton an "intimidation tactic," telling a state appeals court that it shouldn't have to just accept whatever legal interpretation the state spits out or face sanctions.
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October 10, 2024
Trade Group, Enviros Clash Over EPA Methylene Chloride Rule
American Chemistry Council and the Sierra Club are taking aim at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's methylene chloride rule, with the industry group telling the Fifth Circuit the agency overstepped when it outright banned most applications of the chemical for no valid reason and the conservation organization arguing it didn't go far enough.
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October 10, 2024
Wash. Judge Condemns Monsanto's Bid To Delay PCB Trial
A Washington state judge grew frustrated on Thursday with Monsanto's eleventh-hour attempt to shelve a PCB poisoning tort headed to trial next week until the state Supreme Court weighs in on a similar case, calling out the chemical giant for taking stances on "both sides of the fence" about the stakes on appeal.
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October 10, 2024
Fed. Circ. Digs Into Patent Applications' Place In Prior Art
A Federal Circuit panel struggled Thursday to work out whether published patent applications meet the requirements to serve as prior art, in order to evaluate whether the Patent Trial and Appeal Board rightfully invalidated claims of a Lynk Labs LED patent.
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October 10, 2024
Vape Co. Missed Cutoff To Toss $892K Arb. Loss, 9th Circ. Says
A Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday affirmed a Washington distributor's $892,000 arbitration award in a dispute with vape company Avid Holdings, in an order siding with a district court judge who determined Avid waited too long to dispute the arbitrator's decision.
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October 10, 2024
DOJ Defends Federal Marijuana Ban At 1st Circ.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday urged the First Circuit to reject cannabis companies' constitutional challenge to the drug's ongoing prohibition under federal law, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that Congress has the power to regulate the interstate and intrastate markets for controlled substances.
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October 10, 2024
Why So Hard To Say 'Denied'? Mich. Justices Ask Insurers
Michigan Supreme Court justices pushed insurers Wednesday to explain why they take issue with appellate rulings requiring them to explicitly say they have "denied" insureds' claims, asking what about including that word or evaluating claims as they normally do would create new obligations on the insurers.
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October 10, 2024
Fed. Circ. Revives Software IP Case Against Salesforce
The Federal Circuit on Thursday threw out a Nevada federal court's finding that Salesforce didn't infringe claims in a pair of patents for database software reprogramming and that the claims weren't valid to begin with, saying key language in the patents has to be looked at differently.
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October 10, 2024
Boulder Says Exxon Can't Twist Law To Avoid Climate Fight
Boulder, Colorado, accused Exxon on Wednesday of twisting preemption standards to avoid a suit over the impacts of climate change, telling the Colorado Supreme Court that it doesn't need explicit permission from the Clean Air Act to bring its state law claims.
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October 10, 2024
5th Circ. Judge Hints Justices' 'Sea Change' May Help DACA
A Fifth Circuit judge grilled Texas on Thursday over whether it still has standing to challenge the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, suggesting recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent might spell trouble for the Lone Star State's bid to kill the program.
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October 10, 2024
Homebuyers Tell 8th Circ. Broker Deal Gives Them Nothing
Homebuyers are urging the Eighth Circuit to undo the approval of $208.5 million in settlements struck by real estate brokerages in the sprawling litigation over industry rules covering broker fees, saying the deals only provide money for sellers.
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October 10, 2024
Eli Lilly Tells Mich. Justices It's 'Wrong Time' For Insulin Case
A lawyer for pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly has urged the Michigan Supreme Court to reject a call to shake up the state's consumer protection precedent, saying during oral arguments Thursday that the attorney general is asking the court to do "by fiat" what Michigan lawmakers could soon accomplish with a bill package that got a hearing earlier this week.
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October 10, 2024
SEC Urges 1st Circ. To Uphold $93M Win Over Financial Firm
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission urged the First Circuit on Thursday to affirm its $93 million win against Commonwealth Financial Network for allegedly failing to disclose that it profited from clients using higher-fee funds when similar, lower-cost versions were available.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Litigation Funding Disclosure Key To Open, Impartial Process
Blanket investor and funding agreement disclosures should be required in all civil cases where the investor has a financial interest in the outcome in order to address issues ranging from potential conflicts of interest to national security concerns, says Bob Goodlatte, former U.S. House Representative for Virginia.
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Series
After Chevron: What To Expect In Consumer Protection At FTC
Although the Federal Trade Commission's bread-and-butter consumer protection law enforcement actions are unlikely to be affected, the Loper Bright decision may curb the FTC's bolder interpretations of the statutes it enforces, says Mary Engle at BBB National Programs.
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Fed. Circ. Patent Ruling Clarifies Section 101 Procedures
The Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Mobile Acuity v. Blippar affirming a dismissal at the pleading stage illustrates important considerations and potential pitfalls for both filing and opposing a Section 101 motion to dismiss, say Thomas Sprankling and Vikram Iyer at WilmerHale.
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What NFL Draft Picks Have In Common With Lateral Law Hires
Nearly half of law firm lateral hires leave within a few years — a failure rate that is strikingly similar to the performance of NFL quarterbacks drafted in the first round — in part because evaluators focus too heavily on quantifiable metrics and not enough on a prospect's character traits, says Howard Rosenberg at Baretz+Brunelle.
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Calif. Ruling Clarifying Paystub Compliance Is Win For Cos.
In rare good news for California employers, the state Supreme Court recently clarified that workers couldn’t win extra penalties in wage and hour cases by claiming their employer intentionally violated state paystub law if the employer believed it had complied in good faith, say Drei Munar and Kirk Hornbeck at Hunton.
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Open Questions 3 Years After 2nd Circ.'s Fugitive Ruling
The Second Circuit’s 2021 decision in U.S. v. Bescond, holding that a French resident indicted abroad did not meet the legal definition of a fugitive, deepened a circuit split on the fugitive disentitlement doctrine, and courts continue to grapple with the doctrine’s reach and applicability, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert.
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Replacing The Stigma Of Menopause With Law Firm Support
A large proportion of the workforce is forced to pull the brakes on their career aspirations because of the taboo surrounding menopause and a lack of consistent support, but law firms can initiate the cultural shift needed by formulating thoughtful workplace policies, says Barbara Hamilton-Bruce at Simmons & Simmons.
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Series
After Chevron: The Future Of AI And Copyright Law
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to overrule the Chevron doctrine, leaders in the artificial intelligence industry may seek to shift the balance of power to courts to exercise more independent statutory interpretation without constraints from the U.S. Copyright Office, says Greg Derin at Signature Resolution.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: August Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers certification cases touching on classwide evidence of injury from debt collection practices, defining coupon settlements under the Class Action Fairness Act, proper approaches for evaluating attorney fee awards in class action settlements, and more.
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Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where
During the slower month of August, law firms should begin working on their 2025 content calendars, planning out a content creation and distribution framework that aligns with the firm’s objectives and maintains audience engagement throughout the year, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.
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3 Presidential Privilege Questions After Trump Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Trump v. U.S., carving out a new evidentiary privilege for presidents, leaves unanswered several key questions concerning whether this new privilege is waivable or subject to various exceptions, says Jeremy Bates at Frankfurt Kurnit.
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Notable Q2 Updates In Insurance Class Actions
Mark Johnson and Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler discuss the muted nature of the property and casualty insurance class action space in the second quarter of the year, with no large waves made in labor depreciation and total-loss vehicle class actions, but a new offensive theory emerging for insurance companies.
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What To Know About Major Fla. Civil Procedure Rule Changes
The Florida Supreme Court recently amended the state's Rules of Civil Procedure, touching on pretrial procedure, discovery, motion and trial practice, and while the amendments are intended to streamline cases, the breadth of the changes may initially present some litigation growing pains, say Brian Briz, Benjamin Tyler and Yarenis Cruz at Holland & Knight.
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Prior Art Takeaways From Fed. Circ. Public Disclosure Ruling
While the Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Sanho v. Kaijet clarified that a private sale is not a public disclosure under patent law, there remains significant room for advocacy, as the opinion lacked meaningful guidance on how to satisfy the public disclosure exception to prior art, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.
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Series
Playing Golf Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Golf can positively affect your personal and professional life well beyond the final putt, and it’s helped enrich my legal practice by improving my ability to build lasting relationships, study and apply the rules, face adversity with grace, and maintain my mental and physical well-being, says Adam Kelly at Venable.