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Appellate
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October 24, 2024
Pot Processor Can't Get Reversal Of Ohio License Denial
An Ohio state appeals court won't let a would-be cannabis processor undo the denial of its bid for a provisional processing license, saying there's no indication that the state regulators abused their discretion in scoring the company low regarding security and contamination risks.
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October 24, 2024
Conn. High Court Snapshot: $13M Tax Appeals, Will Dispute
The Connecticut Supreme Court's second term of the 2024-2025 season will commence Monday with a dispute over whether an attorney bungled a will that sought to divide a $845,368 TD Ameritrade account among five beneficiaries, only one of whom received any cash.
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October 24, 2024
Pa. Justices OK In-Person Votes For Nixed Mail-In Ballots
Voters in the battleground state of Pennsylvania whose mail-in ballots are rejected as defective and uncountable haven't technically "voted," and can replace those votes with provisional ballots to be verified and counted, a split state Supreme Court ruled late Wednesday.
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October 24, 2024
Atty Escapes Suspension Over $1M Fee Bid For $125K Awards
A Pennsylvania Supreme Court panel on Thursday denied a 90-day suspension recommendation by the Disciplinary Board against a Lackawanna County personal injury attorney who filed a petition for more than $1 million in attorney fees from an insurance company he sued on behalf of his client.
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October 24, 2024
Mass. Justices Reject Meta, Google 'Wiretap' Claims
Massachusetts' highest court on Thursday found that website operators' use of tracking software like Meta Pixel and Google Analytics does not violate the state's wiretap law, drawing a sharp dissent from one justice who said the legislature will now need to "correct" the court's mistake.
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October 23, 2024
Thapar Flays Law Schools, Attys For Anti-Originalist Mindsets
Despite the ascendance of conservative constitutional views, appellate attorneys are losing cases by failing to adapt, and the blame rests heavily with law schools that appear increasingly out of touch and undeserving of alumni donations, U.S. Circuit Judge Amul R. Thapar said Wednesday night in a bare-knuckle speech at a Heritage Foundation event.
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October 23, 2024
Split 9th Circ. Says Asylum 'Metering' Policy Flouts US Law
A split Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday said federal immigration law requires U.S. officials to inspect asylum-seekers at the border, rejecting the Biden administration's argument that noncitizens must be physically standing on U.S soil to claim asylum.
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October 23, 2024
Patent Owner Fed Up With Fed. Circ's 1-Word Decisions
A patent owner has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Federal Circuit's one-word decision affirming summary judgment in favor of TD Ameritrade in a high-stakes patent fight, saying the appellate court is routinely and summarily affirming orders that ignore factual disputes in patent cases, without explanation.
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October 23, 2024
EPA's GHG Power Plant Rule Is Achievable, Scientists Say
A half-dozen prominent scientists and engineers have told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's plan to tap carbon capture and sequestration technology to reduce power plants' greenhouse gas pollution is on point and readily achievable.
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October 23, 2024
Mich. Panel Reverses Insurer's $1.2M Fire Subrogation Win
A Michigan state appeals court rejected a property insurer's subrogation bid against commercial tenants over a roughly $1.2 million building fire, finding that while the tenants' lease generally required them to keep their property in good condition, there was no specific provision holding them liable for their own negligence.
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October 23, 2024
Fed. Circ. Backs Customs Duties On Importer's Steel Tubing
An importer couldn't convince the Federal Circuit that steel tubing that includes insulating materials could be imported as duty-free insulating conduits, with the panel saying Wednesday the materials aren't enough for the product to be insulating.
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October 23, 2024
Judges Hint Settlement May Have Waived Atty's Free Speech
Attorney Timothy Brignole and his Hartford law firm, Brignole Bush & Lewis LLC, may have surrendered free speech rights when they signed a nondisparagement agreement with a former employee, stripping them of the ability to claim First Amendment protection over comments attributed to them in a lawsuit, judges of the Connecticut Appellate Court hinted Wednesday.
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October 23, 2024
No More Coverage For Paper Co.'s Pollution Claim, Panel Says
A WestRock Co. subsidiary that owned a Montana paper mill later identified as a Superfund site isn't entitled to additional coverage from its AIG insurer, an Illinois state appeals court ruled, saying two pollution conditions on the property were related and subject to a single $5 million limit of liability.
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October 23, 2024
Late Smoker's Spouse Can Argue Survivor's Benefits At Retrial
The husband of a deceased smoker whose $157 million win against tobacco companies was erased can claim surviving spouse damages under Florida's Wrongful Death Act on retrial even though he was not married to his partner at the time he was diagnosed with lung disease, according to an opinion released Wednesday by a Florida appeals court.
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October 23, 2024
No Xenophobia Taint In Fired Prof's Jury Trial, Panel Says
An Ohio state appellate court has upheld a jury's finding that a Cincinnati medical center did not violate employment law when it fired a tenured associate professor, rejecting the professor's argument that the medical center attempted to stoke "xenophobic bias" in the jury by mentioning his Chinese heritage during trial.
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October 23, 2024
3 Things To Know About Proposed OTC Contraception Regs
The Biden administration's proposal to require private health insurers to pick up the cost of over-the-counter contraception could increase access for an estimated 52 million women. Here are three things to know about the newly proposed regulations.
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October 23, 2024
Full 9th Circ. Passes On SF Nurses' Salary Basis Case
The full Ninth Circuit said Wednesday it won't reconsider a panel's ruling that it wasn't clear whether a group of San Francisco city nurses in two consolidated cases were paid on a salary basis and could therefore be considered overtime-exempt.
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October 23, 2024
1st Circ. Sets Oral Arguments In Boies' Cannabis Suit For Dec. 5
The First Circuit has scheduled oral arguments in an appeal by a group of cannabis businesses, represented by litigator David Boies, challenging the federal prohibition on marijuana.
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October 23, 2024
Del. Justices Urged To Revive Oracle-NetSuite Deal Challenge
An attorney for Oracle Corp. stockholders rattled off a barrage of alleged disclosure failures, analytical flaws and errant deference decisions Wednesday during a Delaware Supreme Court appeal from the Chancery Court's toss last year of a challenge to the company's $9.3 billion acquisition of NetSuite Corp. in 2016.
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October 23, 2024
9th Circ. Judge Suggests Equity Pact Counts As Wash. Loan
A Ninth Circuit judge said Wednesday he was "struggling with" a company's stance that its equity-sharing agreement with two homeowners in Washington state doesn't amount to a loan covered by state laws regulating reverse mortgages, saying the arrangement appears to check the boxes of the statutory definition.
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October 23, 2024
Amazon Must Face Drivers' Tip Suit Despite FTC Settlement
A Washington federal judge largely refused Wednesday to toss a proposed class action accusing Amazon of violating Evergreen State laws by withholding portions of drivers' tips, saying the claims are still valid despite the Federal Trade Commission reaching a nearly $62 million deal with the company over the same alleged conduct.
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October 23, 2024
Telecom Group Sues To Cancel FTC's 'Click To Cancel' Rule
A major cable and internet industry group and others sued the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday over its new "click to cancel" rule, asking the Fifth Circuit to vacate the regulation one week after it was adopted in a 3-2 commission vote.
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October 23, 2024
Colo. Justices Leery of Tossing Fraudster's Sentence
Colorado Supreme Court justices appeared doubtful Wednesday that a convicted fraudster could avoid his sentence of 20 years probation after he served four years in prison, suggesting that while there was practically little difference from a previous sentence they threw out, it no longer violated state law.
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October 23, 2024
Religion Law Can't Save Sacred Worship Site, High Court Told
A law designed to protect religious freedom can't help an Apache nonprofit's bid to save a sacred worship site in Arizona from destruction, the federal government said, arguing that the tribe is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to nullify a congressional statute crafted to allow federal third-party land transfers.
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October 23, 2024
Navarro Seeks Justices' Review Of Presidential Records Ruling
Former Trump administration adviser Peter Navarro has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a circuit court's ruling that the federal government can use the Presidential Records Act to force Navarro to hand over emails from his tenure at the White House.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Being An Opera Singer Made Me A Better Lawyer
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.
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How Law Firms Can Avoid 'Collaboration Drag'
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.
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Election Outlook: A Precedent Primer On Content Moderation
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.
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When The Supreme Court Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade
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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Philly Project Case Renews Ongoing Fraud Theory Tug-Of-War
In its upcoming term, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Kousisis v. U.S., a case involving wire fraud convictions related to Philadelphia bridge repair projects, and may once again further rein in prosecutorial attempts to expand theories of fraud beyond core traditional property rights, say Jonathan Halpern and Kyra Rosenzweig at Holland & Knight.
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How Anti-DEI Bill Could Affect Employers' Diversity Efforts
Sen. J.D. Vance's recently introduced Dismantle DEI Act would substantially limit employers’ ability to implement and promote workplace diversity, equity and inclusion, but there are still steps employers can take to support a diverse workforce, says Peter Ennis at Cozen O’Connor.
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Fed. Circ. Resolves Post-AIA Question On Prefiling Activity
For more than a decade, patent attorneys have worried about what the America Invents Act means for specific prefiling activities, but two recent Federal Circuit decisions suggest the enumerated prefiling activities in Section 102(a)(1) will not affect validity if done within a year of filing the application, says Howard Skaist at Berkeley Law.
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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.