Appellate

  • March 20, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Backs PTAB Decision That Upheld Lighting IP Claim

    The Federal Circuit has backed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that ELCO Lighting did not show that one claim of a DMF Inc. LED lighting system patent is invalid, calling one of ELCO's arguments "meritless."

  • March 20, 2025

    4th Circ. Seems Open To Reviving Pregnant Worker's Bias Suit

    The Fourth Circuit seemed receptive Thursday to a former hospital worker's argument that she was unlawfully fired for a pregnancy-related disability, pondering whether the lower court had relied on an outdated interpretation of disability bias law when it tossed her case.

  • March 20, 2025

    6th Circ. Judge Skeptical Of Mich. Newborn Screening Ruling

    A Sixth Circuit panel questioned Thursday if Michigan's practice of holding onto blood samples collected through a newborn health screening program violates parents' rights to make medical decisions for their children, with one judge saying he didn't see evidence for that proposition.

  • March 20, 2025

    Ga. Judge Defends 'Daddy Issues' Detention In Divorce Case

    An Atlanta trial judge facing allegations that she intervened on behalf of her uncle in a legal proceeding and had a woman locked in a cell during her parents' divorce hearing called Wednesday for the ethics charges against her to be dismissed, arguing her due process rights were violated by a watchdog commission.

  • March 20, 2025

    2nd Circ. Tosses ID Theft Conviction, Citing Justices' Ruling

    The Second Circuit on Thursday reversed the aggravated identity theft conviction of a man accused of participating in an international fraud scheme, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 finding in Dubin v. U.S. that such charges must be "at the crux" of a criminal enterprise.

  • March 20, 2025

    Absent Co-Owners Not 'Indispensable' For Negligence In Pa.

    An absent co-owner of a property who doesn't share any responsibility for it isn't an "indispensable party" to negligence litigation against another co-owner, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled Thursday in reviving a woman's slip-and-fall suit against her landlord.

  • March 20, 2025

    7th Circ. Backs Chicago Rail In Canine Officer's ADA Suit

    The Seventh Circuit said Thursday it won't revive a Chicago rail officer's suit claiming he was removed from his canine handler role after testing positive for drugs he had been prescribed, faulting him for failing to respond to the agency's requests to clarify the results.

  • March 20, 2025

    4th Circ. Leery Of Reviving Class Claims In Lending Bias Suit

    A group of borrowers faced an uphill battle Thursday trying to convince the Fourth Circuit to revive their class claims accusing Navy Federal Credit Union of discriminatory lending practices, with one judge chastising what he said were attempts to rewrite the complaint.

  • March 20, 2025

    NJ Firm Can't Force Arbitration Of Ex-Leader's Firing Suit

    New Jersey personal injury firm Ginarte Gonzalez & Winograd LLP cannot steer a former managing partner who claims the firm retaliated against him for protected activity into arbitration after it waived the right to arbitrate his claims before a judge, a state appellate court ruled Thursday.

  • March 20, 2025

    7th Circ. Chief Judge Diane Sykes To Take Senior Status

    Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Diane Sykes of the Seventh Circuit will take semiretired status on Oct. 1.

  • March 20, 2025

    Hawley To Introduce Bill To Restrict Nationwide Injunctions

    Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced on Thursday he would be introducing legislation to prevent district court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions.

  • March 20, 2025

    No 1st Circ. Appeal For 'Varsity Blues' Guilty Plea, Judge Says

    A judge in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions case won't allow a former attorney and television executive to seek First Circuit review of his order rejecting claims that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling invalidates the legal underpinnings of the former executive's guilty plea, according to a Thursday decision.

  • March 20, 2025

    8th Circ. Won't Nix Deportation Of Woman For Pot Offense

    The Eighth Circuit declined to review a Board of Immigration Appeals finding that a Mexican national is removable for her conviction of possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, and that the conviction makes her ineligible for cancellation of removal.

  • March 19, 2025

    Full 9th Circ. Quizzes BNSF On Reasons For Conductor Firing

    The en banc Ninth Circuit hinted Wednesday it might stand by a panel's earlier ruling overturning BNSF Railway Co.'s win in an ex-conductor's retaliation suit, with several judges expressing skepticism the railway had shown he would've been fired for dishonesty and insubordination even if he hadn't refused to stop conducting a brake test.

  • March 19, 2025

    GM Seeks Full 6th Circ. Guidance Amid Class Action Surge

    Sixth Circuit judges on Wednesday dug into whether they should undo a panel's ruling upholding class certification for consumers who allege General Motors sold vehicles with defective transmissions, as the automaker urged the judges to give courts guidance on class certification at a time the circuit has been "inundated" with class actions.

  • March 19, 2025

    Texas Justices OK With Venue Appeal Despite 'Politics' Involved

    A Texas Supreme Court justice lamented Wednesday that venue choice has become "a matter of politics," but told counsel for the family of a girl killed when a bus ran into her that the law seemingly gives the opposing party the right to appeal a venue decision from the trial court.

  • March 19, 2025

    DC Circ.'s Copyright Denial Of AI Art Is A Sign Of Future Fights

    A computer scientist's quest to register artwork made by his artificial intelligence system hit another roadblock this week when the D.C. Circuit concluded that only human authors qualify for copyright protection, but his case foreshadows complex questions that courts and perhaps Congress will have to grapple with as the technology evolves.

  • March 19, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Says Lacking License Dooms DOD Fuel Deal Protest

    The Federal Circuit refused Wednesday to revive a case challenging a $134 million sole-source fuel supply contract for the U.S. military in Djibouti, saying the challenger wasn't eligible for the deal even if the Defense Logistics Agency had opened it up to competition.

  • March 19, 2025

    Ex-U.S. Rep. Loses 2nd Circ. Appeal In Insider Trading Case

    Former Indiana Rep. Stephen Buyer has failed to convince the Second Circuit to overturn his insider trading conviction or to grant him a new trial, with the appellate court ruling Wednesday to keep his 22-month sentence intact.

  • March 19, 2025

    Ga. Justices Consider Election Board's Rulemaking Authority

    Georgia's Supreme Court justices on Wednesday considered whether a trial court judge correctly blocked the enforcement of controversial State Election Board rules put in place before last year's general election, weighing arguments about whether the rulemaking aligned with the constitution's separation of powers.

  • March 19, 2025

    Retirees' Discovery Bid Rejected In Hilton Pension Suit

    A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday refused to reopen discovery in a decades-old suit against Hilton Hotels Corp. filed by retirees who won on claims that the company violated federal benefits law by shortchanging their pensions, citing a lack of evidence in the record that Hilton wasn't complying with the court's judgment.

  • March 19, 2025

    Fla. Court Affirms Boardwalk Easement, Despite Defunct Law

    Florida's First District Court of Appeal confirmed Wednesday that Walton County, Florida, had a right to a public easement on a beach, finding it need not have exercised that right before the federal government repealed the law under which the land was conveyed to private owners.

  • March 19, 2025

    Ill. Justices Probe Wholesalers' Knowledge Of Tainted Cilantro

    Justices on Illinois' top court on Wednesday pressed attorneys in a case over allegedly contaminated cilantro to address when two wholesalers had actual knowledge the product may have made people sick, and what moment triggered a duty by a distributor to give notice for an implied warranty of merchantability claim.

  • March 19, 2025

    8th Circuit Rejects Minn. Tribe's Jurisdiction Rehearing Bid

    The Eighth Circuit on Wednesday denied a Minnesota tribe's request for a panel or en banc rehearing on a decision to remand and vacate its challenge over law enforcement jurisdiction on its reservation after it told the court last month that its assessment of the case conflicts with precedent.

  • March 19, 2025

    Texas Justices Skeptical Boeing Can Dodge Airline Union Suit

    Texas Supreme Court justices seemed wary of Boeing Co.'s argument that a pilot's union can't sue over lost compensation after a pair of deadly crashes involving the company's 737 Max airplanes, saying during oral arguments Wednesday it was seemingly making "policy arguments for Congress."

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • High Court 'Violent Crimes' Case Tangled Up In Hypotheticals

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    In Delligatti v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next week on whether attempted murder constitutes a crime of violence, and because the court’s interpretive approach thus far has relied on hairsplitting legal hypotheticals with absurd results, Congress should repeal the underlying statute, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.

  • Tracking The Slow Movement Of AI Copyright Cases

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    The tech community may be expecting a prompt resolution on whether products generated by artificial intelligence are a fair use of copyrighted works, but legal history shows that a response to this question — at the heart of over 30 pending cases — will take years, say attorneys at White & Case.

  • How Property Insurance Coverage Shrank After The Pandemic

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    Insurers litigating property claims are leveraging rulings that provided relief in the COVID-19 context to reverse the former majority rule on physical loss or damage in all contexts, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Considering Chevron's End Through A State Tax Lens

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    States took the lead in encouraging Chevron's demise, turning away from Chevron-type deference in state tax administration ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, a trend likely to accelerate as courts take a more active role in interpreting tax laws, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Curious Case Of FTC's Amicus Brief In Teva Fed. Circ. Appeal

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    Attorneys at BCLP explore the Federal Trade Commission's backing of Amneal's Orange Book-delisting efforts on Teva ahead of a key Federal Circuit hearing in a case between the two pharmaceutical companies, and wonder if the FTC amicus brief indicates a future trend, especially in the next administration.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • When 'Patented' Goes Beyond Inventorship In False Ad Cases

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    The Federal Circuit's recent false advertising holding in Crocs v. Effervescent is significant because it offers a nuanced yet realistic understanding of what false claims about a product's status as "patented" can mean, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • 2nd Circ. Hostile Workplace Ruling Widens Arbitration Pitfalls

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision, affirming the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act applies to a worker whose workplace hostility claims arose before the law’s 2022 enactment, widens the scope of the law — and the risks of unenforceable arbitration agreements for employers, say attorneys at Hinshaw.

  • 2nd Circ. Maxwell Ruling Adds To Confusion Over NPA Reach

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision upholding Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction made an analytical leap in applying plea agreement precedent to a nonprosecution agreement, compounding a circuit split and providing lessons for defense counsel, say attorneys at Kropf Moseley.

  • The Fed. Circ. In October: Aetna And License-Term Review

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision that Aetna's credit card licensing agreement with AlexSam did not give the insurer immunity from patent infringement claims serves to warn licensees to read their contracts carefully, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Recent Developments In Insurance Coverage For FCA Claims

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    As the U.S. Department of Justice continues its vigorous False Claims Act enforcement, companies looking to their insurers to help defray the costs of an investigation or settlement should note recent decisions on which types of policies cover FCA claims, which policy periods apply and which portions of FCA-related losses are covered, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Boosting Confidence In Pennsylvania's Election System

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    As Election Day nears, Pennsylvania is facing an intense flurry of litigation, including an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court centered on mail-in and provisional ballots, but the state's election system is robust, and attorneys from all practice areas have an important role to play in ensuring confidence in and access to our election system, says Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie.

  • Takeaways From The IRS' Crypto Doc Summons Win

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    A recent First Circuit decision holding that taxpayers do not have a Fourth Amendment reasonable expectation of privacy in cryptocurrency transaction records should prompt both taxpayers and exchanges to take stock of past transactions and future plans, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

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