Appellate

  • October 23, 2024

    'MetaBirkins' TM Appeal May Split 2nd Circ. On Art Question

    A Second Circuit panel appeared divided Wednesday over whether a Los Angeles man should be liable for infringing Hermès International's handbag trademarks with his "MetaBirkins" nonfungible tokens, with two judges seemingly siding with the Paris designer and one with the purported artist.

  • October 23, 2024

    Ga. Justices Say Open Records Suit Against DA Can Proceed

    The Supreme Court of Georgia said a district attorney for the Peach State's Western Judicial Circuit must face an Open Records Act suit claiming she withheld records, and that one of her arguments to escape the suit "fundamentally misunderstands Georgia's separation-of-powers doctrine."

  • October 23, 2024

    Court Doubts Tax Program Is A Subsidy, Remands Steel Duty

    The U.S. Court of International Trade remanded a countervailing tariff on Turkish steel rebar for the U.S. Department of Commerce to explain why it treated a broadly available tax exemption as a subsidy conferring an unfair trade advantage.

  • October 23, 2024

    2nd Circ. Backs Early Wells Fargo Win In $100M RMBS Case

    The Second Circuit on Wednesday approved an early win for Wells Fargo in a lawsuit brought by Commerzbank AG alleging it lost $100 million investing in residential mortgage-backed securities, saying the German lender didn't have standing to sue.

  • October 22, 2024

    Texas Firm 'Tortured' Barratry Case, Appeals Court Hears

    A Texas law firm accused of ambulance chasing told a state appeals court that the opposition had "tortured" the case, saying during oral arguments Tuesday that Bandas Law Firm PC pursued the case merely as an extortion racket.

  • October 22, 2024

    Ex-Yale Student Wants Full Acquittal Record Sent To DHS

    An expelled Yale University student on Tuesday urged the Second Circuit to quickly vacate orders barring him from giving the U.S. Department of Homeland Security an unredacted transcript that resulted in his acquittal of sex crimes, saying a delay could seal his deportation and thus his execution by the Taliban.

  • October 22, 2024

    'Dewberry' Ruling Doesn't Threaten Corporate Veil, Justices Told

    An engineering company that won millions of dollars in a trademark case against a real estate developer that tried to use the "Dewberry" name for a hotel told the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to let that ruling stand, arguing that the Fourth Circuit ruling in its favor doesn't undermine the corporate veil.

  • October 22, 2024

    Colo. Justices Suggest Remanding 'Half-Baked' Privilege Case

    Colorado Supreme Court justices appeared reluctant Tuesday to do more than remand a case over whether attorney-client privilege protects communications by an insurance company's lawyers with engineers hired for processing a claim, with two justices calling the appeal "half-baked" since the trial judge admitted she used the wrong standard.

  • October 22, 2024

    Calif. Panel Says Panera Must Face PAGA Claims

    A California state appeals court on Monday reversed a state trial court's ruling compelling a Panera restaurant employee to arbitrate Private Attorneys General Act claims against the bakery and café chain, saying an arbitration agreement the worker had entered explicitly excluded PAGA claims.

  • October 22, 2024

    Copper Mining Co. Asks High Court To Toss Sacred Site Suit

    A copper mining company that wants to build operations in a tribally sacred part of the Tonto National Forest has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to toss a challenge to a Ninth Circuit ruling that allows for the transfer of nearly 2,500 acres of land.

  • October 22, 2024

    Colo. Justices Doubt Geico Agreed With Man's Crash Claims

    Justices of Colorado's highest court appeared skeptical Tuesday of a man's claim that his noneconomic damages for injuries from a car accident were uncontested by his insurance carrier, with one justice citing the policyholder's rejection of settlement offers as evidence of a dispute.

  • October 22, 2024

    Media, Small Biz Orgs. Fight FTC's 'Click To Cancel' Rule

    The Michigan Press Association and the National Federation of Independent Businesses lodged a challenge Tuesday to the Federal Trade Commission's new "click to cancel" rule requiring that companies allow customers to ditch their subscriptions with a single click, telling the Sixth Circuit the commission has overstepped its authority.

  • October 22, 2024

    IP Atty Group Wants Fed. Circ. To Back Fintiv But Scold USPTO

    A group that advocates for intellectual property lawyers and patent owners has urged the Federal Circuit to uphold Patent Trial and Appeal Board precedent allowing its judges the discretion to deny patent reviews based on how proposed reviews overlap with related litigation in other forums.

  • October 22, 2024

    11th Circ. Signals Fla. Gun Ban Turns On 'Age Of Majority'

    Whether the full Eleventh Circuit will strike down or uphold Florida's firearms sales ban to anyone under 21 appeared to hinge Tuesday on whether the court adopts modern notions of when adulthood begins or prior beliefs understood as "18-year-old Johnny on his way to the militia," circa 1789.

  • October 22, 2024

    Supervisor Could've Prevented Electrician's Death, Widow Says

    The widow of a man who was electrocuted told a Texas appeals court during oral arguments Tuesday that it wouldn't matter if there was a supervisor looking over the deceased man's shoulder, claiming the question never came up because there wasn't a qualified supervisor on site.

  • October 22, 2024

    PTAB Axes Some Provisur Food Slicer Patent Claims

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has found Weber Inc. was able to show most of the claims in a pair of food slicer patents owned by rival Provisur Technologies were invalid as obvious, the latest in a fight that made its way to both the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • October 22, 2024

    10th Circ. Rebuffs GEO's Early Appeal In Forced-Labor Suit

    The Tenth Circuit said Tuesday that GEO Group Inc. jumped the gun by appealing a Colorado federal judge's ruling that the private prison operator can't be shielded by derivative sovereign immunity from human-trafficking claims brought by immigrant detainees.

  • October 22, 2024

    10th Circ. Affirms Energera Broke Deal By Filing Patent Suits

    The Tenth Circuit has ruled that both basic logic and "ordinary grammar" support the finding that a covenant not to file any further patent infringement lawsuits was broken by Colorado oil field equipment supplier Energera when it continued to sue Fuel Automation's future customers over "related" patents.

  • October 22, 2024

    Texas DOT Ruled Immune In $1M Bike Accident Suit

    A Texas appeals court has thrown out a $1 million verdict against the state's Department of Transportation over a doctor's bicycle accident, saying there was no evidence to support a finding of gross negligence, and, as such, the state agency has sovereign immunity.

  • October 22, 2024

    Ivy League Athletes Plan To Appeal Antitrust Suit's Dismissal

    A group of college athletes challenging the Ivy League's practice of prohibiting athletic scholarships told a Connecticut federal judge they plan to appeal the dismissal of their antitrust suit against Harvard and other top-tier universities.

  • October 22, 2024

    Ark. Supreme Court Voids Nov. Effort To Expand Medical Pot

    The Arkansas Supreme Court has determined that voters will not get to decide November 5 whether to expand the state's medical marijuana program via a ballot initiative after finding that the title and summary of the proposed constitutional amendment were misleading.

  • October 22, 2024

    Fla. Union Says License Application Was Wrongfully Denied

    A public sector union told a Florida appeals court Tuesday that the state's Public Employees Relations Commission erred in holding the union to newly passed higher standards for re-registration before the law went into effect and upholding this decision would allow administrative agencies to simply ignore effective dates.

  • October 22, 2024

    Organic Food Group Asks 9th Circ. To Upend GMO Label Rule

    An organic food industry advocacy group urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to reverse a district judge decision that largely left a Trump-era organic food labeling rule intact, saying the U.S. Department of Agriculture's implementation of a nationwide labeling law for genetically modified foods has been "arbitrary and capricious."

  • October 22, 2024

    Ga. Justices Reject GOP Effort To Restore New Election Rules

    Georgia's justices Tuesday unanimously rejected the state and national Republican parties' attempt to reinstate a slate of controversial new rules before Election Day that would require every ballot in the state to be hand-counted on election night and for officials to conduct "reasonable inquiries" into irregularities before certification.

  • October 22, 2024

    Split DC Circ. Backs Trespassing Charge In Jan. 6 Case

    A divided D.C. Circuit panel on Tuesday backed the conviction of a defendant charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, preserving a staple trespassing charge leveled against the majority of accused rioters.

Expert Analysis

  • How Calif. Justices' Prop 22 Ruling Affects The Gig Industry

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    The California Supreme Court's recent upholding of Proposition 22 clarifies that Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other companies in the gig industry can legally classify their drivers as independent contractors, but it falls short of concluding some important regulatory battles in the state, says Mark Spring at CDF Labor.

  • What 7th Circ. Samsung Decision Means For Mass Arbitration

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    The Seventh Circuit's recent decision in Wallrich v. Samsung highlights the dilemma faced by mass arbitration filers in the face of nonpayment of arbitration fees by the defending party — but also suggests that there are risks for defendants in pursuing such a strategy, says Daniel Campbell at McDermott.

  • Takeaways From Virginia's $2B Trade Secrets Verdict Reversal

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    The Virginia Court of Appeals' recent reversal of the $2 billion damages award in Pegasystems v. Appian underscores the claimant's burden to show damages causation and highlights how an evidentiary ruling could lead to reversible error, say John Lanham and Kamran Jamil at Morrison Foerster.

  • How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act

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    In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.

  • Employers Face Uncertainty After Calif. Justices' Slur Ruling

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    In Bailey v. San Francisco District Attorney's Office, the California Supreme Court recently ruled that a singular use of a racial slur may be sufficiently severe to support a hostile work environment claim, leaving employers to speculate about what sort of comments or conduct will meet this new standard going forward, says Stephanie Roeser at Manatt.

  • How Corner Post Affects Enviro Laws' Statutes Of Limitations

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board has helped to alter the fundamental underpinnings of administrative law — and its plaintiff-centric approach may have implications for some specific environmental laws' statutes of limitations, say Chris Leason and Liam Martin at Gallagher and Kennedy.

  • Jarkesy May Thwart Consumer Agencies' Civil Penalty Power

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy not only implicates future SEC administrative adjudications, but those of other agencies that operate similarly — and may stymie regulators' efforts to levy civil monetary penalties in a range of consumer protection enforcement actions, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Ohio's New Citation Rules Could Cure 'The Bluebook Blues'

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    The Ohio Supreme Court recently revised its writing manual to streamline citation format in legal briefs and opinions, deviating from Bluebook style, and encouraging lawyers and judges to draft cleaner documents that will give the substance of their legal arguments more persuasive power, say L. Bradfield Hughes and Chance Conaway at Porter Wright.

  • 9th Circ. Ruling Flags Work Harassment Risks Of Social Media

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    The recent Ninth Circuit ruling in Okonowsky v. Garland, holding an employer could be liable for a co-worker's harassing social media posts, highlights new challenges in technology-centered and remote workplaces, and underscores an employer's obligation to prevent hostile environments wherever their employees clock in, say Jennifer Lada and Phillip Schreiber at Holland & Knight.

  • Trump's Best Hush Money Appeal Options Still Likely To Fail

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    The two strongest potential arguments former President Donald Trump could raise in appealing his New York hush money conviction seem promising at first, but precedent strongly suggests they will still ultimately fail — though, of course, Trump's unique position could lead to surprising results, says former New York Supreme Court Justice Ethan Greenberg, now at Anderson Kill.

  • Tips For Tax Equity-Tax Credit Transfers That Pass IRS Muster

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    Although the Internal Revenue Service has increased its scrutiny of complex partnership structures, which must demonstrate their economic substance and business purpose, recent cases and IRS guidance together provide a reliable road map for creating legitimate tax equity structures, say Ian Boccaccio and Michael Messina at Ryan Tax.

  • 7th Circ. Ruling Sheds Light On Extraterritoriality In IP Law

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    A recent Seventh Circuit decision involving the Defend Trade Secrets Act, allowing for broader international application of trade secrets laws, highlights a difference in how trade secrets are treated compared to other areas of intellectual property law, say Armin Ghiam and Maria Montenegro-Bernardo at Hunton.

  • Opinion

    Texas Judges Ignored ERISA's Core To Stall Fiduciary Rule

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    Two recent rulings from Texas federal courts, which rely on a plainly wrong reading of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to effectively strike a forthcoming rule that would impose functional fiduciary duties onto sellers of investment services, may expose financially unsophisticated 401(k) participants to peddlers of misleading advice, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • 2nd Circ. Ruling Reaffirms Short-Swing Claims Have Standing

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    The Second Circuit's recent ruling in Packer v. Raging Capital reversing the dismissal of a shareholder's Section 16(b) derivative suit seeking to recover short-swing profits for lack of constitutional standing settles the uncertainty of the district court's decision, which could have undercut Congress' intent in crafting Section 16(b) in the first place, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?

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    A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.

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