Appellate

  • April 16, 2025

    Schumer Looks To Block Trump NY US Attorney Nominations

    Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced on Wednesday he is exercising his power to block two of President Donald Trump's nominations for U.S. attorneys, which could set up an early test for preserving the long-standing Senate blue slip tradition.

  • April 16, 2025

    7th Circ. Judge Doubts CTA Worker's Signal Chat Claims

    A Seventh Circuit judge on Wednesday expressed skepticism that a lower court erred in tossing a former Chicago Transit Authority employee's retaliation suit as a sanction for spoiling evidence, saying he changed his story about how electronic phone messages were deleted after a Signal executive said the initial explanation was technologically impossible.

  • April 16, 2025

    Reed Smith Wins Stay Order In Eletson Shipping Feud

    For now, Reed Smith will not be compelled to turn over a client file to the new owners of reorganized international shipping group Eletson, following a temporary stay issued by the Second Circuit amid the BigLaw firm's fight to continue representing the company's prebankruptcy shareholders.

  • April 15, 2025

    9th Circ. Nixes JustAnswer Arbitration Bid In Membership Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday denied website JustAnswer's bid to force into arbitration a putative class action accusing it of trapping customers into expensive subscriptions, ruling that no contract requiring arbitration was formed between JustAnswer and individuals who were allegedly roped into recurring subscriptions costing up to $60 per month.

  • April 15, 2025

    9th Circ. Told Oregon Hospital Merger Law Flouts Due Process

    A hospital trade group urged the Ninth Circuit on Monday to block an Oregon law allowing the Oregon Health Authority to review proposed healthcare business consolidations, arguing the law is "unconstitutionally vague" and bestows unlimited power on the agency to block healthcare transactions in the state.

  • April 15, 2025

    Westlaw Rival Urges 3rd Circ. Intervention In AI Fair Use Case

    Tech startup ROSS Intelligence has urged the Third Circuit to allow a quick appeal focusing on two key questions from a lower court decision concluding it infringed copyrighted material from Thomson Reuters' Westlaw platform to create an artificial intelligence-backed competing legal research tool. 

  • April 15, 2025

    7th Circ. Judge Skeptical Amazon Violated Labor Law

    A Seventh Circuit judge on Tuesday pushed a National Labor Relations Board attorney to address why it was a violation of federal labor law for Amazon to tell employees that it can make exceptions to a policy limiting their off-duty access to a Kentucky facility at any time, "when the legal right exists whether the workers are told or not."

  • April 15, 2025

    Ga. Justices Wary Of Precedent In Gun Carry Age Limit Case

    Georgia's justices on Tuesday questioned whether they would have to overturn more than a century's worth of precedent to revive a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Peach State's statutory prohibition on adults under the age of 21 carrying handguns in public.

  • April 15, 2025

    Fired NLRB, MSPB Members Tell Justices Not To Rush Ruling

    A pair of fired independent regulators implored the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to reject President Donald Trump's bid to keep them unemployed while they challenge his authority to fire them without cause, arguing his new attack on a century-old precedent doesn't qualify as an emergency that the high court must address.

  • April 15, 2025

    DC Circ. Again Nixes Challenge To $44B Alaska LNG Project

    The D.C. Circuit rejected a challenge by conservation groups against the U.S. Department of Energy's reapproval of a $44 billion liquefied natural gas project in Alaska, ruling Tuesday the department's conclusion regarding uncertainty over the project's effects on greenhouse gases was supported by "overwhelming evidence" in its environmental impact statements.

  • April 15, 2025

    Cops At Insurrection Ask Justices To Let Them Stay Incognito

    Four current and former Seattle police officers who attended the 2021 Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" insurrection in D.C. have made an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to stay a ruling by Washington state's high court that barred the officers from litigating their state court privacy claims using John Doe pseudonyms.

  • April 15, 2025

    La. Parish Still Wants 5th Circ. To Remand Insurance Case

    A Louisiana parish has again urged the Fifth Circuit to send its dispute over coverage for property damage caused by a pair of hurricanes back to district court, saying "everyone agrees" that the lower court made a procedural misstep that was subsequently wrongly appealed.

  • April 15, 2025

    9th Circ. Backs Gold Mine's Win In Mechanic's Disability Suit

    The Ninth Circuit upheld on Tuesday a mining company's win in an ex-employee's suit alleging it fired him upon his return from disability leave, agreeing with a lower court that the mechanic was set to return with restrictions that left him unable to do required repair work.

  • April 15, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Won't Rethink Prior Art Decision In Samsung Row

    The Federal Circuit shot down tech developer Lynk Labs Inc.'s bid for the full appellate court to review when a patent application counts as prior art, cementing a win for patent challenger Samsung in the case.

  • April 15, 2025

    Dow Says NJ Pollution Suit 'Classic' Case For Federal Court

    Dow Chemical Co. told a Third Circuit panel on Tuesday that the New Jersey attorney general's suit accusing it and other companies of causing widespread groundwater pollution through a product containing a likely cancer-causing compound belongs in federal court, arguing the product was developed for the federal government.

  • April 15, 2025

    Court Abused Discretion In Tesoro Pipeline Row, 8th Circ. Told

    Enrolled members of a North Dakota tribe say a lower court abused its discretion in denying them intervention in a lawsuit challenging the federal government's right-of-way trespassing claims against the Tesoro High Plains Pipeline, arguing it failed to consider the full scope of their interests and rights at stake.

  • April 15, 2025

    Intel Says Withdrawal Of Fintiv Memo Doesn't Help VLSI Case

    Intel says the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's recent withdrawal of guidance on its discretionary-denial policy doesn't mean the Federal Circuit should revive a VLSI Technology chip patent, hitting back at VLSI's argument to the contrary.

  • April 15, 2025

    Mich. Healthcare Providers Urge Court To Keep Damage Caps

    Two of Michigan's largest healthcare providers told the state Supreme Court to uphold caps on medical malpractice damages, warning the justices of runaway verdicts and skyrocketing healthcare costs if the caps are lifted.

  • April 15, 2025

    Carriers Seek High Court Clarity On Universal Service

    The trade group for regional and rural wireless service providers warned members Tuesday that they can't count on federal support for telecom deployment following last month's U.S. Supreme Court arguments over the federal government's program for subsidizing build-outs in high-cost and underserved areas.

  • April 15, 2025

    Kinder Morgan Must Face $100M Texas Storm Billing Dispute

    A Texas state appeals court said Tuesday that Kinder Morgan must face a suit over $100 million in invoices stemming from a February 2021 winter storm that caused a power crisis in the state, finding that the company hadn't shown it was forced to reduce gas supplied to a customer at the height of the storm.

  • April 15, 2025

    9th Circ. Rejects Ex-Netflix Exec's Bribery Appeal

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the bribery conviction of Netflix's former vice president of information technology, rejecting his argument that prosecutors had introduced an extra fraud theory that wasn't described in his indictment.

  • April 15, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Stryker Unit's Antiseptic Patents

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board properly invalidated claims in two Sage Products LLC patents for sterilizing antiseptics, the Federal Circuit affirmed Tuesday.

  • April 15, 2025

    9th Circ. Backs $272M Verdict For Monster In Bang Ad Case

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a $272 million verdict for Monster Energy Co. in a false advertising case against defunct Vital Pharmaceuticals Inc. and its former CEO, rejecting a series of challenges to rulings that narrowed the evidence at trial.

  • April 15, 2025

    3rd Circ. Won't Restart Claims In Dodge Charger Class

    A Third Circuit panel on Tuesday held that it could not revive a lawsuit filed by owners of Dodge Charger Hellcats claiming that the muscle cars fell short of their advertised performance, noting that the lower court did not adequately explain its reasoning in dismissing the bulk of the case.

  • April 15, 2025

    Entergy Can't Fight FERC Market Rule Change, DC Circ. Says

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday said Entergy lacks standing to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's rejection of a regional grid operator's change to its capacity market rules after the agency concluded the change would give Entergy too much market power.

Expert Analysis

  • Pleading Rules At Stake In High Court Hamas Banking Case

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    While a case between victims of Hamas terrorist attacks and a Lebanese bank, recently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, appears to ask a narrow question of which civil procedure rules apply to requests to reopen final judgments, how the justices rule could drastically change pleading strategies for future plaintiffs, say attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney.

  • What's At Stake In High Court Transgender Care Suit

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    The outcome of U.S. v. Skrmetti will have critical implications for the rights of transgender youth and their access to gender-affirming care, and will likely affect other areas of law and policy involving transgender individuals, including education, employment, healthcare and civil rights, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Considerations As Trump Admin Continues To Curtail CFPB

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    Recent sweeping moves from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new leadership have signaled a major shift in the agency's trajectory, and regulated entities should prepare for broader implications in both the near and long term, say attorneys at Pryor Cashman.

  • 6th Circ. Ruling Paves Path Out Of Loper Bright 'Twilight Zone'

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright ruling created a twilight zone between express statutory delegations that trigger agency deference and implicit ones that do not, but the Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in Moctezuma-Reyes v. Garland crafted a two-part test for resolving cases within this gray area, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • NCAA Rulings Signal Game Change For Athlete Classification

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    A Tennessee federal court's recent decision in Pavia v. NCAA adds to a growing call to consider classifying college athletes as employees under federal law, a change that would have unexpected, potentially prohibitive costs for schools, says J.R. Webster Cucovatz at Gilson Daub.

  • Copyright Ruling Could Extend US Terminations Worldwide

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    If upheld on appeal, Vetter v. Resnik, a recent ruling from a Louisiana federal court, could extend the geographical scope of U.S. copyright termination rights to foreign territories, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • Recent Cases Clarify FCA Kickback Pleading Standards

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    Two recently resolved cases involving pharmaceutical manufacturers may make it more difficult for False Claims Act defendants facing kickback scheme allegations to get claims dismissed for lack of evidence, say Li Yu at Bernstein Litowitz, Ellen London at London & Noar, and Gregg Shapiro at Gregg Shapiro Law.

  • Bankruptcy Ruling Provides Guidance On 363 Asset Sales

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    HE v. Avadim Holdings, a recent ruling from the District of Delaware, underscores the principle that rejection of executory contracts does not unwind completed transfers of property and the importance of clear and precise language in sale orders and asset purchase agreements in bankruptcy cases, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • FLSA Ruling Shows Split Over Court Approval Of Settlements

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    A Kentucky federal court's recent ruling in Bazemore v. Papa John's highlights a growing trend of courts finding they are not required, or even authorized, to approve private settlements releasing Fair Labor Standards Act claims, underscoring a jurisdictional split and open questions that practitioners need to grapple with, say attorneys at Vedder Price.

  • Dewberry Ruling Is A Wakeup Call For Trademark Owners

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dewberry v. Dewberry hones in on the question of how a defendant's affiliates' profits should be treated under the Lanham Act, and should remind trademark litigants and practitioners that issues involving monetary relief should be treated seriously, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • A Look At The Student Loan Case Pending At Supreme Court

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    The Trump administration is likely to drop the U.S. Supreme Court case of U.S. Department of Education v. Career Colleges and Schools of Texas after its review of the 2022 borrower defense to repayment rule, but any outcome will be significant for institutions participating in programs covered by Title IV of the Higher Education Act, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • When Reincorporation Out Of Del. Isn't A Good Idea

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    While recent high-profile corporate moves out of Delaware have prompted discussion about the benefits of incorporation elsewhere, for many, remaining in the First State may be the right decision due to its deep body of business law, tradition of nonjury trials and other factors, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • Perspectives

    11th Circ. Ruling Shows How AEDPA Limits Habeas Relief

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    The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision to uphold an Alabama man's death sentence reveals how the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act can prevent meaningful review and has eroded the power of habeas corpus petitions by forcing federal courts to pay extraordinary deference to state-level rulings, says Paul Shechtman at Yale Law School.

  • Navigating The Uncertain Future Of The Superfund PFAS Rule

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    The D.C. Circuit's recent grant of a pause in litigation while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reviews the Biden-era designation of two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances as "hazardous" under the Superfund law creates new uncertainty for companies — but more lawsuits are likely as long as the rule remains in effect, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • 7 Tips For Associates To Thrive In Hybrid Work Environments

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    As the vast majority of law firms have embraced some type of hybrid work policy, associates should consider a few strategies to get the most out of both their in-person and remote workdays, says James Argionis at Cozen O’Connor.

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