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Featured
Loper Bright Is Shaking Up Dozens Of Regulatory Fights
In the two weeks since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference, the landmark decision has emerged as a live issue in dozens of administrative challenges, with federal courts already pausing agency regulations expanding LGBTQ+ rights in education and healthcare and with a wave of parties seeking to use the new decision to win their cases.
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July 23, 2024
Ex-Raytheon Worker Asks High Court To Take Up Firing Suit
A former employee of defense contractor Raytheon asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse his ouster from the company, arguing that the Fifth Circuit's finding that he shouldn't be reinstated set up a circuit split.
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July 23, 2024
NC's $500K Med Mal Damages Cap Faces Fight
A patient who obtained a $7.5 million jury verdict in her case against a North Carolina doctor over the loss of her unborn baby is challenging the constitutionality of the Tar Heel State's cap on compensatory damages in medical negligence suits.
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July 23, 2024
7th Circ. Says Ex-Officer's Offensive Posts Not Protected
The Seventh Circuit refused Tuesday to reopen a former officer's lawsuit alleging the Illinois Department of Corrections unlawfully suspended him for 10 days because of Islamophobic social media posts, finding the agency's need for order outweighed his interest in publicly expressing his opinions.
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July 23, 2024
Microsoft Calls FTC Price Hike Claims 'Misleading' At 9th Circ
Microsoft pushed back against the Federal Trade Commission's contention that an increase in the company's gaming subscription pricing is evidence of the anticompetitive effects of the software giant's $68.7 billion acquisition of game developer Activision Blizzard Inc., calling the commission out for trying to "reinvent" its case against the merger on appeal to the Ninth Circuit.
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July 23, 2024
9th Circ. Denies Woman's Derivative US Citizenship Claim
A Mexican woman facing deportation cannot claim to be a U.S. citizen despite her mother's naturalization, a split Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday, saying her father's voluntary acknowledgment of paternity thwarted her citizenship claim.
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July 23, 2024
Sonos Tells Fed. Circ. 100K Patents At Risk If Google Prevails
Wireless audio brand Sonos has warned the Federal Circuit that a federal judge's decision to scrap its jury win in a $32.5 million patent case against Google means that "about 100,000 patents are vulnerable."
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July 23, 2024
Colo. Judges Want Clarity On When Moot Cases Need Rulings
Colorado appellate judges on Tuesday pushed a popular ski town to define what makes a case of "great public importance," as a major resort company argued its land fight with the town is weighty enough that the judges should rule even if the actual dispute is now moot.
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July 23, 2024
EPA Tells 5th Circ. Louisiana Can't Stall Chemical Regulation
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the Fifth Circuit cannot decide whether a Louisiana regulator can give a neoprene maker an extra two years to comply with a federal chemical rule because the issue is already before the D.C. Circuit.
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July 23, 2024
Calif. Justices Lower Bar For Emotional Distress Damages
The California Supreme Court effectively made it easier for plaintiffs to sue for emotional distress damages by concluding Monday that close relatives of an injured party need not be immediately aware of potential negligence at the time they witness the injury-causing incident.
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July 23, 2024
Judge Doubts CenturyLink Can Block Borrowed Allegations
A Colorado Court of Appeals panel Tuesday pressed an attorney for CenturyLink on why a shareholder can't use allegations borrowed from other cases in his own securities suit against the telecommunications company, with one judge saying that requiring plaintiff's counsel to speak to every witness would be going overboard.
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July 23, 2024
Cornell Tells High Court Not To Touch Workers' ERISA Suit
Cornell University urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to take up a class action accusing it of mismanaging its employees' retirement savings, saying it shouldn't disturb a Second Circuit ruling that found the workers leading the suit failed to show that Cornell's payments to its service providers involved self-dealing.
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July 23, 2024
Labor Dept. ESG Rule May Survive Chevron's Demise
The Fifth Circuit recently overturned a ruling that relied on the now-defunct doctrine of Chevron deference to uphold a U.S. Department of Labor rule covering socially conscious retirement plan investing, but some experts believe the rule has a good chance at surviving — even with the precedent off the books.
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July 23, 2024
Pa. Justices Will Hear Pittsburgh's Appeal For Its 'Jock Tax'
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has accepted the city of Pittsburgh's request to review a lower court decision that ended the city's fee on nonresident professional athletes, also known as the jock tax, the court said.
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July 23, 2024
2nd Circ. Backs Project Veritas Search Tied To Stolen Diary
The Second Circuit on Tuesday upheld a district court's rejection of claims of journalistic privilege by Project Veritas' founder and two others at the activist group as they sought to shield documents seized under search warrants in connection with the stolen diary of President Joe Biden's daughter Ashley Biden.
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July 23, 2024
Wash. Justices Decline 9th Circ. Request in Uber Murder Case
Washington State's Supreme Court has declined to answer a certified question from the Ninth Circuit over whether Uber Technologies Inc. had a duty to use reasonable care to protect one of its drivers who was murdered in a carjacking.
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July 23, 2024
4th Circ. Says Bad Jury Instructions Gave J&J Win In Mesh Suit
The Fourth Circuit has vacated a judgment in Ethicon Inc. and Johnson & Johnson's favor in a suit from a woman alleging Ethicon's pelvic mesh was defective, saying a federal judge was wrong to limit her expert's opinion based on the so-called "elimination mandate."
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July 23, 2024
Tesla Crash Victim's Parents Urge Fla. Top Court To Allow Depos
The father of a Florida teenager killed in a Tesla Model S crash in 2018 has urged the state's high court to review a lower court's orders quashing depositions of company CEO Elon Musk and another executive, saying the orders directly conflict with Florida case law.
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July 23, 2024
Amazon Fights To Arbitrate Sellers' Misclassification Claims
Amazon urged a California appellate panel on Tuesday to compel arbitration for individual claims from two sellers accusing the online retailer of misclassifying them as independent contractors, and to direct the trial court to toss their representative claims under the state's Private Attorneys General Act.
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July 23, 2024
Red States Seek High Court Stay Of EPA Power Plant Rule
Dozens of red states Tuesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to block implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rule curbing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, four days after the D.C. Circuit rejected a stay request.
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July 23, 2024
Fed. Circ. Gives Netflix 2nd Chance To Challenge Broadcom IP
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board must reconsider Netflix's petitions challenging the validity of a Broadcom unit's software performance monitoring patent, the Federal Circuit held Tuesday, finding flaws in the board's refusal to institute reviews.
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July 23, 2024
Feds Urge 6th Circ. To Affirm Pharma Owner's Fraud Sentence
The Sixth Circuit should affirm a district court's fraud convictions, nearly five-year sentence and $7 million restitution order against an Ohio pharmaceutical salesman who underreported his income to reduce his tax liability in a multimillion-dollar scheme involving bogus insurance billings, the federal government said.
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July 23, 2024
6th Circ. Judge Doubts Cover-Up Part Of Fire Chief's Job
A Sixth Circuit judge on Tuesday said he found it hard to believe a Michigan mayor could avoid an ex-fire chief's retaliation suit by claiming the chief's refusal to follow a directive to cover up firefighters' alleged misconduct was part of his job description.
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July 23, 2024
6th Circ. Affirms Insurer's Early Win In Hail Damage Suit
A welding company wasn't owed coverage for roof damage caused by wind and a hailstorm, the Sixth Circuit ruled, finding that a lower court didn't err in ruling that a cosmetic-damage exclusion in its policy precludes the damage at issue.
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July 23, 2024
The Biggest Trademark Rulings Of 2024: A Midyear Report
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a California attorney's arguments that registering "Trump Too Small" as a trademark constituted speech protected by the First Amendment, and a split Ninth Circuit concluded district courts have the power to cancel trademark applications during litigation. Here's a look at some of the most notable trademark decisions so far this year.
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July 23, 2024
6th Circ. Vows Careful Immunity Take In Prof's Retaliation Suit
The Sixth Circuit wrestled Tuesday with whether six University of Louisville officials were each rightly denied immunity from a former professor's suit alleging he was unconstitutionally pushed out because of his views on treating childhood gender dysphoria, with one judge promising meticulous assessments of each defendant.
Editor's Picks
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How Reshaped Circuit Courts Are Faring At The High Court
Seminal rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court's latest term will reshape many facets of American society in the coming years. Already, however, the rulings offer glimpses of how the justices view specific circuit courts, which have themselves been reshaped by an abundance of new judges.
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High Court Flexes Muscle To Limit Administrative State
The U.S. Supreme Court's dismantling of a 40-year-old judicial deference doctrine, coupled with rulings stripping federal agencies of certain enforcement powers and exposing them to additional litigation, has established the October 2023 term as likely the most consequential in administrative law history.
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DC Circuit Cases To Watch In 2024
As the D.C. Circuit heads into 2024, its judges are poised to answer hotly anticipated political questions about former President Donald Trump and his allies, as well as a number of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cases that could determine the future of certain natural gas projects.
Expert Analysis
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Series
After Chevron: Uncertainty In Scope Of ITC Oversight
The U.S. International Trade Commission's long-standing jurisprudence on some of the most disputed and controversial issues is likely to be reshaped by the Federal Circuit, which is no longer bound by Chevron deference in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, say Kecia Reynolds and Madeleine Moss at Paul Hastings.
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Half-Truths Vs. Omissions: Slicing Justices' Macquarie Cake
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Macquarie v. Moab provides a road map for determining whether corporate reports that omit information should be considered misleading — and the court baked it into a dessert analogy that is key to understanding the guidelines, say Daniel Levy and Pavithra Kumar at Advanced Analytical Consulting Group.
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Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity
The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.
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Chevron's End Puts Target On CFPB's Aggressive BNPL Rule
A recent interpretative rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, subjecting buy-now, pay-later loans to the same regulations as credit cards, is unlikely to survive post-Chevron challenges of the rule's partisan and shaky logic, say Scott Pearson and Bryan Schneider at Manatt.
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Justices' Ch. 11 Ruling Is A Big Moment For Debtors' Insurers
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Truck Insurance v. Kaiser Gypsum ruling upends decades of Chapter 11 bankruptcy jurisprudence that relegated a debtor’s insurer to the sidelines, giving insurers a new footing to try and avoid significant liability, say Stuart Gordon and Benjamin Wisher at Rivkin Radler.
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Justices' Starbucks Ruling May Limit NLRB Injunction Wins
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Starbucks v. McKinney, adopting a more stringent test for National Labor Relations Board Section 10(j) injunctions, may lessen the frequency with which employers must defend against injunctions alongside parallel unfair labor practice charges, say David Pryzbylski and Colleen Schade at Barnes & Thornburg.
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Justices' Criminal Law Decisions: The Term In Review
Each of the 11 criminal decisions issued in the U.S. Supreme Court’s recently concluded term is independently important, but taken together, they reveal trends in the court’s broader approach to criminal law, presenting both pitfalls and opportunities for defendants and their counsel, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: July Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers cases touching on pre- and post-conviction detainment conditions, communications with class representatives, when the American Pipe tolling doctrine stops applying to modified classes, and more.
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7th Circ. Motorola Ruling Raises Stakes Of DTSA Litigation
The Seventh Circuit’s recent ruling in Motorola v. Hytera gives plaintiffs a powerful tool to recover damages, greatly increasing the incentive to bring Defend Trade Secrets Act claims against defendants with large global sales because those sales could generate large settlements, say attorneys at MoFo.
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Series
After Chevron: Bid Protest Litigation Will Hold Steady For Now
Though the substantive holding of Loper Bright is unlikely to affect bid protests because questions of statutory interpretation are rare, the spirit of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision may signal a general trend away from agency deference even on the complex technical issues that often arise, say Kayleigh Scalzo and Andrew Guy at Covington.
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Challenging Prosecutors' Use Of Defendants' Jail Phone Calls
Although it’s an uphill battle under current case law, counsel for pretrial detainees may be able to challenge prosecutors’ use of jail-recorded phone calls between the defendant and their attorney by taking certain advance measures, say Jim McLoughlin and Fielding Huseth at Moore & Van Allen.
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How NJ Worker Status Ruling Benefits Real Estate Industry
In Kennedy v. Weichert, the New Jersey Supreme Court recently said a real estate agent’s employment contract would supersede the usual ABC test analysis to determine his classification as an independent contractor, preserving operational flexibility for the industry — and potentially others, say Jason Finkelstein and Dalila Haden at Cole Schotz.
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3 Policyholder Tips After Calif. Ruling Denying D&O Coverage
A California decision from June, Practice Fusion v. Freedom Specialty Insurance, denying a company's claim seeking reimbursement under a directors and officers insurance policy for its settlement with the Justice Department, highlights the importance of coordinating coverage for all operational risks and the danger of broad exclusionary policy language, says Geoffrey Fehling at Hunton.
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Opinion
Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism
As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.
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Opinion
High Court Made Profound Mistake In Tossing Purdue Deal
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to throw out Purdue Pharma's Chapter 11 plan jeopardizes a multistate agreement that would provide approximately $7 billion in much-needed relief to help fight the opioid epidemic, with states now likely doomed to spend years chasing individual defendants across the globe, says Swain Wood at Morningstar.