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Appellate
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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 invalidate claims.
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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.
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July 23, 2024
Ariz. Justices OK Use Of Power Deal In Plant's Valuation
An Arizona power plant's income from a power purchase agreement may be considered in the income analysis of the valuation of the property, the state Supreme Court said, sending the matter back to the state tax court.
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July 23, 2024
Full Fed. Circ. Won't Undo TD Ameritrade's One-Word IP Win
The full Federal Circuit on Monday denied a patent owner's en banc rehearing petition challenging a one-word ruling in favor of stockbroker TD Ameritrade in a high-stakes patent fight and effectively rejected an amicus party's legal challenge to the court's rule allowing one-word affirmance decisions.
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July 23, 2024
Split 2nd Circ. Keeps Zantac Suits In Conn. State Court
A split Second Circuit panel on Tuesday allowed nine consolidated suits over carcinogens in heartburn medication Zantac to remain in Connecticut state court, with the majority ruling that the cases' consolidation is not enough to open up federal jurisdiction.
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July 23, 2024
Farm Owner Must Boost Taxable Income, 8th Circ. Told
An Arkansas company that leases farmland must raise its reported income by $230,000 because it failed to get permission from the IRS to change its accounting method, the U.S. told the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday in asking it to uphold a U.S. Tax Court ruling.
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July 23, 2024
After Trump Attack, GOP Presses DOJ On Justices' Security
Two Republican U.S. House representatives pressed the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday for information on security measures protecting court officers, warning that limitations on the U.S. Marshals Service's authority to arrest protesters near justices' homes are "dangerous and misguided," especially after former President Donald Trump's attempted assassination.
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July 23, 2024
Atty Argues Fla. Ethics Charges Are 1st Amendment Attacks
A Georgia-based attorney is fighting accusations from the Florida Bar that he disparaged an opponent running for 20th Judicial Circuit state attorney in 2018, arguing that the bar's bid to suspend his Florida law license is a violation of his First Amendment rights because it would punish him for protected speech.
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July 23, 2024
No Victims, No Fraud, Trump Says In $465M Judgment Appeal
Donald Trump has appealed the $465 million judgment against him, arguing that the New York attorney general exceeded her authority in her civil fraud suit against the former president because the statute in question does not apply to victimless transactions.
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July 23, 2024
NY Judge OKs Public Disclosure In Atty Misconduct Cases
A New York federal judge ruled Monday that the First Amendment does allow those who filed grievances against attorneys to access disciplinary hearings before the Appellate Division's Second Judicial Department, records related to those hearings and some of the grievance committee's final dispositions.
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July 23, 2024
Stay Of Power Plant Mercury Rule Unwarranted, EPA Says
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, joined by states, cities and public health and environmental groups, is urging the D.C. Circuit not to block a new rule tightening standards for mercury and other toxic metal emissions from some coal-fired power plants.
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July 23, 2024
Texas Judge Says SpaceX Will Likely Win NLRB Challenge
A Texas federal judge explained Tuesday why he blocked a case against SpaceX from proceeding before the National Labor Relations Board, saying he thinks the company is likely to win its constitutional challenge to the agency's structure.
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July 23, 2024
Senate Dems Roll Out Bill To Codify Chevron Deference
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., led a group of Democratic senators Tuesday in introducing a bill to codify the now-defunct doctrine of Chevron deference after it was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court last month.
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July 23, 2024
Arbitrator On Pain Meds Didn't End Dispute, Ga. Panel Says
The Georgia Court of Appeals vacated an arbitration award in an inheritance dispute between siblings after finding the award failed to resolve a "significant dispute" related to the alleged withdrawal and misuse of escrow funds.
Expert Analysis
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7th Circ Joins Trend Of No CGL Coverage For Structural Flaws
The Seventh Circuit, which recently held potential structural instability did not count as property damage under a construction company's commercial general liability policy, joins a growing consensus that faulty work does not implicate coverage without tangible and present damage to the project, say Sarah Abrams at Baleen Specialty, and Elan Kandel and James Talbert at Bailey Cavalieri.
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Series
In The CFPB Playbook: Making Good On Bold Promises
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure in the second quarter cleared the way for the bureau to resume a number of high-priority initiatives, and it appears poised to charge ahead in working toward its aggressive preelection agenda, say Andrew Arculin and Paula Vigo Marqués at Blank Rome.
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Series
After Chevron: Creating New Hurdles For ESG Rulemaking
The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision, limiting court deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, could have significant impacts on the future of ESG regulation, creating new hurdles for agency rulemaking around these emerging issues, and calling into question current administrative actions, says Leah Malone at Simpson Thacher.
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Accidental Death Ruling Shows ERISA Review Standard's Pull
The Eleventh Circuit’s recent accidental death insurance ruling in Goldfarb v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance illustrates how an arbitrary and capricious standard of review in Employee Retirement Income Security Act denial-of-benefits cases creates a steep uphill battle for benefit claimants, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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Critical Questions Remain After High Court's Abortion Rulings
The U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in two major abortion-related cases this term largely preserve the status quo for now, but leave federal preemption, the Comstock Act and in vitro fertilization in limbo, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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California Adds A Novel Twist To State Suits Against Big Oil
California’s suit against Exxon Mobil Corp., one of several state suits that seek to hold oil and gas companies accountable for climate-related harms, is unique both in the magnitude of the alleged claims and its use of a consumer protection statute to seek disgorgement of industry profits, says Julia Stein at UCLA School of Law.
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Opinion
States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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Why Justices Should Rule On FAA's Commerce Exception
The U.S. Supreme Court should review the Ninth Circuit's Ortiz v. Randstad decision, to clarify whether involvement in interstate commerce exempts workers from the Federal Arbitration Act, a crucial question given employers' and employees' strong competing interests in arbitration and litigation, says Collin Williams at New Era.
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Series
After Chevron: Rethinking Agency Deference In IP Cases
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent overturning of Chevron deference could make it simpler to challenge the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s proposed rule on terminal disclaimers and U.S. International Trade Commission interpretations, says William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.
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FLSA Conditional Certification Is Alive And Well In 4th Circ.
A North Carolina federal court's recent decision in Johnson v. PHP emphasized continued preference by courts in the Fourth Circuit for a two-step conditional certification process for Fair Labor Standards Act collective actions, rejecting views from other circuits and affording plaintiffs a less burdensome path, say Joshua Adams and Damón Gray at Jackson Lewis.
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7th Circ. Exclusion Ruling Will Narrow BIPA Coverage
The Seventh Circuit's recent decision in Thermoflex Waukegan v. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, holding that the access or disclosure exclusion applies to insurance claims brought under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, departs from the majority rule and opens the door to insurers more firmly denying coverage under general liability policies, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
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Tricky Venue Issues Persist In Fortenberry Prosecution Redo
Former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry was recently indicted for a second time after the Ninth Circuit tossed his previous conviction for improper venue, but the case, now pending in the District of Columbia, continues to illustrate the complexities of proper venue in "false statement scheme" prosecutions, says Kevin Coleman at Covington.
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Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
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1st Gender Care Ban Provides Context For High Court Case
The history of Arkansas' ban on gender-affirming medical care — the first such legislation in the U.S. — provides important insight into the far-reaching ramifications that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti next term will have on transgender healthcare, says Tyler Saenz at Baker Donelson.
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Series
After Chevron: FCC And Industry Must Prepare For Change
The Chevron doctrine was especially significant in the communications sector because of the indeterminacy of federal communications statutes, so the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the doctrine could have big implications for those regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, bringing both opportunities and risks for companies, say Thomas Johnson and Michael Showalter at Wiley.