Appellate

  • August 21, 2024

    How AI Could Shake Up Federal Evidence Rules

    Judges, lawyers and academics say it's only a matter of time before the breakneck development of artificial intelligence collides with a cautious, slow-moving judicial system and gives rise to a thorny array of evidentiary issues. They're just not sure what to do about it.

  • August 21, 2024

    Dems At DNC Push For High Court Reform

    Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday made the case at an event adjacent to the Democratic National Convention that U.S. Supreme Court reform is an issue that everyday Americans should care about and championed the progress made thus far. 

  • August 21, 2024

    Chamberlain Hrdlicka Can't Nix $700K Award To Consultant

    A Lone Star State appellate court has sided with a cost-cutting consulting firm in preserving a $700,000 judgment it was awarded following a 2022 jury trial against Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry, rejecting the law firm's argument that its liability was limited to a far lower amount under their contract.

  • August 21, 2024

    Fla. Court Won't Revive Miami Atty's $5B Defamation Suit

    A Florida state appeals court refused Wednesday to revive a Miami lawyer's $5 billion defamation suit against the Florida Bar and a newspaper over an article about events surrounding a previous legal action he filed against a doctor that he claims caused him irreparable reputational damage.

  • August 21, 2024

    Wells Fargo Hires Jones Day After $22M ADA Trial Loss In NC

    Wells Fargo has beefed up its legal representation with a powerhouse appellate litigator and an employer-side labor lawyer, both from Jones Day, following a jury's decision last month to enter more than $22 million in damages against it in a former director's disability discrimination case in North Carolina federal court.

  • August 21, 2024

    Judge To Mull Recusal In Boston Marathon Bombing Case

    A Boston federal judge said Wednesday he will allow briefing on whether he should recuse himself from the case of convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is seeking a new sentencing trial over claims of possible jury bias.

  • August 21, 2024

    Satanists Ask 1st Circ. To Rethink Boston's Prayer Scheme

    A satanic temple wants the full First Circuit to rehear its suit seeking to participate in a blessing at Boston City Council meetings, arguing in a petition that the city's discriminatory prayer selection practice is straight out of a George Orwell novel.

  • August 21, 2024

    3rd Circ. Rejects Ex-Engineering Co. GC's Benefits Suit

    The Third Circuit refused Wednesday to revive a former general counsel for an engineering company's suit claiming he was stiffed on over $100,000 in retirement benefits, rejecting his argument that a $1 million payout he got from the company should have been factored into his benefits package.

  • August 21, 2024

    Asylum Limits Litigation Remains In Settlement Talks

    A pair of cases in the Ninth Circuit and D.C. federal court in which asylum-seekers are challenging a Biden administration rule limiting asylum at the southern border are still in the settlement-discussion stage. 

  • August 21, 2024

    BofA Gag Clause Suit Heads For 9th Circ. After 2nd Dismissal

    A group of consumers who sued Bank of America for allegedly using improper nondisparagement clauses in its online service agreements moved Tuesday to take their case to the Ninth Circuit after a California federal judge threw it out for a second time last month.

  • August 21, 2024

    La. Plaintiffs Ask 5th Circ. To Revive BP Spill Malpractice Deal

    Louisiana residents who sued their attorneys, alleging they botched damage claims tied to the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, have asked the Fifth Circuit to reconsider a panel's ruling that overturned enforcement of a global settlement.

  • August 20, 2024

    Billionaire To Seek High Court Review In Peru Pollution Case

    U.S. billionaire Ira Rennert wants the U.S. Supreme Court to review a published Eighth Circuit decision greenlighting a long-running case over environmental damage at a Peruvian metallurgical complex in order to resolve a circuit split on the international comity doctrine, according to documents filed Monday.

  • August 20, 2024

    Feds Say Chevron Doesn't Change Auto Standards Litigation

    The federal government told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion axing federal agency deference doesn't aid Republican-led states' and industry's attempt to undermine tighter greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles.

  • August 20, 2024

    Mesh Was Implanted After Serious FDA Alert, Jury Hears

    A surgery patient went to trial Tuesday against an Oregon hospital and surgeon over an implant of prolapse mesh almost two weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered its maker to stop selling it.

  • August 20, 2024

    9th Circ. Revives Google Chrome Users' Data Privacy Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday reversed the dismissal of a proposed class action accusing Google of surreptitiously collecting Chrome users' data, finding that the lower court had relied on the incorrect standard in determining whether a "reasonable" consumer would think they had consented to the disputed practice.

  • August 20, 2024

    Colo. Justices To Hear Claims-Clock Debate In Xcel Death Suit

    The Colorado Supreme Court said Monday it would hear an appeal by Xcel Energy and a city over whether the deadline for an accident victim's father to sue started when his daughter was hit by a car or when she died weeks later.

  • August 20, 2024

    6th Circ. Refuses To Force Arbitration In ERISA Suit

    The Sixth Circuit refused Tuesday to let two auto part companies compel individual arbitration in a lawsuit alleging they allowed their employee retirement plan to be loaded with shoddy investment options, ruling that enforcing the pact would prevent workers from seeking planwide remedies allowed by benefits law.

  • August 20, 2024

    NC Panel Nixes Black Property Owners' Revived Bias Fight

    A North Carolina state appeals court handed the city of Kinston a win Tuesday for a second time in a discrimination lawsuit that the state Supreme Court recently revived, finding that Black property owners' claims that the city unfairly demolished their properties aren't viable because they never completed an "adequate" administrative appeals process.

  • August 20, 2024

    Duke Energy Wants 4th Circ. Rethink On Antitrust 'Haven'

    Duke Energy sought a full Fourth Circuit rehearing Monday against a panel decision reviving NTE Energy Services' antitrust lawsuit, arguing the panel upended decades of U.S. Supreme Court precedent and risked making the circuit a space for plaintiffs to "escape" those rules.

  • August 20, 2024

    SF Police Can't Sue Navy Over Toxic Shipyard, 9th Circ. Says

    A group of San Francisco police officers cannot pursue their suit alleging the U.S. Navy misled the city into leasing a former naval shipyard that was not properly decontaminated following its use during the Cold War, which led to the officers suffering health problems, the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday.

  • August 20, 2024

    Cox, Music Publishers Ask Justices To Review Copyright Row

    Cox Communications and music publishers led by Sony Music Entertainment have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Fourth Circuit ruling — with music companies asking for clarity on the scope of liability for internet service providers for online piracy and Cox asking whether it can be responsible for copyright infringement for merely providing an internet connection.

  • August 20, 2024

    Wash. Judges Won't Upend Tobacco Payout Ruling

    A Washington appellate court on Monday rejected attempts by Philip Morris and other tobacco companies to pay the state less under a 1998 master settlement agreement, upholding an arbitrator's determination that the state was enforcing a law covering payment.

  • August 20, 2024

    Ga. Justices Weigh 'Malice' In Atty's Defamation Case

    An orthopedic surgeon urged the Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday to revive his case against a defense attorney who allegedly tarnished the surgeon's reputation during settlement talks with his attorneys for his former patients, arguing his appellate defeat last year flew in the face of 160 years of Georgia defamation law.

  • August 20, 2024

    Utah Tells Justices Feds Must Relinquish Land In State

    The federal government is unconstitutionally hoarding and profiting from public lands in Utah, and the state is missing out on economic and development opportunities that are rightfully its own, it told the U.S. Supreme Court in a proposed lawsuit filed Tuesday.

  • August 20, 2024

    7th Circ. Reverses Sysco Win Over Teamsters Grievance

    The Seventh Circuit ordered arbitration Tuesday of a grievance over early retirement benefits that Sysco Indianapolis LLC wanted to be heard in federal court, reversing a trial judge who concluded the dispute was governed by terms outside the bargaining agreement.

Expert Analysis

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    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.

  • Chevron's End Puts Target On CFPB's Aggressive BNPL Rule

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    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.

  • Justices' Ch. 11 Ruling Is A Big Moment For Debtors' Insurers

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    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.

  • Justices' Starbucks Ruling May Limit NLRB Injunction Wins

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    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.

  • Justices' Criminal Law Decisions: The Term In Review

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    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.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: July Lessons

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    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.

  • 7th Circ. Motorola Ruling Raises Stakes Of DTSA Litigation

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    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.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Bid Protest Litigation Will Hold Steady For Now

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    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.

  • Challenging Prosecutors' Use Of Defendants' Jail Phone Calls

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    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.

  • How NJ Worker Status Ruling Benefits Real Estate Industry

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    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.

  • 3 Policyholder Tips After Calif. Ruling Denying D&O Coverage

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    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.

  • Opinion

    Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism

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    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.

  • Opinion

    High Court Made Profound Mistake In Tossing Purdue Deal

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    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.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Piercing FEMA Authority Is Not Insurmountable

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    While the Federal Emergency Management Agency's discretionary authority continues to provide significant protection from claims under the Administrative Procedure Act, Loper Bright is a blow to the argument that Congress gave FEMA unfettered discretion to administer its own programs, says Wendy Huff Ellard at Baker Donelson.

  • What Happens After Hawaii Kids' Historic Climate Deal

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    Implications of the Hawaii Department of Transportation's first-of-its-kind settlement with youth plaintiffs over constitutional climate claims may be limited, but it could incite similar claims, says J. Michael Showalter and Robert Middleton at ArentFox Schiff.

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