Appellate

  • November 19, 2024

    Utah Counties, Feds Ask Justices To Restore Rail Oil Project

    Utah counties and the federal government fired back at a Colorado county's attempt to affirm a D.C. Circuit ruling that overturned federal approval of a rail project intended to haul crude oil out of Utah's Uinta Basin, telling the U.S. Supreme Court in separate briefs the county's understanding of the National Environmental Policy Act is incorrect.

  • November 19, 2024

    Recount Underway In Tight NC Supreme Court Race

    The votes for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat that Democratic incumbent Justice Allison Riggs has clinched by a narrow margin will be recounted starting Wednesday, at the behest of her Republican opponent, according to the state Board of Elections.

  • November 19, 2024

    Lying Lawyer Gets 2-Year Suspension From Ga. Justices

    The Supreme Court of Georgia hit a repeat offender attorney with a two-year suspension Tuesday for lying to the state bar, opposing counsel and his clients, at times costing those he was representing even more money in sanctions and fees after losing their cases.

  • November 19, 2024

    Liberty Global Tax Break Based On Void Moves, 10th Circ. Told

    The economic substance doctrine is broad and can invalidate telecommunications company Liberty Global's transaction that led to a $2.4 billion deduction because steps taken to maximize the tax break lacked business purpose, a government attorney told the Tenth Circuit on Tuesday.

  • November 19, 2024

    In 'Perplexing' Move, Ga. Appeals Court Cuts Trump Oral Args

    Attorneys described the Georgia Court of Appeals' decision this week to cancel oral arguments over whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from the election interference case against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants as "perplexing," saying it may be the result of Trump's recent reelection or simply having enough information already to make a decision.

  • November 19, 2024

    Flooring Co. Asks 11th Circ. To Back 'Inebriated' CEO's Ouster

    Flooring manufacturer Interface Inc. told the Eleventh Circuit Tuesday it stands by its decision to fire its CEO after he allegedly got drunk and berated a subordinate at a company function, urging a three-judge panel to affirm a summary judgment ruling that put an end to the former executive's $100 million suit.

  • November 19, 2024

    Former Georgia Judge's Law License Suspended After Ouster

    After removing a Georgia Court of Appeals judge from the bench last year, the Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended his law license until August 2025 for taking advantage of an elderly client, calling it "an appropriate sanction in this case" in light of case law and the State Bar of Georgia's support of the suspension.

  • November 19, 2024

    1st Circ. Won't Pause Prison Phone Rate Caps

    The First Circuit said it won't stop the Federal Communications Commission from enforcing new caps on rates charged for prison phone calls while service providers challenge the rules in court.

  • November 19, 2024

    Nonpracticing Doc Can't Testify In Med Mal Case, Court Says

    A Florida state appeals court has affirmed the dismissal of a case accusing a doctor of botching two shoulder surgeries, agreeing with a lower court's findings that a physician-turned-legal-consultant wasn't qualified to testify as the plaintiff's medical expert under the law.

  • November 19, 2024

    IRS Can Extend Deadline Over Preparer's Fraud, 3rd Circ. Told

    The Third Circuit should affirm a U.S. Tax Court ruling allowing the Internal Revenue Service to skirt the normal deadlines and assess taxes going back to 1993 against a couple who were unaware that their tax preparer had falsified their returns to lower their liabilities, the government said.

  • November 19, 2024

    DA Says Trump Sentencing Could Be Delayed Until 2029

    Manhattan prosecutors on Tuesday suggested that President-elect Donald Trump's criminal sentencing could be delayed until after he serves out his next term, but urged a judge not to throw out his conviction over an alleged hush money scheme.

  • November 19, 2024

    Mass. Justices Uphold Degree Requirement For Bar Exam

    A Massachusetts man who never attended college or law school won't be allowed to sit for the bar exam despite his decades of pro se experience and legal writing done for an area attorney, the state's high court ruled Tuesday.

  • November 19, 2024

    MVP: Latham's Roman Martinez

    Latham & Watkins LLP's Roman Martinez outdid himself this year, helping to tear down the Chevron deference doctrine in a landmark Supreme Court case and upending existing precedent in another win on behalf of a $70 billion retirement fund, making him one of the 2024 Law360 Appellate MVPs.

  • November 18, 2024

    5th Circ. Indicates DOT Airline Fees Rule May Need Reworking

    A pair of Fifth Circuit judges signaled Monday that the U.S. Department of Transportation may have to rework its rule requiring airlines to more clearly disclose add-on fees upfront, suggesting that it might be too costly for airlines to comply with the mandate and consumers would be overloaded with information.

  • November 18, 2024

    Senate Confirms Fla. Magistrate Judge To 11th Circ.

    The Senate voted 49-45 on Monday to confirm U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry J. Kidd of the Middle District of Florida to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

  • November 18, 2024

    DC Circ. Doubts It Can Confirm Foreign Enforcement Order

    The D.C. Circuit did not seem at all convinced Monday morning that two Mauritian mining companies could lean on a treaty governing arbitral awards to enforce a foreign court judgment confirming a $50 million arbitration award against Zimbabwe stemming from a soured joint mining venture.

  • November 18, 2024

    Justices Urged To Pass On 3rd Circ. CFPB Loan Trust Case

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to deny an appeal by a group of student loan trusts fighting an enforcement action by the agency, arguing that industry concerns about the Third Circuit case are overblown and unavailing.

  • November 18, 2024

    9th Circ. Judges Seem Split In Trans Woman's Spa Bias Case

    Ninth Circuit judges debated Monday whether a nude Korean spa's ban on patrons who "present" as male discriminates against transgender women without gender-affirming surgery, with one judge asking how it was different from barring Black patrons and another who went to a similar spa as a boy in Korea seeming to suggest customers had a right to choose whom to be naked in front of.

  • November 18, 2024

    Industry Group Wants Trump-Era SEC Proxy Rules Reinstated

    The National Association of Manufacturers has urged the D.C. Circuit to reverse a ruling that struck down a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regulation on proxy voting, arguing the ruling severely limits the agency's regulatory power without any statutory backing.

  • November 18, 2024

    J&J Posts $1.17B Bond For Del. Merger Milestone Appeal

    Johnson & Johnson Inc. has posted a $1.167 billion surety-backed bond ahead of its planned appeal challenging a Delaware Chancery Court's finding that it owes more than $1 billion to a medical robotics developer's former shareholders caught up in a post-acquisition dispute.

  • November 18, 2024

    Clemson, Florida State Ask NC Top Court To Toss ACC Suits

    Florida State and Clemson universities urged the North Carolina Supreme Court to toss lawsuits brought by the Atlantic Coast Conference over grant of rights contracts, saying the institutions' sovereign immunities aren't waived just because they've agreed to be members of the conference.

  • November 18, 2024

    Worker Urges High Court To Fix Rift In Axed Age Bias Suit

    A former Halliburton employee asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to overturn a Tenth Circuit order shuttering his age bias suit after finding he couldn't challenge an arbitration award because the case was voluntarily dismissed, arguing the ruling creates a "twilight zone" in the law.

  • November 18, 2024

    Pa. Justices Tell Defiant Counties To Shelve Undated Ballots

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a split order Monday halting a handful of counties that were counting mail-in ballots with missing or incorrect dates on their outer envelopes, in response to complaints from the Republican National Committee and Republican Senate frontrunner Dave McCormick, although one justice said the case isn't ripe.

  • November 18, 2024

    Full 2nd Circ. Asked To Weigh Sheeran's 'Let's Get It On' Win

    Structured Asset Sales LLC has asked the full Second Circuit to review a panel's opinion that Ed Sheeran's hit "Thinking Out Loud" did not copy Marvin Gaye's classic "Let's Get It On," arguing the panel incorrectly affirmed a lower court's ruling that the Copyright Act of 1909 only protected the Motown song's sheet music.

  • November 18, 2024

    Justices Urged To Deny TCPA Class Certification Challenge

    A Florida-based financial services company found to have violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for sending fax ads to nearly 60,000 recipients is telling the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a petition from one of those respondents that sought to turn the case into a class action.

Expert Analysis

  • New TCPA Rule Faces Uncertain Future Post-Loper Bright

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    The Federal Communications Commission's new rule aiming to eliminate lead generators' use of unlawful robocalls is now in doubt with the U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision, and the Eleventh Circuit's Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC is poised to be a test case of the agency's ability to enforce the Telephone Consumer Protection Act post-Chevron, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • 6th Circ. Preemption Ruling Adds Uncertainty For Car Cos.

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    Automakers and their suppliers need uniformity under the law to create sufficient scale and viable markets — but the Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Fenner v. General Motors creates more uncertainty around the question of when state law consumer claims related to violations of federal vehicle emissions and fuel economy standards are preempted, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Can SEC's Consolidated Audit Trail Survive Post-Chevron?

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is currently in a showdown at the Eleventh Circuit over its authority to maintain a national market system and require that the industry spend billions to maintain its consolidated audit trail, a case that is further complicated by the Loper Bright decision, says Daniel Hawke at Arnold & Porter.

  • 'Minimum Contacts' Issues At Stake In High Court FSIA Case

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    In CC/Devas v. Antrix, the U.S. Supreme Court must decide whether a "minimum contacts" requirement should be implied in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, with the potential to dramatically change the legislative landscape through the establishment of a new and significant barrier to U.S. suits against foreign states, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • 2nd Circ. American Girl Ruling Alters Test Purchase Norms

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    The Second Circuit's recent ruling in American Girl v. Zembrka overturns years of precedent that required completed test purchase shipments to establish jurisdiction in infringement cases, but litigators shouldn't abandon the strategy entirely, say Robert Wasnofski and Sara Gates at Dentons.

  • State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape

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    Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.

  • Cos. Face Increasing Risk From Environmental Citizen Suits

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    Environmental citizen suits stepping in to fill the regulatory vacuum concerning consumer goods waste may soon become more common, and the evolving procedural landscape and changes to environmental law may contribute to companies' increased exposure, say J. Michael Showalter and Bradley Rochlen at ArentFox Schiff.

  • 11th Circ. Kickback Ruling May Widen Hearsay Exception

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    In a $400 million fraud case, U.S. v. Holland, the Eleventh Circuit recently held that a conspiracy need not have an unlawful object to introduce co-conspirator statements under federal evidence rules, potentially broadening the application of the so-called co-conspirator hearsay exception, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • 8 Childhood Lessons That Can Help You Be A Better Attorney

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    A new school year is underway, marking a fitting time for attorneys to reflect on some fundamental life lessons from early childhood that offer a framework for problems that no legal textbook can solve, say Chris Gismondi and Chris Campbell at DLA Piper.

  • 2 Rulings Show How Courts Assess Health Benefit Denials

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    Two recent decisions from federal appeals courts offer important insights into how courts are assessing denials of health benefit claims brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, including guidance on how plan administrators should evaluate claims and what documents must be disclosed, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • 2nd Circ. Provides NY Pathway For Fighting Foreign Infringers

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    A recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit provides a road map for expeditiously obtaining personal jurisdiction in New York against foreign trademark infringers based on a single purchase of counterfeit goods, meaning the Second Circuit could now be the preferred venue for combating foreign infringement, says Jeffrey Ratinoff at Spencer Fane.

  • Recent Securities Cases Highlight Risks In AI Disclosures

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    Increasing public disclosure about the use and risks of artificial intelligence, and related litigation asserting that such disclosures are false or misleading, suggest that issuers need to exercise great care with respect to how they describe the benefits of AI, say Richard Zelichov and Danny Tobey at DLA Piper.

  • Sublimit And Policy Interpretation Lessons From Amtrak Case

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    The recently settled dispute between Amtrak and its insurers over sublimit coverage illustrates that parties with unclear manuscript policies may wish to avoid litigation in favor of settlement — as the New York federal court declined to decide the case by applying prior term interpretations, says Laura Maletta at Chartwell Law.

  • 3rd Circ. Hertz Ruling Highlights Flawed Bankruptcy Theory

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    The Third Circuit, in its recent Hertz bankruptcy decision, became the latest appeals court to hold that noteholders were entitled to interest before shareholders under the absolute priority rule, but risked going astray by invoking the flawed theory of code impairment, say Matthew McGill and David Casazza at Gibson Dunn.

  • Opinion

    Barrett Is Right: Immunity Is Wrong Framework In Trump Case

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    Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s concurrence in Trump v. U.S., where the majority opinion immunized former presidents almost entirely from criminal prosecution for official actions, rests on a firmer constitutional foundation than the majority’s immunity framework, says Matthew Brogdon at Utah Valley University.

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