Appellate

  • January 31, 2025

    Seasoned Patterson Belknap Trial Team Joins Linklaters In NY

    Linklaters LLP announced Friday it has brought aboard a high-profile team of litigation partners from Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, including one who is the current president of the New York City Bar Association and a lawyer former President Joe Biden had nominated to the Third Circuit.

  • January 31, 2025

    6th Circ. Affirms Pot Biz Owner's $2.8M Tax Restitution

    The owner of a medical marijuana dispensary who was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay $2.8 million in restitution to the IRS after being convicted of tax crimes failed to convince the Sixth Circuit that Congress lacked the power to tax his sales of the drug.

  • January 31, 2025

    NC Prosecutors Say Evidence Backs Cannabis Conviction

    State prosecutors urged a North Carolina appeals court to stand by a man's conviction for possession and intent to distribute cannabis, arguing that even if there was no forensic analysis of the substance he possessed there was plenty of other evidence to conclude it was cannabis rather than legal hemp.

  • January 31, 2025

    Manufacturer Can't Arbitrate Wage Suit, Calif. Panel Affirms

    A California panel upheld an order that refused to send to arbitration an employee's Private Attorneys General Act lawsuit against a power transformer manufacturer, saying the company failed to show sufficient evidence it wasn't technically the worker's employer.

  • January 30, 2025

    11th Circ. Revives Wage Suit From Biz Owners' Fla. Worker

    The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday revived a Florida domestic worker's lawsuit accusing his former employers of refusing to pay him overtime wages, saying in a published opinion that the employers shouldn't have gotten a summary judgment win in light of conflicting evidence concerning the worker's regular hourly rate.

  • January 30, 2025

    5th Circ. Says 18-Year-Olds Can Buy Handguns

    The Fifth Circuit found a law banning Americans under 21 years old from buying handguns was unconstitutional, saying in a Thursday opinion the law doesn't have any kind of historical analogs that would pass a Second Amendment smell test.

  • January 30, 2025

    Texas Panel Asks If Late Votes Should Decide Judge's Election

    A Texas appellate panel asked what it was supposed to do with voters who wrote that they lived outside the county in deciding the last remaining challenge to the county's 2022 election results, saying during oral arguments Thursday that voters' own assertions seemed convincing.

  • January 30, 2025

    Calif. AG Asks 9th Circ. To Block Meta's MDL Discovery Win

    The California attorney general urged the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday to block orders requiring third-party state agencies to respond to Meta Platforms' discovery demands in multidistrict litigation over social media's alleged harms, arguing in a mandamus petition the "clearly erroneous" ruling "runs roughshod" over the state's constitutional divisions of power.

  • January 30, 2025

    2nd Circ. Voices Unease Over Ex-Iconix CEO's Fraud Retrial

    The Second Circuit on Thursday expressed doubt regarding the conviction of Iconix Brand Group founder Neil Cole, who was found guilty of fraudulently booking $11 million of revenue to hit earnings targets, and appeared open to the argument that his retrial violated the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment.

  • January 30, 2025

    Lower Court Altered Contract Reading, Texas Justices Told

    An Energy Transfer subsidiary told the Texas Supreme Court that a lower court upended the way contracts are interpreted in the state when it found no remedy for alleged losses from a soured $1 billion deal with an Exxon Mobil Corp. unit.

  • January 30, 2025

    2nd Circ. Sees No Skadden Conflict In Pharma Merger Work

    The Second Circuit on Thursday declined to revive an investor suit alleging a merger between Sumitomo Pharma America Inc. and Myovant Sciences Ltd. was undervalued because the lawyers from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP who helped negotiate the deal had undisclosed conflicts of interest.

  • January 30, 2025

    FERC Says Pacific NW Pipeline Approval Was By The Book

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is defending its approval of a controversial TC Energy Corp. pipeline expansion project in the Pacific Northwest, telling the Fifth Circuit it reasonably determined that the project was needed and adequately reviewed its environmental impacts.

  • January 30, 2025

    Ex-Rabobank Exec Asks Justices To Hear 9th Circ. OCC Fight

    A former Rabobank compliance chief who wants to clear her name after a now-abandoned Office of the Comptroller of the Currency enforcement action has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up her case following the Ninth Circuit's dismissal of her appeal for lack of standing.

  • January 30, 2025

    Hotel Guests Get Backing For Algorithmic Pricing Suit

    Hotel guests accusing a group of Atlantic City properties of using shared software to fix room rates are getting a helping hand in their Third Circuit fight to revive their suit from antimonopoly interest groups, who filed in separate amicus briefs in support of their effort this week.

  • January 30, 2025

    Sheriffs Raise Concern About New FCC Prison Phone Caps

    A sheriffs' group brought concerns to the Federal Communications Commission about recently adopted caps on prison phone rates, saying the exclusion of certain cost categories would lead to less access to services for the incarcerated.

  • January 30, 2025

    DC Circ. Weighs Mootness In DOD's Time-In-Service Appeal

    A D.C. Circuit panel on Thursday wrestled with mootness in the federal government's appeal of a ruling that blocked the U.S. Department of Defense from setting service duration requirements for noncitizen soldiers to become citizens, questioning whether the 2021 recission of the policy leaves anything to rule on.

  • January 30, 2025

    Supreme Court Urged To Clarify Alice, End 1-Line Orders

    The owner of a pair of invalidated patents covering medical machinery has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to look at what it called "confusion" stemming from the high court's Alice decision and also at the Federal Circuit's practice of issuing one-line orders.

  • January 30, 2025

    Wash. Court Rejects Palestinian Patient's Verdict Bias Appeal

    A Washington state appeals court said Thursday it would not touch a doctor's win in a medical malpractice trial, rejecting arguments from the Palestinian plaintiff that the jury's verdict was tainted by racial bias, while further clarifying the benchmark for judges to make such a determination.  

  • January 30, 2025

    Biz Groups Back 2nd Circ. Appeal In Morgan Stanley Pay Fight

    Business trade groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote in support of Morgan Stanley's Second Circuit appeal in a proposed class action from ex-advisers seeking additional deferred compensation, backing the investment bank's argument that an arbitrator should get to determine if federal benefits law applies to the arrangements.

  • January 30, 2025

    Colo. Panel Says Atty Errors May Sink Contempt Sanctions

    In a precedential ruling Thursday, a Colorado Court of Appeals panel determined that a party facing a contempt sanction may bring a motion to reconsider premised on challenging the effectiveness of their legal representation.

  • January 30, 2025

    Peruvians Tell High Court Smelter Lawsuit Should Proceed

    Peruvian nationals suing U.S. billionaire Ira Rennert's The Renco Group Inc. for allegedly poisoning them with toxic chemicals from a smelting and refining complex in a rural part of the country are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to let their litigation move forward.

  • January 30, 2025

    1st Circ. Restores Endangered Whale's Cape Cod Protections

    The First Circuit on Thursday upheld the National Marine Fisheries Service's decision to seasonally ban some lobster and crab fishing equipment near Cape Cod in order to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales.

  • January 30, 2025

    Amazon Can't Lob 'Hail Mary' In Price-Gouging Suit, AG Says

    Washington's attorney general said Wednesday that Amazon can't dodge a proposed class action alleging price-gouging during the COVID-19 pandemic, telling a federal judge that a pivotal state high court ruling in the case was clear on how Washington law allows the consumers to sue.

  • January 30, 2025

    Telephone Co. Workers Ask 8th Circ. To Revive 401(k) Fee Suit

    Two workers urged the Eighth Circuit to revive their proposed class action claiming a telephone and data company allowed their $1.3 billion 401(k) plan to be overcharged with excessive fees, arguing the lower court held their claims to a high bar unsupported by circuit precedent.

  • January 30, 2025

    Ky. Clerk Asks 6th Circ. To Ax $100K Marriage License Verdict

    A Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to couples in protest of the legalization of same-sex marriage asked the Sixth Circuit on Thursday to toss damages awarded to one couple for emotional distress, citing insufficient evidence and invoking free speech protections.

Expert Analysis

  • Justices Must Weigh Reach Of Civil RICO In Cannabis Case

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    Oral arguments in Medical Marijuana Inc. v. Horn suggest that a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court may agree that a truck driver's losing his job after unknowingly ingesting THC and failing a drug test does not merit a racketeering claim — but the court may not buy the other side's theory of the case either, say attorneys at Lewis Baach.

  • Patent Marking Steps After Fed. Circ. Opens Lanham Act Door

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    Following the Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Crocs v. Effervescent, which seemingly revives private actors’ ability to bring false patent marking claims under the Lanham Act, marketing and legal teams should be careful to avoid advertisement language that implies nonexistent patent rights, says Jeffrey Ratinoff at Spencer Fane.

  • Litigation Strategies In View Of New Double Patenting Rulings

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    Recent Federal Circuit decisions, including in Allergan v. MSN, raise several issues that patent owners should understand and consider addressing proactively regarding obviousness-type double patenting, at least in their prosecution strategies, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • High Court 'Violent Crimes' Case Tangled Up In Hypotheticals

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    In Delligatti v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next week on whether attempted murder constitutes a crime of violence, and because the court’s interpretive approach thus far has relied on hairsplitting legal hypotheticals with absurd results, Congress should repeal the underlying statute, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.

  • Tracking The Slow Movement Of AI Copyright Cases

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    The tech community may be expecting a prompt resolution on whether products generated by artificial intelligence are a fair use of copyrighted works, but legal history shows that a response to this question — at the heart of over 30 pending cases — will take years, say attorneys at White & Case.

  • How Property Insurance Coverage Shrank After The Pandemic

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    Insurers litigating property claims are leveraging rulings that provided relief in the COVID-19 context to reverse the former majority rule on physical loss or damage in all contexts, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Considering Chevron's End Through A State Tax Lens

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    States took the lead in encouraging Chevron's demise, turning away from Chevron-type deference in state tax administration ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, a trend likely to accelerate as courts take a more active role in interpreting tax laws, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Curious Case Of FTC's Amicus Brief In Teva Fed. Circ. Appeal

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    Attorneys at BCLP explore the Federal Trade Commission's backing of Amneal's Orange Book-delisting efforts on Teva ahead of a key Federal Circuit hearing in a case between the two pharmaceutical companies, and wonder if the FTC amicus brief indicates a future trend, especially in the next administration.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • When 'Patented' Goes Beyond Inventorship In False Ad Cases

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    The Federal Circuit's recent false advertising holding in Crocs v. Effervescent is significant because it offers a nuanced yet realistic understanding of what false claims about a product's status as "patented" can mean, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • 2nd Circ. Hostile Workplace Ruling Widens Arbitration Pitfalls

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision, affirming the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act applies to a worker whose workplace hostility claims arose before the law’s 2022 enactment, widens the scope of the law — and the risks of unenforceable arbitration agreements for employers, say attorneys at Hinshaw.

  • 2nd Circ. Maxwell Ruling Adds To Confusion Over NPA Reach

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision upholding Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction made an analytical leap in applying plea agreement precedent to a nonprosecution agreement, compounding a circuit split and providing lessons for defense counsel, say attorneys at Kropf Moseley.

  • The Fed. Circ. In October: Aetna And License-Term Review

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision that Aetna's credit card licensing agreement with AlexSam did not give the insurer immunity from patent infringement claims serves to warn licensees to read their contracts carefully, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

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