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Judge Newman Brings Fight To End Her Suspension To DC Circ.
U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman asked the D.C. Circuit on Thursday to rule that a suspension her colleagues have imposed on her for refusing to participate in an investigation into her fitness to serve as a Federal Circuit judge violates the U.S. Constitution.
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December 10, 2024
Feds Tell Justices To Stay Out Of Climate Change Tort Fights
U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar on Tuesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to weigh in on climate change torts filed against fossil fuel companies, arguing in a pair of briefs that the state court cases aren't the correct vehicles for resolving the issues, at least not yet.
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December 10, 2024
9th Circ Reverses Cert. In Widow's Allianz Life Insurance Suit
A unanimous Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday reversed a lower court decision granting class certification in a case claiming that Allianz LIfe Insurance didn't follow statutorily required notice provisions before denying life insurance claims, saying the lead plaintiff wasn't an adequate representative for the proposed class, among other concerns.
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December 10, 2024
BNP Paribas Seeks High Court Appeal In Sudan Refugee Case
BNP Paribas has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify the standard for permitting immediate appeals of class certifications, arguing the Second Circuit was wrong to deny it such review in a class action accusing the bank of enabling human rights abuses in Sudan.
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December 10, 2024
Arb. Award 'Unjust' Enough To Toss? Ga. Justices Ponder
Justices of Georgia's Supreme Court appeared to agree Tuesday that arbitration of a dispute between a medical provider and its contractor unjustly turned into a one-sided affair, but hesitated to endorse the argument that the issues raised warrant throwing out the arbitrator's $1.75 million award in the contractor's favor.
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December 10, 2024
3rd Circ. Reopens White Worker's Bias Suit Against Tech Firm
The Third Circuit revived a white former manager's lawsuit alleging an Indian information technology company unlawfully favored South Asian job candidates and employees, ruling Tuesday that a trial court was wrong to say his failed attempt to join a separate class action couldn't extend the time limit for his claims.
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December 10, 2024
7th Circ. Questions Reviving Harley-Davidson Warranty MDL
The Seventh Circuit on Tuesday flagged issues with not only Harley-Davidson's motorcycle warranty but also its customers' antitrust claims against it as the court considered reviving multidistrict litigation claiming the contract constitutes illegal tying.
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December 10, 2024
9th Circ. Upholds $850K Penalty In EPA Fine Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday upheld a $850,000 penalty against Multistar Industries Inc. for Clean Water Act violations related to chemical storage, saying it agrees with the Environmental Protection Agency's view that the company was not exempt from the rules for storing hazardous materials.
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December 10, 2024
BNSF Railway On The Hook For $2.7M Spinal Injury Verdict
BNSF Railway Co. can not escape a $2.75 million jury verdict that found it had negligently caused a worker's permanent spinal injuries, a Missouri appeals court ruled Tuesday, saying the trial court made no mistake when telling jurors to consider both the safety conditions of the train and reflective vest.
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December 10, 2024
2nd Circ. Revives Antitrust Suit Over Instagram Algorithm
A split Second Circuit Tuesday revived defunct app Phhhoto Inc.'s claims that Meta Platforms used anticompetitive means, including an algorithm for Instagram to suppress rival content, to squash its business, finding that Phhhoto adequately alleged Meta's fraudulent concealment of an anticompetitive scheme would stretch out the four-year statute of limitations.
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December 10, 2024
Fed. Circ. Says IT Cos. Can't Duck $4K H-1B Petition Fees
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday rejected software companies' attempt to secure a refund on H-1B visa petition fees for U.S.-based noncitizens, saying the fee is applicable regardless of whether the workers are already in the country or not.
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December 10, 2024
Fed. Circ. Backs PTAB Ruling That Wireless Tech IP Is Invalid
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday backed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that a mobile communications patent owned by a unit of European patent-licensing company Sisvel was invalid, handing a win to challengers, including Honeywell International and Sierra Wireless.
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December 10, 2024
9th Circ. Says Idaho Can't 'Veto' Federal Law In Abortion Row
The Ninth Circuit seemed poised on Tuesday to turn away fresh arguments from Idaho officials claiming a state abortion ban does not conflict with a federal emergency stabilizing law, after the officials said the federal government can't impose conditions on private hospitals receiving Medicare funds.
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December 10, 2024
5th Circ. Asks ATF Where To 'Draw The Line' In Trigger Ban
A Fifth Circuit panel has pressed the government on how so-called "forced reset triggers" are different from bump stocks, asking where it was supposed to draw the line to determine whether the triggers turn semiautomatic firearms into federally banned machine guns.
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December 10, 2024
Kid Climate Activists Ask Justices To Save Twice-Nixed Case
Youth plaintiffs have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to revive their climate change lawsuit against the federal government but said the court should decide a key death penalty case first that involves a similar constitutional question.
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December 10, 2024
Great-Grandson Brings Nazi-Looted Art Case Back To Justices
A California man who has been trying for nearly two decades to get a Spanish museum to return a painting that the Nazis stole from his great-grandmother is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene for a second time after the Ninth Circuit again denied his request.
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December 10, 2024
Venezuela Oil Cos. Say $23M Suit Wasn't Properly Served
Two Venezuelan oil companies urged the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday to undo a $23 million judgment for a Florida-based chemical distributor, arguing neither company was properly served the summons and complaint.
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December 10, 2024
Ohio Justices Undo Paint-Maker's Lead Paint Coverage Win
Insurers for Sherwin-Williams Co. don't have to cover the paint-maker's portion of a $305 million settlement to abate lead paint in California homes, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, finding the payment does not qualify as damages under its commercial general liability policies.
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December 10, 2024
2nd Circ. Backs Deloitte's Win In 401(k) Fee Suit
The Second Circuit said a trial court correctly tossed a proposed class action by a group of workers claiming Deloitte saddled its $7.3 billion retirement plan with excessive recordkeeping fees, stating they couldn't overcome concerns that their claims amounted to comparisons of apples to oranges.
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December 10, 2024
Ga. Justices Say Courts To Decide Whether Utilities Are Taxes
A Georgia trial court wrongly decided it could not judge whether a county's utility rates are a backdoor tax on property owners, the state's highest court said Tuesday, ruling that a restriction on the state Legislature's power to "regulate or fix" rates doesn't bar review by the judicial branch.
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December 10, 2024
Utah Counties' Narrow NEPA Test Meets High Court Critics
Utah counties looking to narrow courts' ability to review federal agencies' environmental analyses of proposed projects hit roadblocks Tuesday from skeptical U.S. Supreme Court justices and the U.S. Department of Justice, who said the proposed limits go too far.
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December 10, 2024
Michigan Tribe Asks High Court To Undo Land Trust Order
A Michigan tribe is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a decision that rejected its bid to compel the federal government to take land into trust for a casino venture outside Detroit, arguing that if the ruling is left to stand, it will forever impair its ability to achieve economic self-sufficiency.
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December 10, 2024
6th Circ. Wary Of Axing Fishing Pact Over Tribe's Objections
A Sixth Circuit panel gave an icy reception Tuesday to a tribe's request that it unwind a Great Lakes fishing decree because the tribe was excluded from late-stage negotiations and denied a trial on its objections.
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December 10, 2024
Split 9th Circ. Won't Revive Tesla Worker's Whistleblower Suit
A split Ninth Circuit refused to revive a terminated Tesla worker's Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower claim alleging he was retaliated against for reporting unlawful activity, ruling on Tuesday the worker is precluded from re-litigating in district court whether he engaged in protected activity, since an arbitrator already decided that he did not.
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December 10, 2024
Ex-CEO Argues Arbitrator's Failure To Disclose Sinks Award
A former CEO of Canadian biopharmaceutical company FSD Pharma Inc. who sued after he was terminated is urging the Third Circuit to reverse a lower court's decision confirming an unfavorable Canadian arbitral award, asserting the arbitrator concealed an extensive prior relationship with the company.
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December 10, 2024
8th Circ. Remands Sexual Misconduct Removal Case
The Eighth Circuit sent a Minnesota man's removal case back to immigration court for further review after finding that the third-degree sexual misconduct statute that he pled guilty to doesn't fall within the federal definition of rape that would allow him to be removed.
Editor's Picks
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12 Lawyers Who Are The Future Of The Supreme Court Bar
One attorney hasn't lost a single U.S. Supreme Court case she's argued, or even a single justice's vote. One attorney is perhaps "the preeminent SCOTUS advocate." And one may soon become U.S. solicitor general, despite acknowledging there are "judges out there who don't like me." All three are among a dozen lawyers in the vanguard of the Supreme Court bar's next generation, poised to follow in the footsteps of the bar's current icons.
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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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Law360's Guide To Biden's Judicial Picks
UPDATED December 10, 2024 | President Joe Biden is shaping the federal judiciary by adding to the courts' professional and demographic diversity — a sharp break from former President Donald Trump, who made the judiciary more homogeneous as the judges confirmed under him were 84% white and 76% male.
Expert Analysis
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Using Data To Inform Corporate Disclosure Decisions
With today’s market volatility and regulatory factors requiring public companies to confront competing transparency and protection demands, incorporating stock price reaction analysis of company-specific news into the controller's role could be beneficial for disclosure determinations, say Liz Dunshee at Fredrikson & Byron and Nessim Mezrahi at SAR.
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Firms Still Have The Edge In Lateral Hiring, But Buyer Beware
Partner mobility data suggests that the third quarter of this year continued to be a buyer’s market, with the average candidate demanding less compensation for a larger book of business — but moving into the fourth quarter, firms should slow down their hiring process to minimize risks, say officers at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.
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5th Circ. Crypto Ruling Shows Limits On OFAC Authority
The Fifth Circuit's recent decision that immutable smart contracts on the Tornado Cash crypto-transaction software protocol are not "property" subject to Office of Foreign Assets Control jurisdiction may signal that courts can construe OFAC's authority more restrictively after Loper Bright, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Risk Disclosure Issue Remains After Justices Nix Meta Case
After full briefing and argument, the U.S. Supreme Court recently dismissed Facebook v. Amalgamated Bank as improvidently granted, leaving courts with the tricky endeavor of determining when the failure to disclose a past event in an Item 105 risk disclosure is materially misleading, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Think Like A Lawyer: 1 Type Of Case Complexity Stands Out
In contrast to some cases that appear complex due to voluminous evidence or esoteric subject matter, a different kind of complexity involves tangled legal and factual questions, each with a range of possible outcomes, which require a “sliding scale” approach instead of syllogistic reasoning, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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The Malpractice Perils Of Elder Abuse Liability
Recent cases show that the circumstances under which an attorney may be sued for financial elder abuse remain unsettled, but practitioners can avoid these malpractice claims altogether by taking proactive steps, like documenting the process of evaluating a client's directives under appropriate standards, says Edward Donohue at Hinshaw & Culbertson.
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Fed. Circ. Ruling Shows Importance Of Trial Expert Specificity
The Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in NexStep v. Comcast highlights how even a persuasive expert’s failure to fully explain the basis of their opinion at trial can turn a winning patent infringement argument into a losing one, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Note 3 Simple Types Of Legal Complexity
Cases can appear complex for several reasons — due to the number of issues, the volume of factual and evidentiary sources, and the sophistication of those sources — but the same basic technique can help lawyers tame their arguments into a simple and persuasive message, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Justices Mull Sex-Based Classification In Trans Law Case
After the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in U.S. v. Skrmetti this week, it appears that the fate of the Tennessee law at the center of the case — a law banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender adolescents — will hinge on whether the majority read the statute as imposing a sex-based classification, says Alexandra Crandall at Dickinson Wright.
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Corporate Liability Issues To Watch In High Court TM Case
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a trademark dispute between Dewberry Group and Dewberry Engineers next week, presenting an opportunity for the court to drastically alter the fundamental approach to piercing the corporate veil, or adopt a more limited approach and preserve existing norms, say attorneys at Bracewell.
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Trending At The PTAB: Collateral Estoppel Continues Evolving
We are starting to see brighter lines on collateral estoppel involving Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings, illustrated by two recent cases that considered whether collateral estoppel should apply to factual findings on prior art from the PTAB in a later district court litigation, say attorneys at Finnegan.
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Series
Gardening Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Beyond its practical and therapeutic benefits, gardening has bolstered important attributes that also apply to my litigation practice, including persistence, patience, grit and authenticity, says Christopher Viceconte at Gibbons.
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Takeaways From DOJ's Intervention On Pricing Algorithm Use
A recent U.S. Justice Department amicus brief arguing that a Nevada federal judge wrongly focused on the nonbinding aspect of software company Cendyn Group's pricing algorithm underscores the growing challenge of determining when, if ever, pricing algorithms are legal, say attorneys at Rule Garza.
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ERISA Ruling Is A Win For DOL Regulatory Authority
In Rappaport v. Guardian Life Insurance, a New York federal court recently issued a notable disability benefits ruling in finding that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright opinion does not affect how existing U.S. Department of Labor regulations apply in Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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Litigation Inspiration: Reframing Document Review
For attorneys — new ones especially — there is much fulfillment to find in document review by reflecting on how important, interesting and pleasant it can be, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.