Appellate

  • January 27, 2025

    SCOTUSblog Publisher Pleads Not Guilty To Tax Crimes

    U.S. Supreme Court advocate and SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein pled not guilty in Maryland federal court on Monday to charges that he schemed to evade taxes and used funds from his boutique law firm to cover gambling debts.

  • January 27, 2025

    High Court Skips Golf Course Investors' Class Cert. Bid

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a review petition filed by Chinese investors who wanted class certification for their Ponzi scheme suit against a Chinese citizen accused of misusing the investors' money to buy multiple golf courses and other properties in South Carolina.

  • January 27, 2025

    Pipeline Cos. Tell DC Circ. FERC Project Review Is Solid

    Companies behind a methane gas pipeline set to run between West Texas and Mexico are asking the D.C. Circuit to uphold the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of the project, which is being challenged by environmentalists.

  • January 27, 2025

    High Court Won't Mull 'Cruel And Unusual' Miss. Voting Ban

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge to sections of the Mississippi Constitution that permanently bar people convicted of certain felonies from voting and which a federal court of appeals had found violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibitions against "cruel and unusual punishment."

  • January 27, 2025

    High Court Passes On Solar Project Fine Levied Without Jury

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the Vermont Supreme Court's ruling that the state Public Utility Commission has the authority to bypass a jury trial and unilaterally impose civil penalties on solar energy project backers that allegedly cleared land without a permit.

  • January 27, 2025

    Justices Turn Away Venue Row In Zantac Carcinogen Claims

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the Second Circuit's split decision that Connecticut state court is the right venue for consolidated claims brought against multiple pharmaceutical companies over alleged carcinogens in heartburn medication Zantac.

  • January 27, 2025

    Justices Decline $400M Argentina Bond Default Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review Argentina's petition asking the justices to clarify the parameters of the commercial activity exception in sovereign immunity law, in a long-running case relating to some $400 million in defaulted sovereign bonds.

  • January 24, 2025

    Mich. Justices Pass On FCA Employee's Racial Slur Appeal

    The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday refused to revive a Black man's racial discrimination lawsuit that alleged his supervisor at FCA US LLC regularly called him a racial slur, although two justices, while concurring with the decision, disagreed that the man insufficiently alleged a racially hostile work environment.

  • January 24, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Partly Revives Steuben's Win In $38M IP Trial

    The Federal Circuit largely revived Steuben Foods' infringement victory from a jury trial on Friday, in an opinion that also delved into the status of the rarely used reverse doctrine of equivalents.

  • January 24, 2025

    Chinese Co. Rips Micron's 'Speculative' Fear Of Sharing Code

    Yangtze Memory Technologies on Friday urged the Federal Circuit to leave in place a district court's ruling requiring rival Micron Technology Inc. to turn over its source code in a flash memory chip patent dispute, arguing that Micron's security concerns "are entirely speculative."

  • January 24, 2025

    Ex-Koch Managers Ask 11th. Circ. To Undo Assault Verdict

    The Eleventh Circuit on Friday considered whether to reverse assault and battery verdicts against two former Koch Foods human resource managers accused of inviting an employee to their home, propositioning her and subjecting her to disciplinary action at work when she refused their advances.

  • January 24, 2025

    High Court To Hear Okla. Religious Charter School Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether Oklahoma can publicly fund the nation's first Catholic charter school, a potential blockbuster of a case that could open the door for further use of taxpayer money for religious schools.

  • January 24, 2025

    11th Circ. Overturns FCC One-To-One Marketing Consent Rule

    The Eleventh Circuit late Friday overturned a Federal Communications Commission rule requiring individual consumer consent to receive contacts from companies through comparison shopping sites.

  • January 24, 2025

    Justices To Clarify Article III Standing For Certified Classes

    The U.S. Supreme Court granted LabCorp's request on Friday to clarify federal law regarding whether district courts can certify class actions when some members of the proposed class may lack a cognizable injury in fact.

  • January 24, 2025

    Patient Can't Sue Over Clinic's 'Data Incident,' Ill. Justices Say

    A medical clinic patient who received a letter stating a "data incident" may have compromised her personal information but appeared not to have led to the information's misuse does not have standing to pursue proposed class claims for damages, the Illinois Supreme Court said Friday.

  • January 24, 2025

    Ill. Justices OK Workers' Injury Suits Over Dormant Diseases

    The Illinois Supreme Court answered the Seventh Circuit's call on Friday to clarify the state's Workers' Occupational Diseases Act in a widow's wrongful death lawsuit against Goodrich Corp., finding the statute can apply to claims for asbestos-related cancer and other diseases that manifest belatedly despite the statute's other temporal restrictions.

  • January 24, 2025

    Conn. Residents Lose Appeal Challenging Propane Facility

    A group of citizens in Connecticut who opposed their town's plans to build a bulk propane storage facility can't show how they were aggrieved and, therefore, don't have standing to sue, a state appellate panel ruled Friday in affirming the trial court's dismissal of their case.

  • January 24, 2025

    Ill. Casino Applicant Loses Out On License Denial Challenge

    A tribal-led casino applicant that was denied a license to open up in Waukegan, Illinois, does not have standing to appeal that rejection, the state's highest court said on Friday, restoring a trial court's decision on the matter.

  • January 24, 2025

    Anti-Abortion Group Seeks High Court Review Of NJ Probe

    An anti-abortion pregnancy center operator wants the U.S. Supreme Court to revive its federal court challenge to a subpoena from the New Jersey attorney general that seeks information about its donors, urging the court in a petition for certiorari to resolve a legal "Catch-22."

  • January 24, 2025

    Del. Justices Reject Investor Suit Over Dropped Drug Prospect

    Delaware's Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Court of Chancery decision dismissing a Ception Therapeutics Inc. stockholder suit alleging breaches of an agreement to use commercially reasonable efforts before Cephalon Inc., which acquired Ception, and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. abandoned a new drug prospect.

  • January 24, 2025

    Justices Urged To Review Souvenir Store's TM Fraud Case

    A Florida souvenir store chain has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider its challenge to a Second Circuit decision foreclosing its arguments that a bankrupt beachwear company fraudulently procured a trademark registration to secure a $3.5 million settlement in yearslong litigation between the competitors.

  • January 24, 2025

    Deere Loses Fed. Circ. Bid To Revive Seeding Patent Fight

    The Federal Circuit on Friday shot down John Deere's appeal of its loss at the lower court in a case where a jury found that a rival's SpeedTube products didn't infringe a pair of patents, affirming a lower court's denial of the farming equipment giant's bid for a new trial.

  • January 24, 2025

    Trump Admin Requests Justices Pause Three Energy Cases

    The Trump administration on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to pause three cases so the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can review Biden-era regulatory decisions that may alter the government's legal positions.

  • January 24, 2025

    11th Circ. Upholds $23M Ruling Against Venezuelan Oil Cos.

    The Eleventh Circuit ruled Friday that two Venezuelan oil companies can't reverse a $23 million judgment over breach of contract for the sale of chemicals, saying they waived challenges to personal jurisdiction at key points in the litigation, and the record shows no genuine factual issues surrounding the broken agreements.

  • January 24, 2025

    Scorned Hot Dog Biz Buyer Urges NC Justices To Revive Suit

    A businessman who claims he was cut out of a deal to buy a chain of Ohio hot dog eateries urged the North Carolina Supreme Court to revive his suit against a man who the businessman said was supposed to be his partner, arguing only a jury can resolve the matter.

Expert Analysis

  • Open Questions In Unsettled Geofence Warrant Landscape

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    The Fourth and Fifth Circuits recently reached radically divergent conclusions about the constitutionality of geofence warrants, creating an uncertain landscape in which defendants should assert and preserve the full range of conventional Fourth Amendment challenges, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.

  • Applying High Court's Domestic Corruption Rulings To FCPA

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the domestic corruption statutes in three decisions over the past year and a half, it’s worth evaluating whether these rulings may have an impact on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement, and if attorneys can use the court’s reasoning in international bribery cases, says James Koukios at MoFo.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Debriefings, Timeliness, Documentation

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    ​James Tucker at MoFo examines three recent decisions from the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims concerning an agency's decision not to hold post-award discussions, a timeliness trap in certain Federal Supply Schedule procurements and the importance of providing contemporaneous documentation in price-evaluation protests.

  • Conn. Court Split May Lead To Vertical Forum Shopping

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    As shown by a recent ruling in State v. Exxon Mobil, Connecticut state and federal courts are split on personal jurisdiction, and until the Connecticut Supreme Court steps in, parties may be incentivized to forum shop, causing foreign entities to endure costly litigation and uncertain liability, says Matthew Gibbons at Shipman & Goodwin.

  • Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys

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    Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.

  • Fla. Insurer-Breach Cases Split On Unrepaired Property Issue

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    A Florida appellate court's recent decision in Universal v. Qureshi is directly at odds with a 2020 decision from another Florida appellate court, and raises important questions for policyholders and insurers about the proper measure of damages in breach claims involving unrepaired property, say Andrea DeField and Yaniel Abreu at Hunton.

  • Revisiting The Crime-Fraud Exception After Key Trump Cases

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    Evidence issues in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and classified documents cases involving former President Donald Trump offer an opportunity to restudy elements and implications of the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine, noting the courts' careful scrutiny of these matters, say Robert Hoff and Paul Tuchmann at Wiggin and Dana.

  • Enviro Policy Trends That Will Continue Beyond The Election

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    Come October in a presidential election year, the policy world feels like a winner-take-all scenario, with the outcome of the vote determining how or even whether we are regulated — but there are several key ongoing trends that will continue to drive environmental regulation regardless of the election results, say J. Michael Showalter and Samuel Rasche at ArentFox Schiff.

  • 2 High Court Securities Cases Could Clarify Pleading Rules

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    In granting certiorari in a pair of securities fraud cases against Facebook and Nvidia, respectively, the U.S. Supreme Court has signaled its intention to align interpretations of the heightened pleading standard under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act amid its uneven application among the circuit courts, say attorneys at V&E.

  • Opinion

    Failure To Use Apportionment Has Distorted Patent Damages

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    Apportionment is the solution to the problem of inflated patent infringement damages, and courts should return to focusing on the smallest saleable unit as the starting point for apportionment analysis, say William Lee at WilmerHale and Mark Lemley at Stanford Law School.

  • Series

    Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.

  • A Look At Recent Case Law On Expedited Judgment In NY

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    A number of recent New York state court decisions clarify and refine the contours surrounding Civil Practice Law and Rule 3213, providing landlords, lenders and other payees guidance on how to seek accelerated judgment in certain litigation, says Alexander Lycoyannis at Holland & Knight.

  • Opinion

    Supreme Court Must Halt For-Profit Climate Tort Proliferation

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    If the U.S. Supreme Court does not seize the opportunity presented by Honolulu v. Sunoco to reassert federal authority over interstate pollution regulation, the resulting frenzy of profit-driven environmental mass torts against energy companies will stunt American competitiveness and muddle climate policy, says Gale Norton at Liberty Energy.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

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    About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Allergan Ruling Reinforces Value Of Patent Term Adjustments

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    The Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Allergan v. MSN, which held that patent term adjustment awards for first-filed, first-issued patents cannot be stripped away by later-issuing child patents that expire earlier, means practitioners must consider the potential impact of any action that might reduce the adjustment amount, say attorneys at Cooley.

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