Appellate

  • November 18, 2024

    Hyundai Keeps Trial Win In $17M Suit Over Fatal Crash

    A Kentucky appellate panel won't undo a defense verdict for Hyundai Motor America Inc. in a $17 million suit by a family who alleged a manufacturing defect led to three deaths in a head-on collision, rejecting arguments that evidence was improperly admitted in the case.

  • November 18, 2024

    Mich. Justices Spurn Restaurant Group's COVID Appeal

    The Michigan Supreme Court has turned down an appeal from a bar and restaurant association seeking to recoup its members' lost profits from the state's enforcement of COVID-19 public health measures, after tossing individual restaurants' claims earlier this year. 

  • November 18, 2024

    5th Circ. Eyes Procedure In 1st NLRB Constitutionality Cases

    The Fifth Circuit appears poised to punt — for now — on the issue of the National Labor Relations Board's constitutionality after a panel questioned on Monday whether SpaceX and Amazon have valid challenges to "effective" denials of their efforts to thwart prosecution for alleged labor violations.

  • November 18, 2024

    Justices Urged To Review Landlords' COVID Eviction Ban Suit

    A group of trade associations and a nonprofit urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to grant a review petition filed by landlords claiming they lost $100 million as a result of Los Angeles' COVID-19 eviction moratorium, which ended in January.

  • November 18, 2024

    EPA Has No Choice But To Rethink Smog Rule, DC Circ. Told

    U.S. Steel Corp. told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was obligated to reconsider its so-called "good neighbor" smog emissions rule after it was partially invalidated by a court, arguing the agency's own brief confirms that its refusal to do so was improper.

  • November 18, 2024

    Mo. Bank Properly Valued At $1.1M, Commission Rules

    A Missouri property that is owned and operated by a bank branch was properly valued at $1.1 million, the state's tax commission ruled, saying the bank's appraiser was not persuasive in her argument that the value should be lowered to $725,000.

  • November 18, 2024

    Colo. Justices Should Plug Damages Cap 'Loophole,' Co. Says

    A construction company has urged Colorado's justices to find that a subcontractor's claim over a workplace fall is subject to a $15,000 damages cap, arguing in a petition that the sole proprietor opted out of workers' compensation benefits and can't make a "loophole" to sue for millions.

  • November 18, 2024

    1st Circ. Denies Lizzie Borden House Infringement Claim

    The First Circuit won't bar a Massachusetts coffee shop from using the first name of historical figure Lizzie Borden and an image of an ax, finding that the company that owns and runs Borden's family home as a museum and bed and breakfast is unlikely to prove a trademark infringement claim.

  • November 18, 2024

    Medical Group Wants Justices To Review IP Safe Harbor Fight

    A medical device trade group has said the U.S. Supreme Court should take up an appeal of a Federal Circuit decision Edwards Lifesciences said broadened a drug-development safe harbor to avoid patent infringement, saying the circuit court misread the provision.

  • November 18, 2024

    8th Circ. Set For Arguments In Oil Lease Termination Row

    The Eighth Circuit set arguments on Friday for Dec. 18 in an appeal over a North Dakota federal judge's decision to throw out Denver-based Prima Exploration Inc.'s lawsuit alleging the Bureau of Indian Affairs schemed with two rival companies to end its lease on land within the Fort Berthold Reservation.

  • November 18, 2024

    Ozy Media CEO Turns To 2nd Circ. Over Judge's Investments

    The "atypical" conflict and threat to public confidence in the judiciary created by a New York federal judge's financial investments warrant the Second Circuit stepping in to undo former Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson's fraud and identity theft convictions sooner rather than later, Watson told the appellate court on Monday.

  • November 18, 2024

    NJ Justices To Consider Sanctions Against Town For Suing Attys

    The New Jersey Supreme Court has decided to weigh in on whether state law provides municipalities with immunity from sanctions for frivolous litigation, as it takes up a long-running affordable housing case in Englewood Cliffs.

  • November 18, 2024

    State Bar Can't Set Limits To Atty Speech, Fla. Justices Told

    A Georgia-based attorney doubled down on his First Amendment argument against the Florida Bar's attempt to have him suspended for disparaging an opponent in a 2018 state attorney race, arguing that freedom of speech protections aren't whittled down when someone becomes a lawyer.

  • November 18, 2024

    Friedman Kaplan Name Partner Larry Robbins Dies At 72

    Larry Robbins, a name partner at Friedman Kaplan Seiler Adelman & Robbins LLP known for counseling high-profile congressional witnesses like Marie Yovanovitch and Christine Blasey Ford through their Senate and House committee appearances, died earlier this month at age 72, the firm announced.

  • November 18, 2024

    5th Circ. Says Texas County Wrong To Close Court Hearings

    A Fifth Circuit panel has upheld a trial court's ruling that a Texas county improperly blocked the press and public from attending criminal pretrial proceedings known as magistrate hearings, finding that the practice violates the First Amendment and harms the two news outlets and an advocacy group that brought the lawsuit.

  • November 18, 2024

    DC Judges, Council Urge Confirmation Of City's Bench Picks

    District of Columbia council members and chief judges are calling on the Senate to confirm the D.C. judicial nominees pending on the floor by the end of the year as the court system has repeatedly called attention to a vacancy crisis.

  • November 18, 2024

    MVP: Paul Weiss' Kannon K. Shanmugam

    Kannon Shanmugam, chair of Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP's Supreme Court and appellate litigation practice, won a precedent-setting Second Circuit decision in a $13 billion Goldman Sachs shareholder class action, got a criminal conviction thrown out for former U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, and persuaded the Nevada Supreme Court that a former Las Vegas Raiders head coach must arbitrate his leaked-email claims against the NFL, earning him a spot as one of the 2024 Law360 Appellate MVPs.

  • November 18, 2024

    11th Circ. Shelves Peanut Truck Co.'s Excise Tax Refund

    The Eleventh Circuit has overturned a decision awarding an excise tax refund to a manufacturer for selling wagons that dry and carry peanuts, saying the refund is reserved for vehicles that are specially designed for off-highway transportation — a test the peanut wagons failed.

  • November 18, 2024

    3rd Circ. Shuts Down Healthcare Workers' Vax Bias Suit

    A split Third Circuit panel said a group of Christian workers can't revive suits claiming a healthcare provider illegally fired them for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds, finding they failed to show how their beliefs prevented them from getting immunized.

  • November 18, 2024

    High Court Turns Away Ex-Volvo Worker's Military Bias Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review a U.S. Army veteran's suit claiming Volvo fired her because of her military service and post-traumatic stress disorder, leaving in place a Seventh Circuit decision that refused to reinstate a $7.8 million jury verdict in her favor.

  • November 18, 2024

    Justices Pass On Coverage Row Over Wood Treatment Injury

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up an insurer's argument that a wood treatment product maker's policy excludes coverage of an underlying suit over a man's cancer diagnosis following decades of exposure to the chemical.

  • November 18, 2024

    Supreme Court Turns Down 3 Patent Cases

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear three patent cases dealing with patent eligibility, standing to bring infringement suits and the rules surrounding the launch of generic drugs.

  • November 18, 2024

    Justices Reject SC Agency's Appeal Of Google Subpoena

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to take up a South Carolina state agency's appeal of a Fourth Circuit decision requiring its compliance with a Google subpoena in a case accusing the tech giant of monopolizing key digital ad technology.

  • November 15, 2024

    Murdaugh's Ex-Banker Wins New Trial Over Juror Removal

    A bank executive who helped disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh steal client money deserves a new trial because a juror was inappropriately removed during deliberations, the Fourth Circuit has ruled in an issue of first impression.

  • November 15, 2024

    Texas Court OKs Peloton Atty's Suit Against Ex-Coworker

    A Texas appeals court won't toss a defamation suit accusing a former Peloton employee of falsely claiming to company executives and New Jersey police that she was bullied by her workplace acquaintance, an in-house attorney, after finding she can't avail herself of a state statute protecting citizens from retaliatory lawsuits.

Expert Analysis

  • What Chevron's End Means For How Congress Does Business

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, overturning the Chevron doctrine, will have a far-reaching impact across the entire public policy life cycle, beginning with how Congress writes its laws and extending through agency implantation and judicial review, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: Preserving Payment Rights

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    Stephanie Magnell and Zachary Jacobson at Seyfarth examine three recent decisions that together illustrate the importance of keeping accurate records and adhering to contractual procedures to avoid inadvertently waiving contractual rights to cost reimbursements or nonroutine payments.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step

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    From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Alice Step 2 Trends Show Courts' Extrinsic Evidence Reliance

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    A look at recent trends in how district courts are applying Step 2 of the Alice framework shows that courts have increasingly relied on extrinsic evidence to help determine whether a claimed invention is "well-understood, routine, and conventional," says Jonathan Tuminaro at Sterne Kessler.

  • Opinion

    OFAC Sanctions Deserve To Be Challenged Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision opens the door to challenges against the Office of Foreign Assets Control's sanctions regime, the unintended consequences of which raise serious questions about the wisdom of what appears to be a scorched-earth approach, says Solomon Shinerock at Lewis Baach.

  • How Calif. Ruling Alters Worker Arb. Agreement Enforcement

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    The California Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Ramirez v. Charter Communications should caution employers that while workers’ arbitration agreements will no longer be deemed unenforceable based on their number of unconscionable provisions, they must still be fair and balanced, says Sander van der Heide at CDF Labor.

  • Opinion

    After Jarkesy, IRS Must Course-Correct On Captive Insurance

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy decision has profound implications for other agencies, including the IRS, which must stop ignoring due process and curtailing congressional intent in its policing of captive insurance arrangements, says Peter Dawson at the 831(b) Institute.

  • The Rise Of State And Local Environmental Leadership

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    While Congress is deadlocked, and a U.S. Supreme Court with a hostility toward the administrative state aggressively dismantles federal environmental oversight, state and local governments are stepping up with policies to shape a more sustainable future for all species, says Jonathan Rosenbloom at Albany Law School.

  • Questions Linger About DTSA's Scope After Motorola Ruling

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    The Seventh Circuit’s recent ruling in Motorola v. Hytera, which held that the Defend Trade Secrets Act applies extraterritorially, does not address whether an act that furthers misappropriation must be committed by the defendant in order to satisfy the law's extraterritoriality requirement, say Ilissa Samplin and Grace Hart at Gibson Dunn.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Slowing Down AI In Medical Research

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision overturning the Chevron doctrine may inhibit agencies' regulatory efforts, potentially slowing down the approval and implementation of artificial intelligence-driven methodologies in medical research, as well as regulators' responses to public health emergencies, say Ragini Acharya and Matthew Deutsch at Husch Blackwell.

  • What High Court TM Rulings Tell Us About Free Speech

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    Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings show tension between free speech and trademark law, highlighting that while political mockery is protected, established brands may be forced to adapt to evolving cultural values, says William Scott Goldman at Goldman Law Group.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Uncertainty In Scope Of ITC Oversight

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    The U.S. International Trade Commission's long-standing jurisprudence on some of the most disputed and controversial issues is likely to be reshaped by the Federal Circuit, which is no longer bound by Chevron deference in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, say Kecia Reynolds and Madeleine Moss at Paul Hastings.

  • Half-Truths Vs. Omissions: Slicing Justices' Macquarie Cake

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Macquarie v. Moab provides a road map for determining whether corporate reports that omit information should be considered misleading — and the court baked it into a dessert analogy that is key to understanding the guidelines, say Daniel Levy and Pavithra Kumar at Advanced Analytical Consulting Group.

  • 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.

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