Appellate

  • January 29, 2025

    Japanese Candy Biz Loses Trademark Fight With Rival Seller

    A Japanese candy exporter failed Wednesday to sway Federal Circuit judges to overturn a trademark board ruling as part of its fight with a rival company over who can use the Japanese word for "feudal lord" in order to sell candy.

  • January 29, 2025

    3rd Circ. Says DOE Pool Pump Rule Detractor Failed To Object

    A Third Circuit panel unanimously denied on Wednesday a swimming pool pump manufacturer's challenge of the U.S. Department of Energy's conservation standards for pump motors, ruling that the company had waived its argument.

  • January 29, 2025

    2nd Circ. Rejects NY Tribe's Eel Fishing Regs Challenge

    The Second Circuit has upheld a lower court's rejection of the Unkechaug Indian Nation's challenge to New York State Department of Environmental Conservation regulations on eel harvests, finding that an agreement dating back to 1676 is not federal law preempting state fishing regulations.

  • January 29, 2025

    Firm Sued Over Ex-Eagles Player's $43.5M Knee Injury Verdict

    A medical clinic says it was saddled with paying $16 million of a $43.5 million verdict after its attorneys at O'Brien & Ryan LLP failed to properly negotiate a settlement with former Philadelphia Eagles player Chris Maragos in a lawsuit over the treatment of his career-ending injury.

  • January 29, 2025

    DOT, Alaska Air Slam Frontier's Bid To Halt DCA Slot Award

    The U.S. Department of Transportation and Alaska Airlines Inc. are urging the D.C. Circuit to reject Frontier Airlines' emergency bid to block Alaska Airlines from offering direct flights from Ronald Reagan National Airport, just outside Washington, D.C., to San Diego, saying that halting the service would benefit no one.

  • January 29, 2025

    Ga. Appeals Court Trims Atty Fee Award Under Settlement Law

    A Georgia state appeals court on Wednesday mostly upheld a $1.7 million attorney fees award to a technology consulting business on the grounds that the man who brought the suit had rejected a $10,000 settlement offer in his dismissed fraudulent conveyance suit, but the panel said the fees must be recalculated to exclude appellate proceedings.

  • January 29, 2025

    Atty's Indictment DQs Firm From Retaliation Suit, Panel Told

    A social worker suing New Jersey for retaliation told a state appeals court Wednesday that Brown & Connery LLP should be disqualified from representing the state, arguing the indictment of senior partner William Tambussi creates a conflict of interest for the firm.

  • January 29, 2025

    Ga. Appeals Panel Backs $657K Default Against Korean IT Co.

    The Georgia Court of Appeals has declined to set aside a $657,000 default judgment entered against a South Korean technology firm that protested it was improperly served with the suit, ruling Tuesday that international law, rather than Georgia's, governs the procedure.

  • January 29, 2025

    9th Circ. Halts Calif. Social Media Addiction Law For Appeal

    The Ninth Circuit stayed a slew of California limitations on social media platforms aimed at curbing addiction among young people, temporarily siding with a tech industry lobbying group arguing that the state law runs afoul of First Amendment speech protections.

  • January 29, 2025

    KPMG's US Law Firm Plan Still Under Review By Ariz. Justices

    Accounting giant KPMG's bid to own a U.S. law firm remains unresolved after the Arizona Supreme Court held a scheduled meeting on the matter.

  • January 29, 2025

    Former LegalZoom Exec Must Arbitrate Discrimination Suit

    A California appeals court on Tuesday reversed an order denying arbitration in a discrimination and wrongful termination case brought by LegalZoom's former head of corporate financial planning and analysis.

  • January 29, 2025

    Calif. Panel OKs Ax Of HR Worker's Bias Suit Against Proskauer

    A California appeals court on Tuesday affirmed the dismissal of a human resources employee's discrimination and wrongful termination suit against her former employer and its outside counsel Proskauer Rose LLP and multiple attorneys, finding that the lower court didn't err in striking a belated amended complaint and refusing to let her re-file.

  • January 29, 2025

    Ex-Sen. Menendez Gets 11 Years For Bribes, Abuse Of Power

    A Manhattan federal judge sentenced Robert Menendez to 11 years in prison on Wednesday after a jury convicted the former U.S. senator from New Jersey of engaging in a lengthy, million-dollar course of bribery and corruption, saying his crimes merit "serious consequences."

  • January 29, 2025

    India Asks High Court To Nix $1.3B Telecom Award

    The Republic of India urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a Ninth Circuit order that refused to enforce a $1.3 billion arbitral award against the commercial arm of its space agency, arguing that a lower court had baselessly said that India held control over the division.

  • January 29, 2025

    Philip Morris Owed $11M Refund After NC High Court Ruling

    Philip Morris USA Inc. is owed a tax refund of more than $11 million following a state Supreme Court ruling clarifying North Carolina's $6 million cap on cigarette export tax credits, a state Business Court judge has said.

  • January 29, 2025

    Workers Needed To Initiate Arbitration, Calif. Panel Says

    A group of workers needed to initiate arbitration in their proposed class action claiming an insurance company misclassified them as exempt employees after a trial court sent their claims out of court, a California state appellate panel ruled, flipping the lower court's decision reviving the suit.

  • January 29, 2025

    Trump Taps Sullivan & Cromwell For NY Hush Money Appeal

    President Donald Trump tapped a new legal team to handle the appeal of his hush money conviction, filing a notice on the New York state court docket Wednesday signed by a team of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP attorneys.

  • January 29, 2025

    Feds Drop Appeal In Trump Classified Info Case

    Federal prosecutors told the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday they are dropping the prosecution of President Donald Trump's former co-defendants for the allegedly illegal retention of classified documents at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

  • January 28, 2025

    Erika Girardi Didn't Know About Fraud, Appeals Court Says

    A California appellate court Tuesday refused to disturb a lower court's finding that reality television star Erika Girardi wasn't aware that her former husband and his firm might have misappropriated settlement funds owed to co-counsel, agreeing that the "undisputed facts" back the lower court's ruling.

  • January 28, 2025

    CFPB, Bank Orgs Rebuff Intervention Bid In Data Rule Fight

    In a moment of agreement, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and a group of banking trade groups pushed back on Tuesday against a bid to intervene by two advocacy groups in a suit over the CFPB's small business lending data rule. 

  • January 28, 2025

    End To Third-Party Standing May Affect Ga. Civil Rights Suits

    The Supreme Court of Georgia on Tuesday shut down a landowner's bid to sue her county on behalf of the would-be buyer of her property, declaring that Peach State courts will no longer recognize third-party standing as a means for plaintiffs to get in the courthouse's doors in a ruling experts say could have a wide effect on future civil rights cases.

  • January 28, 2025

    DC Circ. Says Gov't Made A Mess Pulling 9/11 Planners' Pleas

    After four hours of oral arguments on the government's bid to yank back plea deals from a pair of 9/11 co-conspirators that had already been signed, the D.C. Circuit agreed on one thing Tuesday — that this was a problem that need never have landed on their laps.

  • January 28, 2025

    Sig Sauer's Strategy To DQ Experts Gets Knocked Out At 6th Circ.

    Gunmaker Sig Sauer Inc.'s legal strategy to disqualify experts who testified its P320 pistol was defectively designed suffered a blow when the Sixth Circuit ruled, in a split decision, that the witnesses could opine on if the arms manufacture should have utilized a safer build, forecasting potential outcomes in similar appeals before the Third and Tenth circuits.

  • January 28, 2025

    New City Near Atlanta Survives Ga. Justices' Review

    Georgia's Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a legal challenge to a newly created city outside Atlanta, turning back an argument from disgruntled residents that a referendum's simultaneous creation of a special tax district alongside the city violated the state's constitution.

  • January 28, 2025

    4th Circ. Raises Questions Over Health Data Access Order

    A Fourth Circuit panel focused Tuesday on whether an exception to federal law barring electronic health record companies from blocking the exchange of patient data applies to a request from Real Time Medical Systems to access nursing home data from PointClickCare.

Expert Analysis

  • A Novel Expansion Of Alien Tort Statute In 9th Circ.

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    The Ninth Circuit's Doe v. Cisco rehearing denial allows a new invocation of the Alien Tort Statute to proceed, which could capture the U.S. Supreme Court's attention, and has potentially dramatic consequences for U.S. companies doing business with foreign governments, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

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    Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.

  • Series

    Being An Artist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My work as an artist has highlighted how using creativity and precision together — qualities that are equally essential in both art and law — not only improves outcomes, but also leads to more innovative and thoughtful work, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.

  • Reading Tea Leaves In Fed. Circ. Deep Dive On Review Scope

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    Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer investigates why a recent Federal Circuit opinion spent six pages explaining its unsurprising conclusion on proper scope of review — that no deference need be afforded to the trial court in a case dismissed for failure to state a claim.

  • How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources

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    Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • Newly Acquired Information Can Be Key In Drug Label Cases

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    The question of whether federal law preempts state law claims is often central in pharmaceutical labeling cases, like the Fosamax litigation now before the Third Circuit — but parties must also consider whether there is newly acquired information to justify submitting a proposed labeling change in the first place, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Tips For Employers As Courts Shift On Paid Leave Bias Suits

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    After several federal courts recently cited the U.S. Supreme Court's Muldrow decision — which held that job transfers could be discriminatory — in ruling that paid administrative leave may also constitute an adverse employment action, employers should carefully consider several points before suspending workers, says Tucker Camp at Foley & Lardner.

  • NC Ruling Takes Practical Approach To Duty-To-Defend Costs

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    In Murphy-Brown v. Ace American Insurance, a case of first impression, the North Carolina Business Court adopted the commonsense rationale of many state courts in holding that policyholders' defense costs should be deemed presumtively reasonable when a insurer breaches its duty to defend, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.

  • Calif. Ruling Offers Hope For Mitigated Negative Declarations

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    In Upland Community First v. City of Upland, a California appeals court upheld a warehouse development's mitigated negative declaration over its greenhouse gas emissions thresholds — a rare victory against this type of challenge providing reassurance that such declarations can be upheld, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • False Patent Marking Claims Find New Home In Lanham Act

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    While the Patent Act may have closed the courthouse doors for many false patent marking claims, the Federal Circuit, in its recent decision in Crocs v. Effervescent, may be opening a window to these types of claims under the Lanham Act, says John Cordani at Robinson & Cole.

  • 3rd. Circ. Ruling Shows Employers Where To Put ADA Focus

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    A recent Third Circuit decision in Morgan v. Allison Crane & Rigging, confirming that the Americans with Disabilities Act protects some temporarily impaired employees, reminds employers to pursue compliance through uniform policies that head off discriminatory decisions, not after-the-fact debates over an individual's disability status, says Joseph McGuire at Freeman Mathis.

  • Nvidia Case's Potential Impact On Securities Class Actions

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    In Nvidia v. Ohman Fonder, the U.S. Supreme Court could strip lower courts of their long-standing ability and obligation to holistically weigh all relevant facts supporting plaintiffs' allegations of securities fraud, which would have a wide-ranging impact on securities fraud class actions in the U.S., say attorneys at Labaton Keller.

  • Justices Face Tough Question On HHS Hospital Pay Formula

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    In Advocate Christ Medical Center v. Becerra, the U.S. Supreme Court will determine whether the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services properly applied certain Medicare reimbursement adjustments to hospitals — a decision that could significantly affect hospitals' ability to seek higher Medicare reimbursement for low-income patients, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment

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    Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.

  • Where Can Privacy Plaintiffs Sue When Injury Is Online?

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    Website owners need to understand wiretapping laws to understand whether they may be sued for activity tracking in California or Pennsylvania courts, where the statutory damages for violations of half-century-old laws can be substantial — and a recent Third Circuit decision suggests establishing specific jurisdiction is not as easy as 1-2-3, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

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