Appellate

  • January 28, 2025

    Pa. Bank Regulator Claims Co. Hid Affiliation, Misused Privilege

    A Texas debt-settlement company should be sanctioned for failing to disclose its alleged affiliation with another debt consolidator and for invoking attorney-client privilege when pressed about how its general counsel complied with a subpoena, Pennsylvania's banking regulator told a state court Tuesday.

  • January 28, 2025

    'Transformative' System Coming To Ga. Courts, Justice Says

    A new statewide case management system for Georgia's superior and state courts should be functional by the end of the year, the state's chief justice told legislators during his third State of the Judiciary address in Atlanta on Tuesday, amid warnings of judicial threats and court reporter shortages.

  • January 28, 2025

    Vivint 'Kicking Dead Horse' In $190M TM Suit, 4th Circ. Hints

    Smart home software company Vivint faced an uphill battle Tuesday trying to convince the Fourth Circuit to dismantle a nearly $190 million verdict for allegedly tricking its rival's customers into switching providers, with one judge saying Vivint's claims that the lower court misapplied state consumer protection law are fruitless.

  • January 28, 2025

    Menendez Says Any Prison Time Should Wait For Appeal

    Former U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez told a Manhattan federal judge ahead of his sentencing hearing Wednesday that any prison term should be delayed until after his appeal of his bribery conviction plays out, saying the Second Circuit could well rule in his favor.

  • January 28, 2025

    6th Circ. Seems Cold To Dairy Queen Franchisee's Sale Appeal

    A Sixth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Tuesday that Dairy Queen violated the terms of a franchise agreement with the owners of a dozen restaurant locations in Michigan by blocking the proposed sale of two stores.

  • January 28, 2025

    Pa. Justices Won't Hear 3rd Circ. Pot Deportation Question

    In a split decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has opted not to take up a question from the Third Circuit on whether a man from the Dominican Republic can be automatically deported for a possession with intent to deliver charge without specific proof of the drug he had in his possession.

  • January 28, 2025

    Wynn Fraud Trial Still On As Appeals Court Declines To Step In

    A Wynn Resorts subsidiary cannot challenge a decision allowing a trial on accusations that it misled the former owner of the site of its Encore Boston Harbor casino into cutting the property's sale price by $40 million, the state's intermediate-level appeals court has ruled.

  • January 27, 2025

    5th Circ. Wipes Out FTC Rule Targeting Auto Industry Scams

    A split Fifth Circuit panel on Monday vacated the Federal Trade Commission's Combating Auto Retail Scams, or CARS, rule prohibiting bait-and-switch tactics and hidden charges in the car buying and leasing process, siding with car dealers and finding that the FTC didn't give adequate notice of the proposed rulemaking.

  • January 27, 2025

    'It's Complicated': 4th Circ. Baffled Over NC Ballot Fight

    The Fourth Circuit on Monday sought to wade through a procedural quagmire over whether a legal challenge involving North Carolina's contested associate justice race belongs in state or federal court, questioning how to proceed after the Tar Heel State's top court last week all but dismissed the matter.

  • January 27, 2025

    Lummis Tells 2nd Circ. SEC 'Flouts' Congress In Crypto Cases

    Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R.-Wyo., told the Second Circuit that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ongoing suit against Coinbase Inc. has complicated congressional efforts to set rules for digital assets, filing her support for the crypto exchange's bid for a quick ruling from the appeals court on how securities laws apply to the transactions on its platform.

  • January 27, 2025

    Palo Alto Networks Inside-Trader Wins Resentencing At 9th Circ.

    The Ninth Circuit on Monday upheld securities fraud convictions of a former Palo Alto Networks engineer for raking in $7 million by trading on stolen inside information but remanded the case for resentencing, saying a lower court was wrong to use his trading gains to estimate the cybersecurity company's loss.

  • January 27, 2025

    ​​​​​​​States Back In Spotlight As Feds Exit Net Neutrality Debate

    The Sixth Circuit might have recently hammered the last nail into the coffin of federal net neutrality rules, but states are poised to fill the void — just as some did when the last Trump administration tanked a previous broadband regulatory regime.

  • January 27, 2025

    Justices To Weigh Feds' Liability In Ga. Wrong-House Raid

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear the appeal of a Georgia family that was the victim of a botched FBI no-knock raid of their home, taking up a pair of questions that will test of the boundaries of the Federal Tort Claims Act.

  • January 27, 2025

    Keep Damages Rules, Let Newman Hear Case, Fed. Circ. Told

    The full Federal Circuit has been urged by startups and attorneys to reject calls by Google to tighten rules for admitting patent damages testimony, while counsel for suspended U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman told the court it can't lawfully decide the case without her.

  • January 27, 2025

    4th Circ. Says Servicemembers Law Doesn't Bar Arbitration

    The Fourth Circuit ruled Monday that the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a federal law that grants financial protections to members of the U.S. armed forces, does not override mandatary arbitration agreements in lenders' contracts with military borrowers.

  • January 27, 2025

    Civil Liberties Org. Says FDIC's Court 'Eviscerates' Civil Rights

    The New Civil Liberties Alliance told the Fifth Circuit on Monday to spurn the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s attempt to level a fraud judgment against a banker, saying the agency's in-house court sidesteps the constitutional right to a jury trial.

  • January 27, 2025

    Cisco Tells Fed. Circ. To Uphold Win In Cybersecurity IP Row

    Cisco has defended its retrial victory in a multibillion-dollar computer security patent case by telling the Federal Circuit the new judge had seen through a cybersecurity startup's legal "tactics."

  • January 27, 2025

    Justice Thomas Slams 6th Circ. In Habeas Petition Dissent

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday called out the Sixth Circuit for "repeated disrespect" for the law in granting what he said was inappropriate habeas relief, a practice he said is costly to the justice system and victims in a dissent from a denial of writ of certiorari.

  • January 27, 2025

    Yen Libor-Rigging Case Lands Before 2nd Circ. Again

    Institutional investors urge the Second Circuit to again revive a lawsuit accusing Bank of America, UBS and others of rigging the interbank borrowing rate for Japanese yen, arguing in a brief Monday that a lower court judge dismissed the case on "obviously erroneous grounds with little (if any) supporting analysis."

  • January 27, 2025

    3rd Circ. Says Class Cert. Won't Work In Junk Fax Suit

    Since Fox Rehabilitation Services used "highly individualized methods" to seek consent from the entities it sent faxes to, it would be too difficult for a lawsuit accusing the company of sending unsolicited ads to proceed as a class action, a split Third Circuit panel has ruled.

  • January 27, 2025

    Late Filings Didn't Stymie Tax Challenges, Conn. Justices Say

    Failing to file timely appraisals on commercial properties valued over $1 million was not fatal to several owners' tax assessment challenges under a new state law, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Monday, agreeing that a trial judge properly reopened the cases months after a missed deadline.

  • January 27, 2025

    6th Circ. Says Union Can't Save Cook For Missing The Boat

    The Sixth Circuit upheld a win for the nation's oldest maritime union Monday, finding that the organization had no ability to defend a cook who was fired by a steamship company after she missed her boat.

  • January 27, 2025

    SEC OKs Nasdaq Pulling Diversity Rules After 5th Circ. Loss

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has greenlighted Nasdaq's proposal to undo the exchange's rules requiring that companies listed on it disclose board diversity data, following a narrow, en banc ruling from the Fifth Circuit last month finding the rules ran afoul of federal securities law.

  • January 27, 2025

    DC Circ. Skirts Google's Employer Status In NLRB Dispute

    The D.C. Circuit appeared unlikely Monday to decide whether the National Labor Relations Board correctly tagged Google as the joint employer of quality assurance contractors, with a panel seeming skeptical that it can weigh in a year after Google ended its deal with the workers' direct employer.

  • January 27, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Rules Smartphone Camera Patent Claims Are Invalid

    The Federal Circuit ruled Monday that all the claims in a pair of patents relating to smartphone camera technology were invalid, backing most of various Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions involving tech giants like Apple, Google and LG.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Recent Developments In Insurance Coverage For FCA Claims

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    As the U.S. Department of Justice continues its vigorous False Claims Act enforcement, companies looking to their insurers to help defray the costs of an investigation or settlement should note recent decisions on which types of policies cover FCA claims, which policy periods apply and which portions of FCA-related losses are covered, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Boosting Confidence In Pennsylvania's Election System

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    As Election Day nears, Pennsylvania is facing an intense flurry of litigation, including an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court centered on mail-in and provisional ballots, but the state's election system is robust, and attorneys from all practice areas have an important role to play in ensuring confidence in and access to our election system, says Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie.

  • Takeaways From The IRS' Crypto Doc Summons Win

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    A recent First Circuit decision holding that taxpayers do not have a Fourth Amendment reasonable expectation of privacy in cryptocurrency transaction records should prompt both taxpayers and exchanges to take stock of past transactions and future plans, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • 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.

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