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Appellate

  • September 11, 2025

    BofA Wants Quick 4th Circ. Appeal In 401(k) Forfeiture Suit

    Bank of America wants to appeal a North Carolina federal court's denial of its dismissal bid in a proposed class action filed on behalf of 401(k) participants alleging the bank misspent forfeitures from workers' retirement plan.

  • September 11, 2025

    23 States Back High Court Stay Of FTC Dem's Reinstatement

    Florida and 22 other states have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to grant the Trump administration's request to block a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission from serving on the commission while she challenges her firing.

  • September 11, 2025

    LifePoint Must Face Workers' 401(k) Mismanagement Suit

    A Tennessee federal judge refused to toss a proposed class action against LifePoint Health Inc. from participants in the healthcare company's employee 401(k) plan who alleged their retirement savings were dragged down by excessive recordkeeping and administrative fees, concluding allegations were sufficiently backed up to proceed to discovery.

  • September 11, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Lets Ruling On Canada's Cherry Patent Stand

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday declined a request by a group of cherry growers to reinstate a court order that a patent covering the Staccato cherry variety owned by the Canadian government was invalid, saying a district judge had not acted improperly by reversing the order.

  • September 11, 2025

    US Attorneys, Judicial Noms Advance Amid Senate Tensions

    Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, faulted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Thursday, for getting in the way of efforts by him and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the committee's ranking Democrat, to expedite the confirmation of U.S. attorney nominees. 

  • September 11, 2025

    4th Circ. Seems Wary Of Backing Freeze On Trump DEI Orders

    A Fourth Circuit panel appeared reluctant Thursday to uphold an injunction blocking parts of President Donald Trump's executive orders that aimed to cut grants and rein in diversity programs among federal contractors, posing tough questions to the groups who claim the orders are unconstitutional.

  • September 11, 2025

    Fla. Doc Can Pursue Defamation Claims Against CNN, Cooper

    A Florida appeals court has reversed an order throwing out a pediatric doctor's suit against CNN, Anderson Cooper and reporters for the network, saying a jury should decide whether they defamed him through the use of unadjusted mortality rates at his hospital.

  • September 11, 2025

    Pa. Justices Seek Fair Process For Picking Tax Appeals

    Pennsylvania's Supreme Court grappled Thursday with whether a school district's tax assessment appeals ran afoul of prior rulings upholding the uniformity clause of the state Constitution, suggesting that any criteria for choosing appeals might favor one kind of property over another.

  • September 11, 2025

    2nd Circ. Says 9/11 MDL Firm Must Wait To Appeal Sanctions

    Sanctions imposed against a New York firm for leaking a document in violation of a protective order in the multidistrict litigation over the Sept. 11 attacks are too closely tied to the merits of the case for an appellate panel to consider tossing them, the Second Circuit has determined.

  • September 11, 2025

    2nd Circ. Says Kik Scans Don't Violate Fourth Amendment

    Messaging applications like Kik are allowed to search users conversations as part of due diligence into suspected cases of child sexual abuse material without violating users' Fourth Amendment rights, the Second Circuit has found.

  • September 11, 2025

    Mont. Tribe Members Ask To Join Justices' Tariff Suit Review

    Members of the Blackfeet Nation have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to join its review of cases challenging President Donald Trump's emergency tariffs, telling the justices that their arguments' inclusion in the matter is essential to support tribal rights under federal law.

  • September 11, 2025

    IRS Forfeits Opposition In $37M Easement Dispute, Court Told

    Two partnerships seeking to reinstate their combined $37 million tax deductions for donating adjoining Georgia conservation easements told the Eleventh Circuit that the IRS has effectively forfeited its opposition to their claim that the U.S. Tax Court made valuation errors in reducing their tax breaks.

  • September 11, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Keeps Google, Amazon Patent Fights In Calif.

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday refused to send back to Texas federal court a pair of suits from a software company accusing Google and Amazon of patent infringement, refusing to undo findings that California was the better venue.

  • September 11, 2025

    2nd Circ. Axes Hotel's Appeal After Town Drops Zoning Suit

    The Second Circuit tossed a hotel's appeal bid for a district court order that remanded a New York town's zoning suit concerning asylum seekers staying at the hotel, ruling Thursday that it will also vacate the remand order because the town permanently dropped its suit against the hotel.

  • September 11, 2025

    Calif. Panel Frees Walmart From Fatal Big Rig Crash Suit

    A California appeals panel won't revive a woman's claims against Walmart Inc. and one of its suppliers over the death of her daughter in a collision with a delivery truck, finding her claims are preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act.

  • September 11, 2025

    5th Circ. Won't Revisit Doctor's Captive Insurance Case

    The Fifth Circuit rejected a Texas doctor's request for the full court to review a panel's July decision that he was not entitled to $1 million in tax deductions linked to his urgent care network's captive insurance company.

  • September 11, 2025

    Italian Firm Adds Obama Counsel For Cross-Border Advice

    A former federal prosecutor and senior counsel for former President Barack Obama has joined Italian digital media technology and life sciences firm Portolano Cavallo to bolster its cross-border capabilities, it announced Thursday.

  • September 10, 2025

    11th Circ. Tosses Gun Conviction Over Alabama Loophole

    The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday threw out the conviction of an Alabama man charged with illegally having a gun after a prior felony, ruling that because the state offense to which he pled guilty did not require imprisonment, it did not trigger the federal firearm ban for felons.

  • September 10, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Won't Revisit Double-Patenting, Soda TM Appeals

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday declined to revisit its decisions in a trio of intellectual property cases, including one where it upheld an Acadia Pharmaceuticals Parkinson's disease drug patent and addressed double-patenting, and another deeming "Kist" and "Sunkist" soft drink marks confusingly similar.

  • September 10, 2025

    Pa. Court Upholds Defense Verdict In Throat Surgery Suit

    The Pennsylvania Superior Court on Wednesday affirmed a jury verdict in favor of an anesthesiologist accused of causing a patient's trachea tear following throat surgery, saying the doctor's expert witness didn't introduce new testimony at trial.

  • September 10, 2025

    Denver Fights $14M Verdict Over Protester Abuse Claims

    A Tenth Circuit panel pressed both sides Wednesday over whether jurors should have heard testimony from an investigator that Denver says unfairly tainted a trial which yielded a nearly $14 million verdict to 12 protesters over clashes with police during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in the city.

  • September 10, 2025

    Cannabis Co. Says Battle With Activists Was Tossed Too Soon

    A multistate cannabis company told a New Jersey state appeals court on Wednesday that its lawsuit against local opponents of a cultivation facility was prematurely dismissed, while the activists countered that the case amounted to a strategic lawsuit against public participation cloaked in land-use litigation.

  • September 10, 2025

    2nd Circ. OKs Verizon's $47M FCC Fine, Splitting With 5th Circ.

    The Second Circuit upheld Wednesday the Federal Communications Commission's $46.9 million fine against Verizon Communications Inc. for misuse of device-location data, rejecting Verizon's arguments that the data falls outside federal privacy protections and that such a penalty without a jury trial was unconstitutional, creating a split with the Fifth Circuit.

  • September 10, 2025

    NC Justice Probes 'Scalia-Style' View Of Waste Fee Law

    A North Carolina Supreme Court justice probed the expansiveness of counsel's argument over a county's solid waste ordinance Wednesday, wondering if channeling a "Justice Scalia"-style reading of the text suggests that a property owner could hire a private waste collector just once a year to sidestep an annual fee.

  • September 10, 2025

    En Banc 11th Circ. Ruling Hints At Broad Reach For Skrmetti

    The Eleventh Circuit invoking a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that backed a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for minors to rule against a transgender Georgia sheriff's deputy who challenged her health plan's coverage exclusions invites lower courts to import the justices' rationale into workplace discrimination cases, experts say.  

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Being A Professional Wrestler Makes Me a Better Lawyer

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    Pursuing my childhood dream of being a professional wrestler has taught me important legal career lessons about communication, adaptability, oral advocacy and professionalism, says Christopher Freiberg at Midwest Disability.

  • Patent Claim Lessons From Fed. Circ.'s Teva Decision

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Janssen v. Teva is an important precedent for parties drafting patent claims or litigating obviousness where the prior art has potentially overlapping ranges for a claimed element, and may be particularly instructive to patent applicants in the pharmaceutical field, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Adapting To The Age Of AI

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    Though law school may not have specifically taught us how to use generative artificial intelligence to help with our daily legal tasks, it did provide us the mental building blocks necessary for adapting to this new technology — and the judgment to discern what shouldn’t be automated, says Pamela Dorian at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Ch. 11 Ruling Voiding $2M Litigation Funding Sends A Warning

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    A recent Texas bankruptcy court decision that a postconfirmation litigation trust has no obligations to repay a completely drawn down $2 million litigation funding agreement serves as a warning for estate administrators and funders to properly disclose the intended financing, say attorneys at Kleinberg Kaplan.

  • A Changing Playbook For Fighting Records Requests In Del.

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    The Delaware Supreme Court's recent decision in Wong v. Amazon, reversing the denial of an inspection demand brought by a stockholder, serves as a stark warning to corporations challenging books and records requests, making clear that companies cannot defeat such demands solely by attacking the scope of their stated purpose, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • Demystifying The Civil Procedure Rules Amendment Process

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    Every year, an advisory committee receives dozens of proposals to amend the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, most of which are never adopted — but a few pointers can help maximize the likelihood that an amendment will be adopted, says Josh Gardner at DLA Piper.

  • How The 5th, DC Circuits Agreed On FCC Forfeiture Orders

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    The Fifth and D.C. Circuits split this year on the Federal Communications Commission's process for adjudicating enforcement actions, but both implicitly recognized the problem with penalizing a party based on a forfeiture order that has not yet been challenged in any way in court, says Jared Marx at HWG.

  • With Obligor Ruling, Ohio Justices Calm Lending Waters

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    A recent decision by the Ohio Supreme Court, affirming a fundamental principle that lenders have no duty to disclose material risks to obligors, provides clarity for commercial lending practices in Ohio and beyond, and offers a reminder of the risks presented by guarantee arrangements, says Carrie Brosius at Vorys.

  • 'Solicit' Ruling Offers Proxy Advisers Compliance Relief

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    The D.C. Circuit recently found that proxy voting advice does not fall under the legal definition of "solicitation," significantly narrowing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's regulatory power over such advisers, offering stability to the proxy advisory industry and providing temporary relief from new compliance burdens, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 7th Circ. FLSA Notice Test Adds Flexibility, Raises Questions

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    In Richards v. Eli Lilly, the Seventh Circuit created a new approach for district courts to determine whether to issue notice to opt-in plaintiffs in Fair Labor Standards Act collective actions, but its road map leaves many unanswered questions, says Rebecca Ojserkis at Cohen Milstein.

  • How 2nd Circ. Cannabis Ruling Upends NY Licensing

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    A recent Second Circuit decision in Variscite NY Four v. New York, holding that New York's extra-priority cannabis licensing preference for applicants with in-state marijuana convictions violates the dormant commerce clause, underscores that state-legal cannabis markets remain subject to the same constitutional constraints as other economic markets, say attorneys at Harris Beach.

  • Parenting Skills That Can Help Lawyers Thrive Professionally

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    As kids head back to school, the time is ripe for lawyers who are parents to consider how they can incorporate their parenting skills to build a deep, meaningful and sustainable legal practice, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Enablement Standard Insights From Fed. Circ. Agilent Ruling

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    The Federal Circuit's recent enablement standard decision in Agilent v. Synthego underscores three critical takeaways for patent practitioners, including reaffirmation that the enablement inquiry under Section 102 of the Patent Act is distinct from the inquiry under Section 112, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: September Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses seven decisions pertaining to attorney fees in class action settlements, the predominance requirement in automobile insurance cases, how the no mootness exception applies if the named plaintiff is potentially subject to a strong individual defense, and more.

  • Series

    Teaching Trial Advocacy Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    Teaching trial advocacy skills to other lawyers makes us better litigators because it makes us question our default methods, connect to young attorneys with new perspectives and focus on the needs of the real people at the heart of every trial, say Reuben Guttman, Veronica Finkelstein and Joleen Youngers.

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