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Appellate

  • August 01, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Backs PTAB Ax Of Claims In Network Speed Patents

    The Federal Circuit on Friday affirmed a handful of Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions that found claims across four patents on increasing network communication speed owned by Israeli tech company Bright Data were invalid.

  • August 01, 2025

    3rd Circ. Says Jury Doesn't Need Experts For Sig Sauer Suit

    A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who was accidentally shot in the leg does not need expert testimony to make his case that a defective gun design was the cause of his injury, since a layperson could draw their own conclusions once they understood the underlying mechanisms, a Third Circuit panel said Friday.

  • August 01, 2025

    4th Circ. Says Court Can Hear Asbestos Spinoff's Ch. 11

    The Fourth Circuit Friday found Georgia-Pacific asbestos unit Bestwall can stay in Chapter 11, saying a debtor's financial status has no bearing on whether a bankruptcy court has jurisdiction over its case.

  • August 01, 2025

    Hyundai, Kia Can't Get Rehearing On Cities' Car Theft MDL

    The Ninth Circuit won't hold an en banc rehearing on an appeal from Hyundai Motors America Inc. and Kia America Inc. seeking to dismiss negligence claims by cities in three of seven states in multidistrict litigation over their alleged failure to install anti-theft technology in millions of vehicles.

  • August 01, 2025

    Widow Can't Be Spared Husband's Tax Debt, 11th Circ. Affirms

    A widow is not entitled to innocent spouse relief from tax debt she shared with her husband because the underlying income belonged to her, the Eleventh Circuit said, affirming a U.S. Tax Court ruling and skirting an additional challenge to job protections for judges.

  • July 31, 2025

    Appeals Court Resurrects DC's Privacy Suit Against Facebook

    A Washington, D.C., appeals court Thursday revived a lawsuit from the district's attorney general accusing Facebook of misleading users about how their data could be shared with Cambridge Analytica and other third-party apps, finding the lower court relied on too high an evidence standard in axing the claims.

  • July 31, 2025

    Justices Told State Med Mal Laws Fly In Federal Court

    A Delaware federal court must apply a state statute requiring an expert affidavit in all medical malpractice suits, a hospital defendant told the U.S. Supreme Court, as key aspects of the Delaware law and similar statutes in 28 other states "should not be checked at the federal courthouse doors."

  • July 31, 2025

    NY Court Tosses 10-Year Sentence After Illegal Arrest

    A homeless man sentenced to 10 years in prison for assaulting and trying to rob a woman in Manhattan had his conviction vacated Thursday when a New York appeals court said evidence against him never should have been allowed in court since it was gained via his illegal arrest.

  • July 31, 2025

    11th Circ. Says 'Urban Cowboy' Can Amend Taken Horses Suit

    A divided Eleventh Circuit on Thursday granted a Georgia man whose horses were seized by Atlanta-area authorities a fresh shot at amending a lawsuit over the seizure, with the majority saying the lower court wrongly found that amending the suit was futile under the Fifth Amendment's takings clause.

  • July 31, 2025

    3rd. Circ. Lets Khalil Remain Free During Feds' Appeal

    The Third Circuit denied the Trump administration's request to fully stay a district court order releasing pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil from immigration detention, ruling that the federal government failed to show it would be irreparably harmed without a stay.

  • July 31, 2025

    Georgia Court Panel Revives Woman's Bus Injury Suit

    A commuter who filed a personal injury lawsuit against an Atlanta-area bus company two years and two days after she was injured did not run afoul of Georgia's statute of limitations, a state appeals court ruled on Thursday, saying the law gives plaintiffs additional time when the last day would technically fall on a weekend.

  • July 31, 2025

    Sex Abuse Verdict Tossed Because Jury Wasn't Sworn In

    A Michigan man will be given a new trial after a split state appeals panel on Thursday found that because a trial judge failed to swear in the jury that convicted him of criminal sexual conduct, a structural error occurred with the proceeding.

  • July 31, 2025

    Colo. Court Affirms Stalking Conviction In 'True Threat' Case

    The Colorado Court of Appeals on Thursday declined to overturn the stalking and harassment convictions of a man who claimed his threatening emails to a police officer were protected First Amendment speech.

  • July 31, 2025

    7th Circ. Says Chemical Co. OK To Stop Paying Union Fund

    A chemical distributor was allowed to stop paying into a Teamsters pension fund in 2021, and an Illinois federal judge was wrong to conclude otherwise, the Seventh Circuit said Thursday, reversing a ruling that ordered the company to pay the fund over $365,000.

  • July 31, 2025

    Calif. Med Mal Law Can't Apply To Ambulance Crash Suits

    The California Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the state's one-year time limit for medical malpractice claims does not apply to suits over ambulance drivers' negligence, saying instead the two-year deadline for ordinary negligence governs.

  • July 31, 2025

    Texas Court Allows Habeas Relief In Misdemeanor Fine Case

    The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday ruled that defendants facing only fines can be eligible for pretrial habeas corpus relief, saying complaints, preliminary convictions and appellate bonds can constitute "restraint" under state law.

  • July 31, 2025

    6th Circ. OKs Toss Of Trustee Removal Bid In Union Fund Row

    A Sixth Circuit panel on Thursday upheld an Ohio federal court's decision finding that a trade union, three trustees of a union benefit fund, and a fund participant cannot remove two other trustees they accused of self-dealing, saying they failed to show they would face irreparable harm.

  • July 31, 2025

    10th Circ. Says Water Exclusion Bars Co.'s $1.75M Loss

    A Kansas office building's property insurer has no duty to provide coverage for roughly $1.75 million in repairs over a broken water pipe, the Tenth Circuit ruled, rejecting the building owner's argument that an exception in one exclusion conflicted with a separate exclusion for water damage.

  • July 31, 2025

    11th Circ. Revives American Airlines Cuban Property Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit has sent back to lower court a Miami man's suit claiming that American Airlines illegally benefited when using a Havana airport he says the Cuban government stole from his family in 1959.

  • July 31, 2025

    NJ Justices Clarify Pension Beneficiary Designation Process

    The Garden State's Police and Firemen's Retirement System improperly distributed more than $200,000 in unpaid pension benefits to the estranged spouse of a deceased Newark police officer, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Thursday, ordering the money to be redirected to his estate.

  • July 31, 2025

    Anadarko Asks 5th Circ. To Back La. Suit Indemnity Win

    Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has asked the Fifth Circuit to uphold its indemnification win against an environmental remediation company in connection with a decade-old Louisiana kickback suit, writing that "one who makes his own bed must lie in it."

  • July 31, 2025

    Mich. Justices Say Employer Suit Limits Must Be Reasonable

    The Michigan Supreme Court held Thursday that employment agreements that limit how much time employees have to sue their employer must be examined for reasonableness before they are enforced by courts.

  • July 31, 2025

    NJ Town Knocks Out Worker's $1.6M Disability Bias Win

    A New Jersey appellate court scrapped a $1.6 million verdict Thursday for a township employee who said she was discriminated and retaliated against for taking leave to treat her anxiety, ruling the evidence presented at trial didn't justify the damages award.

  • July 31, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Judges Cast Doubts On Trump Tariff Powers

    Several Federal Circuit judges raised concerns about whether President Donald Trump's tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act override constitutional and congressional authority during oral arguments Thursday in their questions to better understand the extent of the appeals court's review.

  • July 31, 2025

    3 Federal Circuit Clashes To Watch In August

    The Federal Circuit's argument calendar for August includes Brita's effort to revive a patent suit against water filter rivals that fell short at the U.S. International Trade Commission, and a prolific inventor's bid to undo a decision clearing Coca-Cola of infringing a beverage dispenser patent.

Expert Analysis

  • Reel Justice: 'Oh, Hi!' Teaches Attys To Return To The Statute

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    The new dark comedy film “Oh, Hi!” — depicting a romantic vacation that turns into an inadvertent kidnapping — should remind criminal practitioners to always reread the statute to avoid assumptions, meet their ethical duties and finesse their trial strategy, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University School of Law.

  • Patent Ambiguity Persists After Justices Nix Eligibility Appeal

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    The Supreme Court recently declined to revisit the contentious framework governing patent eligibility by denying certiorari in Audio Evolution Diagnostics v. U.S., suggesting a necessary recalibration of both patent application and litigation strategies, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Justices' Decision Axing Retiree's ADA Claim Offers Clarity

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's holding in Stanley v. City of Sanford that protections under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act don't extend to retirees potentially limits liability by giving employers additional support to challenge complaints, and highlights the need for proactive policy management to mitigate risk, say attorneys at Jackson Lewis.

  • Fed. Circ. In June: Transitional Phrases In Patent Claims

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Eye Therapies v. Slayback Pharma takes on the rarely addressed topic of transitional phrases in patent claims, providing some useful lessons regarding restating claim language and broadly distinguishing prior art, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Series

    Playing Soccer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Soccer has become a key contributor to how I approach my work, and the lessons I’ve learned on the pitch about leadership, adaptability, resilience and communication make me better at what I do every day in my legal career, says Whitney O’Byrne at MoFo.

  • What To Do When Congress And DOJ Both Come Knocking

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    As recently seen in the news, clients may find themselves facing parallel U.S. Department of Justice and congressional investigations, requiring a comprehensive response that considers the different challenges posed by each, say attorneys at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Learning From Failure

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    While law school often focuses on the importance of precision, correctness and perfection, mistakes are inevitable in real-world practice — but failure is not the opposite of progress, and real talent comes from the ability to recover, rethink and reshape, says Brooke Pauley at Tucker Ellis.

  • Eye Drop Ruling Clarifies Importance Of Patent Phrasing

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    The Federal Circuit's recent ruling in Eye Therapies v. Slayback, rejecting the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's interpretation of "consisting essentially of," highlights the importance of using clear and consistent terms throughout a patent's filing history to shield it against future challenges, says Liliana Di Nola-Baron at Panitch Schwarze.

  • Midyear Rewind: How Courts Are Reshaping VPPA Standards

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    The first half of 2025 saw a series of cases interpreting the Video Privacy Protection Act as applied to website tracking technologies, including three appellate rulings deepening circuit splits on what qualifies as personally identifiable information and who qualifies as a consumer under the statute, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • How Justices' Ruling On NEPA Reviews Is Playing Out

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court's May decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, narrowing the scope of agencies' required reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act, the effects of the ruling are starting to become visible in the actions of lower courts and the agencies themselves, say attorneys at Saul Ewing.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From ATF Director To BigLaw

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    As a two-time boomerang partner, returning to BigLaw after stints as a U.S. attorney and the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, people ask me how I know when to move on, but there’s no single answer — just clearly set your priorities, says Steven Dettelbach at BakerHostetler.

  • Reverse Bias Rulings Offer Warning About DEI Quotas

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    Several recent holdings confirm that targeted or quota-based diversity programs can substantiate reverse discrimination claims, especially when coupled with an adverse action, so employers should exercise caution before implementing such policies in order to mitigate litigation risk, says Noah Bunzl at Tarter Krinsky.

  • 4th Circ. Favors Plain Meaning In Bump-Up D&O Ruling

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    The Fourth Circuit's latest denial of indemnity coverage in Towers Watson v. National Union Fire Insurance and its previous ruling in this case lay out a pragmatic approach to bump-up provisions that avoids hypertechnical constructions to limit the effect of a policy's plain meaning, say attorneys at Kennedys.

  • A Look At Key 5th Circ. White Collar Rulings So Far This Year

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    In the first half of 2025, the Fifth Circuit has decided numerous cases of particular import to white collar practitioners, which collectively underscore the critical importance of meticulous recordbuilding, procedural compliance and strategic litigation choices at every stage of a case, says Joe Magliolo at Jackson Walker.

  • High Court Cert Spotlights Varying Tests For Federal Removal

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    A recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to review Chevron v. Plaquemines Parish, a case involving the federal officer removal statute, highlights three other recent circuit court decisions raising federal removal questions, and serves as a reminder that defendants are the masters of removal actions, says Varun Aery at Hollingsworth.

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