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Appellate
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May 20, 2025
4th Circ. Says Suit Over Copter Pilot's Death Must Go To Jury
The Fourth Circuit has reinstated a lawsuit by the widow of a crop-dusting pilot who crashed after his helicopter became tangled in a steel cable stretched over the property, ruling in a published opinion issued Monday that a jury must be the one to decide whether the landlord should have known that the wire posed a danger to the pilot.
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May 20, 2025
DC Circ. Won't Revive Okla. Tribe's Creek Land Dispute
The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the dismissal of an Oklahoma tribe's challenge to a decision that rejected its proposed liquor ordinance in a dispute over shared jurisdiction with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, agreeing with the district court that the complaint failed to identify a valid cause of action that entitles relief.
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May 20, 2025
Dem Lawmakers Reintroduce Supreme Court Ethics Bill
Two Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday reintroduced bills in the House and Senate that would require the U.S. Supreme Court to adopt a binding ethics code and create new recusal and disclosure standards for the nine justices.
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May 20, 2025
UPS Can't Escape $75M Crash Award To Brain-Damaged Baby
A Missouri appellate panel on Tuesday affirmed a jury's $65 million verdict plus about $10 million in interest in a suit accusing United Parcel Service of negligently causing a car crash resulting in a baby's brain damage, saying evidence regarding the driver's history of drug abuse was properly allowed.
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May 20, 2025
Full 11th Circ. Asked To Review Case Of Fla. Lodge Shooting
A Virginia insurer petitioned for a full Eleventh Circuit panel hearing to review a three-judge opinion holding that a jury should decide whether it was in bad faith to not settle a case of a woman who was killed in a Florida lodge shooting, saying the ruling could make insurance more expensive.
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May 20, 2025
Assessing The Design Patent Impact Of LKQ, One Year Later
It's been one year since the full Federal Circuit's LKQ v. GM decision threw out longstanding tests for determining if design patents are invalid as obvious, and attorneys say it's too soon to tell if the ruling will change invalidity results, but it has reshaped legal strategies.
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May 20, 2025
Ga. Panel Says Affidavit Won't Sink Couple's Surgery Suit
The Georgia Court of Appeals rejected Southern Regional Medical Center and one of its nurses' arguments that a trial court should have tossed a married couple's lawsuit over injuries stemming from a hysterectomy over their failure to attach a required affidavit to their complaint.
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May 20, 2025
4th Circ. Won't Revive Md. Retirees' Drug Benefits Case
The Fourth Circuit backed Maryland's defeat of a proposed class action alleging it broke promises made to retirees when it transitioned their prescription drug benefits to Medicare Part D, saying Tuesday that a lower court was right to toss the case.
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May 20, 2025
Wash. Panel Affirms Toss Of Vrbo Host's Rental Coverage Row
Washington appellate judges refused to revive a Vrbo host's suit against a Liberty Mutual unit and a company that arranged a policyholder's temporary housing while her home was being repaired, saying the companies did not breach a nonexistent contract with the host by ceasing to pay the policyholder's rent.
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May 20, 2025
The Alien Enemies Act Cases: A Roundup
Litigation over President Donald Trump’s March 14 proclamation invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act has moved at breakneck speed, spurring two U.S. Supreme Court decisions already while at least five different districts weigh his authority to invoke the wartime law. Here, Law360 catches you up on major developments in the litigation.
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May 20, 2025
9th Circ. Says Dad Didn't Show Sons' Hardships If Deported
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday rejected a Mexican father's bid for deportation relief based on extreme hardships he claimed his sons would face if they accompanied him to Mexico, saying in a published opinion that substantial evidence suggested otherwise.
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May 20, 2025
Texas A&M Says Prof's Pregnancy Leave Wasn't Under FMLA
Texas A&M University told a state appellate court that it should be freed from a lawsuit brought by a professor who was denied tenure because she technically never took family medical leave as she claimed.
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May 20, 2025
2nd Circ. Affirms Dismissal Of Lab's Payment Suit Against Cigna
The Second Circuit on Tuesday upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that a New Jersey-based diagnostics laboratory brought to seek payments from Cigna Health & Life Insurance Co., holding that the lab's "failure to allege contract formation" defeated many of its claims and it has no standing under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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May 20, 2025
Ill. Panel OKs $2.8M Foot Surgery Award, But Questions Bond
An Illinois jury's $2.8 million verdict against a podiatrist accused of botching two foot surgeries should stand, but the trial court should reconsider a higher appeal bond if the defendants decide to pursue further review, a state appellate panel said Monday.
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May 20, 2025
Ex-NCAA Basketball Players Appealing NIL Denial To 2nd Circ.
A group of 16 former men's basketball players suing the NCAA for unrealized name, image and likeness compensation filed notice Monday that they plan to appeal to the Second Circuit a New York federal court's decision to toss their lawsuit.
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May 20, 2025
NJ Justices Take Up Bond Marketing Suit Against Big Banks
The New Jersey Supreme Court will review a lower appellate court's ruling in favor of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo and other big banks in a lawsuit accusing them of a scheme to inflate the interest rates of certain bonds, according to an order list the justices released Tuesday.
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May 20, 2025
Cozen O'Connor's Insurance Team Hires Former Deputy AG
Veteran insurer-side litigator Frank Toddre II has joined Cozen O'Connor in Las Vegas from Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, the business law firm announced, touting his experience as a former senior deputy attorney general in Nevada and a seasoned Ninth Circuit appellate and civil rights attorney.
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May 20, 2025
4th Circuit Won't Halt Order For Asylum-Seeker's Return
A divided Fourth Circuit denied the Trump administration's request to halt a district court order requiring the government to bring back a 20-year-old Venezuelan with a pending asylum application who was deported to a Salvadoran prison despite a class settlement barring his removal.
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May 20, 2025
Split 4th Circ. Finds Testimony Sufficed For Bad Advice Claim
A divided Fourth Circuit panel on Tuesday ordered the government to offer a North Carolina man another shot at a plea deal he rejected, finding his defense attorney's bad advice caused him to pass over the bargain and get saddled with a longer sentence.
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May 20, 2025
King & Spalding Pushes To Exit Long-Running Fla. Condo Suit
A Florida state appellate court has granted a temporary stay to a long-running dispute over a Miami Beach condominium's amenities in order to review King & Spalding LLP's petition to leave the case after its attorneys cited irreconcilable differences with its client, condo owner Bath Club Entertainment LLC.
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May 20, 2025
State AGs Back NJ Judicial Privacy Law At 3rd Circ.
Most states' attorneys general, along with law enforcement organizations and a data privacy group, have encouraged the Third Circuit to uphold a New Jersey judicial privacy measure, saying states have sovereignty to enact such laws in a time of increased threats against judges.
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May 20, 2025
1st Circ. Tosses Puerto Rican Players' MLB Antitrust Appeal
The First Circuit has dismissed an appeal in a wage-fixing antitrust action filed by minor league players against the MLB and its teams, finding the players committed a critical error by not objecting to a federal magistrate judge's recommendation to dismiss the underlying case.
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May 20, 2025
Doctor's Disability Bias Claim Too Late, Mass. Court Says
A former Brigham and Women's Hospital anesthesiologist and Harvard Medical School faculty member is time-barred from pursuing disability bias claims for actions by the hospital that he was aware of as early as 2006, an intermediate Massachusetts appellate court has concluded.
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May 19, 2025
DC Circ. Ponders Letting Gov't Claw Back $20B In Green Funds
The D.C. Circuit didn't seem convinced Monday morning that the Trump administration can't claw back $20 billion in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants that it's trying to cancel and divert elsewhere, hearing arguments over a preliminary injunction blocking the government from doing just that.
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May 19, 2025
Goldstein Assails 'Radical' DOJ Case, Probe Of 'Sexual Habits'
In his most forceful attack on tax evasion charges that have roiled the U.S. Supreme Court bar, indicted appellate icon Thomas C. Goldstein is accusing the U.S. Department of Justice of embracing "breathtaking" legal theories and revealing prurient information about him "to bias the grand jury."
Expert Analysis
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2nd Circ. Ruling May Aid Consistent Interpretation Of ADA
In Tudor v. Whitehall Central School District, the Second Circuit joined the majority of circuits by holding that an employee's ability to perform their job without an accommodation does not disqualify them from receiving one, marking a notable step toward uniform application of the Americans with Disabilities Act nationwide, says Michelle Grant at Wilson Elser.
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EPA's Proposed GHG Reform Could Hinder Climate Regulation
The Trump administration will reconsider the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's landmark 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding, which could leave the U.S. federal government with no statutory authority whatsoever to regulate climate change or greenhouse gas emissions, says David Smith at Manatt.
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Perspectives
Power To The Paralegals: The Value Of Unified State Licensing
Texas' proposal to become the latest state to license paraprofessional providers of limited legal services could help firms expand their reach and improve access to justice, but consumers, attorneys and allied legal professionals would benefit even more if similar programs across the country become more uniform, says Michael Houlberg at the University of Denver.
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Fed. Circ. In March: Forfeiting Claim Construction On Appeal
The Federal Circuit's decision in Wash World v. Belanger last month confirms the importance of fair notice to the district court when determining forfeiture of an argument on appeal in the context of patent claim construction, allowing appellants to better gauge the appropriate framing of arguments that may be presented, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.
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1st Circ. Ruling May Slow SEC Retail Investment Advice Cases
The First Circuit's recent ruling, finding the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission did not substantiate its $93.3 million fine against a retail investment adviser, may raise the threshold on materiality findings in these cases and add a speed bump resulting in fewer such actions, say attorneys at Weil.
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10 Soft Skills Every GC Should Master
As businesses face shifting regulatory and technological uncertainty, general counsel will need to strengthen certain soft skills to succeed, from admitting when they make a mistake to maintaining a healthy dose of dispassion, says Douglas Brown at Manatt.
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6 Criteria Can Help Assess Executive Branch Actions
With new executive policy changes announced seemingly every day, several questions can help courts, policymakers and businesses determine whether such actions are proper, effective and in keeping with our democratic norms, say Marc Levin and Khalil Cumberbatch at the Council on Criminal Justice.
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Fed Circ.'s PTAB Ruling Highlights Obsolete Rationale
The Federal Circuit's recent decision in In re: Riggs shines a new light on its 2015 decision in Dynamic Drinkware v. National Graphics, and raises questions about why the claim support requirement established by Dynamic Drinkware exists at all, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.
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Traversing The Shifting Sands Of ESG Reporting Compliance
Multinational corporations have increasingly found themselves between a rock and a hard place attempting to comply with EU and California ESG requirements while not running afoul of expanding U.S. anti-ESG regimes, but focusing on what is material to shareholder value and establishing strong governance can help, say attorneys at MoFo.
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An Unrestrained, Bright-Eyed View Of Legal AI's Future
Todd Itami at Covington offers a bright-eyed, laughing-all-the-way, skydive look at what the legal industry could look like after an artificial intelligence revolution, which he believes may happen much sooner and more dramatically than we expect.
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Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance
Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.
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Addressing Antitrust Scrutiny Over AI-Powered Pricing Tools
Amid multiple recent civil complaints alleging antitrust violations by providers and users of algorithmic pricing tools, such as RealPage and Yardi, digital-era measures should feature prominently in corporate compliance programs, including documentation of pro-competitive benefits and when to use disclosures, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Opinion
In Vape Case, Justices Must Focus On Agencies' Results
With the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Wages and White Lion Investments having put off the question of whether agency decisions arrived at erroneously are always invalid, the court should give the results of agency actions more weight than the reasoning behind them when it revisits this case, says Jonathan Sheffield at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
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Series
Volunteer Firefighting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
While practicing corporate law and firefighting may appear incongruous, the latter benefits my legal career by reminding me of the importance of humility, perspective and education, says Nicholas Passaro at Ford.
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Takeaways From Alaska Justices' Pollution Exclusion Ruling
A recent Alaska Supreme Court ruling that a total pollution exclusion in a homeowners policy didn't bar coverage for carbon monoxide poisoning shows that even when policy language appears unambiguous on its face, courts can still consider the reasonable expectations of an insured to determine applicability, say attorneys at Hunton.