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Appellate

  • May 14, 2025

    DOGE Can't Dodge Limited FOIA Discovery, DC Circ. Says

    The Office of Management and Budget and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency must restart efforts to hand over thousands of pages of documents to a watchdog group seeking insight into DOGE's "secretive operations," the D.C. Circuit ruled Wednesday.

  • May 14, 2025

    Florida Appeals Court Says Pastor's Testimony Is Privileged

    A Florida appeals court on Wednesday reversed convictions for a man found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor after finding that his pastor's testimony should not have been allowed at trial because it was protected by the clergy communications privilege.

  • May 14, 2025

    Fla. Court Rules Trust Wasn't Entitled To Jury Trial Over $8.9M

    A Florida state appeals court ruled Wednesday that a charitable trust wasn't entitled to a jury trial in a lawsuit alleging Brown Brothers Harriman Trust Co. improperly withheld and invested $8.9 million, saying the complaint falls "within the exclusive jurisdiction of equity."

  • May 14, 2025

    RJ Reynolds Can Keep Trial Win In Engle Case, Court Says

    A Florida appeals court on Wednesday affirmed a verdict in favor of R.J. Reynolds in an Engle progeny suit over a longtime smoker's death, saying counsel's failure to use all their juror challenges invalidates an argument that a juror was unfairly selected.

  • May 14, 2025

    Chicken Price-Fixing Atty Fees Challenged Again At 7th Circ.

    A class objector in Chicago's massive consolidated suit over broiler chicken price-fixing is again urging the Seventh Circuit to vacate an attorney fee award for class counsel in a $181 million deal for chicken buyers, saying the district court erred in calculating the $51.66 million awarded on remand.

  • May 14, 2025

    Texas Appeals Court Asks If It Can Flip Arbitration Order

    A Texas appeals court questioned Wednesday whether it can flip an order compelling several whistleblowers at the center of a $14 million settlement with JPMorgan Chase Bank NA into arbitration, saying it may not have jurisdiction.

  • May 14, 2025

    Keep DOGE Out Of Social Security Data, Unions Tell Justices

    The U.S. Supreme Court has no reason to lift a ban on the Department of Government Efficiency accessing Social Security data, four unions argued in an amicus brief, backing two other unions in their bid to protect the injunction from the Trump administration's bid to defeat it.

  • May 14, 2025

    9th Circ. Doubts Wash. Anti-Vaxxers' Stance In Med Board Suit

    A Ninth Circuit judge expressed skepticism on Wednesday that the federal appellate court could revive Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s suit against the Washington Medical Commission for initiating disciplinary proceedings against physicians who publicly aired anti-vaccination views, pointing out that federal courts generally "don't interfere" with ongoing state litigation.

  • May 14, 2025

    Oilify Cleared Of Infringement In Oil Field Product Patent Suit

    A Texas federal court has granted a win to the designer and distributor of a device used to separate gas and solids from oil collection in a suit accusing them of infringing a trio of patents.

  • May 14, 2025

    Ga. Justices Consider Sovereignty In Telecom Permits Case

    Georgia's justices were urged by the state Wednesday to overturn a trial court order granting summary judgment to telecommunications providers that sued to enforce prior contracts with the Georgia Department of Transportation that did not include increased permitting fees.

  • May 14, 2025

    5th Circ. Declines To Rehear SEC's Kroger Proxy Decision

    The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday declined to rehear conservative shareholders' case against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over a shareholder proposal from Kroger Co.'s 2023 ballot, following a November opinion that rejected the shareholders' challenge.

  • May 14, 2025

    Colo. Justices Leery Of Speaker's Motive In Anti-SLAPP Test

    The Colorado Supreme Court on Wednesday pressed a veterinary clinic on its position that courts should consider a speaker's motivations to determine if their comments involve issues of public interest, with some justices wondering if that would create too high a bar to trigger an anti-SLAPP law.

  • May 14, 2025

    Gaming Co. Asks High Court To Undo Wash. Compacts' Order

    A casino owner and operator is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to undo a Ninth Circuit ruling that dismissed its challenge to Washington state tribal gaming compacts, arguing the case implicates an acknowledged conflict about the interplay of the Administrative Procedure Act.

  • May 14, 2025

    2nd Circ. Has Tough Questions On Nixing Medical Imaging Award

    The Second Circuit appeared divided on Wednesday on whether parties to a medical imaging joint venture could agree to designate New York courts to decide whether to vacate an arbitral award issued in Switzerland under their contract without violating an underlying treaty.

  • May 14, 2025

    Alex Jones Can't Duck $1B Sandy Hook Payout During Appeal

    Infowars host Alex Jones cannot avoid a $1.3 billion defamation judgment favoring the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre while he crafts an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in the hopes it accepts his final challenge to the record-breaking verdict, a Connecticut appeals court has ruled.

  • May 14, 2025

    Feds Say Ex-BigLaw Atty Must Start Prison In OneCoin Case

    Prosecutors asked a Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday to set a date for a former Locke Lord LLP partner to begin serving his 10-year prison sentence after he was convicted of helping to launder about $400 million in proceeds of the OneCoin cryptocurrency scheme.

  • May 14, 2025

    10th Circ. Chilly To Biotech's SEC Asset Freeze Challenge

    A panel of Tenth Circuit judges seemed skeptical Wednesday that a lower court had abused its discretion in granting a freeze of a biotech firm's assets in a suit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accusing the company and its founders of misappropriating roughly $9 million.

  • May 14, 2025

    7th Circ. Partially Revives Pregnancy Bias Suit Against Ill. DHS

    A Seventh Circuit panel on Wednesday partially reversed an Illinois federal court's decision giving the Illinois Department of Human Services a win on two former workers' claims of illegal pregnancy-related firings, saying that there are still open factual questions as to one worker.

  • May 14, 2025

    Fla. Court Won't Let State High Court Weigh Taking Query

    An en banc Florida appellate court on Wednesday refused to certify the city of Marathon's question about a factor for determining whether a taking happened to the state's high court.

  • May 14, 2025

    8th Circ. Dismisses North Dakota Native Voting Rights Dispute

    An Eighth Circuit panel vacated a North Dakota Native American voting rights dispute over whether the state's legislative body's drawing of redistricting maps violated federal law on Wednesday, saying parties don't have a private right to sue state officials over dilution claims under the Civil Rights Act.

  • May 14, 2025

    Shaky Docs Undermine SEC's $2M Trial Win, 11th Circ. Told

    A South Florida financial adviser accused of funneling investors into the $500 million Par Funding fraud scheme urged the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to order a do-over of a civil trial that ended with him being required to pay more than $2 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • May 14, 2025

    Risks Abound For Higher Ed As Top Court Ruling Turns 2

    Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education admissions, schools around the country have been looking for innovative ways to achieve diversity on campus amid constant threats of additional litigation that could make them the next high-profile high court case.

  • May 14, 2025

    11th Circ. Won't Reopen White DOD Worker's Race Bias Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit refused to revive a commissary worker's lawsuit claiming the U.S. Department of Defense threatened to suspend her over a Black colleague's false accusations that she'd used a racial slur, ruling Wednesday that she failed to show the agency proposed the discipline because she's white.

  • May 14, 2025

    9th Circ. Says Trustee Is Liable Under New Social Media Test

    A California school board member violated the First Amendment when she blocked two parents from making comments on her public Facebook and Twitter pages, the Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday, reaffirming a district court's judgment after applying the U.S. Supreme Court's new state-action test.

  • May 14, 2025

    Retrial Needed After Juror's Indecision, Conn. Justices Told

    A convicted murder defendant asked the Connecticut Supreme Court on Wednesday to grant him a new trial, arguing that a Superior Court judge did not do enough to question whether a juror who wasn't sure about her verdict while being polled might have been coerced during deliberations.

Expert Analysis

  • A Judge's Pointers For Adding Spice To Dry Legal Writing

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    U.S. District Judge Fred Biery shares a few key lessons about how to go against the grain of the legal writing tradition by adding color to bland judicial opinions, such as by telling a human story and injecting literary devices where possible.

  • A Closer Look At Money Laundering Sentencing Issues

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    Federal money laundering cases are on the rise, often involving lengthy prison sentences for defendants who have little to no criminal history, but a closer look at the statistics and case law reveal some potentially valuable arguments that defense attorneys should keep in their arsenal, says Sarah Sulkowski at Gelber & Santillo.

  • Justices Likely To Issue Narrow Ruling In $1.3B Award Dispute

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    After last week's argument in Devas v. Antrix, the Supreme Court appears likely to reverse the holding that minimum contacts are required before a federal court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a foreign state and remand the case for further litigation on other important constitutional questions, say attorneys at Cleary. 

  • Pleading Rules At Stake In High Court Hamas Banking Case

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    While a case between victims of Hamas terrorist attacks and a Lebanese bank, recently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, appears to ask a narrow question of which civil procedure rules apply to requests to reopen final judgments, how the justices rule could drastically change pleading strategies for future plaintiffs, say attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney.

  • What's At Stake In High Court Transgender Care Suit

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    The outcome of U.S. v. Skrmetti will have critical implications for the rights of transgender youth and their access to gender-affirming care, and will likely affect other areas of law and policy involving transgender individuals, including education, employment, healthcare and civil rights, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Considerations As Trump Admin Continues To Curtail ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ

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    Recent sweeping moves from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new leadership have signaled a major shift in the agency's trajectory, and regulated entities should prepare for broader implications in both the near and long term, say attorneys at Pryor Cashman.

  • 6th Circ. Ruling Paves Path Out Of Loper Bright 'Twilight Zone'

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright ruling created a twilight zone between express statutory delegations that trigger agency deference and implicit ones that do not, but the Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in Moctezuma-Reyes v. Garland crafted a two-part test for resolving cases within this gray area, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • NCAA Rulings Signal Game Change For Athlete Classification

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    A Tennessee federal court's recent decision in Pavia v. NCAA adds to a growing call to consider classifying college athletes as employees under federal law, a change that would have unexpected, potentially prohibitive costs for schools, says J.R. Webster Cucovatz at Gilson Daub.

  • Copyright Ruling Could Extend US Terminations Worldwide

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    If upheld on appeal, Vetter v. Resnik, a recent ruling from a Louisiana federal court, could extend the geographical scope of U.S. copyright termination rights to foreign territories, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • Recent Cases Clarify FCA Kickback Pleading Standards

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    Two recently resolved cases involving pharmaceutical manufacturers may make it more difficult for False Claims Act defendants facing kickback scheme allegations to get claims dismissed for lack of evidence, say Li Yu at Bernstein Litowitz, Ellen London at London & Noar, and Gregg Shapiro at Gregg Shapiro Law.

  • Bankruptcy Ruling Provides Guidance On 363 Asset Sales

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    HE v. Avadim Holdings, a recent ruling from the District of Delaware, underscores the principle that rejection of executory contracts does not unwind completed transfers of property and the importance of clear and precise language in sale orders and asset purchase agreements in bankruptcy cases, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • FLSA Ruling Shows Split Over Court Approval Of Settlements

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    A Kentucky federal court's recent ruling in Bazemore v. Papa John's highlights a growing trend of courts finding they are not required, or even authorized, to approve private settlements releasing Fair Labor Standards Act claims, underscoring a jurisdictional split and open questions that practitioners need to grapple with, say attorneys at Vedder Price.

  • Dewberry Ruling Is A Wakeup Call For Trademark Owners

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dewberry v. Dewberry hones in on the question of how a defendant's affiliates' profits should be treated under the Lanham Act, and should remind trademark litigants and practitioners that issues involving monetary relief should be treated seriously, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • A Look At The Student Loan Case Pending At Supreme Court

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    The Trump administration is likely to drop the U.S. Supreme Court case of U.S. Department of Education v. Career Colleges and Schools of Texas after its review of the 2022 borrower defense to repayment rule, but any outcome will be significant for institutions participating in programs covered by Title IV of the Higher Education Act, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • When Reincorporation Out Of Del. Isn't A Good Idea

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    While recent high-profile corporate moves out of Delaware have prompted discussion about the benefits of incorporation elsewhere, for many, remaining in the First State may be the right decision due to its deep body of business law, tradition of nonjury trials and other factors, say attorneys at Goodwin.

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