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Appellate

  • June 09, 2025

    Textron Can't Sidestep Plane Crash Case, NC Panel Told

    The owner of a private plane that went down after its cables snapped during takeoff has told North Carolina's intermediate appeals court not to let Textron Inc. duck its products liability lawsuit, saying the conglomerate can be pulled into litigation in the Tar Heel State because it has done business there for decades.

  • June 09, 2025

    Justices Urged To Keep Pause On 'Breakneck' Gov't Overhaul

    The U.S. Supreme Court should leave in place a California federal judge's order barring implementation of layoffs and reorganizations at various federal departments and agencies, several unions and nonprofits argued Monday, claiming a decision allowing the changes would irreversibly harm the federal government and render Congress and the judiciary powerless.

  • June 09, 2025

    Parker-Hannifin Urges Justices To Turn 6th Circ. ERISA Ruling

    Parker-Hannifin Corp. urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to reverse the Sixth Circuit's decision to revive investment mismanagement allegations against the company from employee 401(k) participants, arguing a circuit split had deepened since the company first petitioned for review of the case.

  • June 09, 2025

    Vice Chancellor Wants Clarity On Del. Corporate Law Change

    Citing "an important and urgent" need, a Delaware vice chancellor has asked the state supreme court to rule on the constitutionality of recent corporate law amendments providing conflicted directors or controlling investors expanded "safe harbor" liability shields for contested actions.

  • June 09, 2025

    2nd Circ. Nixes Doc's Power Of Atty Deal In Patient ERISA Suit

    The Second Circuit ruled Monday that a doctor couldn't use a power-of-attorney arrangement to sue on behalf of a patient who said their union's health plan illegally stuck them with a $150,000 medical bill, but directed a trial court to determine if the patient can pursue the case.

  • June 09, 2025

    NJ Bar Pushes To Keep Limit On Nonclient Malpractice Claims

    The New Jersey State Bar Association is asking that state's Supreme Court not to expand plaintiffs' ability to sue attorneys for malpractice when they weren't those lawyers' clients, according to a Monday announcement.

  • June 09, 2025

    Sales Executive's Commissions Were Wages, NJ Panel Rules

    A New Jersey trial court made a mistake when it ruled that commissions are not wages, a state appeals panel said Monday, reviving a sales executive's wage and hour suit against a technology services company.

  • June 09, 2025

    9th Circ. Awaits Justices' Ruling On Birthright Citizenship

    A Ninth Circuit panel has elected to hold off on deciding whether to affirm a Washington federal court order blocking the Trump administration from limiting birthright citizenship until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the matter.

  • June 09, 2025

    Mich. Justices To Weigh Liability In Senior's Parking Lot Fall

    The Michigan Supreme Court will consider an appeal application from a woman who argues that a property management company and a concrete contractor are liable for her injuries from tripping over a trench in the parking lot of her senior living facility.

  • June 09, 2025

    Pro Bono Civil Counsel Not A Guarantee, 7th Circ. Rules

    In a precedential ruling, the Seventh Circuit has found that a federal court in Peoria, Illinois, did not err when it ended the search for a pro bono attorney to represent a prisoner in a civil rights suit over medical care provided behind bars because it could not find willing counsel.

  • June 08, 2025

    11th Circ. Denies Fla. AG's Bid To Unpause Immigration Law

    The Eleventh Circuit on Friday denied Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier's bid to lift a block on a state law criminalizing the entry of unauthorized immigrants into the state, finding that Florida had failed to make a strong showing that it would fend off a challenge to the law.

  • June 06, 2025

    3rd Circ. Partially Undoes Chipotle's Change-Shorting Suit Win

    The Third Circuit on Friday declined to fully undo Chipotle's win against a proposed class action that alleged it shortchanged customers during a COVID-19 pandemic coin shortage in 2020, reversing a lower court's determination that a Pennsylvania man waived a breach of contract claim by accepting his change without coins.

  • June 06, 2025

    High Court Says Software Glitch Led To Early Order List Drop

    An "apparent software malfunction" caused the U.S. Supreme Court's order list to be issued early Friday, orders in which the justices granted certiorari in four cases and refused to take up a long list of other ones, including cases centered on Pennsylvania's election system and the Obama Presidential Center.

  • June 06, 2025

    Split DC Circ. Reinstates AP's White House Press Pool Ban

    A split D.C. Circuit panel reinstated the White House's decision to ban the Associated Press from the press pool covering the Oval Office, Air Force One and Mar-a-Lago on Friday, while a dissenting judge criticized her colleagues' rationale as being nonsensical and upending longstanding First Amendment precedent and generations of tradition.

  • June 06, 2025

    Justices Won't Hear Obama Center Site Selection Complaints

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday declined to consider claims that federal agencies failed to complete a full environmental review of plans to construct the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago's Jackson Park neighborhood.

  • June 06, 2025

    DC Circ. Backs FERC Extension For Southgate Pipeline Work

    A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday affirmed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's construction deadline extension for the Mountain Valley Pipeline's southern spur, with one judge characterizing a suit challenging it as "typical" of litigation that has stymied American progress.

  • June 06, 2025

    Texas Court Says Doctor Can Be Sued For Service Dog Mauling

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday greenlit a suit accusing a gynecologist of negligently giving a patient a note stating that she required a service dog which later mauled a toddler, saying the alleged negligence is not a malpractice claim, therefore the plaintiffs did not need a medical expert's opinion.

  • June 06, 2025

    Supreme Court Limits Discovery In FOIA Suit Against DOGE

    The U.S. Supreme Court halted discovery Friday into whether the Department of Government Efficiency is an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act, but left the door open to future, more tailored inquiries about the inner workings of the initiative.

  • June 06, 2025

    Justices Reject Eligibility Appeal On Telemedicine Patents

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Friday to review a decision that telemedicine patents asserted against the U.S. government are invalid for claiming only abstract ideas, in the court's latest refusal to reconsider the standard for determining if inventions are eligible for patents.

  • June 06, 2025

    9th Circ. Mulls If Seagate Win Could Spur Antitrust Suits

    A Ninth Circuit judge on a panel doubted Seagate Technology's request to reverse NHK Spring's partial win in an antitrust fight over hard drive components, observing Friday that Seagate's position may broaden antitrust liability and asking "how does this not open up the floodgates for a new plaintiffs' cottage industry?"

  • June 06, 2025

    Full 11th Circ. Asked To Rethink Workplace Attack Case

    An employee has asked the en banc Eleventh Circuit to rethink its ruling that wholesale restaurant supply store McLane Foodservice Inc. is not liable for injuries suffered by an employee who was set on fire at work by a former partner, arguing it took too narrow a view on foreseeability.

  • June 06, 2025

    Wash. Panel Grills Ambulance Co. On Crash Immunity Defense

    Washington appellate judges expressed skepticism on Friday regarding an ambulance company's stance that qualified immunity shielded it from a patient estate's $2.3 million jury verdict over a mid-transport crash, while also casting doubt on the family's contention that the defendant had forfeited its appeal rights.

  • June 06, 2025

    'Low-Hanging Fruit' In Devas Resolved, But Questions Remain

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Thursday rejecting the Ninth Circuit's outlier interpretation of a jurisdictional question in a $1.3 billion arbitral award enforcement case came as no surprise to arbitration experts, who say they will nevertheless continue closely watching the case to see how outstanding issues are resolved.

  • June 06, 2025

    6th Circ. Sends GM Emissions Fraud Claims Back To Michigan

    The Sixth Circuit on Friday partly revived drivers' claims alleging General Motors deceptively marketed Chevrolet Cruze vehicles as clean vehicles when they were actually outfitted with emissions-cheating software, punting a question of preemption back to Michigan federal court.

  • June 06, 2025

    Texas Justices Ax Multiplaintiff 'Jurisdictional Loophole'

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday closed a "gaping jurisdictional loophole" that allowed defendants to challenge jurisdiction in just about any case involving multiple plaintiffs, saying the mere presence of multiple plaintiffs is not enough to invoke appellate review.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From NY Fed To BigLaw

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    While the move to private practice brings a learning curve, it also brings chances to learn new skills and grow your network, requiring a clear understanding of how your skills can complement and contribute to a firm's existing practice, and where you can add new value, says Meghann Donahue at Covington.

  • Calif. Smoke Claim Ruling Gives Insurers Support On Denials

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    Far from being an outlier among ash, soot and smoke coverage cases, a California appellate court's recent opinion in Gharibian v. Wawanesa General Insurance reinforces the principle that policyholders must establish entitlement to coverage as a threshold matter, while supporting denials of coverage for meritless claims, says Kyle Espinola at Zelle.

  • Cos. Face Enviro Justice Tug-Of-War Between States, Feds

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    The second Trump administration's sweeping elimination of environmental justice policies, programs and funding, and targeting of state-level EJ initiatives, creates difficult questions for companies on how best to avoid friction with federal policy, navigate state compliance obligations and maintain important stakeholder relationships with communities, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Top 3 Litigation Finance Deal-Killers, And How To Avoid Them

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    Like all transactions, litigation finance deals can sometimes collapse, but understanding the most common reasons for failure, including a lack of trust or a misunderstanding of deal terms, can help both parties avoid problems, say Rebecca Berrebi at Avenue 33 and Boris Ziser at Schulte Roth.

  • 5th Circ. Ruling Is Latest Signal Of Shaky Qui Tam Landscape

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    In his recent concurring opinion in U.S. v. Peripheral Vascular Associates, a Fifth Circuit judge joined a growing list of jurists suggesting that the False Claims Act's whistleblower provisions are unconstitutional, underscoring that acceptance of qui tam relators can no longer be taken for granted, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • How Attys Can Use A Therapy Model To Help Triggered Clients

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    Attorneys can lean on key principles from a psychotherapeutic paradigm known as the "Internal Family Systems" model to help manage triggered clients and get settlement negotiations back on track, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.

  • Tracking The Evolution Of Liability Management Exercises

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    As liability management exercises face increasing legal scrutiny, understanding the history of these debt restructuring tools can help explain how the playbook keeps adapting — and why the next move is always just one ruling or transaction away, say attorneys at Weil.

  • Navigating Florida's Bad Faith Reforms After Appellate Ruling

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    A Florida appellate court's recent decision is among the first to interpret two significant amendments to the state's insurance bad faith law, and its holding that one of the statutes could not apply retroactively may affect insurers' interpretation of the other statute, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • 3 Steps For In-House Counsel To Assess Litigation Claims

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    Before a potential economic downturn, in-house attorneys should investigate whether their company is sitting on hidden litigation claims that could unlock large recoveries to help the business withstand tough times, says Will Burgess at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    Teaching College Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving as an adjunct college professor has taught me the importance of building rapport, communicating effectively, and persuading individuals to critically analyze the difference between what they think and what they know — principles that have helped to improve my practice of law, says Sheria Clarke at Nelson Mullins.

  • A New Tool For Assessing Kickback Risks In Health Marketing

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    The Seventh Circuit's recent decision in U.S. v. Sorensen, reversing a conviction after trial of a durable medical equipment distributor, highlights two principle considerations for determining whether payments to marketers in healthcare are unlawful under the Anti-Kickback Statute, says Elisha Kobre at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Maximizing Employer Defenses After Calif. Meal Waiver Ruling

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    A California state appeals court's recent decision in Bradsbery v. Vicar Operating, finding that revocable meal period waivers prospectively signed by employees are enforceable, offers employers four steps to proactively reduce their exposure to meal period claims and bolster their defenses in a potential lawsuit, say attorneys at Fisher Phillips.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Enviro To Mid-Law

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    Practitioners leaving a longtime government role for private practice — as when I departed the U.S. Department of Justice’s environmental enforcement division — should prioritize finding a firm that shares their principles, values their experience and will invest in their transition, says John Cruden at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • Independent Contractor Rule Up In The Air Under New DOL

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    In several recent court challenges, the U.S. Department of Labor has indicated its intent to revoke the 2024 independent contractor rule, sending a clear signal that it will not defend the Biden-era rule on the merits in anticipation of further rulemaking, say attorneys at Jackson Lewis.

  • Why Trade Cases May Put Maple Leaf Deference On Review

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    When litigation challenging the president’s trade actions reaches the Federal Circuit, the court will have to reevaluate the Maple Leaf standard in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 Loper Bright decision limiting Chevron-like deference to cases involving statutory provisions in which Congress delegated discretionary authority to the executive branch, say attorneys at Wiley.

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