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July 18, 2025
Cannabis And The Courts: A Midyear Litigation Review
In the first half of 2025, lawsuits taking aim at state hemp restrictions, putative residency criteria in cannabis licensure programs and the federal policy that keeps users and convicted sellers of pot from lawfully owning guns were all briefed in multiple appellate courts across the country.
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July 18, 2025
Meet The New Georgia Supreme Court Justice
The Georgia Supreme Court's incoming justice, Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Benjamin A. Land, touted his judicial restraint in a panel decision he authored that was later affirmed by the state's justices, while attorneys who've worked with him as a trial lawyer say he's "the most prepared lawyer in the courtroom."
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July 18, 2025
4th Circ. Backs $9M Classification Ruling Against Staffing Co.
A split Fourth Circuit panel will not scrap a $9 million judgment against a medical staffing company that the U.S. Department of Labor won in a suit alleging the company misclassified more than 1,000 nurses.
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July 18, 2025
Trump Asks Supreme Court To Decline Early Tariff Challenge
President Donald Trump's administration urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a request from Illinois-based toy makers to hear their challenge against the White House's global tariffs, arguing the justices should not "leapfrog" parallel proceedings in circuit courts.
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July 18, 2025
Judge Unsure Of Alternatives To Nationwide Birthright Ruling
A Massachusetts federal judge on Friday wrestled with how the government would implement any alternatives to a nationwide block on President Donald Trump's order limiting birthright citizenship and what type of decision would comply with recent high court precedent.
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July 18, 2025
DC Circ. Backs Crowley In GSA Audit Powers Fight
The General Services Administration lacked authority to audit bills Crowley Government Services Inc. submitted under a freight contract with U.S. Transportation Command since the company was not operating as a carrier, a split D.C. Circuit panel ruled Friday.
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July 18, 2025
Top 5 Energy Decisions Of 2025: A Midyear Report
A game-changing U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could significantly narrow federal environmental reviews of energy projects punctuated a busy first half of 2025 for the industry in the courts. Here are several court decisions that stood out for energy attorneys in the first half of this year.
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July 18, 2025
2nd Circ. Shields Official From NRA's Free Speech Suit Again
A Second Circuit panel has said National Rifle Association's First Amendment lawsuit cannot survive a motion to dismiss because the former New York official accused of pressuring financial institutions to cut ties with the organization has qualified immunity.
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July 18, 2025
9th Circ. Turns Away Wells Fargo's 'Sham' Hiring Appeal
The Ninth Circuit has said it will not hear Wells Fargo's appeal of an investor lawsuit accusing the company of conducting "sham" job interviews to meet a diversity quota, allowing thousands of shareholders to move forward with their claims as a class.
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July 17, 2025
Fla. High Court Affirms Congressional Map In Voter Suit
Florida's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the new congressional map for the northern part of the state that voter groups claimed is illegal and eliminated a majority Black voting district, saying in a split decision that the district demanded by the civic organizations is unconstitutional.
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July 17, 2025
9th Circ. Panel Appears Split On Trump Order Curbing Unions
A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel appeared divided Thursday on a lower court's ruling that halted enforcement of President Donald Trump's executive order axing labor contracts covering agencies that have "national security" aims, with one judge expressing concern over the order's implications while two questioned if they can second-guess the president's determination.
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July 17, 2025
2nd Circ. Overturns Ex-HSBC Exec's 2017 Fraud Conviction
The Second Circuit on Thursday overturned the conviction of a former HSBC executive accused of defrauding a Scottish oil and gas company in a $3.5 billion currency exchange deal, finding his jury was improperly instructed on a now-invalid "right-to-control" theory of fraud.
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July 17, 2025
Thrivent Challenges SEC Over FINRA Arbitration Rules
Financial services giant Thrivent has filed a petition in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to force the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to review three rules adopted by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority that give the agency exclusive jurisdiction over arbitration disputes between brokers and their customers.
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July 17, 2025
Dallas Can Fight AG To Keep Records, Appeals Court Says
A Texas appeals court gave the city of Dallas another shot at keeping records of alleged housing discrimination away from the public, saying Thursday that the city challenged an order to release the records from the Texas attorney general in time to pursue its suit.
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July 17, 2025
Colo. Court Clarifies Virtual Hearing Rights For Defendants
The Colorado Court of Appeals said Thursday that judges must provide criminal defendants with proper advisements before issuing sentences via the court's video interfacing service, Webex, but found a judge's error in the case at hand didn't cause any harm.
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July 17, 2025
7th Circ. Signs Off On Searches Tied To Convictions
The Seventh Circuit has ruled that a warrant used to charge two men with cocaine trafficking and felony weapons crimes was valid and that a lower court was correct to allow the evidence turned up in the search to be presented at trial.
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July 17, 2025
7th Circ. Gives Man Second Shot To Argue Search Was Illegal
A man who pled guilty to drug and weapons charges when an Illinois federal court refused to suppress evidence against him must get another shot at arguing that officers found the contraband during an illegal search, the Seventh Circuit ruled Thursday.
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July 17, 2025
11th Circ. Says Ex-Quest Diagnostics Worker's FCA Suit Fails
The Eleventh Circuit declined to revive a former Quest Diagnostics Inc. compliance officer's False Claims Act suit against the lab testing company, ruling she had failed to allege a specific claim of medical billing fraud after some 15 years of litigation.
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July 17, 2025
Fed. Circ. Scraps $21M IP Win For 'Comfy' Sweatshirt Maker
The Federal Circuit on Thursday overturned a more than $21 million judgment against Top Brand LLC for infringing Cozy Comfort Co.'s design patent and trademarks on its "The Comfy" sweatshirt featured on "Shark Tank," saying no reasonable jury could have found infringement.
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July 17, 2025
Uber Asks Ga. Justices To Reverse Sales Tax Ruling
Georgia's highest court should review and reverse an appellate panel's decision that Uber was required to collect and remit millions in sales taxes on behalf of drivers and customers who used its app before the Wayfair decision, the ride-hailing company told the state's justices.
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July 17, 2025
Russia Claims Immunity In $34M Crimea Award Suit
Russia is pressing the D.C. Circuit to overturn what it calls an "unprecedented" decision greenlighting litigation to enforce a more than $34 million arbitral award issued to Ukrainian gas companies that operated in Crimea, saying Wednesday that its sovereign immunity defense wasn't adequately weighed.
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July 17, 2025
Fla. High Court Revives UF Student's COVID-19 Suit
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday revived a University of Florida student's lawsuit over cancellation of on-campus services during the COVID-19 pandemic, ruling that sovereign immunity does not automatically block the student's breach-of-contract claims.
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July 17, 2025
FCC Asks 5th Circ. To Reinstate $57M AT&T Data Privacy Fine
The Federal Communications Commission is asking for the full Fifth Circuit to take up an April panel decision finding the commission's in-house adjudications unconstitutional, arguing that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision "effectively abrogated" the precedent that the panel ruling for AT&T was partly predicated on.
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July 17, 2025
How A NJ Clergy Abuse Probe Will Reshape Defense Strategy
The New Jersey Supreme Court has cleared the way for a grand jury to investigate clergy abuse claims, bringing forward a rarely used prosecution tool that experts say will have reverberations on the strategies taken by lawyers representing powerful individuals and institutions even beyond the Catholic Church.
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July 17, 2025
NC Justices Urged To Let Property Foreclose In Debt Fight
A company on the cusp of wrapping up the foreclosure sale of a Cornelius, North Carolina, land tract that is planned to be part of a larger mixed-use development has implored the state Supreme Court not to temporarily stay the sale.
Expert Analysis
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Immunity Waiver Ruling A Setback For Ch. 7 Trustees
While governmental units should welcome the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in U.S. v. Miller restricting the reach of the Bankruptcy Code's sovereign immunity waiver, Chapter 7 trustees now have a limited ability to maximize bankruptcy estates, says Dan Prieto at Jones Day.
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Wash. Justices' Moonlight Ruling Should Caution Employers
The Washington Supreme Court's recent decision in David v. Freedom Vans, which limited when employers can restrict low-wage workers from moonlighting, underscores the need for employers to narrowly tailor restrictive covenants, ensuring that they are reasonable and allow for workforce mobility, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
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What To Watch For As High Court Mulls NRC's Powers
If successful, Texas’ challenges to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s authority — recently heard by the U.S. Supreme Court and currently pending before a Texas federal court — may have serious adverse consequences for aspiring NRC licensees, including potential nuclear power plant operators, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.
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Series
Adapting To Private Practice: From NY Fed To BigLaw
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.
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Calif. Smoke Claim Ruling Gives Insurers Support On Denials
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.
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Cos. Face Enviro Justice Tug-Of-War Between States, Feds
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.
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Top 3 Litigation Finance Deal-Killers, And How To Avoid Them
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.
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5th Circ. Ruling Is Latest Signal Of Shaky Qui Tam Landscape
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.
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How Attys Can Use A Therapy Model To Help Triggered Clients
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.
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Tracking The Evolution Of Liability Management Exercises
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.
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Navigating Florida's Bad Faith Reforms After Appellate Ruling
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.
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3 Steps For In-House Counsel To Assess Litigation Claims
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.
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Series
Teaching College Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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.
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A New Tool For Assessing Kickback Risks In Health Marketing
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.
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Maximizing Employer Defenses After Calif. Meal Waiver Ruling
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.