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Appellate

  • June 13, 2025

    DC Circ. Sides With FERC In Substation Cost Dispute

    A D.C. Circuit panel ruled Friday that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission got it right when it denied a wind facility operator's petition seeking reimbursement from the Western Area Power Administration for its contribution to a substation expansion.

  • June 13, 2025

    Midyear Report: 5 ERISA Decisions Attys Should Know

    The U.S. Supreme Court revived retirement plan mismanagement allegations against Cornell University, the Sixth Circuit restarted a yacht company's suit against its health benefits administrator and American Airlines took a hit for emphasizing socially conscious investing in its 401(k) plan decisions. Here are five important decisions that came down in Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases during the first half of this year.

  • June 13, 2025

    Oregon Takes Cannabis Labor Peace Row To 9th Circ.

    Oregon officials will appeal a federal judge's order barring enforcement of a voter-approved law that required licensed cannabis businesses to enter into labor peace pacts with their workers.

  • June 13, 2025

    Grassley Budget Bill Calls For More Use Of Injunction Bonds

    Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has released his portion of the budget reconciliation text, which would bolster the use of injunction bonds to raise the stakes for plaintiffs seeking to halt White House initiatives.

  • June 13, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Remands Wine Trademark Dispute To TTAB

    The Federal Circuit on Friday revived a challenge that Chateau Lynch-Bages' launched against an application for a trademark with a similar name to the chateau's second-label Bordeaux wine, saying the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board must take another look.

  • June 13, 2025

    Ex-Defender Urges 4th Circ. To 'Fortify' Workplace Protections

    A former assistant public defender has doubled down on efforts to revive her sex bias suit against the federal judiciary, telling the Fourth Circuit that siding with the judiciary would further discourage its employees from speaking up or reporting abuse out of fear of retaliation.

  • June 13, 2025

    Mayer Brown Helps Get Man Off Death Row After 21 Years

    A team of Mayer Brown LLP attorneys fought for decades to get the death sentence of a Houston man commuted to life in light of the inmate's intellectual disability, in a case that shows how legal standards have evolved in an area once known as "death county."

  • June 13, 2025

    Colo. Appeals Upholds State Board Rules On Teacher Reviews

    A state appeals court sided with the Colorado State Board of Education in a challenge brought by an educators union against the board's new teacher performance evaluation system and the appeal process for those evaluations, precedentially ruling that the board acted within its delegated authority.

  • June 13, 2025

    NJ Judge Accepts Feds' New Bid To Keep Khalil Jailed

    A New Jersey federal judge on Friday declined Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil's request to be released from immigration detention after the Trump administration said earlier in the day it has alternative grounds to keep him behind bars.

  • June 12, 2025

    Feds Urge 1st Circ. To Allow End Of Immigrant Parole Program

    The Trump administration Wednesday urged the First Circuit to lift a district court's block on the federal government from rescinding temporary Biden-era removal protections from more than 500,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan immigrants, saying the U.S. Supreme Court already hinted that the order was a mistake.

  • June 12, 2025

    Ex-UPS Workers Urge 9th Circ. To Revive State Law Claims

    An attorney for some former United Parcel Service workers urged a Ninth Circuit panel Thursday to undo a decision barring them from proceeding with some state employment claims because the workers memorialized them on union grievance forms, telling the panel the claims aren't preempted by federal law.

  • June 12, 2025

    7th Circ. Backs Hartford's Denial Of Benefits To Ex-PwC Exec

    The Seventh Circuit on Thursday refused to revive a lawsuit by a former PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP executive accusing the accounting firm's disability insurance provider of wrongly denying her long-term disability benefits for her fibromyalgia, affirming a lower court's "detailed and diligent opinion" that found her condition limiting, but not disabling.

  • June 12, 2025

    Publisher Slams Lindberg's 'Inappropriate' Use Of Affidavit

    A publisher seeking to collect on a $1.24 million judgment from a Florida holding company linked to convicted insurance fraudster Greg Lindberg pushed back Wednesday at Lindberg's bid to avoid the payout, telling a North Carolina appeals court that it's "inappropriate" of him to use a 2-year-old filing in a separate case to back his argument.

  • June 12, 2025

    Arbitration Order Reversed In Fla. Medical Office Battery Case

    A Florida state appellate court reversed an order for a doctor's lawsuit alleging she was battered by a fellow shareholder of their medical practice to be resolved out of court, allowing the case to be tried before a jury.

  • June 12, 2025

    Mitek's Bid To Be Cleared On USAA Patents Fails At Fed. Circ.

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday barred banking software company Mitek Systems from seeking a declaration that it doesn't infringe United Services Automobile Association's mobile check-deposit patents, saying Mitek has not shown that it is likely to be sued.

  • June 12, 2025

    6th Circ. Skeptical Of Auto Co.'s NLRB Constitutionality Suit

    A Sixth Circuit panel appeared unlikely Thursday to back an auto parts manufacturer's request to block a National Labor Relations Board prosecution because of alleged constitutional defects in the agency's structure, as the judges probed whether an agency judge's decision against the company and the board's lack of a quorum affect the dispute.

  • June 12, 2025

    8th Circ. Upholds Block On Minn. Generic-Drug Price Law

    The Eighth Circuit on Thursday backed a lower court's preliminary injunction blocking a Minnesota law that prohibits pharmaceutical manufacturers from imposing an "excessive" price increase on generic or biosimilar drugs, agreeing that the law is likely unconstitutional in regulating prices charged nationwide.

  • June 12, 2025

    Live Nation Defending 'Unfair' Arbitration, Justices Told

    Concertgoers suing Live Nation over allegedly anticompetitive conduct urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday not to take up the company's bid to force them into arbitration, arguing that lower courts rightly dinged a switch to a new arbitrator with strict rules meant to limit mass arbitration tactics by the plaintiffs' bar.

  • June 12, 2025

    'Forum Shopping' Center Stage At 6th Circ. Drug Pricing Args

    As part of an expansive effort to tee up U.S. Supreme Court review, pharmaceutical industry-backed opponents of Medicare's drug price negotiations entered less-than-hospitable territory at the Sixth Circuit, where judges pointedly questioned a local business group's basis for challenging a national healthcare program.

  • June 12, 2025

    PNC Gets Fed. Circ. To Undo Its $223M Patent Loss To USAA

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday wiped out two jury verdicts totaling nearly $223 million that United Services Automobile Association won against PNC Bank on mobile check deposit patents, finding the patents cover only abstract ideas.

  • June 12, 2025

    USPTO Tells Fed. Circ. Not To Review Ruling In Xencor Case

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has found that the full Federal Circuit doesn't need to review a decision rejecting Xencor Inc.'s application for an antibody patent, saying that a panel of the appellate court applied the right standard.

  • June 12, 2025

    Wash. Justice Doubts Both Sides In Election Law Fight

    A Washington Supreme Court justice said Thursday he believed a political action committee and county auditor are both wrong about the disputed meaning of a state law governing city charter amendment elections, as he and his colleagues flagged discrepancies in the parties' arguments.

  • June 12, 2025

    6th Circ. Probes County's Push To Upend Worker's ADA Win

    The Sixth Circuit had tough questions Thursday for a Tennessee county trying to upend a jury win for a worker with night blindness who said her firing violated disability bias law, with one judge saying the county relied on a decision issued before the law's definition of disability was expanded.

  • June 12, 2025

    3rd Circ. Will Reconsider Shipbuilder's Ch. 11 Reopening Bid

    The Third Circuit said Thursday that it will reconsider whether to reopen Congoleum Corp.'s 2003 Chapter 11 bankruptcy so the bankruptcy court, not a district court, can say whether Congoleum affiliate Bath Iron Works should share liability for cleaning up a polluted New Jersey river.

  • June 12, 2025

    10th Circ. Says Timer Still Ticking In Sycamore Bakery TM Suit

    The Tenth Circuit on Thursday backed a lower court decision shooting down a bid to terminate an order requiring the patriarch of a bakery business to hand over his portion of an LLC as part of a long-running feud with EarthGrains Baking Cos. Inc.

Expert Analysis

  • Corp. Transparency Act's Future Under Treasury's Bessent

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    The Corporate Transparency Act’s ultimate fate faced uncertain terms at the end of 2024, but new U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's statements and actions so far demonstrate that he does not intend to ignore the law, though he may attempt to make modifications, say attorneys at Taylor English.

  • Serta Ruling Further Narrows Equitable Mootness In 5th Circ.

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    The Fifth's Circuit recent Serta bankruptcy decision represents a further hardening of its view of the equitable mootness doctrine, and may set up a U.S. Supreme Court review of the doctrine in the near future, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • Opinion

    Inconsistent Injury-In-Fact Rules Hinder Federal Practice

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    A recent Third Circuit decision, contradicting a previous ruling about whether consumers of contaminated products have suffered an injury in fact, illustrates the deep confusion this U.S. Supreme Court standard creates among federal judges and practitioners, who deserve a simpler method of determining which cases have federal standing, says Eric Dwoskin at Dwoskin Wasdin.

  • Takeaways From Oral Argument In High Court Trademark Case

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    Unpacking oral arguments from Dewberry Group v. Dewberry Engineers, which the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on this year, sheds light on the ways in which the decision could significantly affect trademark infringement plaintiffs' ability to receive monetary damages, say attorneys at Buchanan Ingersoll.

  • In-House Counsel Pointers For Preserving Atty-Client Privilege

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    Several recent rulings illustrate the challenges in-house counsel can face when attempting to preserve attorney-client privilege, but a few best practices can help safeguard communications and effectively assert the privilege in an increasingly scrutinized corporate environment, says Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics.

  • 4 Potential Effects Of 3rd Circ.'s Coinbase Ruling

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    The Third Circuit's recent landmark decision in Coinbase v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the SEC's refusal to engage in rulemaking to clarify its stance on crypto enforcement was "insufficiently reasoned" could have wide-ranging impacts, including on other cases, legislation and even the SEC's reputation itself, says Daniel Payne at Cole-Frieman.

  • Disability Ruling Guides On Cases With Uncertain Causation

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    In Dime v. MetLife, a Washington federal court’s recent ruling in favor of a disability claimant instructs both claimants and insurers on the appropriate standard for establishing and making a disability determination when there is limited medical evidence explaining the disability’s cause, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • National Bank Act Rulings Facilitate More Preemption Analysis

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    Two recent National Bank Act preemption decisions from an Illinois federal court and the Ninth Circuit provide the first applications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s May ruling in Cantero v. Bank of America, opening the potential for several circuit courts to address the issue this year, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Series

    Collecting Rare Books Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My collection of rare books includes several written or owned by prominent lawyers from early U.S. history, and immersing myself in their stories helps me feel a deeper connection to my legal practice and its purpose, says Douglas Brown at Manatt Health.

  • Opinion

    New DOJ Leaders Should Curb Ill-Conceived Prosecutions

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    First-of-their-kind cases have seemingly led to a string of overly aggressive prosecutions in recent years, so newly sworn-in leaders of the U.S. Department of Justice should consider creating reporting channels to stop unwise prosecutions before they snowball, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • Opinion

    Judge Should Not Have Been Reprimanded For Alito Essay

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    Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor's New York Times essay critiquing Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for potential ethical violations absolutely cannot be construed as conduct prejudicial to the administration of the business of the courts, says Ashley London at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University.

  • What Justices' FLSA Ruling Means For 2-Step Collective Cert.

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in EMD Sales v. Carrera may have sounded the death knell for the decades-old two-step process to certify collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which could lead more circuits to require a preponderance of the evidence showing that members are similarly situated, says Steven Katz at Constangy.

  • Lights, Camera, Ethics? TV Lawyers Tend To Set Bad Example

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    Though fictional movies and television shows portraying lawyers are fun to watch, Hollywood’s inaccurate depictions of legal ethics can desensitize attorneys to ethics violations and lead real-life clients to believe that good lawyers take a scorched-earth approach, says Nancy Rapoport at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

  • SEC Motion Response Could Reveal New Crypto Approach

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    Cumberland DRW recently filed to dismiss the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement action against it for the unlawful purchase and sale of digital asset securities, and the agency's response should unveil whether, and to what extent, the Trump administration will relax the federal government’s stance on digital asset regulation, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

  • Perspectives

    Accountant-Owned Law Firms Could Blur Ethical Lines

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    KPMG’s recent application to open a legal practice in Arizona represents the first overture by an accounting firm to take advantage of the state’s relaxed law firm ownership rules, but enforcing and supervising the practice of law by nonattorneys could prove particularly challenging, says Seth Laver at Goldberg Segalla.

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