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Appellate

  • July 03, 2025

    Calif. Justices Say Ford Can't Arbitrate Fiesta And Focus Suits

    Ford Motor Co. cannot force drivers who allege defects in their Focus and Fiesta vehicles to take their claims to arbitration, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday, rejecting the automaker's argument that the dispute flows from dealership sales contracts containing arbitration provisions that it can invoke.

  • July 03, 2025

    Canadian Pacific Cleared Of $4M Derailment Oil Loss Liability

    The Eighth Circuit on Thursday erased a $3.95 million judgment against Canadian Pacific Railway over crude oil spilled in a derailment disaster that killed dozens of people and nearly destroyed a Canadian town center, saying a lower court ignored a judgment reduction provision in a negligent train operator's bankruptcy plan.

  • July 03, 2025

    NJ Panel Backs Towing Co.'s DQ From Turnpike Contract Bid

    A New Jersey appellate panel has upheld the state Turnpike Authority's rejection of a towing company's protest of its denied prequalification application to provide towing services, saying it was neither arbitrary, capricious nor unreasonable.

  • July 03, 2025

    Fla. Court Says Double Gun Charge Violates Jeopardy Rule

    A Florida state appeals court panel on Thursday ruled that a man convicted on two counts of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition can have the lesser charge dropped after the panel found it violated double jeopardy rules.

  • July 03, 2025

    Efficient Power Appeals Stewart Decision After Patent Is Axed

    Efficient Power Conversion is appealing acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Coke Morgan Stewart's rejection of its request that she apply new policies on when Patent Trial and Appeal Board petitions should be denied to a decision that invalidated its microchip patent.

  • July 03, 2025

    7th Circ. Cuts Chicken Price-Fixing Atty Fees Again

    A Seventh Circuit panel reduced a $51.6 million fee award for class counsel who took on alleged price-fixing among the country's biggest producers of broiler chickens to about $47 million Wednesday, saying the district court made one easily-correctable error.

  • July 03, 2025

    Experian Can Arbitrate Customer's FCRA Suit, 11th Circ. Says

    Experian can arbitrate a customer's lawsuit alleging it failed to reasonably ensure the accuracy of her credit files after a fraudulent $26,922 car loan was reported, the Eleventh Circuit ruled Thursday, finding Experian provided competent, unrebutted evidence of her agreement to arbitrate after enrolling in credit-monitoring services with its affiliate. 

  • July 03, 2025

    USPTO Tells PTAB To Try Again On UNM Wireless Patent

    The acting head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office found Wednesday that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board wrongly terminated network equipment maker Zyxel's challenge to a University of New Mexico wireless communications patent without considering a remand from the Federal Circuit.

  • July 03, 2025

    Truck Crash Case Settles Amid Appeal Of $14M Verdict

    Texas trucking companies and an injured driver have settled a nearly decade-old negligence lawsuit, ending a case that initially resulted in an $80 million verdict — later reduced to $13.7 million — but was dramatically reshaped by intervention by the state's highest court. 

  • July 03, 2025

    Youths Urge 9th Circ. To Revive Federal Equal Protection Case

    A group of youths is asking the Ninth Circuit to revive its lawsuit alleging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Management and Budget are violating the youngsters' constitutional rights by not properly protecting them from climate change.

  • July 03, 2025

    ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Funding Cut Could Alter Injunction Calculus At DC Circ.

    The steep funding cut that Republicans have passed for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could strengthen the Trump administration's position in its court fight to resume downsizing the agency, even if it doesn't directly resolve the legal questions at play.

  • July 03, 2025

    Biggest Environmental Law Decisions Of 2025: Midyear Report

    The first half of 2025 saw the U.S. Supreme Court impose limitations on water permit requirements, as well as key decisions in lower courts in climate change and environmental justice cases. Here, Law360 takes a look at some of the biggest environmental law rulings of 2025.

  • July 03, 2025

    7th Circ. Says Record Backs Accenture Win, But Bias Possible

    The Seventh Circuit on Wednesday affirmed summary judgment for Accenture LLP in a Black former manager's suit alleging he was fired for complaining about racial discrimination, but noted that its finding is based on "the record and binding case law, not blindness to the reality [he] presses — that bias affected aspects of his work experience."

  • July 03, 2025

    3 More Athletes Appeal NCAA NIL Settlement To 9th Circ.

    Two former wrestlers, including an Olympic medalist, and a former walk-on football player have joined the list of college athletes announcing plans to appeal the $2.78 billion name, image and likeness settlement with the NCAA, arguing that they are receiving far too small a portion of the compensation package.

  • July 03, 2025

    Colo. Sales Tax Applies To Netflix Subscriptions, Court Rules

    Netflix's streaming services in Colorado are tangible personal property subject to sales tax, a state appeals court ruled Thursday, reversing a district court's finding that the subscriptions were not taxable under state law because they were not tangible physical items.

  • July 03, 2025

    SPEX To Appeal $553M Patent Verdict That Was Cut To $1

    SPEX Technologies Inc. will appeal a federal judge's decision to cut its $553 million verdict against Western Digital for data security patent infringement to $1 along with all other adverse rulings in the case.

  • July 03, 2025

    NJ Panel Declines To Expand Residential Sidewalk Liability

    A New Jersey appellate panel declined to expand the principles of sidewalk liability for commercial properties to a residential property that was unoccupied and undergoing renovations on Thursday, backing a lower court ruling that held the property was not used for investment nor to generate a profit.

  • July 03, 2025

    Fla. Court Rejects Oral Pact Cutting Loan Interest To 7%

    A Florida state appeals court has sided with a Nevada-based lender, reversing an oral agreement to reduce interest on a $2.6 million loan from 25% to 7%, saying such agreements must be in writing.

  • July 03, 2025

    Labor Official's Firing Stands After DC Circ. Steps In

    A D.C. Circuit panel stayed an order Thursday reinstating a fired member of a panel that decides federal agencies' union disputes in line with a U.S. Supreme Court order freezing out two fired leaders of other labor agencies.

  • July 03, 2025

    Justices Extend Due Process Pause To South Sudan Removals

    The U.S. Supreme Court clarified Thursday that its recent order allowing the Trump administration to send noncitizens to countries they have no connection to with little notice or chance to object extends to a group of men the government plans to send to South Sudan.

  • July 03, 2025

    The Moments That Shaped The Universal Injunction Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court voted along ideological lines when it hindered the ability of federal district court judges to issue nationwide pauses on presidential policies, but that outcome didn't seem like a foregone conclusion during oral arguments earlier this year. What do the colloquies suggest about the justices' thinking? Here are some moments that may have swayed them.

  • July 03, 2025

    High Court To Hear Street Preacher's First Amendment Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear a challenge to an ordinance in Brandon, Mississippi, that redirects demonstrations to a designated protest area, teeing up an examination of whether case law prevents someone who has been convicted from bringing a civil rights suit.

  • July 03, 2025

    4th Circ. Dismisses Naval Academy Admissions Appeal

    The Fourth Circuit has tossed an appeal challenging the U.S. Naval Academy's consideration of race in its admissions, deeming it to be moot after a Trump administration executive order spurred the academy to change its policy.

  • July 03, 2025

    Spectrum, Border, Injunction Changes Included In Mega Bill

    The House voted 218-214, almost along party lines, on Thursday on the reconciliation budget package, which includes a range of policy provisions on nationwide injunctions, spectrum and immigration and now goes to President Donald Trump's desk ahead of the decided Fourth of July deadline.

  • July 03, 2025

    Biggest Decisions Of Mich. Supreme Court So Far This Year

    The Michigan Supreme Court so far this year has handed down a number of decisions marking important changes to criminal law, including reshaping how late adolescents are sentenced for serious crimes and declaring that the smell of marijuana alone cannot justify a warrantless vehicle search.

Expert Analysis

  • What High Court's Tenn. Trans Care Ruling Means Nationally

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti, upholding a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors, is fairly limited in scope and closely tailored to the specific language of Tennessee's law, but it may have implications for challenges to similar laws in other states, say attorneys at Hall Render.

  • Justices Rewrite Rules For Challenging Enviro Agency Actions

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    Three recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings — Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, Oklahoma v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and EPA v. Calumet Shreveport Refining — form a jurisprudential watershed in administrative and environmental law, affirming statutory standing and venue provisions as the backbone of coherent judicial review, say attorneys at GableGotwals.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • High Court ACA Ruling May Harm Preventative Care

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Kennedy v. Braidwood last week, ruling that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary has authority over an Affordable Care Act preventive care task force, risks harming the credibility of the task force and could open the door to politicians dictating clinical recommendations, says Michael Kolber at Manatt.

  • Opinion

    Subject Matter Eligibility Test Should Return To Preemption

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    Subject matter eligibility has posed challenges for patentees due to courts' arbitrary and confusing reasoning, but adopting a two-part preemption test could align the applicant, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the courts, says Manav Das at McDonnell Boehnen.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Kousisis Concurrence Maps FCA Defense To Anti-DEI Suits

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    Justice Clarence Thomas' recent concurrence in Kousisis v. U.S. lays out how federal funding recipients could use the high standard for materiality in government fraud cases to fight the U.S. Justice Department’s threatened False Claims Act suits against payees deviating from the administration’s anti-DEI policies, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Justices' Review Of Fluor May Alter Gov't Contractor Liability

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to review Hencely v. Fluor, a case involving a soldier’s personal injury claims against a government contractor, suggests the justices could reconsider a long-standing test for determining whether contractors are shielded from state-tort liability, says Lisa Himes at Rogers Joseph.

  • Google Damages Ruling Offers Lessons For Testifying Experts

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in EcoFactor v. Google represents a shift in how courts evaluate expert testimony in patent cases, offering a practical guide for how litigators and testifying experts can refine their work, says Adam Rhoten at Secretariat.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • One Year On, Davidson Holds Lessons On 'Health Halo' Claims

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    A year after the Ninth Circuit's Davidson v. Sprout Foods decision — which raised the bar for so-called health halo claims — food and beverage companies can draw insights from its finding, subsequently expanded on by other courts, that plaintiffs must be specific when alleging fraud in healthfulness marketing, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Justices' NRC Ruling Raises New Regulatory Questions

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    In Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court avoided ruling on the NRC's authority to license private, temporary nuclear waste storage facilities — and this failure to reach the merits question creates new regulatory uncertainty where none had existed for decades, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Rocket Mortgage Appeal May Push Justices To Curb Classes

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    Should the U.S. Supreme Court agree to hear Alig v. Rocket Mortgage, the resulting decision could limit class sizes based on commonality under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Evidence as opposed to standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, say attorneys at Carr Maloney.

  • 3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later

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    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • Trending At The PTAB: Shifts In Parallel Proceedings Strategy

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    Dynamics are changing between the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and federal courts, with two recent discretionary denials and one Federal Circuit decision offering takeaways for both patent owners and challengers navigating parallel proceedings, say attorneys at Finnegan.

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