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Appellate

  • June 06, 2025

    Split DC Circ. Says IAF CEO Can Stay In Role

    A split D.C. Circuit panel refused to block the reinstatement of the head of a federal agency that invests in Latin America and the Caribbean, concluding that the Trump administration's firing of the official was "likely invalid."

  • June 06, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Boost Interest Rate For Worker's FMLA Win

    The Ninth Circuit declined to upend an order applying the federal rate instead of a higher Washington state rate when calculating prejudgment interest that a federal jury awarded to a worker in his lawsuit accusing a manufacturer of firing him for taking leave, saying his federal claim guided his litigation strategy.

  • June 06, 2025

    4th Circ. Denies Couple's Bid To Inflate 300K Insurance Payout

    Selective Insurance Company of South Carolina doesn't have to increase its payout to a couple involved in a car wreck, the Fourth Circuit has ruled, finding that North Carolina law doesn't provide that the couple's many insurance policies can be stacked.

  • June 06, 2025

    DOGE Can Access Social Security Data For Now, Justices Say

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Friday that the Department of Government Efficiency could obtain unlimited access to Social Security Administration data on millions of Americans while a legal dispute over privacy concerns plays out.

  • June 06, 2025

    New York Says It Won't Rescind Native American Mascot Ban

    The New York State Education Department said it won't rescind a ban on the use of Indigenous mascots and names in public schools despite a threat from the Trump administration to pull its federal funding, telling the U.S. Department of Education instead that it's willing to broaden the regulation's reach.

  • June 06, 2025

    Truck Drivers Urge 9th Circ. To Reverse OT Exemption Ruling

    Truck drivers said a California federal court focused on the wrong shipper when it ruled that they were overtime-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act, urging the Ninth Circuit to flip the decision granting a win to a food distributor.

  • June 06, 2025

    Calif. Bar Hires Investigator To Review Exam Snafu

    The State Bar of California's board of trustees voted to approve a $185,000 contract with a nonprofit to review "exam scoring irregularities and testing accommodations" from its fraught February 2025 bar exam.

  • June 06, 2025

    Trump Seeks High Court's OK On Education Dept. Job Cuts

    The Trump administration has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a Massachusetts federal judge's order halting massive job cuts at the U.S. Department of Education, arguing that the judge's finding that almost 1,400 employees must be reinstated to ensure the department's continued operation "has no basis in reality."

  • June 06, 2025

    Texas Justices Say 'Reciprocal' Discipline Is Time-Limited

    Texas' four-year time limit on attorney discipline applies to "reciprocal" discipline cases, in which a lawyer is sanctioned in Texas after being similarly sanctioned in another state, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday.

  • June 06, 2025

    4th Circ. Stays Ruling Restoring Frozen Federal Grant Funding

    A split Fourth Circuit panel has blocked a South Carolina federal judge's order directing the federal government to restore 32 congressionally funded grants that were frozen by the Trump administration, while casting doubt on nonprofits' and cities' legal challenge.

  • June 06, 2025

    Litigation Funder Can't Stop Attys' Texas Fee Fight Remand

    A divided Texas First Court of Appeals won't disturb a split decision that revived a dispute between an attorney and a former attorney over a fee-sharing agreement in tobacco litigation, rejecting a litigation finance company's en banc request to keep its trial court victory and prevent the case from being remanded.

  • June 06, 2025

    Calif. Panel Remands Fee Claims Over Evidence Exclusion

    A California trial court erred when it blocked any reference to underlying legal malpractice allegations in a trial for recovery of fees brought by a San Francisco lawyer against his former clients, according to a Golden State appeals panel, which found the malpractice claims, though "effectively abandoned," had not reached final judgment on the merits.

  • June 06, 2025

    OpenAI CEO Calls NYT's ChatGPT Log Demand 'Inappropriate'

    OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his company have said they intend to appeal a Manhattan federal court order mandating the preservation of ChatGPT logs at the request of The New York Times and other news agencies in ongoing copyright infringement litigation, saying the demand goes too far.

  • June 06, 2025

    Off The Bench: NASCAR Antitrust Saga, White Sox Transfer

    In this week's Off The Bench, an appeals court says Michael Jordan's auto racing team cannot compete amid an antitrust suit against NASCAR, the Chicago White Sox start a long ownership transfer process, and the woman who accused a college football coach of sexual harassment sues the university over its handling of the complaint.

  • June 05, 2025

    Fla. High Court Denies Property Rights In Special Taxi Permits

    The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ruled taxi permits that weren't recognized by a county jurisdiction after a special district was dissolved don't constitute an unconstitutional taking by the government without compensation, saying the state Legislature repealed the licenses' property rights in 2017.

  • June 05, 2025

    9th Circ. Broadens Test For ERISA Claim Releases

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday reversed a finding that releases signed by two former microchip manufacturer employees bar them from leading a class action over claims the company illegally revoked its severance program, finding that the court should consider whether the company breached its fiduciary duty in obtaining the releases.

  • June 05, 2025

    Infant Cushion Maker Urges DC Circ. To Vacate CPSC Rule

    A company that manufactures infant support cushions has told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission overstepped its authority by issuing a rule regulating the products as "durable" and thus skirting congressional limits on its ability to issue mandatory product safety standards.

  • June 05, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Probes IGT Claim That Zynga Couldn't Target Patent

    Gambling technology company IGT faced hurdles Thursday as it argued to the Federal Circuit that mobile game maker Zynga should have been stopped from challenging one of its patents due to an earlier dispute, as the judges questioned whether the issue is appealable.

  • June 05, 2025

    SEC Wants 8th Circ. To Remand 'Dealer' Suit After Dismissals

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asked the Eighth Circuit on Thursday to send a $12 million case it won against Carebourn Capital back to the district court in light of its recent decision to take a less expansive approach to the definition of "securities dealer."

  • June 05, 2025

    DC Circ. Won't Make FCC Reconsider LTD Broadband Funds

    The D.C. Circuit isn't going to touch a Federal Communications Commission decision denying LTD Broadband LLC $1.3 billion in rural network deployment funds after the company failed to convince the agency that it could connect the half-million locations that came with the money.

  • June 05, 2025

    Venezuela Asks To Undo $17M Loss Over Bolivar Artifacts

    The government of Venezuela asked the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday to undo a $17 million default judgment against it over the theft of a Florida man's collection of South American liberator and military general Simón Bolívar's possessions.

  • June 05, 2025

    Med Mal Juror Misconduct Claim Won't Mean New Trial

    An Indiana state appeals court Thursday upheld a defense win in a medical malpractice trial despite a juror's post-verdict revelation that she had previously heard of a defense expert witness.

  • June 05, 2025

    Wash. Judge Rejects Spiritual Group's Revived Guru IP Claims

    A Seattle religious group has failed to prove copyright claims against an ex-member over the spiritual teachings of its late founder, a Washington federal judge has ruled following the case's revival on appeal, quipping that time and money spent on the case "vastly exceeds" any evidence of harm.

  • June 05, 2025

    States, Attys, Groups Push 8th Circ. For ND Tribes' Voting Rights

    Nineteen states, 16 former federal attorneys and a slew of civil rights groups are backing two North Dakota tribes in their efforts for an Eighth Circuit rehearing, arguing the appellate court's semantic shift regarding voting rights presents important questions that merit its full consideration.

  • June 05, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Says Dolby Can't Appeal PTAB Decision In Its Favor

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday dismissed Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corp.'s challenge to Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings that it prevailed on, spurning the company's appeal asserting that Unified Patents' failure to identify all of the interested parties should have nullified its case.

Expert Analysis

  • Strategies To Limit Inherent Damage Of Multidefendant Trials

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    As shown by the recent fraud convictions of two executives at the now-shuttered education startup Frank, multidefendant criminal trials pose unique obstacles, but with some planning, defense counsel can mitigate the harm and maximize the chances of a good outcome, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.

  • Patent Takeaways In Fed. Circ.'s 1st Machine Learning Ruling

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    The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Recentive Analytics v. Fox, a case of first impression affirming the invalidity of patents that applied general machine learning methods to conventional tasks, serves as a cautionary guide for patent practitioners navigating the complexities of machine learning inventions, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • AT&T Decision May Establish Framework To Block FCC Fines

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent decision in AT&T v. FCC upends the commission's authority to impose certain civil penalties, reinforcing constitutional safeguards against administrative overreach, and opening avenues for telecommunications and technology providers to challenge forfeiture orders, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Series

    Playing Guitar Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a lawyer not only requires logic and hard work, but also belief, emotion, situational awareness and lots of natural energy — playing guitar enhances all of these qualities, increasing my capacity to do my best work, says Kosta Stojilkovic at Wilkinson Stekloff.

  • Crisis Management Lessons From The Parenting Playbook

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    The parenting skills we use to help our kids through challenges — like rehearsing for stressful situations, modeling confidence and taking time to reset our emotions — can also teach us the fundamentals of leading clients through a corporate crisis, say Deborah Solmor at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and Cara Peterman at Alston & Bird.

  • High Court's Ruling May Not Stop Ghost Gun Makers

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    In Bondi v. VanDerStok, a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Gun Control Act applies to untraceable "ghost gun" kits under certain circumstances — but companies that produce these kits may still be able to use creative regulatory workarounds to evade government oversight, says Samuel Bassett at Minton Bassett.

  • Justices' Labcorp Questions Explore Class Cert. Tensions

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    At the recent oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings v. Davis, the justices' questioning highlighted a fundamental tension between constitutional standing requirements, the procedural framework of Rule 23, and the practical challenges of managing large, diverse classes in complex litigation, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • Immunity Waiver Ruling A Setback For Ch. 7 Trustees

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    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.

  • Wash. Justices' Moonlight Ruling Should Caution Employers

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    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.

  • What To Watch For As High Court Mulls NRC's Powers

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    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.

  • 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.

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