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Circuit-By-Circuit Guide As Justices Confront Class Cert. Split
The U.S. Supreme Court is set for climactic arguments over class certification standards that have cleaved circuits from coast to coast for much of the past two decades, teeing up a make-or-break ruling for many class actions and a transformative event for legal practice in the swelling litigation realm.
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May 29, 2025
Projects Get Some NEPA Relief, But How Much Is Unknown
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision limiting judicial review of environmental analyses of infrastructure projects, combined with the Trump administration's drive to ease approval processes, may boost developers' optimism — but the extent to which reviews can be narrowed remains unknown.
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May 29, 2025
Panel Clears Hospital Of Contempt In 'Audit Trail' Dispute
An Illinois appeals court on Thursday vacated a trial court's finding of contempt against a hospital in a suit over a newborn's injuries, saying there was insufficient evidence that a certain type of "audit trail" metadata existed in electronic health records.
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May 29, 2025
Texas Justices Keep Court Orders On $3.4B Water Pipeline
A Texas appeals court mostly kept intact court orders barring a groundwater company from interfering with several leases as a part of a $3.4 billion pipeline venture to supply water to San Antonio, finding in a Thursday opinion the company was undercutting its lessee.
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May 29, 2025
Harvard Taps Paul Weiss High Court Litigator For Board
Kannon Shanmugam, a Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP partner and veteran U.S. Supreme Court litigator, has been selected to join the Harvard Corp. governing board, according to an announcement made Thursday.
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May 29, 2025
Insurer Waived Arbitration For Many Reasons, NJ Panel Rules
An insurer waived its right to arbitration for many reasons, a New Jersey appellate panel affirmed, finding a pier owner's coverage dispute concerning underlying litigation brought against it by public utilities blaming it for a fluid leak in the Hudson River must head to trial.
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May 29, 2025
Split 9th Circ. Says Spa's Rule On Certain Trans Women Biased
A divided Ninth Circuit refused to reinstate a Korean spa's constitutional challenge against the Washington State Human Rights Commission and ordered it to rescind its policy denying admission to trans women without gender-affirming surgery, noting Thursday the policy violated state law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
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May 29, 2025
Delaware Justices Asked To Review Corporate Law Rework
A biopharmaceutical company stockholder has sought direct certification of a derivative suit to Delaware's Supreme Court, asking for state constitutional review of legislation approved in March that limits avenues for challenges to some corporate acts.
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May 29, 2025
Conn. Group Home To Mediate $13.4M Death Appeal
An assisted-living facility and the mother of a resident who died in its care will enter mediation in an effort to settle their ongoing legal dispute, which has already resulted in a $13.4 million jury verdict, according to a new filing in the Connecticut Appellate Court.
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May 29, 2025
Restaurant Liable After Fraudster Steals $475K Settlement
A California appeals court has found in a case of first impression that a restaurant is responsible for $475,000 in settlement funds that its attorneys sent to a fraudster impersonating the other party in a personal injury suit, saying it missed a number of red flags in the impostor's correspondence.
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May 29, 2025
Colo. Court Says No Immunity For Telecom From Injury Suit
Colorado appellate judges on Thursday ruled that a telecommunications provider lacked authority over a sidewalk where a cyclist was injured and can't be shielded from liability by a recreational use law, reversing a trial court decision in favor of the company.
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May 29, 2025
8th Circ. Says Gov'ts Can't Give Up Eminent Domain Powers
An Eighth Circuit panel vacated an injunction barring a North Dakota county from taking private property it said was needed to build a bridge over the Little Missouri River, although the parties had already settled their claims in April.
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May 29, 2025
Tariff Rulings Undercut Trump's Trade Authority, Dealmaking
U.S. trading partners have inadvertently found new leverage in tariff negotiations with the Trump administration after federal courts found several of the president's duties were improperly imposed, raising larger questions about future tariff authorization in the midst of a global trade spat.
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May 29, 2025
Atty Urges 2nd Circ. To Resurrect Name Feud With Ex-Firm
A lawyer has asked the Second Circuit to revive claims against his former firm, which he alleges used his name and likeness after he was fired, saying a judge's dismissal of those claims ignored the harm he personally suffered and the requirements of the Lanham Act.
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May 29, 2025
7th Circ. Probes Hartford's Denial Of Benefits To Ex-PwC Exec
A Seventh Circuit panel weighing Thursday whether to restore long-term disability benefits to an ex- PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP executive with fibromyalgia asked her attorney and counsel for the insurer that denied benefits if the lower court should have considered prior claim history and a consultant's report finding her condition precluded "meaningful employment."
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May 29, 2025
Epic Seeks More Interest On Tata's $140M Punitive Award
Epic Systems argued Thursday that the Seventh Circuit should order a lower court to recalculate its post-judgment interest on a $140 million punitive damages award against Tata Group because interest should have run from its original 2017 judgment rather than the amended version entered five years later.
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May 29, 2025
2nd Circ. Upholds KeyBank Adviser's $1.1M Defamation Win
The Second Circuit on Thursday upheld a $1.1 million award against a brokerage firm accused of making defamatory remarks about a former employee, ruling that Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitrators did not disregard the law in handing down the punishment.
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May 29, 2025
Drugstores Say Texas Flouted Rules To Update Pharmacy Regs
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores Inc. told the Texas Supreme Court that updates to statewide policy governing how pharmacies report drug prices flouted Texas rulemaking procedures, telling the state's high court that even if the updates were "good policy" they weren't lawful.
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May 29, 2025
Neb. Tribe Challenges Army's Repatriation Law Interpretation
A Nebraska tribe has said the U.S. Army is introducing new errors into its Fourth Circuit arguments against efforts to repatriate the remains of two children from a Native boarding school cemetery in Pennsylvania, telling the appellate court the attempt to complicate a straightforward federal law should be rejected.
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May 29, 2025
Wash. Justices Upend Cannabis Co. Win In Wage Suit
Washington state's Department of Labor and Industries does not need to issue a formal letter demanding an employer pay a specific sum to employees before launching a wage and hour lawsuit, the state's supreme court held Thursday, upending a cannabis company's win in a lawsuit the agency launched against it.
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May 29, 2025
Apple Says Google Ruling Boosts Appeal Of $300M Verdict
Apple has told the Federal Circuit that its en banc decision ordering a new damages trial in a separate suit against Google bolsters its own appeal of a $300 million verdict against the tech giant for infringing standard-essential 4G patents owned by Optis.
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May 29, 2025
Mass. Justices Revive Atty's Suit Against 'Spiteful' Colleagues
Massachusetts' highest court Thursday revived part of a lawsuit brought by a former appellate court staff attorney who said he was intentionally undermined by supervisors, finding that he had made a reasonable showing that two of the three original defendants had demonstrated actual malice toward him.
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May 29, 2025
Trump Names 4 Jurists, State AG Official For Fla. Judgeships
President Donald Trump this week announced his nominations of four judges and a top official in the Florida Attorney General's Office to fill district judgeships in the Sunshine State's Middle and Southern Districts.
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May 29, 2025
Calif. Justices Propose Tweaking Rules For Bar Examiners
The California Supreme Court has proposed changes to the administration of the state's troubled bar exam, circulating a slate of amendments designed to clarify the role of the Committee of Bar Examiners, including spelling out its duty to review and approve all questions used in the exam.
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May 29, 2025
DOJ Sidelines ABA From Vetting Trump's Judicial Picks
The Justice Department plans to direct judicial nominees away from a long-standing vetting process by the American Bar Association, labeling it an "activist organization," according to a Thursday letter by Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
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May 29, 2025
Judge Can't Buy Military Service Credits, NJ Panel Says
A New Jersey appellate panel Thursday backed the state pension board's determination that a workers' compensation judge can't buy 36 months of service credits based on his prior military service, ruling that the statute governing his pension does not allow for such a purchase.
Editor's Picks
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A Look At Trump's Pick For The 6th Circuit
President Donald Trump's first judicial nominee, Whitney Hermandorfer, who's been tapped for a seat Democrats tried to fill while Joe Biden was in the White House, has been part of litigation on several politically charged issues due to her job with the Tennessee Attorney General's office.
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12 Lawyers Who Are The Future Of The Supreme Court Bar
One attorney hasn't lost a single U.S. Supreme Court case she's argued, or even a single justice's vote. One attorney is perhaps "the preeminent SCOTUS advocate." And one may soon become U.S. solicitor general, despite acknowledging there are "judges out there who don't like me." All three are among a dozen lawyers in the vanguard of the Supreme Court bar's next generation, poised to follow in the footsteps of the bar's current icons.
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How Reshaped Circuit Courts Are Faring At The High Court
Seminal rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court's latest term will reshape many facets of American society in the coming years. Already, however, the rulings offer glimpses of how the justices view specific circuit courts, which have themselves been reshaped by an abundance of new judges.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Courts Must Revitalize Robust Claim Construction
Two Federal Circuit decisions from earlier this year illustrate the rarity of robust claim construction and the underused reverse doctrine of equivalents — a dual problem that prevents courts from clearly delineating and correctly cabining the scope of rights conferred by patent claims, say attorneys at Klarquist Sparkman.
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State Tort Claims May Help Deter Bribes During FCPA Pause
As the U.S. pauses Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement, companies that lose business due to competitors' bribery should consider using state tortious interference suits to expose corruption, deter illegal practices and obtain compensation for commercial losses, says Jason Manning at Levy Firestone.
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2nd Circ. Arb. Ruling May Give Foreign Insurers An Edge
The Second Circuit's decision this month in Lloyds of London v. 3131 Veterans Blvd that international arbitration agreements take primacy over state anti-arbitration insurance laws opens a division between domestic and foreign insurers that could affect the surplus lines market, says attorney Rosanne Felicello.
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Buyer Beware Of Restrictive Covenants In Delaware
Based on recent Delaware Chancery Court opinions rejecting restricted covenants contained in agreements in the sale-of-business context, businesses need to craft narrowly tailored restrictions that have legitimate interests, say attorneys at Saul Ewing.
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Series
Brazilian Jiujitsu Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Competing in Brazilian jiujitsu – often against opponents who are much larger and younger than me – has allowed me to develop a handful of useful skills that foster the resilience and adaptability necessary for a successful legal career, says Tina Dorr of Barnes & Thornburg.
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Fed. Circ. Offers Lesson On Gov't Data Rights In Contracts
The Federal Circuit's recent decision in FlightSafety v. Air Force serves as a warning for U.S. Department of Defense contractors attempting to mark their commercial technical data developed at private expense, say attorneys at Butzel Long.
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Birthright Ruling Could Alter Consumer Financial Litigation
The U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming decision about the validity of the nationwide injunctions in the birthright citizenship cases, argued on May 15, could make it much harder for trade associations to obtain nationwide relief from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's enforcement of invalid regulations, says Alan Kaplinsky at Ballard Spahr.
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Fed. Circ. In April: Introducing New Evidence During IPR
The Federal Circuit's decision in Sage Products v. Stewart last month upheld the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's decision to allow a petitioner to rely on case-dispositive evidence beyond prior art references, affording petitioners in inter partes review proceedings greater latitude in the timing of evidence presentation, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.
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1st Circ. Ruling Widens Split Over Sentencing Enhancements
In U.S. v. Salvador-Gutierrez, the First Circuit recently switched sides in a circuit split by holding that certain sentencing enhancements apply only where the defendant used a minor in the commission of the crime, deepening a divide over the scope of role adjustments, says Sarah Sulkowski at Gelber & Santillo.
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A Cautionary Fed. Circ. Tale On Design Patents
The Federal Circuit's decision last month in Floyd highlights a risk in design patent prosecution — attempting to claim priority to a utility application, says John Hemmer at Morgan Lewis.
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Series
Power To The Paralegals: An Untapped Source For Biz Roles
Law firms looking to recruit legal business talent should consider turning to paralegals, who practice several key skills every day that prepare them to thrive in marketing and client development roles, says Vanessa Torres at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Google Case Amicus Briefs Reveal Patent Damage Fault Lines
The 21 amicus briefs filed before the en banc rehearing of EcoFactor v. Google offer opposing viewpoints on important patent damages issues that extend beyond the specific question the Federal Circuit eventually ruled on, helping practitioners anticipate and address likely objections to future damages opinions, say attorneys at Stout.
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Using Federal Forum Provisions To Nix State Securities Cases
A California appeals court's recent decision in Bullock v. Rivian clarifies that underwriters may enforce federal forum provisions to escape state court Securities Act claims, marking progress in restoring such lawsuits to federal court and reducing the litigation costs arising from duplicative state court litigation, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.
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30 Years Later: 2nd Circ.'s Road To Arbitral Preemption
The Second Circuit's recent decision in Lloyds of London v. 3131 Veterans Blvd. overturns its own 1995 precedent and squares its position with decades of circuit court jurisprudence holding that international arbitration agreements must take primacy over state anti-arbitration insurance laws, say attorneys at Linklaters.
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Series
Playing Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Poker is a master class in psychology, risk management and strategic thinking, and I’m a better attorney because it has taught me to read my opponents, adapt when I’m dealt the unexpected and stay patient until I'm ready to reveal my hand, says Casey Kingsley at McCreadyLaw.