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Appellate
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June 06, 2025
Stewart Says PTAB Should 'Never' Cancel IP As A Sanction
The acting director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office revived Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics LLC patent claims on Thursday that her predecessor had invalidated to punish Longhorn for misconduct.
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June 06, 2025
NY Tribe Urges Supreme Court To Overturn Eel Fishing Ruling
A Long Island tribe is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to undo a Second Circuit ruling that rejected its challenge to New York's regulations on eel fishing harvests, arguing that if the decision is held, it would set a precedent allowing district courts to give up their gatekeeping roles on expert testimony.
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June 06, 2025
Free Speech Shields Rehab From Permit Suit, Court Says
A Connecticut drug treatment facility does not have to face claims, including unfair trade practices, lodged by a prospective competitor amid a contentious permit battle, a state appellate panel ruled Friday, finding that the state's anti-SLAPP statute is fatal to the case.
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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."
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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.
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June 06, 2025
4th Circ. Denies 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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 BolÃvar's possessions.
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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.
Expert Analysis
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10 Soft Skills Every GC Should Master
As businesses face shifting regulatory and technological uncertainty, general counsel will need to strengthen certain soft skills to succeed, from admitting when they make a mistake to maintaining a healthy dose of dispassion, says Douglas Brown at Manatt.
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6 Criteria Can Help Assess Executive Branch Actions
With new executive policy changes announced seemingly every day, several questions can help courts, policymakers and businesses determine whether such actions are proper, effective and in keeping with our democratic norms, say Marc Levin and Khalil Cumberbatch at the Council on Criminal Justice.
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Fed Circ.'s PTAB Ruling Highlights Obsolete Rationale
The Federal Circuit's recent decision in In re: Riggs shines a new light on its 2015 decision in Dynamic Drinkware v. National Graphics, and raises questions about why the claim support requirement established by Dynamic Drinkware exists at all, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.
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Traversing The Shifting Sands Of ESG Reporting Compliance
Multinational corporations have increasingly found themselves between a rock and a hard place attempting to comply with EU and California ESG requirements while not running afoul of expanding U.S. anti-ESG regimes, but focusing on what is material to shareholder value and establishing strong governance can help, say attorneys at MoFo.
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An Unrestrained, Bright-Eyed View Of Legal AI's Future
Todd Itami at Covington offers a bright-eyed, laughing-all-the-way, skydive look at what the legal industry could look like after an artificial intelligence revolution, which he believes may happen much sooner and more dramatically than we expect.
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Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance
Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.
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Addressing Antitrust Scrutiny Over AI-Powered Pricing Tools
Amid multiple recent civil complaints alleging antitrust violations by providers and users of algorithmic pricing tools, such as RealPage and Yardi, digital-era measures should feature prominently in corporate compliance programs, including documentation of pro-competitive benefits and when to use disclosures, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Opinion
In Vape Case, Justices Must Focus On Agencies' Results
With the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Wages and White Lion Investments having put off the question of whether agency decisions arrived at erroneously are always invalid, the court should give the results of agency actions more weight than the reasoning behind them when it revisits this case, says Jonathan Sheffield at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
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Series
Volunteer Firefighting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
While practicing corporate law and firefighting may appear incongruous, the latter benefits my legal career by reminding me of the importance of humility, perspective and education, says Nicholas Passaro at Ford.
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Takeaways From Alaska Justices' Pollution Exclusion Ruling
A recent Alaska Supreme Court ruling that a total pollution exclusion in a homeowners policy didn't bar coverage for carbon monoxide poisoning shows that even when policy language appears unambiguous on its face, courts can still consider the reasonable expectations of an insured to determine applicability, say attorneys at Hunton.
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What's At Stake As 9th Circ. Eyes Cultural Resource Damages
In Pakootas v. Teck Cominco, the Ninth Circuit is faced with the long-unresolved question of whether cultural resource damages are recoverable as part of natural resource damages under the Superfund law — and the answer will have enormous implications for companies, natural resource trustees and Native American tribes, says Sarah Bell at Farella Braun.
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Digesting A 2nd Circ. Ruling On Food Delivery App Arbitration
The Second Circuit recently rejected Grubhub's attempt to arbitrate price-fixing claims, while allowing Uber Eats to do so, reinforcing that even broad arbitration clauses must connect to the underlying dispute and suggesting that terms of service litigation may center on websites' design and content, say attorneys at Greenspoon Marder.
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Bid Protest Spotlight: Instructions, Price Evaluation, Standing
In this month's bid protest roundup, Caitlin Crujido at MoFo looks at three recent decisions that consider a contractor's attempt to circumvent unambiguous solicitation instructions, the fairness of an agency's price evaluation and whether a protestor that would be unable to perform even if sucessful has standing.
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E-Discovery Quarterly: The Perils Of Digital Data Protocols
Though stipulated protocols governing the treatment of electronically stored information in litigation are meant to streamline discovery, recent disputes demonstrate that certain missteps in the process can lead to significant inefficiencies, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Defense Strategies After Justices' Personal Injury RICO Ruling
In Medical Marijuana v. Horn, the U.S. Supreme Court recently held that the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act can be invoked by some plaintiffs with claims arising from personal injuries — but defense counsel can use the limitations on civil RICO claims to seek early dismissal in such cases, say attorneys at Debevoise.