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Appellate

  • May 27, 2025

    9th Circ. Revives Tribes', Green Groups' Power Line Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday revived a lawsuit challenging the federal government's decision to allow a 520-mile power line route through cultural sites, saying in a published opinion that a coalition of tribes and conservation groups plausibly alleged the government authorized construction before properly identifying historic sites the project affected.

  • May 27, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Faults PTAB Again For Upholding Lighting Patent

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday faulted for the second time a Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruling rejecting challenges to a decorative lighting patent, saying the board wrongly concluded there wasn't a motivation to combine prior art in order to reduce the cost of copper in the lighting system.

  • May 27, 2025

    Ariz. Asks Justices To Skip Tax Fight Over Plant On Tribe Land

    Arizona's tax agency urged the U.S. Supreme Court to pass on a power company's claims that property taxes were illegally levied on a power plant it owns on tribal land, saying the justices have consistently upheld taxes on tribal reservations that solely fall on non-Native Americans.

  • May 27, 2025

    5th Circ. Passes On Arbitration Appeal In Fire Damage Dispute

    A Louisiana property owner cannot appeal a lower court's decision ordering it to arbitrate its fire damage claims with various insurers, both foreign and domestic, the Fifth Circuit ruled, finding it lacks jurisdiction to hear the case.

  • May 27, 2025

    Ill. Panel Says Man Can't Keep Guns Bought During Injunction

    An Illinois man cannot possess or register assault weapons he purchased during a period of time that the enforcement of Illinois' ban on such rifles was blocked by a federal court, an intermediary appellate panel ruled Friday.

  • May 27, 2025

    Crypto Exec's IRS Privacy Appeal Tossed By 5th Circ.

    A cryptocurrency executive who sought to quash IRS summonses for his bank records must wait at least until the U.S. government decides whether to bring legal proceedings against him before he can appeal a ruling denying his request to block the agency's demands, the Fifth Circuit said Tuesday.

  • May 27, 2025

    DC Circ. Backs FERC In NY Grid Upgrade Cost Fight

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday upheld the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's refusal to allow New York utilities to earn investment returns from grid upgrades, saying the agency reasonably concluded that shifting from the current nonprofit approach was unwarranted.

  • May 27, 2025

    6th Circ. Urged To Revive FedEx, Kellogg Pension Suits

    FedEx and Kellogg retirees urged the Sixth Circuit to revive two proposed class actions alleging their ex-employers' use of outdated actuarial assumptions shortchanged the value of their pension annuity benefits, arguing that definitions of the term "actuarial equivalent" from the time federal benefits law was enacted supported their appeals.

  • May 27, 2025

    Split 5th Circ. Tosses NLRB's 12-Year-Old Back Pay Order

    A split Fifth Circuit panel has denied the National Labor Relations Board's request to enforce a 2013 back pay order against a Louisiana plumbing company, with the majority saying it's unfair to make a mom-and-pop shop that's recovering from two floods pay out roughly $100,000 over a decade-old matter.

  • May 27, 2025

    Philly Atty Suspended 3 Years For Sexual Conduct With Client

    Philadelphia personal injury lawyer Brian Dooley Kent has been suspended from the practice of law for three years for engaging in sexual conduct with a client he represented while investigating claims against the Church of Scientology.

  • May 27, 2025

    Justices Will Consider Judges' Limits Under First Step Act

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear arguments in a case that could determine how much discretion trial judges have when considering whether to reduce defendants' sentences under the First Step Act.

  • May 27, 2025

    Tesla Asks Delaware Justices To Slash $176M Class Atty Fee

    Attorneys for Tesla Inc. have told Delaware's Supreme Court that counsel for stockholders who secured a disputed $735 million in savings from director cash and options rollbacks deserve less than the $176.2 million fee awarded the team.

  • May 27, 2025

    Fla. Justices Urged To Stop Agency's Prosecution 'Overreach'

    A man accused of election fraud has filed his opening brief with the Florida Supreme Court over claims that the Florida Office of Statewide Prosecution doesn't have the authority to pursue the charges against him, calling the organization a "creature of limited jurisdiction."

  • May 27, 2025

    Winston & Strawn Adds McDermott Supreme Court Co-Head

    Winston & Strawn LLP has hired the former co-leader of McDermott Will & Emery LLP's U.S. Supreme Court and appellate practice, who has represented a range of clients before appellate courts throughout the country for more than 15 years, the firm announced Tuesday.

  • May 27, 2025

    NC Justices Say Insured's Failure To Read Doesn't Bar Claim

    North Carolina's highest court found a homeowner isn't barred from suing an insurance agency for negligence over false answers on a property insurance application even though he never read the document, saying context bears on his culpability.

  • May 27, 2025

    Fla. Biz Owner Missed Tax Appeal Deadline, 11th Circ. Told

    The owner of a Florida marketing business who failed to report millions of dollars in income to the Internal Revenue Service missed the deadline to appeal U.S. Tax Court rulings sustaining the related taxes, the U.S. government told the Eleventh Circuit.

  • May 27, 2025

    High Court Passes On Axed $563M BMO Harris Ponzi Verdict

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review the Eighth Circuit's decision to strike down a $563 million jury verdict against BMO Harris NA over claims that a bank it acquired had aided and abetted Thomas J. Petters' multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

  • May 27, 2025

    Justices Deny Food Wrapping Co.'s Prior Art Petition

    The owner of invalidated food wrapping patents failed to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to review its allegations that the Federal Circuit wrongly presumes prior art is always enabled.

  • May 27, 2025

    Justices Skip Law Firm's TM Appeal Over Rival's Google Ads

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an appeal from personal injury law firm Lerner & Rowe PC to review a Ninth Circuit decision that a rival did not infringe its trademarks by using the firm's name in keyword advertising with Google.

  • May 27, 2025

    High Court Won't Hear Apache's Bid To Undo Mining Decision

    The U.S. Supreme Court will not take up a challenge by an Apache nonprofit that seeks to undo the federal government's transfer of nearly 2,500 acres of land to an Arizona copper mining company, a decision that could ultimately decide the fate of a centuries-old Indigenous worship site.

  • May 23, 2025

    Law360 Reveals Titans Of The Plaintiffs Bar

    This past year, a handful of attorneys secured billions of dollars in settlements and judgments for both classes and individual plaintiffs against massive companies and organizations like Facebook, Dell, the National Association of Realtors, Johnson & Johnson, UFC and Credit Suisse, earning them recognition as Law360's Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar for 2025.

  • May 23, 2025

    9th Circ. Mulls 'Two John Smiths' In Classmates.com Class

    Ninth Circuit judges Friday scrutinized a vast class of Californians whose identities were allegedly misappropriated by yearbooks platform Classmates.com, discussing ways to distinguish people with the same names and the case's implications for internet search giants — as well as how one judge's class of '62 yearbook might be a small part of the litigation.

  • May 23, 2025

    USPTO Asks Fed. Circ. To Deny Both VLSI, OpenSky In IP Row

    The acting director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Friday stepped into a patent review dispute between VLSI Technology and OpenSky Industries at the Federal Circuit following a $2.18 billion jury verdict against Intel Corp., urging the appellate court to reject both sides' arguments.

  • May 23, 2025

    5th Circ. Sides With Texas Library In Book Ban Redo

    The Fifth Circuit gave a green light for a Texas public library to toss several books that deal with topics such as sexuality and racism, labeling the arguments challenging the library's decision to remove the challenged literature as "over-caffeinated" in a Friday en banc opinion.

  • May 23, 2025

    Group Asks 5th Circ. To Clarify Freight Broker Negligence

    Truck safety advocates asked the Fifth Circuit on Friday to preserve state-law personal-injury claims against freight brokers, weighing in on a dispute that alleges Penske Logistics LLC is liable for negligently hiring an unsafe motor carrier that caused a fatal 2018 accident in Texas.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • How Attys Can Use A Therapy Model To Help Triggered Clients

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    Attorneys can lean on key principles from a psychotherapeutic paradigm known as the "Internal Family Systems" model to help manage triggered clients and get settlement negotiations back on track, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.

  • Tracking The Evolution Of Liability Management Exercises

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    As liability management exercises face increasing legal scrutiny, understanding the history of these debt restructuring tools can help explain how the playbook keeps adapting — and why the next move is always just one ruling or transaction away, say attorneys at Weil.

  • Navigating Florida's Bad Faith Reforms After Appellate Ruling

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    A Florida appellate court's recent decision is among the first to interpret two significant amendments to the state's insurance bad faith law, and its holding that one of the statutes could not apply retroactively may affect insurers' interpretation of the other statute, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • 3 Steps For In-House Counsel To Assess Litigation Claims

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    Before a potential economic downturn, in-house attorneys should investigate whether their company is sitting on hidden litigation claims that could unlock large recoveries to help the business withstand tough times, says Will Burgess at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    Teaching College Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving as an adjunct college professor has taught me the importance of building rapport, communicating effectively, and persuading individuals to critically analyze the difference between what they think and what they know — principles that have helped to improve my practice of law, says Sheria Clarke at Nelson Mullins.

  • A New Tool For Assessing Kickback Risks In Health Marketing

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    The Seventh Circuit's recent decision in U.S. v. Sorensen, reversing a conviction after trial of a durable medical equipment distributor, highlights two principle considerations for determining whether payments to marketers in healthcare are unlawful under the Anti-Kickback Statute, says Elisha Kobre at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Maximizing Employer Defenses After Calif. Meal Waiver Ruling

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    A California state appeals court's recent decision in Bradsbery v. Vicar Operating, finding that revocable meal period waivers prospectively signed by employees are enforceable, offers employers four steps to proactively reduce their exposure to meal period claims and bolster their defenses in a potential lawsuit, say attorneys at Fisher Phillips.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Enviro To Mid-Law

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    Practitioners leaving a longtime government role for private practice — as when I departed the U.S. Department of Justice’s environmental enforcement division — should prioritize finding a firm that shares their principles, values their experience and will invest in their transition, says John Cruden at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • Independent Contractor Rule Up In The Air Under New DOL

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    In several recent court challenges, the U.S. Department of Labor has indicated its intent to revoke the 2024 independent contractor rule, sending a clear signal that it will not defend the Biden-era rule on the merits in anticipation of further rulemaking, say attorneys at Jackson Lewis.

  • Why Trade Cases May Put Maple Leaf Deference On Review

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    When litigation challenging the president’s trade actions reaches the Federal Circuit, the court will have to reevaluate the Maple Leaf standard in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 Loper Bright decision limiting Chevron-like deference to cases involving statutory provisions in which Congress delegated discretionary authority to the executive branch, say attorneys at Wiley.

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