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Appellate

  • September 09, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Revives Realtek's Fee Bid In Semiconductor IP Feud

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday faulted U.S. District Judge Alan Albright for denying Realtek Semiconductor Corp.'s request for fees following the dismissal of a patent infringement suit against it, saying the semiconductor company is the prevailing party even if the accusing company willingly abandoned the case.

  • September 09, 2025

    9th Circ. Declines To Block Most Of Social Media Addiction Law

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday largely rejected a tech trade group's effort to block California from enforcing a law barring online platforms from using algorithms to deliver addictive feeds to children, saying a requirement to hide "likes" and share counts must be enjoined but challenges to other provisions are either unripe or fact-intensive.

  • September 09, 2025

    Pa. Justices Seem Split On Uber's 'Clickwrap' Arbitration Link

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court appeared unsure about whether arbitration agreements linked in apps like Uber adequately inform consumers that they're giving up the right to a jury trial by using services, with some justices commenting during oral arguments Tuesday that more explicit warnings couldn't hurt and others saying they could muddle the state's contract laws.

  • September 09, 2025

    Pa. Court Orders Resentencing In 2 DUI Cases Over Treatment

    A pair of drunk-driving cases in Pennsylvania will be sent back to the lower courts for resentencing after a state appeals court ruled Tuesday that recently decided state Supreme Court precedent requires prosecutors to prove in front of a jury that the drivers had previously completed a drunk-driving program in order to apply sentencing enhancements. 

  • September 09, 2025

    2nd Circ. Sends Prevailing Wage Questions To NY Panel

    Fire alarm testers and inspectors are eligible for prevailing wages under New York law, but the state appeals court should mull whether employment contracts need to specify the wages and whether employers can limit the statute of limitations, the Second Circuit ruled Tuesday.

  • September 09, 2025

    Russia Keeps Fighting $34M Ukraine Gas Award At DC Circ.

    The Russian Federation has asked the D.C. Circuit to reject efforts by Ukrainian gas companies, including Stabil LLC, to enforce a $34 million arbitral award, disputing once again that an arbitration agreement was ever formed and arguing that the country has foreign sovereign immunity.

  • September 09, 2025

    11th Circ. Told Insurers Wrongly Denied $5.6M To Railroad Co.

    A Florida railroad company incurred minimal losses from Hurricane Irma in 2017 because it took measures to protect its property, but insurers unfairly used the preventive efforts to justify denying coverage for $5.6 million worth of costs under an all-risk policy, it told an Eleventh Circuit panel on Tuesday.

  • September 09, 2025

    Fed Circ. Won't Revive Ex-DOI Worker's Military Bias Case

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday refused to revive a former U.S. Department of the Interior employee's allegations that he was denied promotions because he's an Air Force veteran, ruling the claims were precluded by a 2008 settlement agreement and 2022 appeals court decision.

  • September 09, 2025

    11th Circ. Urged To Revisit Pause Of 'Alligator Alcatraz' Suit

    Environmental groups and a Florida tribe challenging the immigration detention center dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" have asked the Eleventh Circuit to reconsider its order pausing the case while Florida appeals a preliminary injunction, arguing that it is "overbroad, unnecessary and prejudicial."

  • September 09, 2025

    Full 11th Circ. Backs Health Plan's Gender Care Exclusions

    The Eleventh Circuit struck down a win Tuesday for a transgender sheriff's deputy who sued a Georgia county health plan after it refused to pay for gender-affirming surgery, saying the challenged coverage exclusion did not violate federal anti-discrimination law.  

  • September 09, 2025

    Roberts Pauses Foreign Aid Distribution For Now

    Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday temporarily stayed a lower court's order requiring the Trump administration to release roughly $4 billion in frozen foreign aid while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a longer-term solution. 

  • September 09, 2025

    Meghan Markle's Sister Asks For Revival Of Defamation Suit

    An attorney for Meghan Markle's half-sister urged the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday to revive her defamation claims against the duchess, arguing that while individual remarks made during an Oprah Winfrey interview and a Netflix documentary series were not actionable, together they amounted to a smear campaign.

  • September 09, 2025

    Post-Chevron, DC Circ. Again Backs FERC Solar Ruling

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday stuck to a decision backing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's conclusion that a hybrid solar facility qualified for small-scale power producer perks, following a U.S. Supreme Court-ordered rethink due to the elimination of the so-called Chevron deference.

  • September 09, 2025

    DA Willis, Lawmakers Cite Novel Fight In Constitutional Clash

    A Georgia Senate committee investigating Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her prosecution of President Donald Trump and others in an election interference case and Willis stressed to the state Supreme Court the novel nature of their dispute over a subpoena ordering her to testify, while they took competing sides on the constitutional issues at stake.

  • September 09, 2025

    1st Circ. Says Insurer Must Defend Heating Oil Class Action

    An insurer for a heating oil company must defend the company in a Massachusetts class action accusing it of damaging customers' heating equipment by adding too much biodiesel to its heating oil, the First Circuit ruled, finding the company's provision of the oil to customers constituted separate occurrences.

  • September 09, 2025

    Justices Grant Fast-Track Review For Trump Tariff Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court will fast-track its consideration of the government's appeal of a Federal Circuit ruling that President Donald Trump's tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are unlawful, according to a Tuesday order.

  • September 09, 2025

    Feds, State Push Fla. Justices To Reject Bondi Ethics Probe

    The federal government and the state of Florida both threw their support behind the Florida Bar and its decision not to investigate U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi for alleged unethical conduct, calling a Sunshine State lawyer's attempt to force an investigation "lawfare."

  • September 09, 2025

    1st Circ. Urged To Nix $42M Disgorgement In Stock Scheme

    Five alleged participants in a $144 million multinational pump-and-dump scheme asked the First Circuit on Tuesday to vacate a disgorgement order holding them jointly and severally liable for nearly a third of the alleged ill-gotten gains, saying the order is based on "gibberish" records generated by the scheme's mastermind.

  • September 09, 2025

    2nd Circ. Allows NY AG To Curb Nonprofit's Debtor Coaching

    The Second Circuit vacated a lower court order that prevented New York Attorney General Letitia James from stopping a bankruptcy education nonprofit from advising low-income debtors Tuesday, saying that while the state's unauthorized practice of law statutes regulate speech, they are content neutral and should be reviewed under intermediate scrutiny.

  • September 09, 2025

    Ex-CFTC Atty Presses Religious Bias Claim At 2nd Circ.

    A former Commodity Futures Trading Commission lawyer urged an inquisitive panel of the Second Circuit Tuesday to revive the religious discrimination claims he brought alleging a "gag order" effectively banned him from praying with a friend who was serving as the agency watchdog at the time.

  • September 09, 2025

    Tribes, Enviro Orgs. Urge 9th Circ. To Halt Oak Flat Land Swap

    The U.S. and a copper mining company can't defend a federal law authorizing a land exchange in Arizona's Tonto National Forest, conservation groups and an Apache tribe told the Ninth Circuit on Monday, arguing that requirements for mining the site are unmet due to an inadequate final environmental impact statement.

  • September 09, 2025

    Colorado Justices Uphold Rejection Of City's Telecom Tax

    Tax ordinances in a Colorado city aimed at telecommunications providers, including a T-Mobile subsidiary, established new taxes without voter approval in violation of the state's Taxpayer Bill of Rights, the state Supreme Court ruled.

  • September 09, 2025

    Minn. Court Won't Reinstate Snowmobile Collision Death Suit

    A Minnesota appeals court refused to revive a lawsuit against a snowmobile club and one of its maintenance workers alleging that their negligence led to the death of a snowmobile user, finding that they are entitled to governmental immunity under the Minnesota Tort Claims Act.

  • September 09, 2025

    States Urge Justices To Quickly Rule Against Trump's Tariffs

    The U.S. Supreme Court should quickly consider the appeal of the Federal Circuit's ruling that President Donald Trump's emergency tariffs are unlawful and affirm that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act doesn't provide the authority to impose duties, the states challenging the measures told the justices this week.

  • September 09, 2025

    Approach The Bench: Judge Shannon Discusses Bankruptcy

    Bankruptcy might seem like a technical and obscure practice area, but not to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon.

Expert Analysis

  • How Political Divisions Are Stalling Pa. Energy Development

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    Despite possessing the nation's second-largest natural gas reserves and a legacy of energy infrastructure, Pennsylvania faces a fragmented and politically charged path to developing the energy resources it will need in the future, thanks to legislative gridlock, divided public opinion and competing energy interests, says Andrew Levine at Stradley Ronon.

  • How High Court Ruling Can Aid Judgment Enforcement In US

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    In CC/Devas (Mauritius) v. Antrix, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that only two steps are required to keep a foreign sovereign in federal court, making it a little easier for investors to successfully bring foreign states and sovereign-owned and -controlled entities into U.S. courts, says Kristie Blase at Felicello Law.

  • 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.

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