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Appellate

  • July 08, 2025

    11th Circ. Says Circumstantial Proof Backs Gun Conviction

    The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a 51-month sentence against a man who was convicted of possession of a firearm while he was a convicted felon, saying the circumstantial evidence in the case was enough to sustain the verdict.

  • July 07, 2025

    6th Circ. Affirms Toss Of 'Que Sera, Sera' Writer's Family Spat

    The Sixth Circuit Monday refused to revive a royalties spat between the granddaughter and daughter of Jay Livingston, the late Oscar-winning co-songwriter of "Que Sera, Sera," saying in a published opinion that the granddaughter failed to plausibly allege that her mom's bids to terminate copyright grants were invalid.

  • July 07, 2025

    9th Circ. Backs Sanctions For Jehovah's Witnesses' Atty

    The Ninth Circuit Monday upheld nearly $160,000 in sanctions against the general counsel for a Jehovah's Witnesses group accused of submitting a misleading affidavit to a Montana federal court in litigation brought by women alleging they endured sexual assault as children at the hands of church officials.

  • July 07, 2025

    Calif. Justices Disbar SF Atty For Defrauding Elderly Client

    The California Supreme Court has ordered the disbarment of a San Francisco lawyer who authorities say overcharged an elderly trust account client with advanced dementia, finding that he "repeatedly failed to uphold the most basic duties of an attorney" and is "unfit to serve as a member of the bar."

  • July 07, 2025

    Bar Urges NC Court To Affirm Exit From Shooting Suit

    A Charlotte-based bar told a North Carolina state appeals court that it bears no blame for a man's fatal shooting at another restaurant, arguing its staff couldn't have foreseen the attack even if they supposedly overserved the shooter hours earlier.

  • July 07, 2025

    Fla. Panel Upholds Tossing Suit To Unseat Miami Official

    A Florida state appellate court on Monday declined to reinstate a lawsuit two property developers filed in their effort to forcibly remove a Miami commissioner via the city's charter after a federal jury ruled he was liable for violating civil rights, saying the developers lacked standing. 

  • July 07, 2025

    Annoyed Fed. Circ. Judge Unsure Where To Land In Drug Row

    An irascible Federal Circuit judge chewed out both sides of the aisle Monday morning during arguments over a generic endocrine disorder drug, and although she accused one attorney of "beating a straw man to death," the judge said she still wasn't sure how she would decide the appeal.

  • July 07, 2025

    5th Circ. Says Apple Didn't Suppress Union In NYC

    The Fifth Circuit on Monday reversed the National Labor Relations Board's ruling that Apple illegally interrogated a leader of a Manhattan store organizing campaign and confiscated union flyers, saying the manager's questions were benign and the confiscations were routine tidying.

  • July 07, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Digs Into Domestic Industry For Apple Watch Appeal

    A Federal Circuit panel on Monday struggled with how to meet domestic industry requirements needed for the U.S. International Trade Commission to issue import bans, as it evaluated the agency's high-profile decision to keep certain Apple Watches out of the U.S.

  • July 07, 2025

    Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Says NLRB Can't Dictate Business

    The publisher of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette told the Third Circuit Monday that the National Labor Relations Board was impermissibly dictating business decisions for the struggling newspaper when it ruled the paper's contract proposals were unacceptable and made in bad faith.

  • July 07, 2025

    Ioengine Wants Fed. Circ. To Rethink IPR Estoppel Ruling

    Ioengine LLC on Monday urged the Federal Circuit to rethink a panel's decision backing a jury's invalidation of its flash drive patents for being publicly available, saying the decision would upend a balance meant to protect patent owners against repetitive legal attacks.

  • July 07, 2025

    11th Circ. Backs Fla. County In Firing Over Anti-Gay Blog

    The Eleventh Circuit has affirmed a lower court decision tossing a lawsuit brought by a former Miami-Dade County communications aide who was fired for authoring a transphobic and anti-gay blog post, ruling the county's interest in effectively fulfilling its responsibilities outweighed the aide's free speech rights.

  • July 07, 2025

    Progressive Gets Car Value Class Cert. Overturned At 3rd Circ.

    The Third Circuit on Monday reversed a lower court's decision to certify classes of Pennsylvania drivers who accuse Progressive Insurance units of breaching their contracts by systematically underestimating the actual cash value of their totaled cars, finding that the lower court misapplied the standard to determine whether common issues predominate.

  • July 07, 2025

    Biggest Illinois Decisions Of 2025 So Far: A Midyear Report

    State and federal courts have handed down rulings in Illinois cases so far this year that have clarified standing for data breach actions in the state's courts, affirmed coverage for attorney fees and costs paid as part of a settlement, and deemed insufficient a jury instruction frequently given in Illinois personal injury cases. Here's a breakdown of some of the biggest decisions courts have handed down in Illinois cases so far in 2025.

  • July 07, 2025

    Personal Injury & Med Mal Cases To Watch In 2nd Half Of 2025

    The social media addiction multidistrict litigation against the biggest tech companies and a U.S. Supreme Court case regarding state medical malpractice lawsuit requirements are among the cases injury and malpractice attorneys will be following closely in the second half of 2025.

  • July 07, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Ponders If PTAB Developments Save 'Veto' Rule Suit

    A Federal Circuit judge wondered Monday if developments concerning the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director's discretionary denial process could breathe new life into advocacy groups' fight for a "veto" for small business patent owners defending themselves at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. 

  • July 07, 2025

    11th Circ. Backs UBS' $6.5M Arbitration Win

    The Eleventh Circuit has rejected a Puerto Rican man's bid to vacate a roughly $6.5 million arbitration award given to UBS Financial Services Inc. that stems from a long-running account contract dispute, finding there was no misconduct in the proceedings.

  • July 07, 2025

    4th Circ. Revives SC Builder's Bid For Condo Repair Coverage

    A Charleston builder will get a second chance at recouping the money it spent repairing a condo complex that flooded after the Fourth Circuit on Monday partially vacated a pretrial win favoring its insurer, finding there are still unanswered questions about whether certain costs might be covered under its policy.

  • July 07, 2025

    Feds Tell 9th Circ. Ayahuasca Church Not Owed $2M In Fees

    Federal officials told the Ninth Circuit on Monday that a Phoenix-based church that reached an agreement with the government to use the psychedelic ayahuasca in religious ceremonies was not entitled to more than $2 million in attorney fees.

  • July 07, 2025

    Mich. Top Court Won't Hear COVID-19 Immunity Appeal

    A split Michigan Supreme Court has decided to leave in place an appellate panel's ruling that a state pandemic-response law shields a hospital from malpractice and negligence claims brought by a woman who was admitted for COVID-19-related stress, with dissenting justices saying they have concerns with the lower court's rationale.

  • July 07, 2025

    Texas Appeals Court Finds $50M Dubai Judgment Was Unfair

    A Texas appeals court has found that a $50 million judgment issued by a United Arab Emirates court system against executives who allegedly fled the country after committing fraud could not stand under state law, saying the UAE court system never provided the executives adequate notice.

  • July 07, 2025

    EPA, Enviro Orgs. Fight Over 'Big Bill's' Impact On Funding Case

    Green groups fighting to reclaim grant funding frozen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked the D.C. Circuit on Monday to reject the agency's argument that Congress's recent tax and policy bill means their lawsuit should be dismissed.

  • July 07, 2025

    8th Circ. Won't Rehear ND Tribe's Voting Rights Dispute

    The Eighth Circuit won't rehear a bid by two North Dakota tribes to overturn its decision that vacated their challenge to two of the state's voting laws after the panel found that provisions of the Voting Rights Act don't give private citizens the right to sue over dilution claims.

  • July 07, 2025

    Crypto Group, Treasury Drop 11th Circ. Tornado Cash Case

    Crypto think tank Coin Center Inc. and the U.S. government have ended their battle over the Biden-era blacklisting of Tornado Cash now that the U.S. Treasury Department has removed the crypto mixing service from its list of blocked entities and a federal judge has deemed the designation unlawful.

  • July 07, 2025

    Split 5th Circ. Upholds Block Of Texas' Migrant Arrest Law

    A split Fifth Circuit panel left intact a district court order blocking the enforcement of a Texas law that allows state officials to arrest people suspected of crossing the border unlawfully and empowers local judges to order their removal.

Expert Analysis

  • Cleanup Claim Characterization Key For Timeliness Inquiry

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    The Tenth Circuit's recent ruling in Atlantic Richfield Co. v. NL Industries, determining that ARCO's contribution claim was timely, highlights the importance of accurately characterizing a claim for recoupment of environmental cleanup costs as a cost-recovery action or contribution to avoid dismissal or recharacterization of the claim, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

  • A Judge's Pointers For Adding Spice To Dry Legal Writing

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    U.S. District Judge Fred Biery shares a few key lessons about how to go against the grain of the legal writing tradition by adding color to bland judicial opinions, such as by telling a human story and injecting literary devices where possible.

  • A Closer Look At Money Laundering Sentencing Issues

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    Federal money laundering cases are on the rise, often involving lengthy prison sentences for defendants who have little to no criminal history, but a closer look at the statistics and case law reveal some potentially valuable arguments that defense attorneys should keep in their arsenal, says Sarah Sulkowski at Gelber & Santillo.

  • Justices Likely To Issue Narrow Ruling In $1.3B Award Dispute

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    After last week's argument in Devas v. Antrix, the Supreme Court appears likely to reverse the holding that minimum contacts are required before a federal court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a foreign state and remand the case for further litigation on other important constitutional questions, say attorneys at Cleary. 

  • Pleading Rules At Stake In High Court Hamas Banking Case

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    While a case between victims of Hamas terrorist attacks and a Lebanese bank, recently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, appears to ask a narrow question of which civil procedure rules apply to requests to reopen final judgments, how the justices rule could drastically change pleading strategies for future plaintiffs, say attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney.

  • What's At Stake In High Court Transgender Care Suit

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    The outcome of U.S. v. Skrmetti will have critical implications for the rights of transgender youth and their access to gender-affirming care, and will likely affect other areas of law and policy involving transgender individuals, including education, employment, healthcare and civil rights, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Considerations As Trump Admin Continues To Curtail ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ

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    Recent sweeping moves from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new leadership have signaled a major shift in the agency's trajectory, and regulated entities should prepare for broader implications in both the near and long term, say attorneys at Pryor Cashman.

  • 6th Circ. Ruling Paves Path Out Of Loper Bright 'Twilight Zone'

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright ruling created a twilight zone between express statutory delegations that trigger agency deference and implicit ones that do not, but the Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in Moctezuma-Reyes v. Garland crafted a two-part test for resolving cases within this gray area, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • NCAA Rulings Signal Game Change For Athlete Classification

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    A Tennessee federal court's recent decision in Pavia v. NCAA adds to a growing call to consider classifying college athletes as employees under federal law, a change that would have unexpected, potentially prohibitive costs for schools, says J.R. Webster Cucovatz at Gilson Daub.

  • Copyright Ruling Could Extend US Terminations Worldwide

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    If upheld on appeal, Vetter v. Resnik, a recent ruling from a Louisiana federal court, could extend the geographical scope of U.S. copyright termination rights to foreign territories, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • Recent Cases Clarify FCA Kickback Pleading Standards

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    Two recently resolved cases involving pharmaceutical manufacturers may make it more difficult for False Claims Act defendants facing kickback scheme allegations to get claims dismissed for lack of evidence, say Li Yu at Bernstein Litowitz, Ellen London at London & Noar, and Gregg Shapiro at Gregg Shapiro Law.

  • Bankruptcy Ruling Provides Guidance On 363 Asset Sales

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    HE v. Avadim Holdings, a recent ruling from the District of Delaware, underscores the principle that rejection of executory contracts does not unwind completed transfers of property and the importance of clear and precise language in sale orders and asset purchase agreements in bankruptcy cases, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • FLSA Ruling Shows Split Over Court Approval Of Settlements

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    A Kentucky federal court's recent ruling in Bazemore v. Papa John's highlights a growing trend of courts finding they are not required, or even authorized, to approve private settlements releasing Fair Labor Standards Act claims, underscoring a jurisdictional split and open questions that practitioners need to grapple with, say attorneys at Vedder Price.

  • Dewberry Ruling Is A Wakeup Call For Trademark Owners

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dewberry v. Dewberry hones in on the question of how a defendant's affiliates' profits should be treated under the Lanham Act, and should remind trademark litigants and practitioners that issues involving monetary relief should be treated seriously, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • A Look At The Student Loan Case Pending At Supreme Court

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    The Trump administration is likely to drop the U.S. Supreme Court case of U.S. Department of Education v. Career Colleges and Schools of Texas after its review of the 2022 borrower defense to repayment rule, but any outcome will be significant for institutions participating in programs covered by Title IV of the Higher Education Act, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

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