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Appellate

  • July 30, 2025

    11th Circ. Revives Ga. Atty's Race Bias Suit Against State Bar

    The Eleventh Circuit has revived a Georgia attorney's suit accusing the state's bar association of racial bias, finding that a district court wrongly dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction.

  • July 30, 2025

    No Philly Clause Is Valid In Med Mal Case, Pa. Panel Says

    A Pennsylvania appellate panel said Wednesday that a contract a patient signed before surgery mandating that any legal actions must be heard in Bucks County is valid and enforceable, affirming a trial court's transfer of the medical malpractice suit from plaintiff-friendly Philadelphia County.

  • July 30, 2025

    NFT Trademark Ruling Highlights Free Speech Limits In Art

    In ruling that nonfungible tokens qualify as trademarks, the Ninth Circuit last week followed guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court that the First Amendment cannot always protect expressive marks from infringement.

  • July 30, 2025

    9th Circ. Upholds Life Sentences In Kidnapping Case

    The Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday that a man must continue to face two life sentences for his role in the kidnapping of a California medical marijuana dispensary owner who the kidnappers wrongly believed had $1 million buried in the Mojave Desert.

  • July 30, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Affirms Dumping Margin For Turkish Steel Products

    The Federal Circuit has affirmed a U.S. Court of International Trade ruling upholding an antidumping order on Turkish hot-rolled flat steel products from an exporter that failed to prove that the U.S. government's dumping rate determination was unlawful.

  • July 30, 2025

    6th Circ. Unsure It Can Toss Papa John's Leaked Audio Suit

    The Sixth Circuit grappled Wednesday with the fate of a lawsuit that the founder of Papa John's brought against a marketing agency alleging it leaked comments that led to his resignation, with one judge questioning the appellate court's jurisdiction to decide if a valid confidentiality agreement existed.

  • July 30, 2025

    Fla. RV Park's Suit Against Insurance Broker Revived

    A Florida appeals court on Wednesday revived a recreational vehicle park's claims that its insurance broker failed to get comprehensive insurance coverage and left the park owner on the hook for more than $1 million in hurricane damage to its RV hookup towers.

  • July 30, 2025

    9th Circ. Tells DOL To Hand Over Workforce Data To Reporters

    The Ninth Circuit said Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Labor must release federal contractor demographic reports to the Center for Investigative Reporting, backing a lower court's order that the data can't be concealed from the public under the concern that it contains commercial information.

  • July 30, 2025

    Mich. Appeals Panel Settles Split On Notice Rule Retroactivity

    A special Michigan Court of Appeals panel said on Tuesday that a state high court ruling enforcing a notice requirement for lawsuits against the state is retroactive, resolving a conflict within the intermediate appellate court and upholding the dismissal of a correction worker's suit.

  • July 30, 2025

    8th Circ. Tosses Ruling Striking Binding NEPA Regulations

    The Eighth Circuit has granted blue states' bid to vacate a ruling that faulted the White House Council on Environmental Quality for issuing binding regulations under the National Environmental Policy Act, following the Trump administration's decision to withdraw those regulations.

  • July 30, 2025

    Virgin Atlantic Avoids $1M Default In Food Poisoning Suit

    A California appeals court won't reinstate a $1 million default judgment against Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited in a suit by a man who alleged he got food poisoning on a flight, saying he did not properly serve the complaint on the company.

  • July 30, 2025

    Gas Co., Fired Exec Agree To End Stock Options Dispute

    A former executive agreed to resolve her lawsuit accusing a gas company of refusing to let her exercise millions of dollars' worth of stock options and then firing her for complaining, a filing in Virginia federal court said.

  • July 30, 2025

    Husband's Rape Conviction Upheld By Ohio Appeals Court

    An appeals court panel in Ohio has refused to overturn the conviction of a man accused of raping his wife, after the state's Supreme Court reversed an initial decision by the lower appellate court to vacate the conviction for lack of evidence.

  • July 30, 2025

    'Peace Promoter's' Bitcoin Sentencing Upheld At 1st Circ.

    A church founder and self-described "peace promoter" must serve an eight-year sentence, the First Circuit affirmed, rejecting his argument that the U.S. Department of the Treasury overstepped its bounds by charging him with tax evasion and a slew of other crimes tied to a Bitcoin operation he founded in 2014.

  • July 30, 2025

    Insurer Atty 'Error' Dooms Arbitration Bid In Fla. Injury Suit

    A Florida appellate court on Wednesday agreed with a trial court that a West Palm Beach prep school has abandoned its right to arbitrate cheerleading injury claims brought by a student by filing a response to the complaint, rejecting the school's argument that its insurer-provided lawyer was unauthorized to represent it.

  • July 30, 2025

    Justices Urged To OK Bankruptcy Courts As Tax Debt Venues

    Bankruptcy courts are authorized to decide the amount and legality of nondischargeable tax claims, an Indiana couple told the U.S. Supreme Court in a bid to overturn a Seventh Circuit ruling to the contrary.

  • July 30, 2025

    Calif. Tribe Says 70-Acre Casino Land Fight Must Continue

    The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria are fighting a bid by a fellow California tribe to pause their challenge to the U.S. Department of the Interior's decision to take 70 acres into trust for a casino project while a sovereign immunity order is appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

  • July 30, 2025

    Unauthorized Blood Draw Upends Fatal Crash Sentence In Pa.

    In a precedential ruling, the Pennsylvania Superior Court held that the rights of a man convicted of vehicular homicide while driving under the influence of alcohol were violated because hospital staff took it upon themselves to conduct a blood draw without a warrant from law enforcement.

  • July 30, 2025

    11th Circ. Considers If TCPA's Fax Provisions Are 'Procedural'

    A doctor who sued two medical providers for allegedly sending more than 14,000 unsolicited fax advertisements in 2022 urged the Eleventh Circuit to overturn a district court's denial of class certification, arguing the lower court wrongly found users of online fax services lack standing to sue under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. 

  • July 30, 2025

    Union Pension Fund Asks 8th Circ. To Strike GE's $230M Win

    A Missouri federal judge used the wrong approach when weighing GE's eligibility for a pension law exemption intended for construction employers, a union pension fund told the Eighth Circuit, saying the approach let GE skirt $230 million in pension obligations by painting an exaggerated picture of its construction employment.

  • July 30, 2025

    3rd Circ. Says Quote From Earlier Case Doesn't Nix Sentence

    A federal judge who gave a Dominican citizen a stiffer sentence after a second arrest improperly failed to warn the defendant that he would quote from the first sentencing, but the Third Circuit on Wednesday denied a do-over because the defendant didn't show that having notice would have changed the outcome.

  • July 30, 2025

    RJR Gets New Trial, Undoing $8.1M Engle Progeny Verdict

    A Florida appeals panel on Wednesday upended an $8.1 million judgment against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in an Engle progeny case, finding the trial court abused its discretion by instructing the jury on the Engle case's fraudulent concealment and conspiracy findings when this case did not involve those claims.

  • July 30, 2025

    Dem Senators Press 9th Circ. Pick On Gender Role Beliefs

    Eric Tung, a partner at Jones Day and nominee for the Ninth Circuit, faced questions from Democratic senators during his nomination hearing Wednesday about his views on gender roles, based on remarks he gave to the Yale Daily News in 2004, when he was in college.

  • July 30, 2025

    Housing Groups Want $30M Grant Case Kept In District Court

    A coalition of housing advocacy groups challenging the termination of $30 million in federal antidiscrimination grants asked the First Circuit on Wednesday to let the Massachusetts federal district court keep jurisdiction over the case, if only to keep it alive long enough to figure out next steps.

  • July 30, 2025

    4th Circ. Backs Farm Worker's $2.5M Award For Amputation

    The Fourth Circuit affirmed a $2.5 million jury verdict favoring a former North Carolina farm worker who lost his lower leg to a grain silo auger, finding the farm tried to raise new arguments on appeal that were never before the district court.

Expert Analysis

  • What Calif. Appeals Split Means For Litigating PAGA Claims

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    After two recent California state appeals court rulings diverged on whether a former employee with untimely individual claims under the Private Attorneys General Act can maintain a representative action, practitioners' strategic agility will be key to managing risk and achieving favorable outcomes in PAGA litigation, say attorneys at Buchalter.

  • Series

    Competing In Modern Pentathlon Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Opening myself up to new experiences through competing in modern Olympic pentathlon has shrunk the appearance of my daily work annoyances and helps me improve my patience, manage crises better and remember that acquiring new skills requires working through your early mistakes, says attorney Mary Zoldak.

  • NY Case Shows How LLC Agreements Can Be Amended

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    The New York Court of Appeals in Behler v. Tao recently held that a merger clause contained in an amended limited liability company agreement superseded and extinguished an alleged oral agreement between the parties, highlighting the importance of determining early how and when an LLC agreement may be amended, says Kerrin Klein at Olshan Frome.

  • If Justices Accept, Maxwell Case May Clarify Meaning Of 'US'

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    If the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to take up Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal, it could clarify the meaning of “United States” in the context of plea agreements, and a plain language interpretation of the term would offer criminal defendants fairness and finality, say attorneys at Kudman Trachten.

  • The State Of Play In Copyright Protection For Floor Plans

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    With questions over copyright protections for floor plans potentially teed up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys in the real estate industry should take steps to clarify and strengthen clients' rights and reduce the risk of litigation, says Dylan I. Scher at Quinn Emanuel.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Teaching Yourself Legal Tech

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    New graduates often enter practice unfamiliar with even basic professional software, but budding lawyers can use on-the-job opportunities to both catch up on technological skills and explore the advanced legal and artificial intelligence tools that will open doors, says Alyssa Sones at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Opinion

    Legacy Of 3 Justices Should Guide Transgender Rights Ruling

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    Three Republican-appointed U.S. Supreme Court justices — Anthony Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor and David Souter — gave rise to a jurisprudence of personal liberty that courts today invoke to protect gender-affirming care, and with the court now poised to decide U.S. v. Skrmetti, it must follow the path that they set, says Greg Fosheim at McDermott.

  • How IPR Estoppel Ruling May Clash With PTAB Landscape

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    Though the Federal Circuit's narrowing of inter partes review estoppel in Ingenico v. Ioengine might encourage more petitions, tougher standards for discretionary denial established by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office could be a counterbalancing factor, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Texas Ruling Emphasizes Limits Of Franchisors' Liability

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    The Texas Supreme Court's recent ruling in Massage Heights Franchising v. Hagman, holding that a franchisor was not liable to a customer for the actions of a franchisee's employee, helps clarify the relative roles and responsibilities of the parties in such situations — and the limits of franchisors' duty of care, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • How AI May Reshape The Future Of Adjudication

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    As discussed at a recent panel at Texas A&M, artificial intelligence will not erase the human element of adjudication in the next 10 to 20 years, but it will drive efficiencies that spur private arbiters to experiment, lead public courts to evolve and force attorneys to adapt, says Christopher Seck at Squire Patton.

  • Justices' Charter School Tie Delays Church-State Reckoning

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent deadlock in Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board v. Drummond, blocking the creation of the nation’s first religious charter school, preserved the separation of church and state for now, but offered little reassurance about its continued viability, says Jeffrey Sultanik at Fox Rothschild.

  • When Legal Advocacy Crosses The Line Into Incivility

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    As judges issue sanctions for courtroom incivility, and state bars advance formal discipline rules, trial lawyers must understand that the difference between zealous advocacy and unprofessionalism is not just a matter of tone; it's a marker of skill, credibility and potentially disciplinary exposure, says Nate Sabri at Perkins Coie.

  • Florida Case Could Redefine Construction Defect Damages

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    If a Florida appellate court overturns the trial court in a pending construction contract dispute, the state could experience a seismic shift in construction defect damages, effectively leaving homeowners and developers with an incomplete remedy, says Andrew Gold at Akerman.

  • 2 NY Rulings May Stem Foreign Co. Derivative Suits

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    In recent decades, shareholders have challenged the internal affairs doctrine by bringing a series of derivative actions in New York state court on behalf of foreign corporations, but the New York Court of Appeals' recent rulings in Ezrasons v. Rudd and Haussmann v. Baumann should slow that trend, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • 8th Circ. Ruling Highlights Complicated Remote Work Analysis

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    The Eighth Circuit’s recent opinion in Kuklenski v. Medtronic USA demonstrates that the applicability of employment laws to remote workers is often a fact-driven analysis, highlighting several parameters to consider when evaluating what state and local laws may apply to employees who work remotely, say attorneys at Vedder Price.

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