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Appellate
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August 06, 2025
US Asks High Court To Decide If Drug Users Can Have Guns
The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve "a four-way circuit conflict" over whether it is legal to prevent users of drugs including marijuana, which has been legalized in some fashion in the vast majority of states, from possessing firearms.
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August 06, 2025
9th Circ. Backs SEC's No-Denials Settlements Rule
The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday rejected a First Amendment challenge to a decades-old U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule that restricts defendants who settle securities law charges from denying the claims against them, saying the law has "long regarded the voluntary relinquishment of constitutional rights as permissible" with safeguards.
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August 06, 2025
Family Says Court Must Face Bias Suit Over Witness Killing
The father of a pregnant woman from Las Vegas who was fatally shot after traveling to Asheville to testify in a capital murder case urged the North Carolina Court of Appeals to restore his case against the state's court administrative office, arguing it was not time-barred.
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August 06, 2025
Ark. Prisoners Challenge Nitrogen Gas Execution Law
Ten Arkansas death row inmates have challenged a new law authorizing their execution by nitrogen gas, arguing the law is unconstitutional because it violates the state's separation of powers doctrine, an attorney confirmed to Law360.
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August 06, 2025
Vivint Asks 4th Circ. To Rethink Affirming $190M TM Verdict
Vivint Smart Home Inc. is looking for a do-over after the Fourth Circuit affirmed a nearly $190 million verdict in a suit accusing it of deceiving customers of a rival security company, saying the ruling flouts North Carolina's cap on punitive damages and ignores state appellate precedence.
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August 06, 2025
NJ Panel Backs Jury Verdict For Law Firm In $244K Fee Row
A New Jersey appellate panel on Wednesday upheld a jury verdict in favor of the New York-based law firm Weg & Myers PC in a breach-of-contract action brought by a former client, finding no abuse of discretion or prejudicial error by the judge.
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August 06, 2025
7th Circ. Adopts Flexible Standard For Collective Actions
The Seventh Circuit in a discrimination case against Eli Lilly & Co. laid out a new standard for certifying collective actions, joining the Fifth and Sixth circuits in departing from a two-step analysis courts had used for decades but taking a more middle-of-the-road approach.
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August 06, 2025
2nd Circ. Backs J&J Spinoff In 'Rapid Release' Label Suit
The Second Circuit on Wednesday declined to revive a proposed class action alleging a Johnson & Johnson spinoff company misled consumers by claiming that "Rapid Release" Tylenol gelcaps dissolve faster than other types of Tylenol.
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August 06, 2025
Russia Says It Never Agreed To Arbitrate With Ukrainian Utility
Russia has asked the D.C. Circuit to overturn a decision ordering it to face litigation by a Ukrainian utility to enforce a nearly $219 million arbitral award the company won after its Crimean assets were seized, saying it never agreed to arbitrate with the company.
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August 06, 2025
7th Circ. Revives Ex-Teacher's Suit Over Trans Student Names
A split Seventh Circuit panel reinstated a religious bias suit from a Christian teacher who alleged that a school district unlawfully required him to refer to transgender students by their preferred names, with a dissent warning that the ruling created a "perilous precedent" for employers.
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August 06, 2025
10th Circ. Partly Revives Ex-Sales Head's Client List Case
A split panel of the Tenth Circuit partially revived a case from a sales executive against his former employer who claims the company took a customer list, saying the executive had improperly been barred from offering expert testimony on his lost wages.
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August 05, 2025
5th Circ. Wipes Out Honeywell Win In Worker's Vaccine Fight
The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday resurrected a former Honeywell employee's suit claiming he was fired for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine after his request for a religious exemption was denied, ruling that a jury could indeed determine that the worker faced religious discrimination.
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August 05, 2025
Key Opioid Theory Actually Irrelevant, Drug Cos. Tell 4th Circ.
With federal judges in West Virginia suddenly split over the central legal theory in opioid litigation, major drug distributors are insisting the theory actually doesn't matter, telling the Fourth Circuit it can uphold their triumph in a landmark trial without even touching the hot-button issue.
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August 05, 2025
Biz Prof's Pay Based On Experience, Not Bias, 6th Circ. Told
Michigan Technological University told the Sixth Circuit on Monday that a former accounting professor was paid less than her husband because he had more teaching experience and better evaluations, urging the court to reject her appeal challenging the dismissal of pay disparity claims and racial or gender discrimination.
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August 05, 2025
Walmart's $2.6M Fall Injury Verdict Not Excessive, Court Affirms
A California appeals court has affirmed a $2.6 million award in a suit accusing Walmart of causing a customer's devastating hamstring injury in a fall, saying the verdict was not excessive given the evidence.
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August 05, 2025
USPTO Urges Fed. Circ. To End Motorola's Fintiv Appeal
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office stood by its acting leader's decision to shut down Motorola's challenge to various Stellar patents at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, saying all of Motorola's appellate arguments at the Federal Circuit should be rejected.
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August 05, 2025
5th Circ. Says Texas Voter ID Law Is Legally Sound
A Fifth Circuit panel upheld a Texas law that requires voters to provide an identification number when voting by mail, finding the law complies with the Civil Rights Act and that the state designed it to combat mail-in ballot fraud.
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August 05, 2025
Fired NCUA Officials Urge DC Circ. To Return Them To Board
Two top credit union regulators fired by President Donald Trump are asking the D.C. Circuit to let them go back to work while it reviews a lower-court decision reinstating them, arguing their service is needed to prevent a painful impending snapback in interest-rate limits for federal credit unions.
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August 05, 2025
Fed. Circ. Presses Brita On Bid To Revive Water Filter Patent
A Federal Circuit panel Tuesday questioned Brita LP's effort to reverse a U.S. International Trade Commission decision that a water filter patent is invalid, suggesting the patent describes little more than an unpredictable scientific formula.
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August 05, 2025
Ex-USPTO Heads, Judges Oppose Anti-Patent Thicket Bill
A pro-innovation group composed of former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officials and former Federal Circuit judges on Tuesday asked Congress to oppose a bill introduced last month that would limit so-called patent thickets used by pharmaceutical companies to restrict the production of generic counterparts to their drugs.
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August 05, 2025
Fed. Circ. Panel Feeling Deja Vu In Hoverboard IP Case
A Federal Circuit panel had little support for the owner of hoverboard design patents Tuesday, as the judges said much of its noninfringement appeal relies on concerns addressed in a prior appellate decision.
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August 05, 2025
Fed. Circ. Partly Revives Solar Panel Safety Patent Challenge
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday said the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has to take another look at one of renewable energy industry trade group SunSpec Alliance's arguments in its challenge to claims of a patent on safeguards for solar panels.
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August 05, 2025
10th Circ. Says No Signature Needed In Asylum Appeal
The Tenth Circuit on Tuesday revived a Salvadoran family's appeal of an immigration judge's denial of their asylum claim, ruling that the Board of Immigration Appeals wrongly rejected it over a missing signature that wasn't legally required.
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August 05, 2025
UBH Patients Score Partial Win In Mental Health Claims Fight
A California federal judge handed a partial win Tuesday to a class of participants in employee health benefit plans who sought coverage for mental health and substance use disorder treatments from United Behavioral Health, holding the company's overly restrictive guidelines breached fiduciary duties under federal benefits law.
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August 05, 2025
Fed. Hazmat Law Doesn't Bar Negligence Suit, 2nd Circ. Says
A Connecticut federal judge was wrong to find that the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act preempted a propane company's common-law negligence and recklessness claims over damage it suffered from a heating oil spill, the Second Circuit ruled Tuesday in restoring a lawsuit seeking more than $500,000 to cover remediation costs.
Expert Analysis
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What To Watch For As High Court Mulls NRC's Powers
If successful, Texas’ challenges to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s authority — recently heard by the U.S. Supreme Court and currently pending before a Texas federal court — may have serious adverse consequences for aspiring NRC licensees, including potential nuclear power plant operators, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.
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Series
Adapting To Private Practice: From NY Fed To BigLaw
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.
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Calif. Smoke Claim Ruling Gives Insurers Support On Denials
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.
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Cos. Face Enviro Justice Tug-Of-War Between States, Feds
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.
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Top 3 Litigation Finance Deal-Killers, And How To Avoid Them
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.
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5th Circ. Ruling Is Latest Signal Of Shaky Qui Tam Landscape
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.
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How Attys Can Use A Therapy Model To Help Triggered Clients
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.
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Tracking The Evolution Of Liability Management Exercises
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.
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Navigating Florida's Bad Faith Reforms After Appellate Ruling
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.
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3 Steps For In-House Counsel To Assess Litigation Claims
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.
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Series
Teaching College Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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.
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A New Tool For Assessing Kickback Risks In Health Marketing
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.
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Maximizing Employer Defenses After Calif. Meal Waiver Ruling
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.
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Series
Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Enviro To Mid-Law
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.
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Independent Contractor Rule Up In The Air Under New DOL
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.