Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Appellate
-
August 28, 2025
Sonos Gets Fed. Circ. To Revive IP From $33M Google Verdict
A California federal judge wrongly invalidated claims of Sonos Inc. speaker patents after its $32.5 million jury trial win over Google LLC, the Federal Circuit said Thursday as it largely reversed the judge's holding.
-
August 28, 2025
Tribal Members Seek 5th Circ. Redo In San Antonio Park Row
Two members of a Native American church are asking the Fifth Circuit to rehear its appeal, which looks to block the restoration of a San Antonio park, saying that if left uncorrected, the opinion will leave religious believers vulnerable and sow confusion among district courts.
-
August 28, 2025
Drug Use, Crimes Not Reasons To Escape $760K Bite Judgment
An Indiana appeals court on Thursday refused to vacate a $760,000 default judgment against a woman who was sued for failing to supervise her dog when it mauled a neighbor, saying that the drug use and criminal proceedings she blames for missing notice of the suit are not excusable neglect.
-
August 28, 2025
9th Circ. Reinstates Copyright Suit Over Liturgical Song
The Ninth Circuit has revived a copyright suit by a songwriter who claimed that elements of his liturgical song were copied by a Christian songwriter, ruling that even though some evidence was rightly excluded, there were still triable elements to the case.
-
August 28, 2025
Ill. High Court Says Murder Case Can't Be Given To New Judge
A divided Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that appeals courts in the state are not allowed under the high court's rules to send cases back to trial with instructions to reassign the case to a new judge without proving either bias or prejudice from the prior judge.
-
August 28, 2025
Ga.'s Chief Justice Warns Of AI's Risks To Trial Evidence
As generative artificial intelligence tools have become widely accessible, Georgia's chief justice said Thursday he's worried about how the technology can be used to manipulate and distort evidence presented in court and what the judiciary can do to prevent that.聽
-
August 28, 2025
1st Circ. OKs Terminating Ex-Pharma VP's Disability Benefits
The First Circuit said Synta Pharmaceuticals' benefits administrator may terminate the benefits of a former executive after deeming that his significant weight loss, six-day-a-week pickleball hobby, and travels to far-flung places like Africa showed he was no longer disabled.
-
August 28, 2025
PBGC Must Reconsider Bakery Union's $132M Bailout Bid
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. must formally reexamine whether union bakery drivers can collect $132 million from a federal pension rescue program, a New York federal judge said Thursday after lifting a stay on the order following the Second Circuit's decision to reject the agency's聽rehearing bid.
-
August 28, 2025
Fla. Justices Reject Carole Baskin's Defamation Appeal
The Florida Supreme Court declined Thursday to take up the appeal of a decision reviving defamation claims against "Tiger King" star Carole Baskin over statements on YouTube claiming her missing husband's former assistant embezzled $600,000.
-
August 28, 2025
Fed. Circ. Won't Upend Toss Of Flu Vaccine Injury Claim
The Federal Circuit won't revive a man's vaccine injury claim after it was rejected by a special master at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, finding the decision that his injuries were caused by a separate infection was not arbitrary or capricious.
-
August 27, 2025
DOJ Throws Lifeline To J&J At 3rd Circ. After $1.6B FCA Loss
A district judge made multiple errors in an opinion and jury instructions underpinning a staggering False Claims Act verdict tied to Johnson & Johnson's drug marketing practices, and a fresh look is needed "under a correct view of the law," the U.S. Department of Justice told the Third Circuit on Wednesday.
-
August 27, 2025
2nd Circ. Says Afghan Central Bank Immune From Attachment
A divided Second Circuit panel upheld a lower court's decision rejecting plaintiffs' attempt to confirm a prejudgment attachment order concerning "blocked" funds held by the Afghan central bank, holding that the funds are immune from seizure under federal law.
-
August 27, 2025
DC Circ. Told Quick Removals For Parolees Rightly Blocked
The D.C. Circuit should not allow the Trump administration to "destroy" the promise that the federal government made to immigrant parolees during the Biden administration by subjecting them to expedited removal, an advocacy group told the appellate court.
-
August 27, 2025
Quinn Emanuel Fights Uphill To Collect On LA's $280K Bill
A Quinn Emanuel聽Urquhart & Sullivan LLP attorney on criticized a California appellate panel's tentative ruling affirming a court's order that the firm cannot collect roughly $280,000 in legal bills from Los Angeles County, saying聽Wednesday it gives "short shift" to the firm's arguments and "myopically" misses "the forest for the trees, frankly."
-
August 27, 2025
Pipe Importer Wants $26M Fraud Ruling Paused For Appeal
A New Jersey-based pipe importer asked the Ninth Circuit to pause a decision affirming a $26 million fraud judgment entered against it for making false statements on customs forms to avoid paying tariffs while it appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.
-
August 27, 2025
3rd Circ. Backs Special Master In NFL Concussion Fee Fight
The Third Circuit on Wednesday upheld a lower court decision that rejected awarding a law firm $3,000 in fees for representing a retired NFL player in his concussion injury litigation against the league, finding a special master properly applied Pennsylvania's lien law.
-
August 27, 2025
Ameritas Urges Ga. Justices To Void 'Life Wager' Policy
Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. urged the Supreme Court of Georgia Wednesday to hold that a trust that purchased a woman's investor-backed life insurance policy years after it was written can't collect after her death, warning the court that allowing the trust to do so would provoke "a run" of third-party policies in the state.
-
August 27, 2025
4th Circ. Upholds Va. County's 'Sensitive Places' Gun Bans
The Fourth Circuit on Wednesday upheld a Virginia county's ban on guns in public parks and left in place its ban near county-permitted events, leaning on U.S. Supreme Court dicta on school gun bans and ruling that plaintiffs hadn't shown enough to sustain their facial challenge to the restrictions.
-
August 27, 2025
2nd Circ. Partially Revives Suit Over Peloton COVID-19 Sales
A split Second Circuit panel Wednesday聽revived a shareholder suit accusing聽Peloton of intentionally misleading investors to believe that its pandemic-era聽spike in demand was sustainable, finding that three statements at issue in the complaint are actionable.
-
August 27, 2025
MSN Warns Justices Of 'Double Standard' In Entresto Appeal
MSN Pharmaceuticals is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to step in after the Federal Circuit barred its generic version of Novartis' blockbuster cardiovascular drug Entresto, saying the circuit court used a broad construction of the patent to find infringement and a narrow version to uphold validity.
-
August 27, 2025
Hospice Care Co. Can't Duck Claims It Covered Up Death
A Texas appeals court has thrown out wrongful death and negligence claims against a hospice care provider in a suit alleging its employees are liable for a man's death from fentanyl overdose, but allowed claims that they covered up the cause of death by falsifying patient records to proceed.
-
August 27, 2025
Ex-Software Co. Execs' Win Upheld In Retirement Plan Fight
The Eleventh Circuit聽has ruled software company聽NCR Corp.'s聽"top hat" retirement plans didn't allow聽the company to issue lump-sum payments to plan participants as alternatives to promised life annuities, affirming聽former company executives' win in the contract breach suit alleging they were shortchanged payouts from the plans.
-
August 27, 2025
Negligence Suit Over Arrest On Stale Warrant Gets New Life
A Fourth Circuit panel Wednesday vacated a South Carolina county clerk's summary judgment win against allegations that her negligence resulted in a man being arrested twice over the same unpaid child support dispute, kicking the case back to trial court for new proceedings.
-
August 27, 2025
7th Circ. Denies Alcoa's Bid To Stay Health Benefits Injunction
An aluminum manufacturer must comply with an injunction ordering it to reinstate union-represented retirees' healthcare benefits while it argues in court that it was allowed to transition them to health reimbursement accounts in 2021, the Seventh Circuit held, rejecting the company's request for the court to pause the injunction.
-
August 27, 2025
Investors Push 4th Circ. To Revive Auto Parts Fraud Suit
Investors who accused Advanced Auto Parts and its top brass of misleading them about the failure of a new pricing strategy and purposefully inflating the impact of price reductions have urged the Fourth Circuit to revive their suit, arguing that they can't downplay the allegedly false accounting as insignificant, among other things.
Expert Analysis
-
Supreme Court's Criminal Law Decisions: The Term In Review
Though the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 criminal law decisions in its recently concluded term proved underwhelming by many measures, their opinions revealed trends in how the justices approach criminal cases and offered reminders for practitioners, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.
-
Opinion
The Legal Education Status Quo Is No Longer Tenable
As underscored by the fallout from California鈥檚 February bar exam, legal education and licensure are tethered to outdated systems, and the industry must implement several key reforms to remain relevant and responsive to 21st century legal needs, says Matthew Nehmer at The Colleges of Law.
-
2nd Circ. Reinforces Consensus On Vacating Foreign Awards
In Molecular Dynamics v. Spectrum Dynamics Medical, the Second Circuit recently affirmed that federal district courts do not possess subject matter jurisdiction to vacate foreign arbitral awards, strengthening this consensus across the circuits most active in recognition and enforcement actions, says Ed Mullins at Reed Smith.
-
What Dismissal Rulings May Mean For ERISA Forfeiture Cases
Following an influx of Employee Retirement Income Security Act class actions challenging the long-standing practice of plan sponsors using plan forfeitures to offset employer contributions, recent motion to dismiss rulings and a U.S. Department of Labor amicus brief may encourage more courts to reject plaintiffs' forfeiture theories, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
-
Justices' Age Verification Ruling May Lead To More State Laws
The U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 recent Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton ruling, permitting a Texas law requiring certain websites to verify users鈥 ages, significantly expands states' ability to regulate minors鈥 social media access, further complicating the patchwork of internet privacy laws, say attorneys at Troutman.
-
E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Relevance Redactions
In recent cases addressing redactions that parties sought to apply based on the relevance of information 鈥 as opposed to considerations of privilege 鈥 courts have generally limited a party鈥檚 ability to withhold nonresponsive or irrelevant material, providing a few lessons for discovery strategy, say attorneys at Sidley.
-
Opinion
Section 1983 Has Promise After End Of Nationwide Injunctions
After the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down the practice of nationwide injunctions in Trump v. Casa, Section 1983 civil rights suits can provide a better pathway to hold the government accountable 鈥 but this will require reforms to qualified immunity, says Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice.
-
Reel Justice: 'Oh, Hi!' Teaches Attys To Return To The Statute
The new dark comedy film 鈥淥h, Hi!鈥 鈥 depicting a romantic vacation that turns into an inadvertent kidnapping 鈥 should remind criminal practitioners to always reread the statute to avoid assumptions, meet their ethical duties and finesse their trial strategy, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University School of Law.
-
Patent Ambiguity Persists After Justices Nix Eligibility Appeal
The Supreme Court recently declined to revisit the contentious framework governing patent eligibility by denying certiorari in Audio Evolution Diagnostics v. U.S., suggesting a necessary recalibration of both patent application and litigation strategies, say attorneys at Skadden.
-
Justices' Decision Axing Retiree's ADA Claim Offers Clarity
The U.S. Supreme Court's holding in Stanley v. City of Sanford that protections under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act don't extend to retirees potentially limits liability by giving employers additional support to challenge complaints, and highlights the need for proactive policy management to mitigate risk, say attorneys at Jackson Lewis.
-
Fed. Circ. In June: Transitional Phrases In Patent Claims
The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Eye Therapies v. Slayback Pharma takes on the rarely addressed topic of transitional phrases in patent claims, providing some useful lessons regarding restating claim language and broadly distinguishing prior art, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.
-
Series
Playing Soccer Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Soccer has become a key contributor to how I approach my work, and the lessons I鈥檝e learned on the pitch about leadership, adaptability, resilience and communication make me better at what I do every day in my legal career, says Whitney O鈥橞yrne at MoFo.
-
What To Do When Congress And DOJ Both Come Knocking
As recently seen in the news, clients may find themselves facing parallel U.S. Department of Justice and congressional investigations, requiring a comprehensive response that considers the different challenges posed by each, say attorneys at Friedman Kaplan.
-
Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Learning From Failure
While law school often focuses on the importance of precision, correctness and perfection, mistakes are inevitable in real-world practice 鈥 but failure is not the opposite of progress, and real talent comes from the ability to recover, rethink and reshape, says Brooke Pauley at Tucker Ellis.
-
Eye Drop Ruling Clarifies Importance Of Patent Phrasing
The Federal Circuit's recent ruling in Eye Therapies v. Slayback, rejecting the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's interpretation of "consisting essentially of," highlights the importance of using clear and consistent terms throughout a patent's filing history to shield it against future challenges, says Liliana Di Nola-Baron at Panitch Schwarze.