Civil Procedure

Religious-liberty training order likely violates lawyers’ constitutional rights, 5th Circuit says

In-house lawyers for Southwest Airlines would “likely suffer a violation of their constitutional rights” if they had to comply with a judge’s order for religious-liberty training taught by Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy group, a federal appeals court said Friday.

Jun 10, 2024 10:33 AM CDT

Proposal to impose nation’s most restrictive cap on contingency fees may appear on ballot, judge rules

A judge in Nevada has refused to block a ballot measure that would impose a 20% cap on contingency fees in civil cases in the state.

May 15, 2024 9:29 AM CDT

Ice cream lover ‘stated her case for pistachio pretention,’ federal judge says in refusing to toss suit

A federal judge has allowed a disappointed pistachio ice cream consumer to proceed with her deceptive-practices case against the corporation that owns Cold Stone Creamery.

May 13, 2024 10:00 AM CDT

Trump again found in contempt for violating gag, threatened with jail

A judge ruled Monday that Donald Trump again violated his gag order in the New York hush money trial, and he warned the former president that he would consider jailing Trump if the violations continue.

May 6, 2024 2:20 PM CDT

Which judges are most likely to issue nationwide injunctions? Party of appointing president makes a difference

Fifty-nine out of the 64 nationwide injunctions blocking Trump administration policies were issued by judges appointed by Democratic presidents, according to a study in the Harvard Law Review.

Apr 12, 2024 9:25 AM CDT

Norfolk Southern reaches $600 million settlement in East Palestine lawsuit

Norfolk Southern announced Tuesday that it had agreed to a $600 million settlement to resolve a string of lawsuits the railroad faced after last year’s train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, a resolution that lawyers say could help thousands of affected residents.

Apr 10, 2024 3:00 PM CDT

David Boies can’t ignore clients’ liability releases by ‘simply invoking’ name ‘Epstein,’ sanctions bid says

Co-executors of the estate of convicted sex offender and multimillionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein are seeking sanctions against two Boies Schiller Flexner leaders for filing a proposed class action lawsuit against them, even though the lead plaintiff and other victims had signed “ironclad” liability releases in return for “massive monetary payouts.”

Apr 10, 2024 12:35 PM CDT

‘Venue is not a continental breakfast’ judge forced to eat his words after 5th Circuit blocks transfer

A federal judge in Texas who declared that “venue is not a continental breakfast,” allowing litigants to pick and choose where to file a lawsuit, should not have transferred a case to Washington, D.C., a federal appeals court has ruled.

Apr 9, 2024 2:13 PM CDT

New York prison will let inmates go outdoors to view eclipse after lawsuit

Six New York prison inmates who sued the state’s corrections department over a planned lockdown that would have forced them indoors during Monday’s solar eclipse will be allowed to view the celestial phenomenon outside under a settlement agreement, their attorneys announced Thursday.

Apr 8, 2024 9:00 AM CDT

Court clears path for reopening antitrust probe of Realtors group

A federal court cleared the way Friday for the Justice Department to reopen an antitrust probe into the National Association of Realtors and its rules regarding home sale commissions.

Apr 5, 2024 2:00 PM CDT

Inmates in New York are suing to be allowed to see the solar eclipse

New York inmates are suing the state over its plan to lockdown prisons during next week’s solar eclipse, alleging that in barring them from viewing the rare phenomenon, the corrections department is stripping them of their constitutional right to exercise their religion.

Apr 3, 2024 10:30 AM CDT

Trump ramps up attacks on judges, sparking concerns as criminal trial nears

Former President Donald Trump is ramping up efforts to disparage judges overseeing his criminal and civil cases—reprising a long-standing strategy as a high-profile trial draws near and prompting growing concerns from legal experts and an expanded gag order late Monday.

Apr 2, 2024 2:45 PM CDT

Blaming Word setting for overlong briefs is ‘somewhat hard to believe,’ federal judge says as she tosses footnotes

A setting in Microsoft Word is to blame for a failure to include footnotes in word counts for briefs filed on behalf of online casino provider High 5 Games, its lawyers told a federal judge in fighting a bid for sanctions.

Apr 1, 2024 11:42 AM CDT

‘Venue Is Not a Continental Breakfast’: Judge transfers case as district declares it won’t adopt anti-‘judge shopping’ policy

The federal courts in the Northern District of Texas won’t implement a new policy that aims to curb "judge shopping" by randomly assigning some civil cases filed in single-judge divisions to judges throughout the district.

Apr 1, 2024 10:18 AM CDT

Civil legal aid lawyers are often the last line of defense. Why are there so few of them?

As the 2023 ABA Profile of the Legal Profession reveals, civil legal aid lawyers are in short supply across the United States. According to the 142-page report, even though there are 1.3 million lawyers in the U.S., nationwide there are still only 10,000 paid civil legal aid lawyers, or about three for every 10,000 people in poverty.

Apr 1, 2024 3:00 AM CDT