Weekly Brief: Patent Jury Awards, Law Firm Hiring, Scalia's Hat
Barely a month into 2026, and a California jury has delivered another massive verdict in an employment case, awarding $52 million to five former employees following a whistleblower retaliation trial in Los Angeles. (Williams...more
In ExxonMobil Corp. v. Brown, the Fourteenth Court of Appeals has continued appellate-court efforts to define the contours of proving and evaluating non-economic damages in Texas....more
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Legislature recently introduced House Bill No. 1913 that would permit attorneys to suggest to a judge or jury an “appropriate award for all past and future economic or noneconomic damages.”...more
The landscape surrounding Colorado’s healthcare malpractice damage caps continues to shift. Earlier this year, the Colorado General Assembly enacted wholesale changes to the Health Care Availability Act (HCAA). These changes...more
In Citgo Petroleum Corp. v. Ascot Underwriting Ltd., the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a $54 million jury award in favor of Citgo after agreeing with the lower court’s finding that Venezuela’s political conditions...more
Monthly newsletter Material Concerns: Legal Updates on Substances of Emerging Concern keeps clients informed on the latest legal, regulatory and scientific developments related to substances of emerging concern....more
An elementary school teacher shot by a six-year-old student was recently awarded $10 million in damages by a jury in Virginia, according to multiple reports. The case was brought against the former assistant principal, who...more
On October 21, a jury in West Palm Beach awarded $50M to one of the most revered and recognizable players in professional golf history, Jack Nicklaus. The award compensated Nicklaus for harm done to his reputation as a result...more
Jurisdiction: Calif. Super., Los Angeles Co. - Mae Moore’s three adult daughters Joy Moore, Kathryn Pratt and Carol Farquharson — by and through guardian Leslie Farquharson (collectively, the Moore family) — filed suit in...more
Ah, California: land of Hollywood, high-tech, empty ocean roads, and—all too often these days—eye-popping jury verdicts. Employment litigation in California now rivals the state lottery as a source of multimillion-dollar...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed the District of Delaware’s (1) exclusion of a patent owner’s damages expert’s testimony and (2) reduction of a $10 million jury award to $1. Rex Medical, L.P. v....more
Rex Medical, L.P. v. Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Appeal Nos. 2024-1072, -1125 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 2, 2025) In this week’s Case of the Week, Rex Medical, L.P. (“Rex”) appeals from a decision out of the U.S. District Court for...more
In a recent federal court case, McCormick v. Chicago Transit Authority, a former transit employee won a jury trial and $300,000 in damages (the maximum award permitted for the claims at issue) when he successfully argued that...more
Plaintiff Richard Long brought this suit against multiple defendants, including John Crane, after being diagnosed with biphasic pleural mesothelioma in January 2023. Long worked at the Dillingham ship repair yard on Swan...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reinstated a jury’s lost profits and breach damages awards that the district court set aside during post-trial proceedings, finding that sufficient evidence supported the awards....more
A nearly decade-long legal battle in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois recently concluded with a significant jury verdict, underscoring the potentially severe consequences of trade secret theft...more
New York’s two-year 2025-2026 legislative session hit its midpoint in June, with lawmakers wrapping up the first year by passing a slew of workplace-related bills that now await action from Governor Hochul. As federal labor...more
A Supreme Court decision in April made it easier for plaintiffs to keep ERISA prohibited transaction claims in play longer, and just days later a rare ERISA trial resulted in a huge win for a class of 401(k) plan...more
The Georgia legislature has passed a sweeping tort reform package aimed at reducing litigation costs, curbing excessive jury awards, and increasing transparency in civil lawsuits in Georgia state and superior courts....more
Public companies can face significant liability based on past operations. While most industrial companies have long-term experience evaluating potential remediation obligations imposed by laws such as the federal...more
A Massachusetts jury found that a Boston hospital retaliated against a former employee – but a court ruling just capped the plaintiff’s attorney fee recovery at less than half of what she sought. Why? Because the employer...more
After receiving a jury verdict awarding $452 million in damages against a rival company for misappropriation of trade secrets, the prevailing party, Insulet Corp., may have to choose between portions of the damages award or...more
The house doesn’t always win—a federal jury awarded nearly $25 million in damages to a class of consumers in Washington State after a district court in Larsen v. PTT, LLC determined that certain “social casino” games operated...more
The Georgia General Assembly convened on January 13, 2025, marking the start of what is expected to be a pivotal year for tort reform in the state. With Governor Brian Kemp and legislative leaders making legal system reforms...more
Perhaps one of the most quintessential concerns for corporate defendants in the last decade is that of nuclear verdicts. In just a decade, from 2013 to 2022, there were 115 verdicts of $100 million or more. The Institute for...more