Overseeing The Texas Pattern Jury Charges | Judge Dan Hinde | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Coffin v. Carbon County Animal Shelter, 2025 WL 2048561 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2025) - When the plaintiff, a volunteer at the dog shelter, arrived at the shelter, a dog on a leash jumped up. The plaintiff moved away and told an...more
When a case involves electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), one might think it originated out of the Twilight Zone. Despite the misrepresentation of such therapies in popular media, modern ECT serves as a valuable option for...more
In March 2023, House Bill 837 was signed into law, passing sweeping tort reform aimed at bringing balance to Florida’s tort litigation. The bill was intended to fix what many in Florida saw as a broken system by reducing the...more
Sanctions were imposed on plaintiff for breach of the duty to preserve certain communications in Cooper v. Balt. Gas & Elec. Co., 2025 WL 2774847 (D. Md. Sep. 30, 2025)(Rubin, J.)....more
U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals - Watkins v. Davis - § 1983, qualified immunity - USA v. Leahy - race-based intimidation, constitutional challenge, instructions - USA v. Schmitz -search and seizure - ...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a district court judgment, finding that the plaintiff failed to sufficiently prove damages for its copyright claim, the jury instructions accurately applied the...more
In White v. White, an income beneficiary of a trust was retained to manage ranch property. 704 S.W.3d 250 (Tex. App.—El Paso 2024, no pet.). He later became trustee of the trust and ratified his employment and the employment...more
Experienced litigators often describe successful trial preparation as a process that begins with identifying desired outcome, followed by “reverse engineering” the constituent parts of the desired result....more
Janik v. Zoological Society of Philadelphia, 2025 Pa. Super. 90 (Pa. Super. Apr. 22, 2025) - The Superior Court of Pennsylvania affirmed an order granting a new trial, as the jury was not instructed on the open and obvious...more
U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals - USA v. Zayas - currency transaction report, filing - Cunningham v. Cobb - § 1983, qualified immunity...more
Apple has escaped a $300 million patent infringement verdict after a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated both the infringement and damages judgment because of faulty jury...more
This LawFlash details strategic takeaways and practical lessons from the recent US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit case on IPR estoppel, evidence of public use, and jury instructions on specific issues....more
The line between lawful parental discipline and criminal conduct can be a legal tightrope—especially when the Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCP&P) is involved. The recent Appellate Division decision in State v....more
U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals - Albert v. Ass’n of Anti-Money Laundering - ADA, § 309 - NRA v. Bondi - firearms, sales to minors, young adults, constitutional challenges - Org of Prof Aviculturists v. FDLA...more
Three years of law school can teach us many things. But what they do not do very well—as we typically discover soon after graduating—is prepare us for the actual practice of law. For those of us who always planned to be...more
U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals - USA v. Simmons - playing video in closings - Nehme v. Fla Int’l Univ Bd of Trustees - ADA, medical school - USA v. Graham - RICO saga, search and seizure, jury selection,...more
Finding errors in the lower court’s jury instructions and evidentiary rulings, the Virginia’s Court of Appeals struck down a $2 billion trade secrets award, the largest trade secrets verdict in the state’s history. Despite...more
The Supreme Court of Virginia taught appellate practitioners yet another hard lesson in how procedural pitfalls can scuttle otherwise compelling appeals. In Eckard v. Commonwealth, the pitfall was failing to get the complete...more
Sometimes in civil cases, the plaintiff’s liability claim is opportunistic, wishful, or factually weak. Other times, it is real. Someone didn’t do their job, a danger was missed, or — in that Olympic champion of passive-voice...more
Last month, in Jane Doe v. Alkiviades David, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury returned a verdict in a sexual assault and harassment case in the amount of $900 million. This verdict is one of the largest ever for a...more
A Fairfax County, Virginia, jury in May 2022 found that Pegasystems Inc. (Pegasystems) misappropriated trade secrets from its competitor, Appian Corp. (Appian), and awarded Appian more than $2 billion in damages – the largest...more
The June 4, 2024 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Sidibe v. Sutter Health marks a potential shift in how rule of reason antitrust cases are approached and adjudicated. The opinion underscores the significance of...more
Over ten years ago, individuals and businesses insured by health plans that contract with Sutter Health filed a class action lawsuit against Sutter Health alleging antitrust violations under federal and California laws....more
The criminal trial of former President Trump in New York state court reminds experienced practitioners of some of the big issues that white-collar defense attorneys wrestle with as a trial comes to an end. The jury and the...more
The use of special interrogatories given to juries to render verdicts has been said to be “admittedly fraught with many pitfalls in the potential conflicts between the general verdict and the interrogatories,” and is “nothing...more