Every decision we've summarized — searchable, filterable, neutral.
The Seventh Circuit held that a 2024 Illinois amendment to the Biometric Information Privacy Act applies retroactively to pending cases. The court ruled that the amendment, which limits damages to a per-person basis, is a procedural change that courts must apply to cases filed before its enactment.
The Ninth Circuit held that applying non-mutual offensive collateral estoppel to invalidate arbitration agreements violates the Federal Arbitration Act. The court reasoned that such preclusion undermines the FAA's core principle of consent and effectively transforms individualized proceedings into an unagreed-upon class action.
The Supreme Court held that Colorado's ban on conversion therapy, as applied to licensed talk therapists, constitutes unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment. The Court reversed the lower courts, ruling that the state law impermissibly prescribes what views counselors may express to clients rather than merely regulating professional conduct.
The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's dismissal of a federal prisoner's habeas motion, excusing procedural default due to ineffective assistance of counsel. The panel held that the defendant's prior Nevada conviction was not a qualifying controlled substance offense under the Sentencing Guidelines, necessitating resentencing without the career offender enhancement.
The Federal Circuit reversed the Merit Systems Protection Board's dismissal of a federal employee's termination appeal, holding that the petitioner non-frivolously alleged he was not serving a probationary period. The court remanded the case for a full jurisdictional hearing because the Board improperly weighed conflicting evidence without resolving the factual dispute.
The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court order denying attorney's fees to religious plaintiffs who reached a settlement with the government. The appellate court held that the plaintiffs qualified as prevailing parties because the settlement agreement materially altered their legal relationship and the district court retained jurisdiction to enforce it.
The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment for protest organizer DeRay Mckesson, holding that sufficient evidence exists for a jury to determine if his negligence in leading a violent protest proximately caused injuries to Officer John Ford. The court emphasized that after eight years of litigation, the case must proceed to trial to resolve factual disputes regarding Mckesson's leadership role and the foreseeability of the violence.
The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's denial of a motion to compel arbitration, holding that a severability clause does not negate a clear and unmistakable delegation of validity challenges to an arbitrator. The court ruled that federal law, not state law, governs the interpretation of such delegation clauses under the Federal Arbitration Act.
The Ninth Circuit reversed the denial of Social Security disability benefits, holding that the Administrative Law Judge failed to resolve significant inconsistencies between job-number evidence provided by a vocational expert and contrary evidence submitted by the claimant. The court clarified that when a claimant produces probative data using sources frequently relied upon by the agency, the ALJ must explicitly address and resolve the discrepancy rather than relying on general deference to the expert's experience.
The Ninth Circuit reversed the dismissal of a qui tam action alleging drug manufacturers violated the False Claims Act by inflating prices under the Section 340B Program. The court held that while the Supreme Court barred direct private suits to enforce Section 340B, the False Claims Act provides an independent cause of action for fraud against the government that is not precluded by that limitation.
