WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its April 6 orders list, the U.S. Supreme Court invited the U.S. solicitor general to brief the government’s views on a certiorari petition in which participants’ “top hat” deferred compensation and retirement plans challenge a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that they argue wrongly left them without relief from federal and state law.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 6 granted an internet service provider’s (ISP) petition for a writ of certiorari and then immediately vacated a ruling by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that held that the ISP was vicariously liable for copyright infringement through its internet customers’ behavior.  The high court pointed to its recent opinion that reversed a similar ruling by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals against a different ISP.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Granting the FBI’s petition for a writ of certiorari in a state secrets privilege case about governmental surveillance and religious discrimination, the U.S. Supreme Court in its April 6 orders list vacated the challenged judgment and instructed that the case be remanded “to the district court for reconsideration in light of recent factual developments pertinent to this case and the government's motion to dismiss.”

ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Missouri federal judge’s holding that a design company owed two real estate agents and affiliated entities a combined total of more than $230,000 in attorney fees, noting the lack of evidentiary support for many of the design company’s claims that the realtors had infringed copyrighted floor plans in resale listings.

HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut appeals panel on April 2 held that a lower court erred in ruling that a professional liability insurance policy’s intentional conduct and sexual misconduct exclusions applied to every allegation in an underlying civil negligence lawsuit brought against a reproductive endocrinologist insured, reversing a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the insurer in a coverage dispute arising from underlying allegations that the insured used his own sperm to impregnate two of his patients without their knowledge or consent.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict was not required to preserve a challenge to a workers’ compensation exclusivity defense in an asbestos case, and the court’s reliance on precedent to reach a contrary conclusion warrants reconsideration or transfer to the Missouri Supreme Court, a woman whose case has already been to the state’s top court once argues.

SEATTLE — A commercial automobile insurer on April 2 voluntarily dismissed DoorDash Inc. from the insurer’s lawsuit asking a Washington federal court to declare that it has no duty to defend or indemnify for an underlying wrongful death action alleging that its insured fatally shot a man while he was driving his vehicle as a paid delivery driver, noting that DoorDash has stipulated that it is not a covered entity under the Allstate policy.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of a petition for a writ of certiorari and lifting of a stay, a federal judge in South Carolina denied the state’s motion to remand to state court its case against 3M Co. related to alleged contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF). Applying instructions in a March 2025 Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling, the judge said 3M has plausibly alleged a colorable federal defense and acted under a federal officer based on its production of a specific kind of AFFF for the U.S. government.