Litigation Law, Mediation Law and Arbitration Law

For hundreds of years, the world’s sovereign nations refused to allow any other foreign sovereign to be sued in their courts without the sovereign’s consent. The guiding principle was “absolute sovereign immunity,” an outgrowth of the ancient legal precept rex non potest peccare, understood to mean “the king can do no wrong.” The principle also was recognized as wise foreign policy because it extended "grace and comity" to other sovereigns.

The Supreme Court's 2025-2026 term delivered landmark rulings that reshape the landscape for arbitration enforcement and Helms-Burton Act claims. From clarifying federal courts' continuing jurisdiction over arbitration proceedings to expanding liability under Title III, these decisions favor award-creditors and claimholders while leaving critical sovereign immunity questions unresolved through strategic cert denials.

Simply stated, eminent domain is the power of the government to take private property for a public use (i.e. utilities, roads, and parks). However, the property owner...

Errors in a recorded claim of lien, including inaccuracies in dates, party names or property descriptions, may render the lien unenforceable even if they do not actually prejudice third parties at filing, levy or otherwise.

A Florida federal judge denied class certification and dismissed a pixel tracking lawsuit against an online veterinary pharmacy, ruling that plaintiffs lacked Article III standing because they had no privacy interest in the information collected. The decision provides important insights for e-commerce companies navigating the complex landscape of third-party pixel tracking technology and federal and state wiretapping laws.

The Seventh Circuit's landmark decision in Steidinger v. Blackstone Med. Servs. fundamentally challenges whether text messages constitute "telephone calls" under the TCPA's Section 227(c)(5), potentially eliminating private rights of action for unwanted marketing texts across Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. This ruling creates a significant circuit split with the Ninth, First, Second, and Eleventh Circuits, raising questions about nationwide SMS marketing compliance strategies and the likelihood of Suprem

Legal experts from Mintz successfully challenged a Massachusetts rent control ballot initiative by arguing that its religious exemption violated the state constitution. The case hinged on a rarely litigated provision of Article 48, making it a unique constitutional challenge with significant implications for future ballot initiatives.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit holds unique nationwide jurisdiction over patent cases and specialized federal law, making its composition critically important to innovation and intellectual property enforcement. This analysis examines the Rule of 80 governing senior status eligibility, explains why eligibility dates do not predict actual vacancies, and provides a comprehensive overview of the current court's composition and its implications for patent-dependent industries.

The Ninth Circuit recently heard oral arguments on a case examining the enforceability of arbitration provisions in consumer contracts. This Consumer Counterpoint Quick Take breaks down the key legal arguments and their potential implications for consumer class action defense strategies.

A major decision issued on 14 July 2026 by the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit marks a potential shift in the legal landscape governing text message marketing under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (the TCPA). In Steidinger v. Blackstone Med. Servs., No. 25-2398, the Seventh Circuit held that Section 227(c)(5) of the TCPA does not permit plaintiffs to sue for the receipt of unwanted text messages, because text messages are not “telephone calls” within the meaning of that provision. For businesses operating in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin—the three states within the Seventh Circuit—this decision has immediate and significant implications.

Most people think an appeal begins when the losing party files a Notice of Appeal. In reality, the success of an appeal is often determined months, or even years, before that document is ever filed.

On March 25, 2026, a divided Delaware Supreme Court majority held that in exceptional circumstances, the Court of Chancery may consider post-demand evidence in the Section 220 context when analyzing whether a stockholder had a credible basis to suspect wrongdoing