Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Collections & Creditor Rights, Labor & Employment Law

Cabardo v. Patacsil — Bankruptcy Appeal Must Await Final Dischargeability Decision

automatic / August 27, 2026

The Ninth Circuit dismissed a creditors’ bankruptcy appeal because a remand for trial left the overall dischargeability proceeding unfinished.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Litigation

Patacsil v. Google — Ninth Circuit Upholds Cy Pres-Only Privacy Settlement

automatic / August 26, 2026

The Ninth Circuit upheld a $62 million cy pres-only settlement of Google location-tracking claims because direct payments to an estimated 247.7 million class members were infeasible.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Litigation

County of King v. Turner — Agencies Could Not Add Sweeping Conditions to Previously Awarded Grants

automatic / August 25, 2026

The Ninth Circuit largely blocked HUD and DOT from imposing sweeping new policy conditions on previously awarded grants because the agencies lacked congressional authorization.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

United States v. Aguilera — preserving legal challenges cannot defeat sentencing credit

automatic / August 24, 2026

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a felon-in-possession conviction but vacated the sentence because protected legal challenges were used against acceptance credit.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Litigation

Kinnucan v. NSA — congressional report held by agency remains outside FOIA

automatic / August 24, 2026

A congressional report kept and used internally by the NSA remained outside FOIA because Congress retained control over disclosure.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal Law

United States v. Cisneros — Bribed Federal Agent Held a Sensitive Position Under Sentencing Guideline

automatic / August 21, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that a federal law-enforcement agent with trusted database access occupied a sensitive position for purposes of the bribery sentencing enhancement.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Litigation

California v. ATF — State and Gun-Safety Group Lacked Standing to Demand Broader Ghost-Gun Regulation

automatic / August 21, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that California and a gun-safety organization lacked standing to challenge an ATF example excluding some unfinished receiver blanks from regulation.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Personal Injury & Tort

Rios v. City of Azusa — Evidence Dispute Could Not Support Immediate Qualified-Immunity Appeal

automatic / August 20, 2026

The Ninth Circuit dismissed an immediate qualified-immunity appeal because the officers’ challenge concerned evidentiary sufficiency rather than a reviewable legal issue.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Personal Injury & Tort

Rios v. City of Azusa — factual evidence disputes defeated immediate qualified-immunity appeal

automatic / August 20, 2026

The Ninth Circuit dismissed an immediate qualified-immunity appeal because it sought review of evidence sufficiency and a discovery-sanction ruling rather than a legal question.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law

Pacific Maritime Association v. NLRB — en banc court limits work-preservation defense in union jurisdictional disputes

automatic / August 20, 2026

The en banc Ninth Circuit held that a union cannot use a work-preservation defense to evade the NLRB's allocation of work in a genuine inter-union jurisdictional dispute.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Banking & Finance, Business Transactions, Litigation

Verthelyi v. PennyMac — LIBOR Contracts May Use a Fixed Fallback Rate

automatic / August 19, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that the federal LIBOR Act does not invalidate a contract fallback merely because it produces a fixed rather than floating rate.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Ding v. Structure Therapeutics — Newly Discovered Harassment Claim Can Leave Arbitration

automatic / August 19, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that an employee who discovers a plausible sex-harassment claim during arbitration may invoke federal law and proceed in court.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Agriculture, Civil Procedure, Litigation

Rusoff v. The Happy Group — Egg-Labeling Class Lacked Common Proof of Consumer Deception

automatic / August 17, 2026

The Ninth Circuit reversed certification of a California egg-labeling class because consumers lacked common proof that pasture raised carried a shared deceptive meaning.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Environmental Law

Center for Biological Diversity v. Bureau of Reclamation — Water-Contract Conversions Required No New Project-Specific Environmental Review

automatic / August 17, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that mandatory WIIN Act water-contract conversions required neither contract-specific NEPA review nor Endangered Species Act consultation.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Healthcare Law

QueerDoc, PLLC v. DOJ — Policy Opposition Alone Does Not Show a Healthcare Subpoena Was Issued in Bad Faith

automatic / August 14, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that political opposition to gender-affirming care alone did not prove DOJ issued an otherwise authorized healthcare subpoena in bad faith.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Litigation

Brown v. Broomfield — Ninth Circuit Upholds California Death Sentence Under Deferential Habeas Review

automatic / August 14, 2026

The Ninth Circuit upheld a California death sentence, finding the state court reasonably rejected claims involving counsel, competency, and intellectual disability.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Antitrust, Healthcare Law, Litigation

Surgical Instrument Service v. Intuitive Surgical — Ninth Circuit Revives Robot Aftermarket Antitrust Claims

automatic / August 13, 2026

The Ninth Circuit reversed. The special factors apply when a plaintiff cannot show power in a competitive foremarket and instead claims that a seller later exploited customers locked into a brand. They were unnecessary here because evidence directly supported a conventional claim that dominant foremarket power was leveraged into the tied aftermarket.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Nilsen v. University of Washington — Ninth Circuit Refines Arm-of-State Immunity Test

automatic / August 13, 2026

The panel affirmed. Its three factors remain: whether state law created a legally independent entity, whether the state is formally liable for the entity’s debts and judgments, and how much control the state exercises. The Supreme Court’s clarification makes the first factor most important and the control factor least important.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Immigration

Gonzalez-Argueta v. Blanche — Former-Officer Asylum Claim Fails Nexus Rule

automatic / August 13, 2026

The Ninth Circuit denied review under existing precedent. Because the claimed protected status was being a former officer, the panel treated post-service mistreatment as the relevant nexus evidence; the absence of later threats supported the agency’s finding that the feared harm was not on account of that status.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Banking & Finance, Collections & Creditor Rights, Litigation

Turrey v. Vervent — Student Borrowers’ Civil RICO Verdict Was Timely

automatic / August 12, 2026

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the roughly $12 million judgment. Trial evidence permitted the jury to find that the borrowers lacked actual or constructive knowledge of their RICO injuries more than four years before filing in April 2020.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Business Transactions, Civil Procedure, Litigation

Devas Multimedia v. Antrix — Foreign Sovereign Cannot Avoid Arbitral Award on Forum Grounds

automatic / August 12, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that the FSIA arbitration exception supplied subject-matter jurisdiction and that exercising personal jurisdiction was reasonable even assuming Antrix could invoke Fifth Amendment protections. It also held that forum non conveniens does not defeat an action to confirm a Convention award because contracting nations must recognize covered awards and a foreign court cannot attach assets in the United States.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Immigration, Litigation

Duralev v. United States — FTCA does not cover damages for mistaken federal work-permit denial

automatic / August 11, 2026

The FTCA did not waive sovereign immunity for an allegedly negligent federal work-authorization decision because private actors perform no comparable function.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Healthcare Law, Insurance Law, Litigation

Healthcare Ally v. WSP — ERISA does not preempt provider’s negligent-misrepresentation claim over benefit verification

automatic / August 11, 2026

An out-of-network provider's negligent-misrepresentation claim based on a plan administrator's benefit-verification statements was not preempted by ERISA.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Litigation, Personal Injury & Tort

State of Colorado v. Meta Platforms, Inc. — Section 230 defense does not permit an immediate appeal

automatic / August 10, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that Section 230 supplies a defense to liability, not immunity from suit, so platforms ordinarily must wait for final judgment to appeal a partial denial of the defense.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal Law, Litigation

United States v. Doyle — Judges Must Personally Review Each Graphic Exhibit Before Admission

automatic / August 7, 2026

The Ninth Circuit required item-by-item judicial review of graphic evidence under Rule 403 but found the failure harmless in Doyle’s case.