Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

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

Bandary v. Delta Air Lines — Airline security-report immunity extends to resulting restraint

automatic / September 23, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that federal airline-security immunity covers both a reasonable report to law enforcement and conduct flowing from the officer's response.

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

United States v. Rivera — Cash conversion and drug-premises enhancement upheld at sentencing

automatic / September 23, 2026

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a methamphetamine and ammunition conviction, approving cash-to-drug conversion and a drug-premises sentencing enhancement.

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

Cannon v. United States — Recovered funds remain reachable after an FBI agent stole seized cash

automatic / September 23, 2026

An amended Ninth Circuit opinion allows a Rule 41(g) claim where the government recovered funds traceable to cash stolen by an FBI agent after seizure.

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

Codoni v. Port of Seattle — Clean Air Act preempts state-law claims targeting aircraft emissions

automatic / September 23, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that state tort claims targeting aircraft particulate emissions are preempted unless they parallel an applicable federal emissions standard.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Insurance Law, Litigation

Linhart v. New York Life — Pre-2013 Life Policies Need Not Receive New Designation Forms

automatic / September 22, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that California’s third-party designation-form requirement applies only to life policies issued after the statute took effect in 2013.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal Law

United States v. Primrose — A Stolen Identity Cannot Be Acquired by Long Use

automatic / September 22, 2026

The Ninth Circuit rejected the claim that decades of use can create ownership of a deceased child’s identity and affirmed identity-theft and false-statement convictions.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law

Yukutake v. Lopez — En Banc Ninth Circuit Upholds Hawaii’s Firearm-Permit Procedures

automatic / September 22, 2026

The en banc Ninth Circuit held that objective, non-abusive shall-issue firearm procedures are presumptively constitutional and upheld Hawaii’s acquisition rules.

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

Bultemeyer v. CenturyLink — Reasonable FCRA Interpretation Defeats $140 Million Willfulness Verdict

automatic / September 22, 2026

CenturyLink could not be held liable for willfully violating FCRA because its interpretation of when an online transaction begins was objectively reasonable.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Immigration

Padilla v. ICE — Asylum seekers apprehended away from the border may pursue detention due-process claims

automatic / September 21, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that asylum seekers apprehended away from the border may pursue a due-process challenge to mandatory detention without bond hearings.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Litigation

Blue Lake Rancheria v. Kalshi — Tribes likely to prevail against sports event contracts under IGRA

automatic / September 16, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that California tribes were likely to prevail on an IGRA challenge to sports event contracts, while rejecting their Lanham Act theory.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal Law

United States v. Mendonsa — Sentencing enhancement may use abuse outside the conviction offense

automatic / September 16, 2026

The Ninth Circuit upheld a child-pornography sentencing enhancement based on abuse outside the conviction offense and reliable state records.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Intellectual Property, Litigation

Doe v. GitHub — AI code-output allegations did not state a DMCA metadata claim

automatic / September 16, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that programmers did not state a DMCA claim because they failed to allege removal of copyright information from copies of their own code.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law

United States v. Tovar-Duran — Government Must Search for Requested Brady Material

automatic / September 14, 2026

The Ninth Circuit conditionally vacated an improper-entry conviction because the government failed to search for requested impeachment evidence and relied on layered hearsay.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Immigration

U Visa Appellants v. USCIS — Advance Parole for Waitlisted Petitioners Is Discretionary

automatic / September 14, 2026

Waitlisted U-visa petitioners have no mandatory right to advance parole, though some waiting-list-delay theories require further district-court review.

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

In re Kia Hyundai Vehicle Theft Litigation — Korean Manufacturers Face Suit in California

automatic / September 14, 2026

Korean automakers’ California-bound shipments and U.S.-specific designs plausibly supported personal jurisdiction in nationwide vehicle-theft litigation.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Real Estate Law

Powers v. McDonough — Ninth Circuit Declines En Banc Review of West Los Angeles Veterans Housing Ruling

automatic / September 11, 2026

The Ninth Circuit left standing a panel ruling concerning disability claims and supportive housing for homeless veterans at the VA’s West Los Angeles campus, over a lengthy dissent from denial of rehearing en banc.

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

Lewis-Williams v. BART — Ninth Circuit Upholds Religious-Accommodation Verdict for Employees

automatic / September 11, 2026

The Ninth Circuit upheld a jury verdict for former BART employees who showed the agency could have accommodated sincere religious objections to its COVID-19 vaccination requirement without undue hardship.

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

Vella v. MACD Helicopters — Federal 18-Year Repose Period Bars Claims Over Police Helicopter Crash

automatic / September 9, 2026

The Ninth Circuit affirmed. GARA’s definition turns on whether a type or airworthiness certificate was issued and on the statutory operating characteristics, not on whether certification was legally required or whether a public agency owned and used the aircraft.

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

Adom v. CDCR — ADA accommodation duty does not turn solely on medical necessity

automatic / September 8, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that CDCR could not defeat an ADA accommodation claim solely by deeming requested incontinence supplies medically unnecessary.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

United States v. Gessen — Murder-for-hire can be a continuing offense supporting California venue

automatic / September 8, 2026

The Ninth Circuit held that murder-for-hire can be charged as a continuing offense and that an undercover intermediary need not genuinely agree to the killing.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Immigration

Perez-Castillo v. Blanche — Immigration persecutor bar has no implied duress defense

automatic / September 8, 2026

The Ninth Circuit independently interpreted the immigration persecutor bar and held that it contains no implied duress defense.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Environmental Law, Litigation

Inland Empire Waterkeeper v. Corona Clay Company — Sackett Change Requires New Trial on Temescal Creek’s Federal Status

automatic / September 3, 2026

The Ninth Circuit ordered further proceedings on whether Temescal Creek remains federally covered after Sackett while holding that coverage is a merits issue, not jurisdictional.

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

Urias-Gaxiola v. Blanche — Noncitizen must be allowed to prove counsel’s factual admission was wrong

automatic / September 2, 2026

The Ninth Circuit required an immigration judge to hear evidence that counsel’s written admission about a noncitizen’s entry was factually wrong.

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

United States v. Nasri — Foreign forfeiture requires control over the property

automatic / September 2, 2026

Due process requires actual or constructive control over foreign property before a federal court may exercise in rem forfeiture jurisdiction.

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

Construction Laborers Pension Trust v. Funko — Risk disclosures can mislead when the warned-of harm already exists

automatic / September 2, 2026

Funko shareholders plausibly alleged fraud where risk disclosures treated existing inventory and technology failures as merely hypothetical future problems.