United States: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration

When a congressional inquiry surfaces facts that attract DOJ attention, or an enforcement action triggers legislative scrutiny, companies face a complex challenge: managing investigations across multiple forums where document productions, witness statements, and strategic decisions in one proceeding can reshape risk in another. Understanding how these investigations intersect—and preparing before the second letter arrives—has become essential as the 2026 midterm elections promise to shift oversi

As generative AI becomes increasingly integrated into litigation workflows, courts are grappling with how these tools should be used with confidential discovery materials. A recent Colorado district court decision examines the balance between enabling AI-assisted legal work and protecting sensitive information, distinguishing between consumer-grade platforms and enterprise tools with robust safeguards.

Recent amendments to Arizona Rule 702 and federal court decisions have fundamentally shifted how courts evaluate expert appraisal testimony in eminent domain cases. Courts now apply more rigorous gatekeeping standards, requiring proponents to demonstrate by a preponderance of evidence that expert opinions rest on sufficient data and reliable methodology before reaching the jury.

Neutral evaluation is an invaluable tool, particularly in patent litigation. I speak with authority, having spent 20 years on the federal bench in Delaware, seven of them as chief judge. Delaware is one of the busiest patent venues in the country.

On the morning of July 4, 2025, catastrophic flooding on the Guadalupe River took 135 lives across the Texas Hill Country. Twenty-eight of them—25 school-aged campers, two young counselors and the camp's co-executive director—were at Camp Mystic, a century-old girls' camp near Hunt.

In this episode of the JAMS podcast, JAMS neutrals Hon. Karen Brown Willcutts (Former), FCIArb, Hugh E. Hackney, Esq., and Zela "Zee" G. Claiborne, Esq. examine the commercial and contractual fallout of disruptions to global energy transportation and how mediation and arbitration can keep energy moving while the larger disputes are resolved.

On October 13, 2026, in Bolton v. Inland Fresh Seafood Corporation of America, Inc., No. 24-10084, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit overturned its longstanding practice of requiring benefit plan participants to exhaust administrative remedies before filing statutory claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Administrative exhaustion requirements compel potential litigants to satisfy any plan-required internal appeals process with the plan sponsor or the plan administrator to resolve a dispute before a suit may be filed in court.

The court will look at each parent’s income to determine issues such as child support or post-secondary support. Imputed income is an estimate by the court of an individual’s income, even if they are not actually earning that amount.

Recent U.S. court decisions have produced significant consequences for Japanese companies doing business with the United States, spanning tariff refund mechanisms, jurisdictional challenges, and substantial patent verdicts. This advisory examines six critical developments that could reshape legal strategies for Japanese exporters and technology companies operating in the American market.

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 State of Texas signed a ten-year lease for office space. When the State later terminated the lease and stopped paying rent, the landlord sued for breach of contract. In an ordinary commercial dispute, that would be an obvious claim. But in State v. Broadmoor Austin Associates,[1] the Fifteenth Court of Appeals held that sovereign immunity barred it.

Recent federal court decisions are reshaping the landscape of personal jurisdiction and enforcement of international arbitration awards following the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization. The DC and Ninth Circuits have issued critical opinions clarifying how Fifth Amendment due process standards apply differently than traditional Fourteenth Amendment minimum contacts analysis, particularly in cases involving foreign sovereigns and international arbitration. These deve