August 2026 Month in Review

HIGHLIGHTS
11 briefs filed – 4 victories – 7 publications

NEW FILINGS – AMICUS BRIEFS

Navarro v. Wells Fargo & Co.
WLF urges the Eighth Circuit to affirm dismissal of a novel ERISA class action.
[class actions]

 Teck Metals Limited v. Confederated Tribes
WLF asks the Supreme Court to decide whether CERLCLA authorizes damages for feelings of cultural disconnection from an injured natural resource.
[environmental/standing to sue]

FTC v. Meta
WLF urges the D.C. Circuit to uphold a district court decision that rejected the federal government’s claim that Meta’s acquisition of Instagram was unlawful under the Sherman Act.
[antitrust]

 Hurley v. Google
WLF asks the Ninth Circuit to affirm dismissal of a Canadian plaintiff’s class-action antitrust suit for purchases made on Google’s Canadian platform.
[antitrust]

 CareFirst of Maryland v. Johnson & Johnson
WLF urges the Fourth Circuit to affirm a lower court’s rejection of a monopoly claim challenging Johnson & Johnson’s inadvertent acquisition of four patents it unwittingly acquired when it bought another company.
[antitrust]

 In re Apple iPhone Antitrust Litigation
WLF asks the Ninth Circuit to affirm decertification of a class that the plaintiffs concede includes more than ten million uninjured members.
[class actions]

 In re Gilead Sciences, Inc.
WLF urges Texas’s Fifteenth Court of Appeals to grant mandamus relief and direct summary judgment for Gilead Sciences in a meritless qui tam action.
[government contracting/false claims]

Google LLC v. Superior Court of Santa Clara County
WLF asks California’s Sixth District Court of Appeal to grant mandamus in a case that threatens to turn commonplace age-based advertising into civil-rights violations. 
[rule of law]

American Beverage Association v. Paxton
WLF urges the Fifth Circuit to affirm a decision striking down a Texas law that mandates an unscientific warning label on food.
[commercial speech]

Department of Labor v. Sun Valley Orchards, LLC
WLF asks the Supreme Court to affirm a lower-court decision rejecting the Department of Labor’s authority to enforce monetary penalties via its own in-house adjudication.
[rule of law]

 Xu v. Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp.
WLF urges the Seventh Circuit to uphold the dismissal of a civil complaint brought under U.S. law by a foreign national alleging overseas harms.
[rule of law]

CASE UPDATES (DECISIONS ISSUED)

NicQuid L.L.C. v. FDA
The Fifth Circuit vacated FDA’s marketing denial orders for NicQuid’s flavored electronic nicotine delivery systems and remanded back to the agency. *victory*
[administrative law]

 R.J. Reynolds v. FDA
The Fifth Circuit affirms a decision enjoining FDA’s graphic cigarette warnings regime under the Administrative Procedure Act. *victory*
[commercial speech]

 SIS v. Intuitive Surgical Inc.
The Ninth Circuit reverses a trial court’s determination that an antitrust plaintiff failed to plausibly allege that a medical-device company unlawfully controlled a single-brand aftermarket.
[antitrust]

Door Dash v. City of New York
The Second Circuit affirms a decision that invalidated a New York City law requiring food-delivery services to share sensitive customer data with local restaurants. *victory*
[commercial speech]

In re Gilead Tenofovir Cases
The California Supreme Court rejects a radical new theory of innovator liability for manufacturers of non-defective prescription drugs. *victory*
[civil justice]

PUBLICATIONS

Regulating AI in Employment Decisions: Compliance-Managed Process for Growing State and Local Oversight
Jennie Cunningham and Amanda Witt, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
[employment law]

Tech Antitrust Litigation: Battles Sharpen as Courts Probe Venue, Class Risk, and Remedies
Matthew Provance, Rachel J. Lamorte, and Catherine Medvene, Mayer Brown LLP
[antitrust]

Fourth Circuit Expands Class Certification Defense to 401(k) Class Actions
Scott Burnett Smith, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP
[class actions]

Class Certification and Rule 702: Will Trial-Court Defense Wins Shift the Ninth Circuit’s Approach?
John Kalas and Devarati Das, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
[class actions/expert evidence]

Dog Toy Maker Has Its Day with Ninth Circuit Trademark Decision—Again
Elizabeth Brannen, Stris & Maher LLP
[intellectual property]

One Problem with a FINRA-Like Regulator for Frontier AI: The U.S. Constitution
Zac Morgan, WLF
[rule of law]

 Unintended Consequences?: Suncor Energy, Federal Common Law, and a Return to the “General Law” Past
Alex MacDonald, Littler Mendelson LLP
[employment law]