9/15/25
By: William H. Buechner, Jr. and Philip W. Savrin
FMG Attorneys Phil Savrin and Bill Buechner prevailed upon the Eleventh Circuit to affirm the grant of summary judgment to the insurer on novel issues of Georgia insurance law. The case …
Category: Appellate Advocacy
Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! – U.S. Supreme Court preview
9/10/25
The United States Supreme Court’s October 2025 term begins on October 6, 2025. The Court will cover a lot of ground this term, but three cases stand out as having broad applicability in civil actions across …
Third Circuit reverses class certification in insurance underpayment suit
9/3/25
By: Sean R. Riley
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s decision to certify two classes against an insurance carrier, holding that individualized issues predominated over common ones. See Drummond …
Preservation of error: To rehear or not to rehear, that is the question
8/28/25
There is some confusion about when a motion for rehearing is required to preserve an issue for appeal under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.530. The rule requires a motion when a trial court fails to …
The prior panel rule: Uniformity or chaos
8/21/25
Can a three-judge appellate panel overrule or “recede from” prior-panel precedent? In Florida, it likely depends on which district court hears the appeal.
The prior-panel rule, or horizontal stare decisis, dictates that a three-judge appellate panel …
Georgia court confronts lawyers’ apparent use of AI
7/17/25
By: P. Michael Freed
Courts throughout the country have been wrestling with litigants’ use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) in drafting legal briefs. Courts have discovered citations to fictitious cases in parties’ legal briefs in several highly publicized cases. The Court …
7/2/25
On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. CASA, Inc., — S. Ct. —, 2025 WL 1773631 (June 27, 2025) that district courts likely do not have the equitable authority to issue nationwide …
Illinois trial courts must adhere strictly to Supreme Court Rule 305(b)
6/10/25
By: Donald Patrick Eckler and Joshua W. Zhao
Over two decades after Rule 305 was amended to deal with the sufficiency of security of judgment after a $10 billion judgment against Philip Morris was unable to be secured, in a …
Supreme Court of Georgia pilots two minutes of uninterrupted oral argument time
4/21/25
By: Elissa B. Haynes
If you’ve ever stood at the podium in the Supreme Court of Georgia ready to present an appellate argument, you know the drill: you barely get your opening sentence out before a question from the bench …
Prompt entry of judgment can be the difference in a case victory
4/3/25
By: Donald Patrick Eckler and Madeline M. Krolczyk
In Thomas v. LVNV Funding LLC, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals highlights the importance of the procedure of timeliness in appeals. On Dec. 13, 2023, a jury returned a verdict …
3/26/25
By: P. Michael Freed and Xander D. Melnick
Addressing an issue of first impression, the Supreme Court of Georgia recently held that the New York Times v. Sullivan “actual malice” standard does not apply to a defamation plaintiff’s burden to …
Supreme Court clarifies the amendment/dismissal distinction for supplemental jurisdiction
3/12/25
By: P. Michael Freed and Lee D. Whatling
Since 2007, federal courts exercising federal question jurisdiction have relied on the United States Supreme Court’s footnote in Rockwell International Corporation v. United States, 549 U.S. 457 n. 6 (2007), to …