Worldwide: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration

The first half of 2026 has seen major litigation developments in cases concerning the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), including decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, Eleventh, and D.C. Circuits.

The Seventh Circuit has issued a landmark ruling that device manufacturers do not "possess" or "collect" biometric data under Illinois' BIPA when software creates and processes such data solely on a user's device.

The Department of Justice has moved to dismiss a Clean Air Act citizen suit against xAI, raising fundamental questions about whether private plaintiffs may proceed when EPA allegedly declined to require preconstruction permitting review. The case involves dozens of massive gas-fired turbines powering a Memphis data center that plaintiffs claim require permits under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration and New Source Review programs, while xAI and state regulators contend they are exempt as temporary

In an important new decision, last month, the Seventh Circuit ruled on the meaning of “telephone call” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (“TCPA’s”) private right of action for violations...

The Eighth Circuit's affirmation of a $1 billion settlement in Burnett v. National Association of Realtors marks a watershed moment in antitrust litigation, fundamentally restructuring how buyer-broker commissions operate in residential real estate. The decision upheld the elimination of NAR's longstanding Cooperative Compensation Rule while addressing critical procedural questions about nationwide class action settlements, release scope, and attorneys' fees. What does this landmark ruling mean for companie

A federal court has issued an extraordinary preservation order requiring attorney Heidarpour and serial TCPA plaintiff Chet Wilson to retain all devices and communications related to TCPA litigation.

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 Texas Supreme Court's decision in Paxton v. City of Austin reveals a procedural trap for businesses suing the government: winning the right to be heard can paradoxically freeze the entire case. When governmental defendants challenge a court's jurisdiction and lose, they can immediately appeal, putting all proceedings on hold—potentially for months or years.

WilmerHale partners analyze three pivotal Supreme Court rulings from the 2025-2026 term that reshape the landscape for transnational litigation, examining how these decisions affect corporate liability...

Oregon's civil discovery rules diverge sharply from federal practice by eliminating interrogatories and generally prohibiting compelled pretrial disclosure of retained expert testimony. Understanding these procedural differences and adapting discovery strategy accordingly can mean the difference between building a winning record and discovering critical gaps too late to address them.

The Texas Business Court recently clarified who qualifies as an attorney when dealing with confidential and attorney's eyes only designations in discovery. In a case involving alleged trade secret misappropriation between rival transformer manufacturers, the court examined whether attorneys from India representing the plaintiff in other matters could access protected documents in the Texas state court case...

A federal court ruling examines what happens when a party inadvertently produces over 5,400 privileged documents to government investigators and attempts to claw them back. The decision hinges on whether reasonable steps were taken to prevent disclosure in the first place, with the court finding that flawed document review processes and inadequate quality control led to privilege waiver despite the inadvertent nature of the production.