Left Coast Appeals
Keeping Tabs on the Ninth Circuit
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Welcome to Left Coast Appeals

At Left Coast Appeals, we provide insights into all things Ninth Circuit. Check out our Ninth Circuit Statistics page, which offers an empirical window into the Court’s workings. At our En Banc Tracker, we monitor the Court’s busy en banc proceedings. And at This Week at the Ninth, we highlight key recent decisions.

Follow us on Twitter @LeftCoastAppeal. And check out our sister blog Federal Circuitry, which takes a data-driven look at the Federal Circuit.

  • This Week at The Ninth: Compulsion and Coercion
    - This Week at the Ninth

    This Week at The Ninth: Compulsion and Coercion

    By: Lena H. Hughes and Adam L. Sorensen

    This week, the Ninth Circuit explains the requirements for administrative summonses compelling testimony, and addresses whether a farm laborer was subjected to economic duress and undue influence when signing an arbitration agreement. UNITED STATES V. BEN GHEE TAN The Court holds that 19 U.S.C.
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  • This Week at the Ninth: Cars and Chickens
    - This Week at the Ninth

    This Week at the Ninth: Cars and Chickens

    By: Lena H. Hughes and Adam L. Sorensen

    This week, the Ninth Circuit explores the constitutionality of a state statute aimed at protecting consumer information given to car dealers, and clarifies the preemptive scope of federal regulatory approval of food labels. CDK GLOBAL LLC v. BRNOVICH The Court holds that plaintiffs were
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  • This Week at the Ninth: Schedules and Informants
    - This Week at the Ninth

    This Week at the Ninth: Schedules and Informants

    By: Lena H. Hughes and Adam L. Sorensen

    This week, the Ninth Circuit explains the ins-and-outs of property abandonment under the Bankruptcy Code, and explores the government’s privilege to withhold the identity of informants in discovery. IN RE STEVENS The Court holds that 11 U.S.C. § 554(c), a provision of the Bankruptcy Code
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  • This Week at The Ninth: Conspiracy Theories
    - This Week at the Ninth

    This Week at The Ninth: Conspiracy Theories

    By: Adam L. Sorensen

    This week, the Ninth Circuit explores permissible theories of liability in a bank fraud conspiracy case. USA V. DIANA YATES The Court holds that theories of conspiracy liability premised on a bank’s right to accurate information and its right not to continue to pay
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  • This Week at The Ninth: Contractor Speech and Seized Cars
    - This Week at the Ninth

    This Week at The Ninth: Contractor Speech and Seized Cars

    By: James R. Sigel and Lena H. Hughes

    This week, the Court confronted constitutional challenges to a California statute altering the test for determining whether workers are employees or independent contractors and an Arizona statute governing civil forfeitures. AMERICAN SOCIETY OF JOURNALISTS AND AUTHORS, INC. v. BONTA The Court holds that California’s
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  • Oral Argument Innovations at SCOTUS
    - Announcements

    Oral Argument Innovations at SCOTUS

    By: James R. Sigel

    While Ninth Circuit oral arguments are still fully remote, the U.S. Supreme Court has returned to in-person arguments. The Court has adopted a hybrid of its old free-for-all style of questioning and the more orderly Justice-by-Justice questioning format it used over the phone. MoFo
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  • This Week at The Ninth: Abatement and Discharge
    - This Week at the Ninth

    This Week at The Ninth: Abatement and Discharge

    By: James R. Sigel and Lena H. Hughes

    This week, the Court considered the retroactivity of California’s Proposition 22—which designates “app-based drivers” as independent contractors under certain conditions—and addressed the requirements for Clean Water Act citizen suits. LAWSON v. GRUBHUB, INC. The Court holds that California’s Proposition 22 does not apply retroactively
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  • This Week at The Ninth: PowerPoints and Payday Loans
    - This Week at the Ninth

    This Week at The Ninth: PowerPoints and Payday Loans

    By: Lena H. Hughes

    This week, the Court revives an ERISA claim and compels arbitration of a dispute over tribal internet payday loans. WARMENHOVEN v. NETAPP, INC. The Court holds that PowerPoint presentations did not constitute plan documents and thus any representations in them could not override ERISA’s
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