After a three-judge appellate panel reinstated a property owner's class action alleging that oil and chemical companies contributed to Hurricane Katrina's ferocity, the Fifth Circuit granted the defendants' motion to rehear the case en banc. Then, because it couldn't muster enough judges to hear it, the appellate court dismissed the appeal.

Plaintiffs hoping to hold dozens of foreign organizations and individuals responsible for aiding and abetting al Qaeda struck out Tuesday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

The government's case against Apple and and five of the "big six" book publishers is good news indeed for plaintiffs lawyers at Hagens Berman and Cohen Milstein as they pursue their own class action claims against the same crowd of defendants.