North End Chamber of Commerce, Inc. v. City of Boston, Case No. 25-1063. (1st Cir. 2026).
A municipality's decision to impose more restrictive outdoor-dining conditions on a single neighborhood does not violate equal protection or due process when plaintiffs fail to plead a viable class-of-one or selective-treatment theory in compliance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8's requirement for a short and plain statement of the claim.
(Goebel v. The Internal Revenue Service) In re: Goebel, Case No. 25-103. (2d Cir. 2026).
A debtor's adversary complaint seeking a declaration of non-dischargeability under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(1) fails to allege an injury in fact sufficient for standing when it contains no facts showing the IRS manifested a concrete intention to treat the debtor's tax debts as nondischargeable.
Reed Action Judgment Creditors v. Alecto Healthcare Services LLC (In re: Alecto Healthcare Services LLC), Case No. 25-1853. (3d Cir. 2026).
A settlement releasing potential fraudulent-transfer claims against a debtor's insiders may be approved as part of plan confirmation when an independent director's investigation supports the reasonableness of the settlement and the objecting creditor's claim was properly excluded from the small-business debt-limit calculation.
Harris Investment Holdings, LLC v. BFJ of USA, LLC, Case No. 25-1919. (4th Cir. 2026).
A defendant seeking summary judgment based on CERCLA's petroleum exclusion bears the burden of establishing that the contamination at issue falls within the exclusion's scope, and a genuine factual dispute over whether non-petroleum hazardous substances contributed to the contamination precludes summary judgment.
Hooper v. Crawford, Case No. 25-2434. (7th Cir. 2026).
11 U.S.C. § 1326(a)(2) requires distribution "in accordance with the plan" without limiting payments to creditors with formally allowed claims, so a creditor listed in a confirmed Chapter 13 plan is bound by, and entitled to receive distributions under, the plan's terms even though the creditor never filed a proof of claim.
Sykes v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc., Case No. 25-2279. (7th Cir. 2026).
A consumer reporting agency does not violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act's accuracy requirement of 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b) by reporting a mortgage account's historical status and balance alongside a bankruptcy discharge when resolving the alleged inconsistency would require the agency to make a legal determination as to whether the debt was actually discharged.
Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians v. Enbridge Energy Co., Case No. 23-2309. (7th Cir. 2026).
A pipeline operator that continues to occupy tribal trust land after its federally granted easement has expired commits trespass, but federal statutory law displaces a common-law nuisance claim premised on the same ongoing risk of harm from the pipeline's presence.
Pover v. The Capital Group Companies, Inc., Case No. 24-5298. (9th Cir. 2026).
A retirement plan's arbitration provision barring claims brought on a "class, collective, or representative basis" is unenforceable under the effective-vindication doctrine when it prevents a plan participant from asserting her right under ERISA § 502(a)(2) to sue on the plan's behalf for plan-wide relief.
Wildcat Coal LLC v. Pacific Minerals Inc., Case No. 23-8073. (10th Cir. 2026).
A lease's conclusive protest provision bars a lessor from challenging royalty payments and their supporting calculations, including the definition of contractual terms underlying those calculations, once the contractually specified protest period has expired, even if the lessor's substantive interpretation of the disputed term is later found correct.
