It's a rare appellate ruling that has both the plaintiffs and defendants in billion-dollar litigation claiming to be thrilled.

An appellate court ruled on Thursday that the Federal Aviation Act preempts the state regulation of all airlines. The decision came in a long-running litigation in which major carriers have been accused of conspiring to keep cargo shipping rates artificially high.

Patent assertion entity Intellectual Ventures claims that seven of its patents have been infringed by Motorola's smartphones. Also: the Federal Circuit rules for the third time on a patent for a Novo Nordisk diabetes medication, and an Eastern District of Texas judge with a heavy IP caseload gives some tips on appearing in his court.

Class action litigation is beginning to take shape over allegations that major banks manipulated Libor, the benchmark rate used to calculate interest on trillions of dollars in securities globally. On Monday the federal district court judge hearing the litigation consolidated 20 class complaints, and appointed interim class counsel.

How well did Global Lawyer columnist Michael Goldhaber fare with his 2012 advice and predictions for Chevron in Ecuador, SEC rule-making, and international human rights litigation?