7th Circ. Rejects Ex-Cushman GC's Defamation Revival Bid

By Lauraann Wood

Cushman & Wakefield's former general counsel cannot pursue an Illinois defamation claim over a Law.com article and subsequent revision he claims improperly linked his departure to subpoena deadline mismanagement in a Trump Organization property tax probe, the Seventh Circuit said Tuesday.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

​​​​​​​Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week tackled disputes involving multibillion-dollar mergers, corporate oversight, founder control, SPAC litigation, commercial contracts and attorney fees.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Medical Device Exec Cashed In On Bad Quarter, Feds Charge

By Pete Brush

A former Treace Medical Concepts executive was arrested on insider trading charges Tuesday, after New York federal prosecutors said he exploited secret warnings about the Florida medical device company's sales and turned a $37,000 profit betting its stock would fall.

Indictment attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

'Profits Won': States Say Meta Targeted Kids As Trial Opens

By Dorothy Atkins

An attorney for more than two dozen states told a California federal jury during opening statements Tuesday that Meta hid what it knew about social media's mental health harms and prioritized profits over safety in a yearslong effort to hook kids on its platforms, while Meta defended its safety practices as best-in-class.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

ABC Sues FCC To Stop License Renewal 'Retaliation'

By Nadia Dreid

ABC sued the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, accusing the Trump administration of using the agency to threaten the Disney-owned network's licenses in a bid to stop it from broadcasting anything displeasing to the president.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Big Tech, PTAB Attys Urge Justices To Fix USPTO Power Grab

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit's refusal to curb the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director's power over instituting Patent Trial and Appeal Board challenges has allowed leaders to "wreak havoc" without accountability, top tech companies have warned the U.S. Supreme Court.

7 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Feds Bring New Charges Over $3.4B Iran-Backed Cybertheft

By Stewart Bishop

Manhattan federal prosecutors on Tuesday announced new charges against a group of Iranians accused of running a global, state-backed hacking campaign against private companies, government agencies and universities, in a wide-ranging cybertheft conspiracy that stole at least $3.4 billion in academic data and intellectual property.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Equity To Sell Boston Towers To Satisfy Antitrust Concerns

By Julie Manganis

Equity Residential has agreed to sell off two high-rise apartment buildings in Boston to avoid state and federal antitrust claims following its $69 billion merger with AvalonBay Communities, according to an agreement with the Massachusetts attorney general.

Settlement attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Franchise Group Trust Seeks $700M Over Take-Private Deal

By Jarek Rutz

The litigation trust created after Franchise Group Inc.'s bankruptcy on Tuesday sued the company's former CEO, advisers and others in the Delaware Chancery Court, accusing them of carrying out a fraudulent take-private deal that caused more than $700 million in damages.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Infant Formula MDL Judge Laments Ongoing 'Trial-By-Video'

By Celeste Bott

The Illinois federal judge handling multidistrict litigation claiming Mead Johnson or Abbott Laboratories infant formula led to a severe gut illness in premature babies deemed it "disappointing" that testimony in an ongoing bellwether trial largely consists of video depositions, warning she won't conduct another unless most witnesses will take the stand in Chicago.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Coinbase Must Face Investor Suit Over SEC, Bankruptcy Risks

By Jessica Corso

A New Jersey federal judge on Tuesday denied Coinbase's latest bid to escape a proposed class action accusing it of misleading investors about risks tied to regulatory action and potential bankruptcy, ruling that it is "not difficult to infer" that the company and its leadership were financially motivated to deceive shareholders.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Intuit Hid AI, Mailchimp Woes From Investors, Suit Says

By Sydney Price

TurboTax distributor Intuit Inc. has been hit with a shareholder's proposed class action accusing it of falsely telling investors that it was well-positioned to integrate generative artificial intelligence tools even though the technology was actually diminishing Intuit's primary businesses.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Barnes & Thornburg Picks Up 12 K&L Gates Healthcare Attys

By Tracey Read

Barnes & Thornburg LLP announced Tuesday that it has brought on a 12-lawyer healthcare team from K&L Gates, including that firm's two former practice group leaders.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DLA Piper Taps Weil Partner As New York PE Co-Lead

By Andrea Keckley

DLA Piper has announced it hired a Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP partner to co-lead its private equity practice in New York.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

What B. Riley Dismissal Teaches About Governance Litigation

The same facts in litigation against B. Riley Financial produced three different outcomes in three courthouses, but the Court of Chancery's decision in Marchner v. B. Riley is the cleanest demonstration in years of why boards facing a government investigation often prepare for the wrong lawsuit, says Ashwin Ram at Buchalter.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Upping Fed, FDIC's Insider Loan Cap May Ease Bank Burdens

Coordinated Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Federal Reserve proposals to raise the 1970s-era cap for bank executives borrowing from their institutions represent a long-needed regulatory recalibration that would lighten compliance obligations caused by the outdated ceiling without diminishing the original protections against conflicts of interest, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

SCOTUSblog Founder Goldstein Seeks Release During Appeal

By Rachel Rippetoe

SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein on Tuesday asked to be released from federal custody while he appeals his 12 tax and mortgage fraud convictions and a six-year prison sentence, saying he is not a flight risk and it would be a "grave injustice" for him to begin a sentence he believes will eventually get axed.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Davis Wright Vets Scolded: Don't Tell Foes 'How To Run Firm'

By Jeff Overley

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP veterans have failed to dodge six-figure sanctions in a prominent discovery donnybrook, and a California magistrate judge added invective to the financial injury, lambasting "troubling" omissions in case citations and heavy-handed "nitpicking" akin to commandeering an adversary's law firm.

6 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Atty, Son Charged In Probe Of Alleged Penn State Drug Ring

By Rose Krebs

An equity partner based in Meyer Darragh Buckler Bebenek & Eck PLLC's Pittsburgh office has been charged with tampering with evidence and obstructing an investigation in connection with an alleged cocaine ring at Penn State University that allegedly involved his son, according to news reports.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Texas Judge Flags 'Alarming' Number Of Bogus Citations

By Emily Sawicki

A federal judge presiding over an Austin, Texas, immigration case is warning of possible future sanctions after an attorney included an "alarming" number of "hallucinated" case citations in support of a habeas corpus petition.  

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Jackson Walker Says US Trustee Can't Claw Back Legal Fees

By Clara Geoghegan

Jackson Walker said this week that the U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog is beyond the bounds of its authority in a yearslong effort to force the firm to return millions of dollars in legal fees over an undisclosed relationship between a former partner and a Texas bankruptcy judge.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Over 120 Ex-Judges Demand Probe Of DHS GC's 'Worst' Posts

By Adrian Cruz

A pair of nonprofits along with a bipartisan group of 128 former state and federal judges have asked the Florida Bar to investigate the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for a recent series of social media posts attacking sitting judges.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Polsinelli Can't Rep Doctor In 'Bad Faith' IP Suits, Cos. Say

By Lauren Berg

Two medical device companies suing Polsinelli PC and its longtime client, a patent-holding doctor, for allegedly pursuing "bad faith" infringement claims asked federal courts in Tennessee and Mississippi to disqualify the firm from defending the doctor in the lawsuits, citing their "diverging interests and liabilities."

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ex-US Attys Protest Trump's Swift Firing Of Rogoff In Seattle

By Rachel Riley

Thirty former U.S. attorneys backed Roger Rogoff's bid for reinstatement as Seattle's top federal prosecutor after President Donald Trump fired him on the heels of his court-ordered appointment, arguing Tuesday that Trump is trying to "sidestep the Senate's advice-and-consent role and sideline the judiciary" by letting unappointed individuals play such roles.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DOJ Urges Court Not To Dismiss Suit Against DC Bar

By Alison Knezevich

The U.S. Department of Justice is urging a federal judge not to toss its lawsuit against Washington, D.C., attorney disciplinary authorities, saying the court "needs to halt defendants' flagrantly unconstitutional overreach into the president's executive power."

Memorandum attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Firms Cut From $101M Anthropic Atty Fees Appeal To 9th Circ.

By Lauren Berg

Two law firms involved in securing artificial intelligence company Anthropic's $1.5 billion copyright settlement with a class of authors and publishers are appealing to the Ninth Circuit an order excluding them from attorney fees awarded to court-appointed class counsel.

4 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

USPTO Says Patent Atty's Suit Shouldn't Stop Discipline Case

By Theresa Schliep

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has said an Ohio federal court shouldn't pause professional discipline proceedings against an attorney while he sues the agency, saying he's likely to fail with his suit challenging the fact that a judge from another agency is overseeing his discipline case.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Sinema Says Brief Signal Chat Can't Anchor NC Affair Suit

By Hayley Fowler

A single exchange on the encrypted messaging app Signal became the focal point of former Arizona U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's testimony on Wednesday as she sought to convince a North Carolina federal judge that she cannot be hauled into court in the Tar Heel state over an affair — which she declined to characterize as a "passionate" romance — she had with her married security guard.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »