China Sanctions 3 US Firms For Arms Sales To Taiwan

By Daniel Wilson

The Chinese Government has sanctioned units of Boeing, General Atomics and General Dynamics over the companies' sales of weapons to Taiwan, barring the companies from trade or investment in China, citing alleged threats to its sovereignty.

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Fed. Circ. Says Co. Wrongly DQ'd From USPS Screening Deal

By Daniel Wilson

The Federal Circuit has revived a company's potential eligibility for U.S. Postal Service canine mail screening contracts, ruling the USPS reasonably found the company had mitigated conflicts of interest related to its prior work for the service.

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SolarWinds Accuses SEC Of 'Troubling Pattern' Of Distortion

By Jessica Corso

SolarWinds Corp. is calling out the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for what it deems to be a "troubling pattern" of overstating its case against the government contractor, saying that a recent admission by the agency "dooms" claims that the company knew a customer had been hacked and failed to report it.

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Lab Says GSK Hid Zantac Cancer Risk From Feds For Decades

By Matthew Santoni

A Connecticut laboratory claims that GlaxoSmithKline defrauded federal health insurance programs for billions by hiding for 40 years that Zantac decomposes into a carcinogen even when just sitting on the shelf, in a lawsuit filed Monday in Pennsylvania federal court.

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DOJ Says Google Ad Tech Case About Coercion, Not Dealing

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice urged a Virginia federal judge Friday to preserve its case accusing Google of monopolizing key digital advertising technology, arguing the search giant is misconstruing a case that is really about forcing customers to use its ad exchanges, not about who the company does business with.

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Ex-IRS Agent, Five Others Sentenced In COVID Fraud Scheme

By Phillip Bantz

A former Internal Revenue Service agent, his brother and four other defendants have pled guilty to participating in a scheme that netted more than $3 million in fraudulent COVID-19 pandemic relief loans.

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Assange Gets Final Appeal In Fight Against US Extradition

By Christopher Crosby

Julian Assange won a lifeline in his long-running fight against extradition to the U.S. on Monday as an English court granted him permission to challenge assurances from American authorities that the WikiLeaks founder would not face discrimination at trial.

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DOL, Fringe Benefit Co. Strike Deal In Funds Management Suit

By Patrick Hoff

A fringe benefits company and two of its executives have agreed to pay over $4 million to resolve a U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit alleging they mismanaged funds meant for government contractor employees' benefits, the federal government told a Maryland federal court.

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Ex-Conn. Town Atty Sues Over 'False' Ethics Complaint

By Ryan Harroff

Former Newington, Connecticut, town attorney Benjamin Ancona Jr. and other former officials took the Hartford-area suburb to state court claiming the town's assessor and others defamed them in and regarding a now-dismissed ethics complaint that was purportedly loaded with false statements.

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6th Circ. Won't Revive Challenge To $39B Student Debt Relief

By Lauren Berg

A pair of libertarian think tanks cannot revive their lawsuit challenging the Biden administration's plan to wipe out $39 billion in student loan debt, the Sixth Circuit ruled Friday, saying the groups haven't shown the government's plan puts them at a disadvantage to recruit indebted lawyers and other employees.

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Nonprofits Renew Bid To Enter Red States' Border Wall Suit

By Alyssa Aquino

Two nonprofits urged a Texas federal court to add them to a challenge to the Biden administration's plans to use border wall appropriations for remediation projects, saying they were shocked by the administration's acceptance of an order suspending the plan.

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6th Circ. Orders Sanctioned Prison Co. To Pay NLRB Atty Fees

By Ryan Harroff

The Sixth Circuit said a Federal Bureau of Prisons contractor has to pay the U.S. National Labor Relations Board's attorney fees from arguing the contractor should be held in contempt in a dispute over two fired union supporters, with one judge dissenting in part over 0.4 billable hour.

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Mich. Town Can't Block $2B Battery Plant, Judge Rules

By Isaac Monterose

A Michigan federal judge has ordered that Green Charter Township can't prevent Gotion Inc.'s upcoming battery components plant, in which the company plans on investing more than $2 billion, from moving forward.

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Latham Hires 2 Skadden Healthcare Partners In DC

By Rachel Rippetoe

Latham & Watkins LLP has picked up two healthcare and life sciences partners from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP in Washington, D.C., the firm announced Monday.

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Contract Disputes Recap: Saying What Needs To Be Said

Edward Arnold and Bret Marfut at Seyfarth Shaw examine three recent decisions that delve into the meaning and effect of contractual releases, and demonstrate the importance of ensuring that releases, as written, do what the parties intend.

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Pa. Federal District Judge Gene Pratter Dead At 75

By James Boyle

U.S. District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter, who joined the bench in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 2004 and presided over several landmark cases, died Friday at the age of 75, according to a statement from the court.

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Baker McKenzie Ends FOIA Suit Over IRS Partnership Audits

By Ali Sullivan

A Baker McKenzie attorney has dropped a public records lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service that sought to compel the agency to turn over documents pertaining to its scrutiny of large partnerships.

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ABA's Education Section Endorses Alternative Atty Licensing

By Matt Perez

The American Bar Association's national accrediting arm for law degree programs announced during a council meeting Friday the adoption of a report that effectively recognizes alternative methods of attorney licensing outside the bar exam.

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Senate Confirms 1st Circ. Judicial Nomination

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 49-40 on Monday evening to confirm Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Aframe to the First Circuit, making every judge on the appellate court's full bench a Democratic presidential pick.

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Judge Assails Trump Witness After Manhattan DA Rests Case

By Stewart Bishop & Frank G. Runyeon

The Manhattan district attorney's office on Monday rested its case in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records, while a Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP attorney and witness found himself on the wrong side of New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.

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Menendez Texts With Wife A Legislative Promise, Judge Says

By Pete Brush

Emoji-laden texts between Sen. Robert Menendez and his wife about an arms sale constitute a legislative promise, a Manhattan federal judge reiterated Monday, as the government seeks to prove the power couple had a corrupt agreement with a New Jersey businessman.

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Investor Group Wants Slowdown On Del. Corporation Law Bill

By Jeff Montgomery

Critics of a fast-tracked proposal to amend Delaware's General Corporation Law to give controlling stockholders wider influence or vetoes over some board decisions are urging the state's bar association to tap the brakes, following a Chancery Court decision striking down a Moelis & Co. stockholder agreement as flouting existing law.

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Texas' Naive Witness 'Unacceptable' In Google Ad Tech Suit

By Catherine Marfin

A judge overseeing a Texas-led lawsuit accusing Google of anti-competitive conduct in the display advertising market has ordered the attorneys general bringing the litigation to provide an adequate witness who can speak to certain facts about the investigation, calling their failure to do so "puzzling and unacceptable."

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Girardi Wants To Probe Jurors' 'Real Housewives' Exposure

By Brandon Lowrey

Public defenders for Tom Girardi want to ask prospective jurors in his upcoming fraud trial whether they have seen his wife's reality television show and news reporting about his law firm's massive scandal, according to a recent motion in Los Angeles federal court.

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UTA Atty Sued Over 'Pathological Liar' Remark Nears Win

By Craig Clough

Counsel for MediaLink's founder on Monday urged a Los Angeles judge not to toss his $125 million defamation suit against United Talent Agency's attorney for publicly calling him a "pathological liar," saying the tentative ruling protecting the attorney's speech would immunize lawyers to say "whatever they want" about opposing parties.

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McElroy Deutsch Says Ex-Exec's Guilt Boosts Home Claim

By Emily Sawicki

McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP doubled down on its attempt to seize the home of two former firm executives following a guilty plea on criminal embezzlement charges earlier this month by one of them, the firm's former chief financial officer.

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Trial In Blackmail Case Over Judge's Photos Delayed

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida state judge agreed Monday to push back the trial in a Palm Beach County judge's suit accusing an attorney of trying to blackmail her with nude photographs, after the defendant cited discovery delays and an ongoing bellwether trial in multidistrict litigation against Chiquita that is tying up the schedule of two key witnesses.

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Dorothy Beasley, Ga.'s 1st Woman Chief Appellate Judge, Dies

By Madison Arnold

The first woman both appointed and elected to the Court of Appeals of Georgia, Judge Dorothy Toth Beasley, is remembered by her colleagues for the glass ceilings she shattered as well as for two important words she had inscribed in the courtroom.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Leslie A. Pappas

Delaware was full of drama last week, as proposed changes to the state's corporate law statutes raised eyebrows and a professor's friend-of-the-court brief sparked a very unfriendly public exchange. Delaware's court of equity banged the gavel on pipeline and social media disputes, and shareholders filed new suits alleging insider trading, vote bungling, unfair stock buybacks and merger shenanigans. In case you missed any of it, here's the recap of all the top news last week from Delaware's Chancery Court.

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