Calif. Bar Using Forensics To Determine Who Leaked Exam Qs

By Hailey Konnath

The State Bar of California will tap "digital forensic experts" to figure out who's been improperly posting bar exam questions online following the disastrous administration of the Golden State's February exam, according to a notice from the bar.

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Audit Finds Calif. Bar Backlog Growing Amid Budget Crunch

By Emily Sawicki

With more than one in three attorney discipline cases considered "backlogged" as of late 2023, the State Bar of California must do more to move cases forward while continuing belt-tightening to shore up finances after years of general fund deficits put it into a "strained financial position," the California State Auditor reports.

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Online Test Proctor Sued Over Calif. Bar Exam Malfunctions

By Matt Perez

ProctorU Inc., which does business as Meazure Learning, was hit with a nationwide class action in California federal court Thursday for its alleged failure to properly administer the state's February bar exam, despite mounting technical issues during the run-up to the test.

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'Moana' IP Theft Accuser Forged Evidence, Jury Hears

By Rachel Scharf

Counsel for a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co. sought during cross-examination Friday to undercut the credibility of an artist claiming "Moana" ripped off his work, pointing out that the plaintiff doctored a key document in the case and offered money to potential witnesses.

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Beyond Meat Fries Investors' Fast-Food Production Woes Suit

By Lauren Berg

A Los Angeles federal judge has tossed, for good, a reworked investor class action accusing Beyond Meat of concealing major problems with its efforts to scale production on plant-based meat substitutes for fast-food chains like McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut.

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Align Tech Deal Directs Buyers To A Monopolist, Judge Says

By Hailey Konnath

A California federal judge has soundly rejected Align Technologies Inc.'s proposed $27.5 million antitrust settlement with teeth-aligner buyers, slamming Align as a monopolist and saying that the deal "will direct still more customers to the monopolist."

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Trump Still Isn't Obeying Order To Free FEMA Funds, AGs Say

By Lauren Berg

The Trump administration still has not restored millions of dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds as part of a temporary restraining order barring a freeze on funding for federal grant and aid programs, a coalition of states told a Rhode Island federal judge Friday, asking the court to enforce its order.

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GOP Rep. Reintroduces The JUDGES Act

By Courtney Bublé

The chair of the House Judiciary Committee's courts panel has reintroduced a bill to create 66 new and temporary federal judgeships, which former President Joe Biden vetoed at the end of last year.

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Roundup

Real Estate Recap: Gov't Lease Limbo, AI Upset, Profiteering

By Real Estate Authority Staff

Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including attorney insights into federal lease upheaval, the impact of AI efficiency on data centers and price-gouging in the aftermath of the Los Angeles wildfires.

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Up Next At High Court: Gun Violence Liability & Nuclear Waste

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will return to the bench Monday to consider Mexico's attempt to hold gun manufacturers and distributors liable for cartel-related gun violence and a nuclear waste site dispute that could determine who can challenge future agency actions.

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Calif. Justices Revive Yacht Club Worker's Injury Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

The California Supreme Court has revived a suit brought by a yacht club maintenance worker seeking to hold his employer liable for his workplace injuries under federal maritime law, saying the law preempts California's workers' compensation statute.

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9th Circ. Keeps Mass Starz Privacy Arbitration Consolidated

By Allison Grande

The Ninth Circuit on Friday refused to allow a consumer whose video privacy arbitration claims against Starz Entertainment LLC have been merged with more than 7,000 similar allegations to break off from the pack, finding that the television network couldn't be blamed for the current "procedural stalemate" in the consolidated arbitration proceedings. 

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BofA Customer Gets Class Cert. In Revived ATM Fee Dispute

By Sydney Price

A class of account holders who allege Bank of America breached a contract by charging out-of-network fees for balance inquiries at certain ATMs can now proceed with claims as a class after their initial attempt at certification was denied.

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Shake Shack Sued Over 'Deceptive' Delivery Fees

By Isaac Monterose

Shake Shack Inc. charges its customers "deceptive fees" when they use the fast casual chain's website and app to order food delivery, according to a proposed class action removed to California federal court.

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Judge Denies OpenAI's Bid For Discovery In Meta's IP Fight

By Andrea Keckley

A California federal judge rejected OpenAI's request to see discovery produced in Meta Platforms Inc.'s copyright battle with authors over its artificial intelligence tool, writing Thursday that the "broad swath of information" it requested is not proportional to the company's needs in its own case.

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Intel Wants License Question Settled Before VLSI Trial In May

By Dani Kass

Intel Corp. is asking U.S. District Judge Alan Albright to hold that a license it has with Finjan Holdings also covers patents owned by its affiliates, meaning a jury would only decide whether its litigation foe VLSI Technology is one of those affiliates.

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Fed. Circ. Orders Interest Recalculation In Hardware IP Row

By Andrew Karpan

Halo Electronics' nearly two-decades-old dispute with a rival completed its fifth trip to the Federal Circuit, with the appeals court on Friday ordering a Nevada federal court to recalculate the amount of interest Halo could collect on a jury verdict.

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Dartmouth Wants Fed. Circ. To Ax Fees After Vitamin IP Loss

By Andrew Karpan

Dartmouth College is appealing a Delaware federal court's $9.1 million fee award after losing a fight over milk vitamins patented by a biochemist at the school, telling the Federal Circuit that there is no reason it should have presumed that the patents it asserted were "worthless."

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Off The Bench

Off The Bench: Trans Ban Recusal Bid, Wemby Spat, Fox Suit

By Alex Lawson

In this week's Off The Bench, a Colorado federal judge won't recuse himself from a case centering on a transgender athlete over his pronoun use, the sale of a high-profile Victor Wembanyama jersey will go forward despite feverish litigation and a sprawling harassment suit against Fox Sports is shuffled from federal to state court.

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9th Circ. Says Risk Justified Firing Vax-Refusing Actor

By Grace Elletson

A split Ninth Circuit panel declined Friday to revive an actor's suit claiming she was illegally removed from a Starz Network show because she rejected its COVID-19 vaccine mandate on religious grounds, ruling her immunization status posed too much of a risk to the production.

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Adobe Hit With Age Bias Claim By Former Sales Manager

By Julie Manganis

A former Adobe sales manager was sidelined and then fired after reporting a supervisor's comments on his age to human resources, according to a lawsuit filed in Massachusetts state court.

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Ex-USF Ballplayers In Uphill Battle For Sex Harassment Cert.

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal magistrate judge said Friday she is unlikely to certify a class of potentially hundreds of ex-University of San Francisco baseball players in a case alleging that former coaches created a sexually abusive environment, but agreed to hold her decision to review additional information on the claims.

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Analysis

5 Argument Sessions Benefits Attys Should Watch In March

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Ninth Circuit will mull Express Scripts and OptumRx's bid to force a public nuisance suit brought by the state of California into federal court, and the Second Circuit will hear from pensioners who say that IBM's use of outdated mortality tables shrank their benefits payouts. Here, Law360 looks at these and other appellate arguments happening in March that should be on benefits lawyers' radar.

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DA Eyes Type Of Weinstein Evidence That Sank 1st Verdict

By Cara Salvatore

Manhattan prosecutors preparing to retry Harvey Weinstein want a jury to hear about alleged sexual assaults by the jailed Hollywood mogul that are not part of his indictment — the same kind of testimony that doomed his original conviction on appeal.

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Software Engineer Faces Prison For Sharing Info With China

By Elaine Briseño

A Southern California man has pled guilty to downloading sensitive technology from a former employer and using it to market his own competing business to a company in China, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

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9th Circ. Backs Developer's Conviction For Bribing LA Pol

By Gina Kim

The Ninth Circuit upheld a developer's conviction for bribing former Los Angeles City Councilor Jose Huizar to foil a challenge to a downtown project, ruling Thursday the district court didn't have to instruct jurors that the government had to prove the developer bribed Huizar to take a specific, official act.

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Brief

Calif. Man To Admit $1.2M Stan Lee Merch Tax Fraud

By Elliot Weld

A California man has agreed to plead guilty to filing false tax returns related to $1.2 million in income he made from selling memorabilia signed by late Marvel Comics writer and publisher Stan Lee.

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Brief

NY Man Found Guilty Of $7M Crypto Investment Scheme

By Elliot Weld

A New York man has been found guilty by a California federal jury of 14 counts related to allegations that he stole millions of dollars' worth of investment funds and moved them to sports betting sites located outside the U.S.

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Aimmune Shareholders' $27.5M Deal Over Sale To Nestle OK'd

By Bonnie Eslinger

Aimmune Therapeutics Inc. stockholders won preliminary approval in California federal court on Friday for a $27.5 million settlement of their securities fraud class action alleging that Aimmune was falsely undervalued before its merger with Nestlé Health Science SA.

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Space Co. Lied About Rocket Launch Timeline, Investors Say

By Sydney Price

Aerospace company Rocket Lab USA Inc. has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action in California federal court alleging it intentionally concealed issues that would delay the test and commercial launches of a vehicle it developed.

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Robotic Surgery Co. Appealing Tossed Intuitive Antitrust Case

By Matthew Perlman

Surgical Instrument Service Co. Inc. is appealing to the Ninth Circuit after a California federal court tossed its $140 million antitrust case accusing Intuitive Surgical Inc. of blocking third parties from refurbishing components for its popular da Vinci surgery robot at the end of trial.

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FDIC Can't Nix SVB Trust's Claims Feds Must Turn Over $1.93B

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge has tossed a pair of claims from SVB Financial Trust's lawsuit alleging that the FDIC wrongfully took control of $1.93 billion in deposits amid Silicon Valley Bank's collapse, dismissing due process claims for good but allowing the trust to pursue promissory estoppel allegations and so-called turnover claims.

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Goodwin, White & Case Build BridgeBio's $949M SPAC Deal

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics, advised by Goodwin Procter LLP, on Friday announced plans to go public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company Helix Acquisition Corp. II, advised by White & Case LLP, in a deal that gives the combined business an implied pro forma enterprise value of $949 million.

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More Sanctuary Jurisdictions Join Suit Against Trump Admin

By Britain Eakin

U.S. cities and counties challenging the Trump administration's targeting of sanctuary jurisdictions have escalated their legal battle to fend off federal funding cuts and civil or criminal prosecution, adding nearly a dozen more localities to the suit.

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Calif. Tribe Didn't Comply With Tobacco Laws, Judge Says

By Jonathan Capriel

Federal tobacco regulators were justified in blocking the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians from shipping cigarettes after its wholesale products were resold to people without tribal affiliation, a California federal judge has ruled in a lawsuit that argued the concept of tribal sovereignty was being turned on its head.

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Feds Say Tribes Can't Block New Oregon Casino

By Ali Sullivan

The federal government and an Oregon Native American tribe are pushing back on a bid from three other tribes to block the operation of a new casino in Oregon, telling the D.C. Circuit that the tribes filed their emergency motion improperly and are likely to lose on the merits of their case.

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How Crypto Firms Should Approach Patchwork Of State Laws

The Money Transmission Modernization Act was designed to create uniformity across state digital regulations, but the reality remains far from consistent — as demonstrated by the patchwork of laws in states like Texas, Vermont, New York and California — so as state legislatures convene in the coming weeks, crypto firms should watch closely for developments that could shape the regulatory landscape, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

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Notable Q4 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

In a continuation of trends in property and casualty insurance class actions, last quarter insurers struggled with defending the merits and class certification of sales tax and fee suits, and labor depreciation cases, but succeeded in dismissing privacy class actions at the pleading stages, says Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler.

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Analysis

Presidents v. Courts: Lincoln, Trump & Judicial Power Limits

By Jeff Overley

Amid fears of President Donald Trump disobeying judges with impunity, debate has focused on famous instances of officials defying the U.S. Supreme Court. But some of the clearest insights into America's handling of White House disregard for courts exist in relatively obscure cases from the Civil War era, when unprecedented presidential actions provoked extraordinary responses from the judiciary — and underscored the limits of its powers.

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NYC Bar Slams Trump's Order On Covington Attys

By Emily Sawicki

The New York City Bar Association has joined the chorus of legal groups decrying President Donald Trump's order suspending security clearances held by Covington & Burling LLP attorneys representing former special counsel Jack Smith, calling it an "improper use of government power."

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Ex-Commerce Official To Chair Gibson Dunn Sanctions Group

By James Mills

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP is creating a new sanctions and export enforcement practice group and bringing in a former U.S. Commerce Department official as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office to lead it.

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Ex-White House Cyber Pro Joins Sidley As DC Privacy Partner

By Tracey Read

The former chief of staff at the White House Office of the National Cyber Director has returned to the private sector as a Sidley Austin LLP privacy and cybersecurity practice partner in Washington, the firm said Thursday.

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WH Appeals After Watchdog Chief Is Permanently Reinstalled

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. federal judge ruled Saturday that President Donald Trump's firing of the head of the Office of Special Counsel was illegal, finding that the federal employment watchdog can only be ousted for cause.

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Dems Claim DOJ Atty's 'Quid Pro Quo' Violated Ethics Rules

By Dorothy Atkins

Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee senior members lodged ethics complaints against acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, accusing the recently appointed Bove of violating ethics rules by allegedly pushing prosecutors to drop criminal bribery charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a "quid pro quo" deal with President Donald Trump.

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Group Blasts Judge's Call For Women In Contraception MDL

By Carolina Bolado

A judicial organization dedicated to fighting "leftist lawfare" filed a complaint Thursday against the Florida federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation over the hormonal contraceptive drug Depo-Provera, claiming that her comments about women needing to be represented in the MDL leadership show an impermissible bias.

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Roc Nation Aims To Get Out Of Buzbee Conspiracy Suit

By Ryan Boysen

Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter's company Roc Nation has asked a Texas federal court to let it exit a lawsuit that claims Roc Nation conspired to "finance" malpractice suits against attorney Tony Buzbee in retaliation for an abortive lawsuit Buzbee filed accusing the rap star of rape.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

While many companies are removing diversity language from their public websites, a new survey shows that about half of its respondents do not plan on changing their DEI programs. And the general counsel for the new Tiger Woods/Rory McIlroy golf league talked about his love of the sport and the legal work involved in the new venture.

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen the billionaire Zakay brothers, founders of Topland Group, become embroiled in a legal dispute with each other, Unilever sue three major perfume companies over alleged illegal price-fixing, and the publisher of Vogue magazine file an intellectual property suit against Cornucopia Events. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Holwell Shuster & Goldberg LLP and Kontnik Cohen LLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court held that cases dismissed voluntarily can later be eligible for special judicial relief and reopening, even if a statute of limitations would typically block the lawsuit.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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