Analysis

3 Things To Know About CFTC's Election Betting Proposal

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has proposed to ban the trading of event contracts tied to things like election outcomes, sporting events and the Academy Awards. Here are three things to know about a proposal that is likely to be closely watched by industry insiders, some of whom are already wrapped up in litigation with the agency over this very issue. 

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Bolt Financial Cancels $37M In Shares To End CEO Loan Suit

By Sydney Price

Bolt Financial Inc. will cancel over $37 million in shares to settle a derivative suit against the company's board of directors that accuses its former CEO of purposely defaulting on a $30 million loan, according to a filing in Delaware's Court of Chancery.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Archegos Ex-Accountant Tells Jury Of 'Vendetta' Inside Fund

By Pete Brush

A key cooperating witness had a "personal vendetta" against a former Archegos executive charged in the government's $36 billion market distortion case, according to testimony Wednesday by an ex-accountant at the fallen fund.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Tesla Fires Back At Claims It Bullied Retired Law Professor

By Alison Knezevich

Tesla has pushed back against allegations that it tried to bully a retired law professor out of weighing in on an investor suit over CEO Elon Musk's $56 billion compensation plan, according to new filings in Delaware.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Chancery Nixes BuzzFeed Worker Arbitration Bid

By Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's Court of Chancery dismissed from an arbitration access dispute on Wednesday 85 BuzzFeed Media Enterprises employees who sued for arbitration of a stock conversion right, rejecting claims that company employment agreements require Delaware courts to handle the issue.

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

'Pissed Off,' 'You Need To Go': Reps Rip FDIC's Gruenberg

By Jon Hill

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg took withering, bipartisan criticism over his agency's workplace misconduct scandal at a House hearing on Wednesday, although no new Democrats joined their Republican colleagues in directly calling for his resignation.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Water Co. To Pay $8.5M Criminal Fine Over Accounting Claims

By Emilie Ruscoe

Wastewater treatment company Evoqua Water Technologies Corp. has reached an $8.5 million agreement with federal prosecutors allowing the company to avoid criminal charges for allegedly inflating the company's revenue by $36 million.

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

SolarWinds Says SEC's Cyber Breach Suit Goes Too Far

By Stewart Bishop

SolarWinds Corp. on Wednesday asked a Manhattan federal judge to throw out the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's suit accusing the enterprise software company of deceiving investors about its lax cybersecurity, which left it open to a Russian hacking campaign.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Chinese Art Marketplace, EV Co. Ink SPAC Deals Worth $834M

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Two Chinese companies, art marketplace Tyfon Culture Holdings and electric-vehicle maker Aiways Europe have announced plans to go public in the U.S. via mergers with special-purpose acquisition companies in deals that are together valued at around $834 million.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Linklaters Helps Computer Biz Raspberry Pi's Planned UK IPO

By Najiyya Budaly

Raspberry Pi, which makes card-sized computers, said on Wednesday that it is planning to float on the London Stock Exchange, providing a rare boost for a U.K. capital market which has struggled to attract new listings.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

'Uber Files' Scandal Can't Prop Up Investor Suit, Judge Says

By Katryna Perera

Uber Technologies has beaten back a proposed class action alleging that a trove of leaked internal records harmed shareholders by revealing corporate misconduct, with a California federal judge saying plaintiffs failed to prove that any of Uber's statements about the leak were false.

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

UnitedHealth Concealed DOJ Merger Investigation, Suit Says

By Sydney Price

UnitedHealth Group has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action alleging that it failed to disclose that the U.S. Department of Justice had reopened an antitrust investigation into the health insurance giant following its acquisition of a healthcare data company, and that top executives had sold more than $120 million of shares knowing about the investigation before a news report revealed it to the public.

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

Arizona Judge Revives Opendoor Investors' Securities Suit

By Isaac Monterose

An Arizona federal judge has revived a consolidated securities class action accusing real estate company Opendoor Technologies Inc. of misleading investors about the benefits of its pricing algorithm software in order to go public in a reverse merger with a special-purpose acquisition company.

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

Startup Consultant Hits Hemp Co. With $2.1M Fee Suit

By Ryan Harroff

A consulting firm focused on helping startup companies raise capital is taking an industrial hemp firm, its owners and a guest lecturer at the University of Michigan's business school to Ohio federal court over $2.1 million in consulting fees it says it never got to collect.

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

Ex-FTX Exec Seeks Leniency, Saying He Was Kept In The Dark

By Elliot Weld

A former top FTX official has asked a Manhattan federal judge for a lenient 18-month sentence, saying he was not part of company co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle and was as shocked as everyone else to learn that the crypto exchange was operating a fraud that siphoned billions in customer funds.

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

Colo. Says Lending Law Challenge Aims To Strip Federal Right

By Katryna Perera

The state of Colorado has urged a federal judge to dismiss a suit seeking to block a new state law to rein in high-cost online lending by out-of-state banks, saying federal law "expressly permits" states to opt out of the relevant statute, so their interest rate laws will not be preempted by state-chartered banks.

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

Chancery Orders $199M Penalty In TransCanada Deal Suit

By Jeff Montgomery

Citing "non-cumulative" damages award offsets, a Delaware vice chancellor on Wednesday ordered the former TransCanada Corp. to pay $199 million of a potential $283 million judgment issued in a post-trial ruling last year on amounts owed to former Columbia Pipeline Group Inc. shareholders shorted in a 2016 merger.

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

Two Firms To Lead GrafTech Suit Over Environmental Issues

By Katryna Perera

An Ohio federal judge on Wednesday appointed Abraham Fruchter & Twersky LLP and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP to lead a shareholder class action against GrafTech International, accusing the electrode-maker of covering up its environmental contamination in Monterrey, Mexico, in the run-up to its initial public offering.

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

Series

Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

BCLP Sues St. Louis Over City Taxes On Partners' Income

By Kevin Penton

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP is suing St. Louis, Missouri, after the Midwestern city accused the firm of being delinquent on nearly $275,000 in earnings taxes, contending the municipality unlawfully taxed partners who don't live in the city, according to its court filing.

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

Calif. Bar Halts Plans To Develop New Bar Exam

By Ryan Boysen

The State Bar of California has shelved a plan to develop its own online bar exam, a shift that could save the cash-strapped organization up to $4 million per year, but drew opposition from law school deans concerned about its ambitious rollout timeline.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

'That Is A Lie!' Trump Atty Assails Cohen In Fraud Trial Cross

By Frank G. Runyeon and Stewart Bishop

Donald Trump's lawyer lashed out at central prosecution witness Michael Cohen on Thursday during a second day of cross-examination in New York state's criminal fraud case, attacking his credibility and key testimony linking Trump to crimes.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Coverage Recap: Day 14 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

By Stewart Bishop

Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from Thursday, day 14 of the trial.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

Thomas, Alito: Two Originalists, Two Takes On CFPB Case

By Katie Buehler

U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — often birds of a feather — butted heads Thursday over the original meaning and purpose of the U.S. Constitution's appropriations clause in a decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's unique funding scheme, highlighting what experts describe as the pair's different approaches to originalism.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Democrats Prod Justice Thomas on RV Loan, Tax Treatment

By Anna Scott Farrell

Two Senate Democrats have asked U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' attorney to respond to what they called a failure to answer their questions about the justice's $267,000 loan from a healthcare industry executive to finance a luxury recreational vehicle, saying the loan treatment could have violated federal tax laws.

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

Investigate Pro-Gaza Reddit Post, GOP Pols Tell USPTO

By Andrew Karpan

An anonymous Reddit post purportedly from a patent examiner confessing "mixed feelings" about issuing a patent to an Israeli defense contractor, citing the country's ongoing bombardment of Gaza, has attracted the attention of Republicans in Congress and the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office herself.

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

Senate Confirms South Dakota State Judge To Federal Bench

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 90-4 on Thursday to confirm Judge Camela C. Theeler to the District of South Dakota.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Menendez Bribery Case Criminalizes Gifts, Jury Told

By Carla Baranauckas

Prosecutors are trying to criminalize friendship, gifts and advocacy, the counsel for one of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's co-defendants said Thursday in an opening statement in the corruption trial in Manhattan federal court.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Judge Calls Out 'Cancel Culture' In Prof's Suit Against Penn

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania federal judge said University of Pennsylvania leaders embraced "cancel culture" when they chastised an anthropology professor for handling remains from the 1985 MOVE house bombing in Philadelphia, allowing the professor's defamation case against the school to move forward.

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

$2B Default Recommended For Making Fair Trial 'Impossible'

By Bryan Koenig

Years of lies should put a pair of Chinese electronics companies on the hook for over $2 billion in default judgment, a special master told a California federal judge, adding that their yearslong no-show and disregard of U.S. counsel advice to retain documents have rendered a fair trial "impossible."

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

Roche Freedman Gets Split Ruling On Witnesses In Atty's Suit

By Andrea Keckley

A New York federal judge has issued a split decision on witness testimony in a dispute over the litigation boutique formerly called Roche Freedman.

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

11th Circ. Tries To Untangle Aftermath Of Judge's Early Exit

By Ivan Moreno

An Eleventh Circuit panel on Thursday quizzed attorneys for rival breeders of disease-resistant shrimp about whether a $10 million trade-secrets jury verdict should be overturned after a federal magistrate judge presided over the trial's ending because a federal district judge had to catch a flight, with one of the panel judges saying the parties had been put "in a very difficult position."

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

6th Circ. Still Won't Rethink Sanctions Against Trump Attys

By Henrik Nilsson

The Sixth Circuit on Thursday once again denied a bid from former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell and other attorneys to reconsider sanctions issued against them after they challenged the 2020 presidential election results in Michigan, holding that the attorneys must seek permission for future filings given their history of "meritless motions."

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

Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »