Colo. Appeals Court Clarifies Law On Public Figure Criticism

By Rachel Konieczny

A speaker who accuses another person of a crime expresses a protected opinion if the speaker fully and accurately discloses the factual basis for that characterization, the Colorado Court of Appeals held in a defamation dispute.

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Labor Board Accuses UFCW Unit Of Fining Nonmembers

By Braden Campbell

National Labor Relations Board prosecutors have accused a United Food and Commercial Workers local of violating federal labor law by fining two King Soopers workers who quit the union and returned to work during a strike last year.

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Man Can't Collect Murdered Wife's Life Insurance, Family Says

By Hope Patti

A Colorado dentist found guilty of murdering his wife by poisoning her protein shakes should not be allowed to collect on her life insurance proceeds or any other assets under the state's so-called slayer statute, her estate told a state court.

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EchoStar Must Put Away $40B To Pay Builders, Group Says

By Nadia Dreid

EchoStar should have set aside some of the $40 billion it plans to make from spectrum sales to AT&T and SpaceX to repay the companies who were supposed to be building Dish Network's 5G network, which EchoStar and Dish have now abandoned, a think tank has told the FCC.

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Colo. Recycling Law Faces Challenge From Lubricant Group

By Zach Dupont

A trade group for lubricant producers has claimed in Colorado state court that the implementation of a new recycling program led to members being charged "exorbitant" and "illegal" fees by a nonprofit run entirely by its direct competitors and which represents oil and gas giants such as Chevron and Shell.

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Roundup

Real Estate Recap: Iran, Investor Optimism, Construction Debt

By Real Estate Authority Staff

Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including implications for the real estate sector from the war in Iran, what investors are saying about the market and specific asset classes, and a look at where construction debt is ballooning.

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States Seek To Block Trump's Latest 10% Tariff Order

By Kat Lucero

President Donald Trump's order imposing 10% tariffs on countries worldwide is unlawful because it conflicts with the international payments authority he immediately invoked to justify it, two dozen states argued Friday while asking the U.S. Court of International Trade to strike down or block the regime.

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States To Head Live Nation Antitrust Trial After Feds Settle

By Stewart Bishop

Over two dozen states and the District of Columbia are forging ahead with monopolization claims against Live Nation in Manhattan federal court after the federal government unexpectedly agreed to settle with the live entertainment giant after a week of trial.

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HPE Judge Has Enough Info Without Testimony, DOJ Says

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice is pushing a California federal judge against live witness testimony as it defends the controversial settlement permitting Hewlett Packard Enterprise's $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks, arguing that the three live witnesses eyed by challenging Democratic state attorneys general have nothing to add.

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HR Services Co. Fired Exec Over Medical Leave, Court Told

By Benjamin Morse

A human resources outsourcing company fired an executive just three days after learning he had applied for Colorado medical leave while he was still recovering from sepsis that led to kidney and lung failure, according to a complaint filed in state court.

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Schools Get Extension For College Admissions Data

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Massachusetts judge pushed back the deadline for colleges and universities to comply with a federal government demand for years of race- and sex-related admissions data by one week on Friday, after a coalition of 17 states sued. 

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Split 10th Circ. Refuses To Rehear Custodia Account Suit

By Sydney Price

The Tenth Circuit on Friday denied a full court reconsideration of an earlier decision granting Federal Reserve banks discretion to reject master bank accounts, but a dissenting judge argued in favor of crypto-focused Custodia Bank's position that the decision would give the Fed too much power over state banks.

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Conservative Groups Back DOJ As Amici In Law Firm EO Suits

By Emily Sawicki

Conservative groups are backing the Trump administration's attempts to revive executive orders targeting BigLaw firms, arguing in an amicus brief to the D.C. Circuit that Perkins Coie LLP had "unclean hands" for its part in what they called the "Russiagate hoax."

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Winston & Strawn Sanctioned For Trying To 'Make Up Facts'

By Dani Kass

A California federal judge sanctioned Winston & Strawn LLP on Monday for making up facts and otherwise misrepresenting the record in contract litigation over its client's app being removed from Apple's platform, then separately dismissed the case on the merits.

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Don't 'Grimace, Nod, Laugh': Judge Breyer Slams Musk's Attys

By Bonnie Eslinger

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer scolded Elon Musk's Quinn Emanuel counsel during a hearing Monday ahead of closing arguments in California litigation alleging that Musk tanked Twitter's stock to get out of his $44 billion acquisition deal, saying he wouldn't "sit here and watch lawyers grimace, nod, laugh in court."

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Pro Se Litigant Lawyered So Well He Owes $1.8M, Judge Says

By Dorothy Atkins

A Michigan federal judge ruled Monday that a pro se defendant must pay software-maker Dassault Systemes $1.8 million in fees for willfully infringing its software copyrights to train design students, while commending the pro se litigant's professionalism during 15 years of litigation for rivaling and exceeding many licensed attorneys.

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SEC Enforcement Head Resigns After 7 Months

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that its enforcement director, Margaret "Meg" Ryan, has resigned from the agency after nearly seven months on the job.

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Analysis

Excitement, Tinged With Skepticism, Over AAA's AI Arbitrator

By Caroline Simson

The American Arbitration Association caused a stir last fall when it introduced its AI Arbitrator for documents-only construction cases, and even though lawyers say they're excited about the tool's possibilities — and that of artificial intelligence in arbitration in general — so far, many have been reluctant to be the first to take that plunge.

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Boris Epshteyn Targeted Over Trump Bid To 'Coerce' BigLaw

By Lauren Berg

Lawyers, law professors and retired judges led by two nonprofits urged the New York state courts' ethics committee on Monday to investigate Boris Epshteyn's involvement in President Donald Trump's efforts to "intimidate and coerce" BigLaw firms into pro bono agreements with the administration.

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Trump To Get 5th North Carolina Federal Court Vacancy

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump will get another judicial vacancy to fill in North Carolina with U.S. District Judge William L. Osteen Jr. of the Middle District of North Carolina recently announcing he will take senior status.

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Paralegal Calls Full Lewis Brisbois Arbitration Unenforceable

By Adrian Cruz

A former Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP paralegal has told a Florida state judge that the firm shouldn't be able to force her into arbitrating her claims against it because a number of the alleged actions took place after she was terminated from her job.

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Democrats Push DOJ To Investigate Noem For Perjury

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats have referred the departing U.S. secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem, to the Department of Justice for a perjury investigation following her recent congressional testimony.

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Mass. Justices Won't Boost Pay For Court-Appointed Attys

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts' highest court on Monday declined a request to let state judges offer higher hourly rates to induce attorneys to accept court-appointed cases, a proposal meant to alleviate a shortage of appointed counsel in two of the state's busiest counties.

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Ga. Panel Says Minister Can't Rep His Church In Tax Case

By Chart Riggall

The Georgia Court of Appeals said Monday that nonattorneys can't be allowed to represent unincorporated associations in court, backing a trial court's dismissal of a minister's bid to represent his church in a property tax dispute with his home county.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court's docket last week featured disputes including an $83.75 million settlement tied to a renewable energy merger, fraud claims in a fertilizer company acquisition and a developer's fight for control of a major Philadelphia redevelopment project.

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