Attorneys for an ex-NFL player and the former controller for his reptile shipping company accused each other of stonewalling, dishonesty and running up litigation costs at a hearing Thursday, where a Colorado state judge largely ignored the lawyers' "speeches" and urged them to confer more meaningfully.
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TOP NEWS

Insults Fly As Attys Beef Over Ex-NFL Player's Sex Abuse Suit

By Thy Vo

Attorneys for an ex-NFL player and the former controller for his reptile shipping company accused each other of stonewalling, dishonesty and running up litigation costs at a hearing Thursday, where a Colorado state judge largely ignored the lawyers' "speeches" and urged them to confer more meaningfully.

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Colo. Judge Ends Voter Intimidation Case Midtrial

By Daniel Ducassi

A Colorado federal judge on Thursday put an abrupt end to a bench trial in a lawsuit accusing members of a 2020 election denier group of illegal voter intimidation, concluding there was not enough evidence to back up the claims brought by voting rights groups.

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DaVita To Pay $34M In Medicare Kickback Whistleblower Suit

By Sarah Jarvis

Dialysis company DaVita will pay more than $34 million to settle a Medicare fraud case over alleged kickbacks doctors received in exchange for patient referrals, after a whistleblower from the company's C-suite came forward, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announced Thursday.

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Xcel's Silence Led To $2.6M Storm Penalty, Gas Co. Says

By Thy Vo

A natural gas marketing company is suing the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and Xcel Energy in state court to invalidate a nearly $2.6 million penalty for its failure to ship enough gas during a historic 2021 winter storm, alleging Xcel didn't notify it of the regulatory proceedings.

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Healthcare Co. Says Fired In-House Atty Lacks Standing To Sue

By Sue Reisinger

Kidney care company Panoramic Health has urged a Colorado federal judge to toss a former assistant general counsel's lawsuit that claims she was fired for raising concerns about violations of federal anti-kickback statutes.

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LITIGATION

Tribes Move Step Closer To $5B Water Rights Settlement

By Crystal Owens

Leaders of the Navajo Nation and the Hopi and Southern San Juan Paiute tribes have signed a landmark settlement agreement that proposes to bring reliable, safe and clean drinking water to the tribes as they await final approval of a $5 billion federal bill that backs the same endeavor.

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Live Nation Previews Part Of Case Against DOJ Suit

By Bryan Koenig

Live Nation and Ticketmaster have teed up part of their fight against an antitrust lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and multiple state attorneys general, arguing that the state law claims are "threadbare" and that a chunk of the DOJ case amounts to trying to force them to deal with competitors.

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Oil Co. Can't Get Contract Breach Claim Revived

By Joyce Hanson

A Colorado federal judge on Thursday declined to revive an oil and gas company's lawsuit accusing the American Arbitration Association of improperly terminating a claim the company filed against its investors for nonpayment of arbitration costs, ruling it agreed to the AAA's "rather capacious" rules.

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Colo. Injury Firm, Insurer End Bad Faith Suit

By Adrian Cruz

Two months after a Colorado personal injury firm and insurer settled a dispute over coverage of litigation costs, the two sides have agreed to dismiss the firm's lawsuit against a former firm attorney accused of trying to steal its entire class action department.

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Atty Says Golf Malpractice Row Already Ran Its Course

By Elaine Briseño

An attorney seeking summary judgment in a legal malpractice suit told a New York federal judge that, five years and three courts later, the owners of the Foothills Club West Golf Court have still failed to produce evidence to support their allegations.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

BCLP Seeks Merger Partner As Departures Continue

By Aebra Coe

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP's headcount has declined by more than 20% since the law firm's seminal combination, according to firm data, with a surge of lateral departures this spring and summer. Sources have told Law360 Pulse that firm leaders are currently seeking a merger partner.

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Several State Courts Impacted By Global Tech Outage

By Sarah Martinson

Several state courts have been impacted by a global Microsoft Windows outage Friday morning causing operational challenges and courthouse closures.

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DOJ Seeks Probe Of Conflicts In Ex-Fed. Judge's Cases

By Jack Karp

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked its internal watchdog to look into why federal prosecutors kept quiet about the fact that they allegedly knew now-resigned Alaska federal Judge Joshua Kindred had inappropriate relationships with several attorneys appearing before him, the DOJ confirmed to Law360 Friday.

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NASCAR Names New General Counsel Amid Shake-Up

By Sue Reisinger

NASCAR Holdings' has named a new general counsel and a new deputy general counsel and head of privacy to fill out the team of chief legal officer Amanda Oliver.

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Calif. Bar Backs Creating New Virtual Bar Exam To Cut Costs

By Hailey Konnath

The State Bar of California's Board of Trustees has signed off on plans to negotiate a potentially $8 million, five-year deal with Kaplan North America LLC to replace the Multistate Bar Exam with its own state exam that could be taken remotely, according to a statement issued Friday.

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Kavanaugh Murder-Attempt Suspect Set To Face Trial

By Rae Ann Varona

A man charged with attempting to kill U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has failed to reach a plea deal after nearly two years of negotiations, setting his case up for trial in Maryland federal court, federal prosecutors said Friday.

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2nd Circ. Upholds Ax Of Ex-Ropes & Gray Clerk's Bar Exam Suit

By Ryan Boysen

A former Ropes & Gray LLP attorney who was fired after twice failing the New York bar exam can't sue the state agency that administers the test for failing to accommodate her disabilities, the Second Circuit ruled Friday, finding the agency is protected by sovereign immunity.

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Apple Wants Litigation Funder To Explain Role In Patent Row

By Rose Krebs

Apple Inc. wants a Delaware federal judge to order litigation funder Omni Bridgeway LLC to turn over documents explaining its relationship with Finnish company MPH Technologies Oy and its financial interest in MPH's ongoing patent litigation against Apple in California.

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NYC Bar OKs Attys' Financial Stakes In Alternative Biz Entities

By Andrea Keckley

A new ethics committee report says a New York City lawyer may hold a financial interest in alternative business structures in jurisdictions that let them provide legal services, provided the lawyer is merely a financial investor, not practicing law through the entity.

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Judge Recuses As Tech Firm Slams Dow Chemical's Request

By Ryan Harroff

An Ohio federal judge has recused himself from a trade secrets case brought against Dow Chemical Co. after the technology firm that sued it showed the court a settlement offer without approval that would grant Dow Chemical's recusal motion, which the tech firm said was a "cavalier approach to a drastic remedy."

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Class Seeks $1.5B Settlement In Payday Loan Dispute

By Crystal Owens

A class of borrowers has urged a Virginia federal court to approve what would be the largest settlement ever obtained in a challenge to participants in the tribal lending industry, arguing that the agreement would give significant relief to hundreds of thousands in the form of debt cancellations and cash payments.

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Law Profs Throw Flag On NFL's 'Unconscionable' Arbitration

By David Steele

Allowing the NFL's arbitration system, with commissioner Roger Goodell as the arbitrator, to prevail in Brian Flores' discrimination dispute with the league is "unconscionable" and "egregious," a dozen law professors have told the Second Circuit in an amicus brief supporting the former Miami Dolphins head coach.

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Calif. Firm Beats Rival's Claims In 'Sweet Justice' TM Fight

By Rachel Rippetoe

A California federal court on Thursday nixed a personal injury firm's countersuit against its rival in a battle over the trademark use of the term "Sweet Justice," ruling that the firm's counterclaims are a "mirror-image" of the underlying suit.

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'Texit' Atty Sues State Rep., Judge Over Defamation Fees

By Catherine Marfin

A civil rights attorney who has represented the group behind the "Texit" movement filed a lawsuit against a state representative and court officials in a North Texas county, accusing the group of colluding to run up attorney fees against him in a defamation case connected to the pro-Texas-secession group.

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Colo. Federal Judges Point Out Recent High Turnover

By Daniel Ducassi

Colorado's chief federal judge on Friday observed "there has been a lot of turnover" on the bench in the district over the past several years, noting five out of the seven active district court judges were nominated by President Joe Biden. 

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Blanche Law PLLC and Continental PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a Florida federal judge tossed the criminal case against former President Donald Trump over his allegedly illegal retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

A kidney care company has asked a federal judge to throw out a former in-house counsel's lawsuit that claims she was fired for raising concerns about violations of federal anti-kickback statutes, and a study showed the world's most extensive public country-by-country tax reporting rules would require 51% of large U.S. multinational corporations to disclose tax arrangements. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen a libel clash between comedian Paul Currie and the Soho Theatre Company over allegations of anti-semitism, technology giant Huawei face a patents claim by Mediatek, Westfield Europe pursue action against Clearpay Finance for contract breaches and tour operating company Carnival hit chartered airline Maleth Aero for significant flight delays. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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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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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

A&O Shearman

Alston & Bird

Baker Donelson

Baker McKenzie

Bernstein Litowitz

Blake Cassels

Bryan Cave

Clyde & Co

Continental PLLC

Covington & Burling

Cravath Swaine

DAC Beachcroft

DLA Piper

Davis Polk

Dentons

Dorsey & Whitney

Eggleston King

Elefterakis Elefterakis

Fieldfisher

Fox Rothschild

Franklin D. Azar & Associates

Freedman Normand

Gibson Dunn

Gowling WLG

Gregor Wynne

Hahn Loeser

Hogan Lovells

Hogen Adams

Holland & Knight

Howes Percival

Jo Anne Simon PC

Jones & Keller

Jones Day

Kelly Guzzo

Kirkland & Ellis

Latham & Watkins

Lathrop GPM

Leventhal Lewis

Loeb & Loeb

McCarthy Tetrault

Mishcon de Reya

Morgan Lewis

Morris Nichols

Morrison Foerster

Munger Tolles

Nelson Mullins

Norton Rose

Osborne Clarke

Paul Hastings

Paul Weiss

Perkins Coie

Peyrot & Associates

Pirkey Barber

Polsinelli PC

Quinn Emanuel

Richards Layton

Robinson Bradshaw

Ropes & Gray

Rutan & Tucker

Sacks Tierney

Schlam Stone

Seyfarth Shaw

Sidley Austin

Simmons & Simmons

Siri & Glimstad

Spencer Fane

Stein & Vargas

Sullivan & Cromwell

Sweet James LLP

Thompson Hine

Troutman Pepper

Ward Hadaway

Washington & Washington

Wheeler Trigg

Wigdor LLP

Wright Hassall

gunnercooke LLP

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AXA SA

Adobe Inc.

Aegon NV

American Arbitration Association

Amgen Inc.

Apple Inc.

Arizona Water Co.

Aviva SA

Carnival Corp. & PLC

Chevron Corp.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.

Colorado Bar Association

Comerica Inc.

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc.

DaVita Inc.

Denver Broncos Football Club

Dow Inc.

EMI Group Ltd.

Google LLC

HealthCare Partners LLC

Houston Texans

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

Larsen & Toubro Ltd.

Leo Burnett Worldwide Inc.

Liberty Mutual Insurance Group

LinkedIn Corp.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

Loyola University New Orleans

Mercedes-Benz USA LLC

Miami Dolphins

Microsoft Corp.

Morningstar, Inc.

NASDAQ Inc.

NFL Enterprises LLC

Nascar Digital Media LLC

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

National Hockey League

New York City Bar Association

New York Football Giants Inc.

New York University

Omni Bridgeway Ltd.

Panoramic Health

Purdue Pharma LP

SolarWinds Corp.

Solicitors Regulation Authority Ltd.

State Bar of California

Symmetry Energy Solutions LLC

Syngenta AG

The Tennessee Titans

The Weather Co.

Twitter Inc.

Union Pacific Corp.

University of Southern California

Valeo Partners LLC

Vodafone Group PLC

Walmart Inc.

Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

Xcel Energy Inc.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Colorado Public Utilities Commission

Companies House

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

European Union

Federal Bureau of Investigation

HM Revenue & Customs

Hopi Tribe

Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians

Navajo Nation

New York Attorney General's Office

Supreme Court of Nevada

Texas Legislature

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

United States District Court for the District of Colorado

United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio