K&L Gates Bungled Crypto Co.'s Bankruptcy Claim, Suit Says

By Aislinn Keely

Gryphon Digital Mining has sued its former counsel K&L Gates LLP, claiming it dropped the ball on a bankruptcy filing that cost the company millions of dollars and complicated another legal case, all while allegedly overbilling the crypto mining firm by $1 million for related matters.

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Moderna Says New Drug Plant Riddled With Defects, Mold

By Julie Manganis

Life sciences company Moderna is suing a Massachusetts construction firm over multiple alleged defects in a recently built production facility for one of its experimental cancer drugs, including leaks that led to mold growth so "extensive and pervasive" the entire roof has to be replaced.

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Copyright Office Opines On Harper Lee 7th Circ. Appeal

By Ivan Moreno

The U.S. Copyright Office is lending its opinion in a dispute over who has the rights to authorize stage adaptions of Harper Lee's iconic book "To Kill A Mockingbird," saying in an amicus brief to the Seventh Circuit that the company that once had the rights for the play cannot prevent others from creating new adaptions after the late author terminated those rights.

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Music Rights Orgs. Trade Barbs In Copyright Office Inquiry

By Theresa Schliep

The organizations responsible for getting musical artists their royalty payments sparred with each other in comments to the U.S. Copyright Office, with one legacy organization accusing newer entrants of insufficient transparency, and one of those competitors in turn alleging "anticompetitive practices" by the established players.

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David Geffen Hits Back At Crypto Exec In 'Stolen' Art Suit

By Katryna Perera

Media giant David Geffen has called a suit brought against him by crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun over a valuable Alberto Giacometti sculpture a "sham" and has shot back at the Tron founder with claims of "unethical and/or illegal business activities" in a response filed in New York federal court.

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'Latter-Day Machiavelli' Defamed Calif. Law Firm, Court Told

By Rose Krebs

California employment law firm Lawyers for Justice PC has filed a suit in state court accusing one of its former clients of defamation in what the firm calls "a scorched-earth crusade against her former attorneys."

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Fla. Legal Consultant Says La. Atty Stole Info, Started Own Biz

By David Minsky

A Florida company that advises small law firms on how to run successful businesses has sued a lawyer and former manager for allegedly stealing confidential information, saying he quit and ran off to Louisiana to start a competing business using trade secrets he learned at his previous job.

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Chevron Owes $24M For Years Of Work, Venezuelan Co. Says

By Catherine Marfin

A Venezuelan oil company accused Chevron of taking advantage of its family-owned business by pressuring it into performing years of work without paying $24 million in invoices.

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Chancery Fast-Tracks Suits Targeting Reinsurance Offshoring

By Jeff Montgomery

A trio of Oxford Risk Management Group LLC reinsurance customers this week won fast-tracking of three Court of Chancery suits that raised multiple claims, including for treble damages, after ORMG declared that it had unilaterally transferred some of its U.S. accounts and exposures to an allegedly steeply undercapitalized, captive Bermuda reinsurer.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen the producers of West End show "Elf the Musical" face a contract dispute, Korean biotech company ToolGen Inc. bring a fresh patents claim against pharma giant Vertex, and ousted car tycoon Peter Waddell bring a claim against the private equity firm that backed his business. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Incyte Can Get Novartis' Privileged Info On Drug Royalty Deal

By Gina Kim

Novartis must produce certain privileged documents to Incyte concerning its understanding of their contract for royalty payments from sales of Incyte's blood cancer drug, unless Novartis agrees its former outside counsel, who negotiated the terms, won't testify about that topic at the upcoming contract breach trial, a New York federal judge said Thursday.

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Yale Health System Faces Class Claims Over Data Breach

By Brian Steele

Connecticut's largest healthcare system failed to properly secure patients' personal information ahead of a data breach in March that may have affected millions of people, according to three proposed class actions.

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Judge Grants Reduced Atty Award in Bowling Alley Chain Suit

By Elaine Briseño

A Virginia federal judge trimmed just over $150,000 in attorney fees requested by a bowling alley chain after winning summary judgment in a suit against its former chief information officer, whom it accused of hacking into its computer system and CEO's email.

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Planned Parenthood Patients Sue Lab Co. Over Data Breach

By Rachel Riley

A Washington state-based diagnostic testing services provider for Planned Parenthood has been hit with a pair of proposed class actions in Seattle federal court over an October data breach that reportedly impacted as many as 1.6 million people.

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Robocall Arb. Denied Despite Alleged Recording Of Consent

By Jared Foretek

A federal judge declined to force a Tennessee man into arbitration in his suit accusing a health insurance brokerage of making illegal robocalls, ruling that the plaintiff had created enough doubt to get to trial.

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Rapper Drops Houston Texans From 'Still Tippin' Lawsuit

By Elaine Briseño

Texas rapper Bigg Tyme and his company dropped the Houston Texans from a copyright infringement lawsuit that alleges the NFL team and fellow rapper Mike Jones stole Bigg Tyme's 2002 song "Still Tippin" to use at games without his permission.

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Ibotta Misrepresented Kroger Deal, Shareholder Suit Alleges

By Sydney Price

Digital consumer discount company Ibotta Inc. was hit with a proposed shareholder class action claiming its registration statement for its April 2024 initial public offering omitted information regarding the nature of its relationship with grocery retailer The Kroger Co., prompting stocks to plummet when investors learned the relationship had ended.

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Wyoming Biz Accuses Pa. Entities Of $3.9M Explosives Fraud

By Tom Lotshaw

A Wyoming-based defense contractor on Thursday accused a Pennsylvania company and its owner of pocketing $3.9 million and never delivering explosives bought to aid Ukrainian and Israeli forces, and using the money to pay for helicopters, luxury watches and a posh overseas wedding.

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Petersen Health Gets Initial OK To Take Votes On Ch. 11 Plan

By Alex Wittenberg

A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Thursday provisionally approved skilled nursing facility operator Petersen Health Care's bid to send its Chapter 11 liquidation plan out to creditors for voting, months after the company sold off most of its assets.

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NC Hospital Operator Can't Escape AG's Merger Suit Yet

By Ryan Harroff

A North Carolina Business Court judge rejected HCA Healthcare's bid for a partial win in state Attorney General Jeff Jackson's compliance suit reviewing the company's 2019 purchase of another hospital system, ruling that the purchase agreement's language is too ambiguous to decide the matter without further discovery.

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Minn. Co. Sues Shippers Over Veggies Left Sitting At Ga. Port

By Tom Lotshaw

A Minnesota company told a Georgia federal judge three ARL Network companies have failed to haul 20 containers of frozen vegetables from the Port of Savannah as promised, leaving it on the hook for growing fees that now exceed $1 million.

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UK Says NY Convention Doesn't Kill Sovereign Immunity

By Nadia Dreid

Ratifying the New York Convention isn't enough to strip away a state's right to plead sovereign immunity in a later dispute over a contract that might be subject to the convention's rules, a London court has ruled.

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Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance

Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.

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Series

Volunteer Firefighting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While practicing corporate law and firefighting may appear incongruous, the latter benefits my legal career by reminding me of the importance of humility, perspective and education, says Nicholas Passaro at Ford.

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PTAB Judge Heads To Boutique, Citing Return-To-Office Order

By Andrew Karpan

An outgoing Patent Trial and Appeal Board judge based in Austin, Texas, tells Law360 that President Donald Trump's return-to-office order was a "significant factor" in her decision to return to private practice, joining boutique patent firm Smith Baluch LLP as a partner.

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Ex-DOJ Atty Convicted In 1MDB Case Ordered Disbarred In NY

By Craig Clough

A New York appellate court ordered Wednesday that a former U.S. Department of Justice attorney be disbarred due to his felony conviction as part of a sprawling, billion-dollar fraud scandal connected to 1Malaysia Development Berhad and Fugees founder Pras Michél.

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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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Sunoco Accused Of Age Bias By Ex-Chief Counsel

By Gina Kim

A former chief counsel for Sunoco LP sued her ex-employer in Texas state court Wednesday, alleging she was denied promotional opportunities and later terminated due to her age, while also accusing the company of replacing attorneys older than 50 with significantly younger attorneys with less experience.

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PI Firm Sues Its Own Expert For Being 'Out Of Touch' At Depo

By Rae Ann Varona

A New Jersey personal injury law firm filed suit in state court against an expert witness it alleges had threatened to withdraw if he didn't receive an advance payment for preparing and attending his deposition, and then turned up to the deposition "confused, disoriented and out of touch."

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Google and its chief legal officer have now lost two major antitrust cases to DOJ prosecutors after a federal judge ruled Thursday the search engine monopolized markets and servers related to display advertising. Meanwhile, a new study shows companies are disclosing their business risks, and how they are trying to mitigate those risks, amid changing tariffs and the uncertainty of the U.S.-China trade war. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Schlichter Bogard LLC and the University of Virginia School of Law Supreme Court Litigation Clinic lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court revived a class action from Cornell University workers who said their retirement plans were saddled with excessive fees.

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Judiciary Faces Security Risks Amid Spending Freeze

By Courtney Bublé

The federal judiciary is warning congressional appropriators that funding shortfalls could threaten courthouse security.

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Judge Nixes Feds' DQ Bid In Migrant Kids Legal Funding Case

By Ryan Boysen

A California federal judge has denied the Trump administration's bid to remove her from a lawsuit challenging funding cuts that prevent attorneys from representing child migrants, ruling her employment at one of the plaintiffs nearly seven years ago doesn't undermine her impartiality.

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Joel Katz, Music Law's Longtime Power Broker, Dies At 80

By Chart Riggall

Joel Katz, the powerful music industry lawyer who co-founded Greenberg Traurig LLP's media and entertainment practice and helped bring the firm to the Atlanta market, has died at the age of 80, Law360 confirmed Friday.

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WilmerHale, Feds Dispute Reach Of Trump Order Against Firm

By Jack Karp

WilmerHale and the U.S. Department of Justice traded salvos in the BigLaw firm's challenge to President Donald Trump's executive order targeting it, with the firm and the government offering "starkly different" versions of what's at stake in the dispute.

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Wis. Sens. Renew Bipartisan Judicial Nomination Commission

By Courtney Bublé

The Republican and Democratic senators from Wisconsin announced Friday they are renewing their bipartisan commission to recommend U.S. attorney and judicial nominees to the president.

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