UTA Atty Sued Over 'Pathological Liar' Remark Nears Win

By Craig Clough

Counsel for MediaLink's founder on Monday urged a Los Angeles judge not to toss his $125 million defamation suit against United Talent Agency's attorney for publicly calling him a "pathological liar," saying the tentative ruling protecting the attorney's speech would immunize lawyers to say "whatever they want" about opposing parties.

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Texas' Naive Witness 'Unacceptable' In Google Ad Tech Suit

By Catherine Marfin

A judge overseeing a Texas-led lawsuit accusing Google of anti-competitive conduct in the display advertising market has ordered the attorneys general bringing the litigation to provide an adequate witness who can speak to certain facts about the investigation, calling their failure to do so "puzzling and unacceptable."

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J&J Says Beasley Allen Looking To 'Bias' Vote On $6.5B Plan

By George Woolston

Johnson & Johnson's bankrupt talc unit accused the Beasley Allen Law Firm of attempting to intentionally "bias" the vote against its recently announced proposal to pay out $6.5 billion in a prepackaged reorganization plan to resolve claims that its talc-based baby powder causes ovarian cancer.

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Trial In Blackmail Case Over Judge's Photos Delayed

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida state judge agreed Monday to push back the trial in a Palm Beach County judge's suit accusing an attorney of trying to blackmail her with nude photographs, after the defendant cited discovery delays and an ongoing bellwether trial in multidistrict litigation against Chiquita that is tying up the schedule of two key witnesses.

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Girardi Wants To Probe Jurors' 'Real Housewives' Exposure

By Brandon Lowrey

Public defenders for Tom Girardi want to ask prospective jurors in his upcoming fraud trial whether they have seen his wife's reality television show and news reporting about his law firm's massive scandal, according to a recent motion in Los Angeles federal court.

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Calif. Atty Denies Role In Flint Water PR Stunt

By Danielle Ferguson

A California attorney representing a public relations firm told a Michigan federal judge on Monday that she had nothing to do with the firm's campaign attacking a lawyer suing one of its clients connected to the Flint water crisis. 

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Judge Assails Trump Witness After Manhattan DA Rests Case

By Stewart Bishop & Frank G. Runyeon

The Manhattan district attorney's office on Monday rested its case in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records, while a Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP attorney and witness found himself on the wrong side of New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.

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Menendez Texts With Wife A Legislative Promise, Judge Says

By Pete Brush

Emoji-laden texts between Sen. Robert Menendez and his wife about an arms sale constitute a legislative promise, a Manhattan federal judge reiterated Monday, as the government seeks to prove the power couple had a corrupt agreement with a New Jersey businessman.

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Split Fed. Circ. Affirms Del. Atty Fees Can't Include PTAB Work

By Dani Kass

Dish Network and Sirius XM aren't entitled to attorney fees for getting a patent they were accused of infringing invalidated at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, even if the instigating infringement claims were deemed "objectively baseless," a split Federal Circuit panel affirmed Monday.

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Atty Wants In On Ch. 11 Pause In Fraud Suit Against Law Firm

By Lynn LaRowe

A Houston attorney being sued for alleged misconduct in soliciting hurricane victims has asked a federal court to include him in a bankruptcy-triggered pause in the proceedings against his law firm, arguing that any judgment against him would effectively be against the law firm.

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McElroy Deutsch Says Ex-Exec's Guilt Boosts Home Claim

By Emily Sawicki

McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP doubled down on its attempt to seize the home of two former firm executives following a guilty plea on criminal embezzlement charges earlier this month by one of them, the firm's former chief financial officer.

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Arbitrator In $14.9B Malaysia Case Can't Nix Contempt Ruling

By Caroline Simson

Embattled arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa has lost an appeal challenging his conviction in Spain for contempt of court after he ordered Malaysia to pay $14.9 billion to the heirs of the last sultan of Sulu in an unusual, high-stakes arbitration stemming from a 19th-century land deal.

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Ex-Conn. Town Atty Sues Over 'False' Ethics Complaint

By Ryan Harroff

Former Newington, Connecticut, town attorney Benjamin Ancona Jr. and other former officials took the Hartford-area suburb to state court claiming the town's assessor and others defamed them in and regarding a now-dismissed ethics complaint that was purportedly loaded with false statements.

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Mich. Judges Claim Immunity In Defender's Retaliation Suit

By Danielle Ferguson

A Detroit-area court and two of its judges say a public defender's retaliation suit should be dismissed because they have immunity from claims that her cases were moved because she complained about court staff behavior, saying that even if the allegations were true, the judges have a right to manage their courtrooms.  

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Leslie A. Pappas

Delaware was full of drama last week, as proposed changes to the state's corporate law statutes raised eyebrows and a professor's friend-of-the-court brief sparked a very unfriendly public exchange. Delaware's court of equity banged the gavel on pipeline and social media disputes, and shareholders filed new suits alleging insider trading, vote bungling, unfair stock buybacks and merger shenanigans. In case you missed any of it, here's the recap of all the top news last week from Delaware's Chancery Court.

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Pa. Federal District Judge Gene Pratter Dead At 75

By James Boyle

U.S. District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter, who joined the bench in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 2004 and presided over several landmark cases, died Friday at the age of 75, according to a statement from the court.

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Baker McKenzie Ends FOIA Suit Over IRS Partnership Audits

By Ali Sullivan

A Baker McKenzie attorney has dropped a public records lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service that sought to compel the agency to turn over documents pertaining to its scrutiny of large partnerships.

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ABA's Education Section Endorses Alternative Atty Licensing

By Matt Perez

The American Bar Association's national accrediting arm for law degree programs announced during a council meeting Friday the adoption of a report that effectively recognizes alternative methods of attorney licensing outside the bar exam.

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Senate Confirms 1st Circ. Judicial Nomination

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 49-40 on Monday evening to confirm Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Aframe to the First Circuit, making every judge on the appellate court's full bench a Democratic presidential pick.

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Investor Group Wants Slowdown On Del. Corporation Law Bill

By Jeff Montgomery

Critics of a fast-tracked proposal to amend Delaware's General Corporation Law to give controlling stockholders wider influence or vetoes over some board decisions are urging the state's bar association to tap the brakes, following a Chancery Court decision striking down a Moelis & Co. stockholder agreement as flouting existing law.

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Dorothy Beasley, Ga.'s 1st Woman Chief Appellate Judge, Dies

By Madison Arnold

The first woman both appointed and elected to the Court of Appeals of Georgia, Judge Dorothy Toth Beasley, is remembered by her colleagues for the glass ceilings she shattered as well as for two important words she had inscribed in the courtroom.

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