Texas Offers Up Land To Help Trump's Mass Deportation Plan

By Britain Eakin

The Texas General Land Office is offering up 1,400 acres of ranch land near the U.S.-Mexico border to the incoming Trump administration to construct deportation facilities to support the president-elect's plan for mass removals.

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SkyWest Airlines Hit With $2M Verdict In EEOC Harassment Case

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas jury found in favor of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Wednesday in a suit that saw SkyWest Airlines accused of sitting idle while an employee experienced persistent sexual harassment, awarding over $2 million in punitive damages for the workplace misconduct in federal court.

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Texas Court Tosses $800K Verdict In Bar Shooting Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

A Texas appeals court has thrown out a jury's $816,000 verdict in a suit blaming a bar for serving alcohol to an underage man who later shot two patrons multiple times, saying there was insufficient evidence that the attack was foreseeable.

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DC Circ. Skeptical Of Texas AG's Bid To Revive X Probe

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. Circuit panel seemed skeptical Wednesday of the Texas attorney general's claims that Media Matters lacks a valid claim to challenge the state enforcer's investigation into the media watchdog's reporting about the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, but one judge expressed uncertainty about the suit's readiness for judicial review.

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3 States To Challenge Abortion Regs After Docs Drop Claims

By Gianna Ferrarin

Anti-abortion medical groups that were dealt a loss by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year have now dropped out of their lawsuit challenging federal approvals for mifepristone, leaving Missouri, Idaho and Kansas to carry on litigation over the abortion medication.

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Cross-Border Sales Were Unlawful Monopoly, Feds Say

By Elliot Weld

Prosecutors have urged a Texas federal judge to deny a dismissal bid from two people accused of using violence to monopolize cross-border sales of used cars, saying the individuals were not operating the lawful clerical service they claimed to be running.

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Not So Fast: Lenders Say CFPB Payday Rule Must Stay On Ice

By Jon Hill

Lender trade groups challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's payday loan rule have told the Fifth Circuit that they anticipate pursuing another U.S. Supreme Court appeal in their case, and that the rule should be kept on hold for even longer in the meantime.

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$2.6M Deal Proposed To End Chancery Lottery.com Suit

By Katryna Perera

Five executives of the special purpose acquisition company that took Lottery.com public have reached a $2.6 million settlement with company shareholders to resolve claims that the 2021 take-public deal misled investors about the potential value of the business.

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Bumble Brass Fumbled App Revamps, Investor Suit Says

By Emilie Ruscoe

Current and former brass of dating app Bumble's parent company face shareholder derivative claims that they projected overconfidence about revamping its app, then saw trading prices crater when Bumble lowered its 2024 growth projections amid the tinkering.

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5 Charged For 'Scattered Spider' Phishing Hacks, Crypto Theft

By Rachel Scharf

California federal prosecutors unveiled a criminal case Wednesday accusing five alleged members of the "Scattered Spider" cybercrime group of using a phishing scheme to access the confidential data of media and technology companies and steal $11 million worth of cryptocurrency from digital wallets.

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TGI Fridays Gets OK On Bid Process As It Seeks Out Buyers

By Alex Wittenberg

A Texas bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved TGI Fridays' procedures for contacting and selecting prospective buyers for its assets after the struggling restaurant chain said it was in discussions with at least 21 potential bidders.

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Beasley Allen And J&J Tussle Over Atty Sanctions Bid

By Madison Arnold

Beasley Allen Law Firm accused a Johnson & Johnson talc unit of using "deposition notices as weapons" in its quest to sanction a firm lawyer, while the company said the firm "refused to meaningfully subject itself or its members to any discovery" in its bankruptcy case.

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Citing Fintiv, PTAB Rejects Samsung's Challenge To Patent

By Adam Lidgett

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has shot down Samsung's challenge to a Pictiva Displays patent covering technology used in features like smartphone flashlights, citing parallel district court litigation over the same patent.

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'Ambush' At Patent Trial Led To $22M Loss, ASUS Says

By Rae Ann Varona

Taiwanese computer company ASUSTeK and the California owner of patents it infringed lambasted each other in post-trial motions filed in Texas federal court, with ASUS seeking to vacate a $22 million verdict due to the patentee's "ambush" tactics, and the patentee wanting its award doubled for ASUS' "pirate-like behavior."

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Apple Tapped With Patent Suit Over IMessage 'Tapbacks'

By Andrew Karpan

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in the Southern District of New York accuses Apple of infringing two patents through some of the newer features of its iMessage app that allow people to react and respond to particular texts.

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Expect Surging Oil And Gas Industry Under New Trump Admin

Throughout his recent campaign, President-elect Donald Trump promised increased oil and natural gas production and reduced reliance on renewables — and his administration will likely bring more oil and gas dealmaking, faster federal permitting and attempts to roll back incentives for green energy, say attorneys at Sidley.

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BigLaw Begins Matching Milbank On Associate Bonuses

By Aebra Coe

Following the news Tuesday that Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP will pay associates year-end and special bonuses in line with those handed out by Milbank LLP this year, the firms' peers have begun to respond, with swift matches Wednesday by Paul Hastings LLP and McDermott Will & Emery LLP.

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DOJ Settles With Atty Who Reported Judge's Sexual Misconduct

By Lauren Berg

A former Alaska federal prosecutor who made allegations of sexual misconduct against then-U.S. District Judge Joshua Kindred has reached an undisclosed settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice resolving claims she suffered retaliation for speaking up, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said Wednesday.

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Foley Shouldn't Face Data Breach Claims, Calif. Panel Says

By Dorothy Atkins

A California appellate panel affirmed the dismissal of Accellion Inc.'s cross-complaint against law firm Foley & Lardner LLP in an insurance company's lawsuit claiming the software-maker should be held liable for a $1 million ransomware attack that targeted the law firm, finding that Accellion's cross-claims are untimely.

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Weil Litigation Leaders Jump To Paul Weiss In NY

By Tracey Read

The co-chair of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP's global litigation department and the co-head of Weil's patent litigation practice will soon be joining Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York, the latter firm announced Wednesday.

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Akerman Opens In Charlotte With 2 Moore & Van Allen Hires

By Xiumei Dong

Akerman LLP announced Wednesday the firm opened its second North Carolina office in Charlotte and brought on two new partners from Moore & Van Allen PLLC, including the former head of its renewable energy project finance team and a tax law expert.

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Judiciary Touts Reforms In Handling Workplace Complaints

By Ryan Boysen

The federal judiciary is successfully reforming the controversial process that aims to protect its 30,000 employees from sexual harassment in the workplace, according to a new internal report released Wednesday, even as lawmakers have called for scrapping that process altogether and replacing it with a new one.

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Trump Wants 'Immediate Dismissal' Of NY Hush Money Case

By Frank G. Runyeon

President-elect Donald Trump's legal team told the New York judge who presided over his hush money trial that his conviction should be thrown out due to his "overwhelming victory" at the polls, according to a filing released Wednesday.

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Musk, Ramaswamy Say High Court Rulings OK Federal Cuts

By Lauren Berg

Billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, President-elect Donald Trump's picks to lead a newly created "Department of Government Efficiency," on Wednesday said two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings will give them the authority to cut off power to regulatory agencies and conduct massive federal layoffs.

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House Dem Proposes Vote Forcing Release Of Gaetz Report

By Hailey Konnath

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten on Wednesday introduced a resolution that would require the House of Representatives to vote on whether the House Ethics Committee must release its report on the allegations against former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a proposal unveiled the same day the ethics committee failed to reach a consensus.

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Fed. Judges Still Seek New Bench Seats Amid Dems' Loss

By Courtney Bublé

The Federal Judges Association is urging the House to pass the bipartisan bill that would expand the federal courts in order to meet rising caseloads, even as the Biden administration appears to be cooling on the idea it once supported.

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Calif. Judicial Nominee Asked About Race, Parenting Writings

By Courtney Bublé

A California judicial nominee's previous writing about the murder of George Floyd in 2020, which sparked a national reckoning on race, was the subject of debate during a Senate nomination hearing on Wednesday.

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Washington State, DC District Court Picks Secure Seats

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate on Wednesday voted 50-48 to confirm Washington Court of Appeals Judge Rebecca L. Pennell to the Eastern District of Washington and 50-49 to confirm Amir Ali, former president and executive director of the MacArthur Justice Center and co-director of the Criminal Justice Appellate Clinic at Harvard Law School, to the District of Columbia.

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Girardi Pushes For New Trial Over Competency Claims

By Cara Salvatore

Counsel for Tom Girardi told a federal judge the disbarred attorney is plainly mentally incompetent and deserves a new trial over charges he defrauded clients of $15 million worth of settlement money.

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