Trials

  • September 23, 2024

    Autism Played Role In Bankman-Fried Case, 2nd Circ. Told

    A group of experts on neurodiversity told the Second Circuit that Sam Bankman-Fried, who has said he has autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, may have been hurt at trial by a "cognitive and communication style" that at times frustrated the trial judge.

  • September 23, 2024

    California City Worker Loses Bias Suit Over Racist Nickname

    A federal jury sided with a California city in a race bias lawsuit filed by a Black maintenance worker who alleged that a supervisor and colleagues violated federal and state law by repeatedly referring to him by the name of a Mexican comic book character.

  • September 23, 2024

    Julie Chrisley Fights For Sentence Cut After 11th Circ. Ruling

    Former reality TV star Julie Chrisley asked a Georgia federal judge on Friday to resentence her to no more than five years for her role in a $36 million tax evasion and fraud scheme, arguing against prosecutors' insistence that the seven-year sentence she was previously given be kept intact.

  • September 23, 2024

    5th Circ. Refuses Texas A Jury Trial For Border Buoy Case

    The Fifth Circuit refused Texas' request for jurors to decide the legality of barriers installed in the Rio Grande to deter migrants, saying the Seventh Amendment's right to a jury trial doesn't apply to the case.

  • September 23, 2024

    Letterman Enjoys Jury Service, But Not Picked For Fraud Trial

    David Letterman was excused from a Manhattan federal jury pool Monday ahead of the trial of a businessman accused of defrauding NBA athletes including former Los Angeles Laker Dwight Howard, after a lawyer said his son had interacted with the late-night television legend.

  • September 20, 2024

    RV Co. Wins $5.5M Enhanced TM Damages, $1.3M Atty Fees

    Forest River can collect enhanced damages after a jury determined inTech Trailers infringed its mountain design trademarks on recreational vehicles, an Indiana federal judge ruled Thursday, increasing the award from $2 million to more than $5.5 million to make sure inTech does not profit from its infringement.

  • September 20, 2024

    Baby Biz Can't Get Fees After Beating Shampoo Pitcher IP Suit

    A Louisiana federal judge said a 7-year-old fight over baby products "was a hard-fought patent case," rejecting efforts from a Louisiana company to obtain nearly $2 million in legal fees from a Kansas inventor of a pitcher for rinsing out shampoo.

  • September 20, 2024

    T.I.'s Fight With MGA Over Pop Group IP Goes To Jury Again

    An attorney for hip hop moguls T.I. and Tiny Harris told a California federal jury during closing arguments Friday that "common sense" should lead them to find that MGA Entertainment's line of O.M.G. dolls infringed the trade dress and misappropriated the name, likeness and identity of the OMG Girlz pop group.

  • September 20, 2024

    Family Of NY Helicopter Crash Victim Wins $116M Verdict

    A Manhattan jury has held that three aviation companies must pay a total of more than $116 million for negligence and design defects that contributed to a 26-year-old man's death during a sightseeing helicopter crash in New York's East River.

  • September 20, 2024

    Telemarketing Scheme Ringleader Convicted In $4M Scam

    A North Carolina federal jury on Friday convicted a man of perpetuating a phone scam that ripped off more than $4 million from victims, many elderly, by using fake U.S. government official identities and offering fraudulent sweepstakes prizes that required up-front payments to obtain, according to prosecutors.

  • September 20, 2024

    Getting Around ITC Was 'Sneaky,' Judge Tells Caterpillar

    A Delaware court has held that Caterpillar owes about $19.5 million in a patent case, citing in part the company's "sneaky" decision to domesticate manufacturing after a setback in a related infringement case at the U.S. International Trade Commission, while also finding that Caterpillar is subject to a rare injunction blocking the sale of some of its road construction machines.

  • September 20, 2024

    Northwestern Scores $6.6M Verdict On 'Cobot' Patents

    A Delaware federal jury has awarded $6.6 million to Northwestern University after finding that Universal Robots infringed claims in three patents on collaborative robot, or "cobot," systems.

  • September 20, 2024

    'Free Karen Read' Protest Case Is Moot, 1st Circ. Says

    The First Circuit has bowed out of hearing a First Amendment challenge brought by protesters who gathered outside a business run by a witness in Karen Read's first trial for the alleged murder of her boyfriend, ruling that the dispute centering on the Massachusetts witness intimidation law was moot.

  • September 20, 2024

    Avenatti Seeks Top Court Review Of Daniels ID Theft Verdict

    Incarcerated celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review his conviction for misappropriating money from ex-client Stormy Daniels, claiming the Second Circuit's decision upholding the verdict runs afoul of precedent for identity-theft cases.

  • September 20, 2024

    Trump Again Asks To Delay Evidence In DC Election Suit

    Attorneys for former President Donald Trump again asked the Washington, D.C., federal judge overseeing his election interference case to push back a highly anticipated evidentiary filing from prosecutors, saying special counsel Jack Smith's office shouldn't be allowed to publicly lay out evidence until the court addresses Trump's concerns about the scope of discovery.

  • September 19, 2024

    Publishers 'Did Not Trust Google,' Former Ad Tech Exec Says

    A former Google executive acknowledged Thursday that at least some website publishers sought a workaround to the search giant's advertising placement technology because they didn't trust the company's consolidated control, which the Justice Department has challenged in a Virginia federal courtroom.

  • September 19, 2024

    Mistrial Avoided In MGA's 3rd Round With T.I. In IP Saga

    A California federal judge declined to order a mistrial Thursday in the intellectual property dispute between MGA Entertainment and hip-hop moguls Clifford "T.I." Harris and Tameka "Tiny" Harris, but he issued a curative instruction to jurors after MGA objected to statements made by an attorney for the Harrises.

  • September 19, 2024

    Ill. Justices Affirm $2.1M Verdict In Blood Clot Death Suit

    The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday declined to overturn a jury's $2.1 million verdict in a medical malpractice suit accusing a doctor of causing a patient's death, saying the widower's award for "material services" was recoverable even though he remarried about a year after his wife's death.

  • September 19, 2024

    4th Circ. Won't Flip Fraud Convictions Over Unseen Jury

    The Fourth Circuit has refused to overturn two men's investment-fraud convictions over complaints that COVID safety protocols made the jury invisible to the public, but vacated part of one sentence because probation conditions weren't adequately spelled out.

  • September 19, 2024

    Feds Can't Order $31M To Refill Class Funds, 3rd Circ. Told

    A New Jersey man convicted for stealing $40 million from settlements in stockholder class actions told a Third Circuit panel Thursday the multimillion-dollar restitution ordered at his sentencing is unlawful and should be vacated, arguing that the settlements weren't harmed.

  • September 19, 2024

    Mich. Atty Gets 1 Year For Inflating Apartment Values

    A Michigan attorney and real estate executive was sentenced Thursday to one year and a day in prison for inflating how profitable his company's apartments were, allowing him to sell them for more than $500 million. 

  • September 19, 2024

    Newsmax Appeals Quash Of Smartmatic Atty Subpoenas

    Newsmax Media Inc. is appealing a Florida judge's decision to quash its attempt to subpoena a slew of criminal defense attorneys — representing Smartmatic USA Corp. executives in a criminal case over a Philippines elections contract — in Smartmatic's defamation suit over Newsmax reports tying the voting tech company to alleged conspiracies to steal the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

  • September 19, 2024

    Another Ill. Jury Deadlocks Over Zantac Cancer Claims

    There was another mistrial declared on Wednesday in a lawsuit over claims that pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim's over-the-counter-drug for heartburn, Zantac, caused a man's cancer in a case brought by the Illinois man.

  • September 19, 2024

    Convicted Drexel Professor Won't Get New Tax Evasion Trial

    A Drexel University accounting professor was denied a new trial after being convicted on tax evasion charges for failing to report $3.3 million in income from a Trenton pharmacy, a New Jersey federal judge has ruled, reasoning that the professor's case was not prejudiced by keeping accounting records related to his tax returns from the jury.

  • September 19, 2024

    Feds Say Menendez Retrial Bid Ignores 'Overwhelming' Proof

    Prosecutors urged a Manhattan federal judge to reject former Sen. Bob Menendez's request for a new trial on corruption and bribery charges, arguing that evidence of his guilt was "overwhelming."

Expert Analysis

  • Calif. Disclosure Update Adds To Employer Trial Prep Burden

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    Though California’s recently updated litigation disclosure procedures may streamline some aspects of employment suits filed in the state, plaintiffs' new ability to demand a wider range of information on a tighter timeline will burden companies with the need to invest more resources into investigating cases much earlier in the process, says Jeffrey Horton Thomas at Fox Rothschild.

  • EDNY Ruling Charts 99 Problems In Rap Lyric Admissibility

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    A New York federal court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Jordan powerfully captures courts’ increasing skepticism about the admissibility of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials, particularly at a time when artists face economic incentives to embrace fictional, hyperbolic narratives, say attorneys at Sher Tremonte.

  • 3 Principles For Minimizing The Risk Of A Nuclear Verdict

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    In one of the latest examples of so-called nuclear verdicts, a single plaintiff was awarded $2.25 billion in a jury trial against Monsanto — revealing the need for defense attorneys to prioritize trust, connection and simplicity when communicating with modern juries, say Jenny Hergenrother and Mia Falzarano at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.

  • Takeaways From 9th Circ. Nix Of Ex-GOP Rep.'s Conviction

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    The Ninth Circuit recently reversed the conviction of former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., for lying to the FBI, showing that the court will rein in aggressive attempts by the government to expand the reach of criminal prosecutions — and deepening a circuit split on an important venue issue, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • A Closer Look At Novel Jury Instruction In Forex Rigging Case

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    After the recent commodities fraud conviction of a U.K.-based hedge fund executive in U.S. v. Phillips, post-trial briefing has focused on whether the New York federal court’s jury instruction incorrectly defined the requisite level of intent, which should inform defense counsel in future open market manipulation cases, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert.

  • Googling Prospective Jurors Is Usually A Fool's Errand

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    Though a Massachusetts federal court recently barred Google from Googling potential jurors in a patent infringement case, the company need not worry about missing evidence of bias, because internet research of jury pools usually doesn’t yield the most valuable information — voir dire and questionnaires do, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • A Look Into How Jurors Reach High Damages Awards

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    In the wake of several large jury awards, Richard Gabriel and Emily Shaw at Decision Analysis shed light on challenges that jurors have in deciding them, the nonevidentiary and extra-legal methods they use to do so, and new research about the themes and jury characteristics of high-damages jurors.

  • What To Know About WDTX Standing Order For Patent Cases

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    Patent litigators should review and ensure compliance with the standing order recently issued by U.S. District Judge Alan Albright of the Western District of Texas — a popular patent litigation venue — which encompasses new deadlines, seeks to streamline discovery disputes, and further reflects the court's existing practices, says Archibald Cruz at Patterson + Sheridan.

  • 10 Lessons From A Deep Dive Into IP Damages

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    Decisions on challenging an intellectual property expert's opinion can benefit from the in-depth study of court rulings on admissibility grounds, where the findings include the fact that patent cases see the most challenges of any IP area, say Deepa Sundararaman and Cleve Tyler at Berkeley Research.

  • Managing Competing Priorities In Witness Preparation

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    There’s often a divide between what attorneys and witnesses want out of the deposition process, but litigation teams can use several strategies to resolve this tension and help witnesses be more comfortable with the difficult conditions of testifying, say Ava Hernández and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout

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    While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • Understanding And Working With The Millennials On Your Jury

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    Every trial attorney will be facing a greater proportion of millennials on their jury, as they now comprise the largest generation in the U.S., and winning them over requires an understanding of their views on politics, corporations and damages, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation Consulting.

  • Series

    Competing In Dressage Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My lifelong participation in the sport of dressage — often called ballet on horses — has proven that several skills developed through training and competition are transferable to legal work, especially the ability to harness focus, persistence and versatility when negotiating a deal, says Stephanie Coco at V&E.

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