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May 10, 2024
Altman's Nuclear Fission Biz Fizzles After SPAC Deal Closes
Shares of Oklo Inc., a nuclear-fission startup backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, were down nearly 50% on Friday, the company's first day of trading after completing its merger with Altman's special-purpose acquisition company AltC Acquisition Corp.
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May 10, 2024
Calif. May Allow Judges To Work Remotely In Civil Matters
California's Judicial Council next week will consider amending court rules to allow judges to preside remotely over civil proceedings from a location other than a courtroom.
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May 10, 2024
SEC Targets Fatburger's Parent Co. In $27M Loan Scheme
The restaurant company that owns Fatburger and Fazoli's made illegal loans to its director and former chief executive, who spent $27 million in company money on himself while skirting taxes and leaving the company struggling, the Securities and Exchange Commission told a California federal court Friday.
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May 10, 2024
Benefits Groups Urge High Court To Take Up AT&T 401(k) Suit
Several benefits groups urged the U.S. Supreme Court to hear AT&T's request to overturn a Ninth Circuit ruling that upended its win in retirement plan participants' class action accusing it of mismanaging their 401(k), saying allowing the decision to stand would redefine prohibited transactions.
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May 10, 2024
'Iron Man 2' Actor Guilty Of Wire Fraud In COVID 'Cure' Scam
A bodybuilder and actor from "Iron Man 2" was found guilty Friday of 11 counts of wire fraud by a Los Angeles federal jury, after prosecutors argued he tried to scam investors in March 2020 by falsely claiming he'd found a cure for COVID-19 and that NBA legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson was a major investor.
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May 10, 2024
Axl Rose Shouldn't Escape NY Sex Assault Suit, Model Says
A former Penthouse model is urging a New York state court not to toss her case alleging Axl Rose sexually assaulted her in 1989, arguing the Guns N' Roses lead singer is making faulty arguments about attempts to serve him with the suit to avoid accountability.
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May 09, 2024
Amazon Shakes Wash. Suit Premised On Calif. Wiretap Claims
A Washington federal judge has tossed a putative class action accusing Amazon.com Inc. of unlawfully recording chat conversations with consumers, finding that the plaintiff couldn't sustain a suit containing only California claims because the e-commerce giant's usage agreement makes clear that Washington law governs such disputes.
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May 09, 2024
Google Slams Maps Antitrust Suit As 'Cut-And-Paste Job'
Google's counsel urged a California federal judge Thursday to permanently toss a proposed antitrust class action over its Maps product, calling the complaint a "cut-and-paste job" from a 2020 House report and accusing plaintiffs of "trying to gin up an antitrust claim" where one doesn't exist.
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May 09, 2024
AI-Created Database Isn't Copyrightable, Job Search Co. Says
Job searching platform Tarta.ai has urged a California federal judge to toss a suit accusing it of stealing rival Jobiak LLC's automated database and using it for its own job postings, arguing that Jobiak's website is not subject to copyright protection because it's powered by artificial intelligence.
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May 09, 2024
CARB Chief Slams Truckers' Bid To Void 'Clean Fleets' Rule
A California regulation requiring commercial truck and bus operators to transition to zero-emission vehicle fleets over the next decade doesn't flout federal law and hasn't even been enforced yet, a state official said Wednesday in a court filing seeking to nullify a legal challenge from a trucking group.
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May 09, 2024
SeaWorld Workers Nab Class Cert. In 401(k) Fees Suit
A California federal judge agreed to certify a class of 10,000 current and former workers suing SeaWorld for keeping high-cost funds in their retirement accounts and retaining expensive record-keepers.
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May 09, 2024
Ex-Minor Leaguer Settles With SEC Over Del Taco Deal Tip Off
A former minor league baseball player has agreed to pay more than $58,000 to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission insider trading allegations involving burger chain Jack in the Box's $575 million acquisition of its fellow chain Del Taco.
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May 09, 2024
Nintendo Gets Switch Suit Stay Pending Patent Review
A Seattle federal judge agreed Thursday that Nintendo could pause an intellectual property suit against it while it seeks to challenge the validity of the patents at issue, saying the plaintiff could not now complain about delays since it waited six years to file its complaint.
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May 09, 2024
Oil Trader Sues BakerHostetler, Alleges Fake CIA Program Con
A Swiss-based oil trading company sanctioned last year by the United Kingdom for alleged ties to Russia has sued BakerHostetler in California court, alleging a con man posing as a CIA agent tried to steal control of the company as the law firm vouched for his legitimacy.
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May 09, 2024
Justices Asked To Weigh In On $1.3B India Award Fight
Shareholders of an Indian satellite communications company are pressing the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify the analysis of a highly technical jurisdictional question as they look to revive their bid to enforce a $1.3 billion arbitral award against a state-owned division of India's space agency.
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May 09, 2024
9th Circ. Revives Northrop Retirees' Putative Class Action
The Ninth Circuit on Thursday once again resurrected a proposed class action accusing Northrop Grumman of misinforming retirees about their pension benefits, ruling that the retirees have plausibly alleged that they received inaccurate benefit statements.
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May 09, 2024
Musk Fights Latest Subpoena Over $44B Twitter Purchase
Elon Musk's counsel urged a California federal judge on Thursday to undo a magistrate judge's decision requiring the businessman to testify again before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about his $44 billion purchase of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, calling the subpoena overbroad and unconstitutional.
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May 09, 2024
Biz Owner Admits Hiding $3.4M In Income To Dodge Taxes
A San Francisco Bay Area man has pled guilty to tax evasion in California federal court, admitting he dodged some of the income tax he owed over a four-year period by concealing more than $3.4 million he earned from his businesses.
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May 09, 2024
Masimo Makes Offer To End Activist Politan's Proxy Contest
Medical technology company Masimo Corp. revealed Thursday that it is willing to appoint one of the director nominees put forth by activist investment firm Politan Capital Management LP in exchange for the company dropping its proxy fight, though Politan signaled distaste with the proposed deal.
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May 09, 2024
Hermes Seeks Exit From Antitrust Suit Over Birkin Bag Sales
Hermès urged a California federal judge on Thursday to toss an antitrust class action accusing the luxury fashion retailer of tying the sale of its iconic Birkin and Kelly handbags to other items, saying the plaintiffs' assertion that the handbags constitute their own market minimizes the "fierce competition" across the luxury goods industry.
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May 09, 2024
9th Circ. Says Judge Defied Order To Revive Opioid Case
The Ninth Circuit on Thursday again revived a nearly 7-year-old case against a California doctor for allegedly selling opioid prescriptions and ordered that the case be reassigned, saying the presiding judge had defied the plain language of a previous order to reinstate the indictment.
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May 09, 2024
TPG Lands Nearly $8B Across 3 Asia-Focused Funds
Private equity giant TPG, advised by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP, has closed three Asia-focused funds after securing a combined total of nearly $8 billion from investors.
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May 09, 2024
EPA Beats Youths' Constitutional Climate Suit, For Now
A California federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from a group of children accusing the federal government of allowing unsafe levels of climate pollution in the air, noting it's unclear how a declaratory order from the court would redress their harms, but gave them one final chance to amend their allegations.
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May 09, 2024
EPA Defends Factory Farm Water Pollution Regs At 9th Circ.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday urged the Ninth Circuit to toss green groups' lawsuit seeking to revive their petition for new, stronger Clean Water Act regulations for large animal feeding facilities.
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May 09, 2024
Calif. Atty Wins Ruling To Pursue YouTube Defamation Suit
A California state appeals court has revived an Orange County attorney's defamation suit over comments made in a YouTube video regarding her father's affiliation with the Vietnamese Communist party.
Expert Analysis
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Breaking Down California's New Workplace Violence Law
Ilana Morady and Patrick Joyce at Seyfarth discuss several aspects of a new California law that requires employers to create and implement workplace violence prevention plans, including who is covered and the recordkeeping and training requirements that must be in place before the law goes into effect on July 1.
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Series
Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer
Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.
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How Suit Over An AI George Carlin May Lead To Legislation
George Carlin’s estate recently sued a company over an artificial intelligence-generated podcast allegedly impersonating the late comedian, highlighting the importance of much-needed state and federal protection against unauthorized representations of an individual’s image in the time of AI, say Anna Chauvet and Maxime Jarquin at Finnegan.
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Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs
Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.
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Preparing For Possible Calif. Criminal Antitrust Enforcement
Though a recent announcement that the California Attorney General's Office will resume criminal prosecutions in support of its antitrust enforcement may be mere saber-rattling, companies and their counsel should nevertheless be prepared for interactions with the California AG's Antitrust Section that are not limited to civil liability issues, say Dylan Ballard and Lillian Sun at V&E.
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California Shows A Viable Way Forward For PFAS Testing
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has no good way of testing for the presence of specific per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances in food packaging — but a widely available test for a range of fluorine compounds that's now being used in California may offer a good solution, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.
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Unpacking The Complicated Question Of CIPA's Applicability
As the number of California Invasion of Privacy Act cases increases, more and more companies with little-to-no California presence are being hauled into California court, raising questions of when CIPA applies and to whom, says Matthew Pearson at BakerHostetler.
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Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent
Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.
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Antitrust Ruling Shows Limits Of US Law's Global Reach
Antitrust plaintiffs often cite the legislative history of the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act to support application of U.S. antitrust law to alleged injuries abroad, but as a California federal court recognized recently in Figaro v. Apple, the cited history does no such thing, say Daniel Swanson and Eli Lazarus at Gibson Dunn.
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New Concerns, Same Tune At This Year's SIFMA Conference
At this year's Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association conference on legal developments affecting the financial services industry, government regulators’ emphasis on whistleblowing and AI washing represented a new refrain in an increasingly familiar chorus calling for prompt and thorough corporate cooperation, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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Calif. High Court Ruling Has Lessons For Waiving Jury Trials
The California Supreme Court’s recent decision in TriCoast Builders v. Fonnegra, denying relief to a contractor that had waived its right to a jury trial, shows that litigants should always post jury fees as soon as possible, and seek writ review if the court denies relief from a waiver, say Steven Fleischman and Nicolas Sonnenburg at Horvitz & Levy.
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SC Ruling Reinforces All Sums Coverage Trend
A South Carolina state court's recent ruling in Covil v. Pennsylvania National is the latest in a series of decisions, dating back to the 2016 New York Court of Appeals ruling in Viking Pump, that reject insurers' pro rata allocation argument, further supporting that all sums coverage is required whenever a loss could be covered under a policy in any other year, say Raymond Mascia and Thomas Dupont at Anderson Kill.
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What Rescheduling Could Mean For Cannabis Bankruptcies
Bankruptcy courts have historically been closed for cannabis-related businesses, but recent case law coupled with a possible reclassification of cannabis provides cautious optimism, say attorneys at Duane Morris.
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Opinion
DOJ Press Office Is Not Fulfilling Its Stated Mission
The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs’ apparent practice of issuing press releases when someone is indicted or convicted, but not when a defendant prevails, undermines its stated mission to disseminate “current, complete and accurate” information, and has negative real-world ramifications, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.
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Opinion
Expanded Detention Will Not Solve Immigration Challenges
The recently defeated bipartisan border package included provisions that would increase funding for detention, a costly distraction from reforms like improved adjudication and legal representation that could address legitimate economic and public safety concerns at much lower cost, say Alexandra Dufresne and Kyle Wolf at Cornell University.