Apple Judge Skeptical Tech Giant Complying With Epic Order

By Bonnie Eslinger

The California federal judge overseeing Epic's antitrust suit against Apple reacted skeptically Wednesday to an Apple executive's claim that it has fully complied with her order aimed at allowing app developers to send users to outside payment platforms, saying some of Apple's new rules appear to "stifle competition."

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Ohtani's Ex-Interpreter To Plead Guilty In Betting Scam

By Alex Lawson

The former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges Wednesday in connection with a scheme to steal nearly $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers star to pay off debts he amassed through an illegal gambling operation.

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Calif. Justices Weigh Striking Anti-Tax Ballot Initiative

By Maria Koklanaris

California Supreme Court justices sought to understand Wednesday if a measure approved for the November ballot that would make it harder to raise taxes would eliminate lawmakers' ability to tax and would illegally revise — rather than amend — the state constitution.

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Lyft Driver Asks Calif. Justices To OK Intervening In PAGA Suit

By Craig Clough

An attorney for a Lyft driver who sued the company under the Private Attorneys General Act urged the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to find her client has standing to intervene in a competing PAGA Lyft case that reached a settlement, saying the deal threatened to "extinguish" her client's rights.

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Ritz-Carlton Can't Dump Suit Over 'Semen-Contaminated' Water

By Lauren Berg

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. must face the majority of a couple's lawsuit alleging they were served water that had been contaminated with an employee's semen at its Half Moon Bay resort, a California federal judge ruled after dismissing claims against the hotel's parent company Marriott International.

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Citibank Sued By Atty Over Fake Client Cashier's Check Scam

By Gina Kim

An attorney conned by a fake client and a counterfeit cashier's check sued Citibank in state court Wednesday, alleging it knew of other law firms that were similarly scammed and should have caught the fake check before she wired the funds from her client trust account into the scammer's pocket.

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AGs Blast Federal Data Privacy Law's Proposed State Override

By Allison Grande

California joined attorneys general from more than a dozen other states and Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to urge Congress to ensure that proposed federal data privacy legislation sets a "floor, not a ceiling" that would preserve more stringent protections states have enacted and allow them to add new laws to address rapid technological developments. 

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9th Circ. Says Calif. Can Give Gun Buyer Info To Researchers

By Gina Kim

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday declined to revive a constitutional challenge to a California law requiring the state to provide biographical information about firearm purchasers and those with carry-conceal permits to accredited research institutions studying gun violence, saying the information at issue isn't highly personal and doesn't implicate the right to privacy. 

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Chevron's $52M Iran Oil Seizure Loss Not Covered, Court Told

By Ganesh Setty

Three insurers have told a California federal court they owe no coverage to Chevron under separate marine cargo and war risks policies after the oil giant said the Iranian military seized a vessel carrying nearly $52 million worth of Chevron's crude oil in retaliation for U.S. economic sanctions.

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Jury Instruction Won't Upend $1.4M Motorcycle Crash Verdict

By Mike Curley

A California appeals court won't undo a $1.4 million verdict in a suit over a motorcycle accident, saying that even if the trial court gave a jury instruction that was extraneous and not applicable to the facts of the case, there's no indication that it prejudiced or misled the jury.

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Hyundai To Pay $334K Over Repossessing Vets' Cars

By Henrik Nilsson

Hyundai's American financing arm has agreed to pay $333,941 to resolve the government's suit in California federal court alleging the carmaker reclaimed 26 vehicles owned by members of the armed forces in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.

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CBD Retailer Wants To Avoid Privacy Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

CBD retailer Charlotte's Web Inc. has urged a California federal judge to toss a woman's suit accusing it of secretly recording conversations of those who visit its website, saying the lead plaintiff didn't even use the allegedly wiretapped chat functions and therefore can't have been harmed.

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Blue Bottle Coffee Loses Suit Over 'Blue Brew' TM

By Adam Lidgett

A California federal judge has handed a loss to Blue Bottle Coffee LLC in its trademark infringement case against a company selling coffee gear and accessories using the phrase "Blue Brew," saying there wasn't any evidence that customers would be confused.

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Levi Strauss Settles TM Suit Over Rival's Tab Label Design

By Henrik Nilsson

Jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. has settled its suit in California federal court alleging Italian clothing company Brunello Cucinelli infringed on Levi's tab trademark in an effort to sow customer confusion and reap profits.

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AI Art Cos. Fight Uphill To Toss Artists' Copyright Suit

By Craig Clough

Attorneys for four companies that make or distribute software that creates images with text prompts urged a California federal judge Wednesday to rethink his tentative opinion to allow some claims by a proposed class of artists to move forward, with one warning it could lead to hundreds of thousands of similar suits.

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Shockwave Medical Investor Challenges $13B Deal With J&J

By Sydney Price

A shareholder of cardiovascular treatment company Shockwave Medical Inc. is attempting to halt the company's "unfair" $13 billion proposed transaction with Johnson & Johnson by filing a securities suit, saying the transaction will only benefit company insiders and damage public shareholders.

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Opioid Maker Beats Investor Suit Over FDA Warning For Good

By Sydney Price

A California federal judge has permanently dismissed a lawsuit from investors of acute pain drug company AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. accusing it of engaging in misbranding violations that put it at greater risk for regulatory scrutiny.

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Hawaii Utility Seeks Exit From Shareholder Suit Over Maui Fire

By Katryna Perera

Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. has asked a California federal judge to toss an investor suit over a downturn in the company's stock price after a deadly fire broke out on Maui, saying it did not mislead investors about efforts to mitigate fire risk or completely outrule the risk of fire.

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99 Cents Beats Creditor Objection To Get OK On $61M DIP

By Alex Wittenberg

A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved discount store 99 Cents Only's full $60.8 million Chapter 11 financing deal after rejecting a group of noteholders' objection to the relief, finding an intercreditor agreement barred the group from blocking debtor-in-possession funding.

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Sleep Apnea Co. Hits Ch. 11 Over $41.5M In Debt, Cash Woes

By Emlyn Cameron

California-based ProSomnus, which produces devices to prevent sleep apnea, said a balance sheet heavy with more than $41.5 million in debt and difficulty in funding its continued operations forced it to file for Chapter 11 protections in Delaware.

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DLA Piper, Cooley Lead Software Firm Silvaco's $114M IPO

By Tom Zanki

Electronic design automation software company Silvaco Group Inc. on Wednesday priced an $114 million initial public offering at the top of its range, represented by DLA Piper and underwriters' counsel Cooley LLP.

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Kirkland Drives Vance Street To $775M Fund IV Closing

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Los Angeles-based private equity shop Vance Street Capital, advised by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, on Wednesday announced it held the first and final close for its fourth fund with $775 million in tow.

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Simpson Thacher-Led Silver Lake Lands $20.5B For 7th Fund

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Technology-focused private equity shop Silver Lake, advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, announced Wednesday the closing of its seventh flagship fund after securing $20.5 billion from investors, beating out the amount raised in its predecessor fund by about half a billion dollars.

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Legal Access Program Being Set Up For Separated Families

By Alyssa Aquino

The Biden administration has tapped the Acacia Center for Justice to manage a court-ordered legal access program to help migrant families stay in the U.S. after they were separated under a Trump-era policy to prosecute anybody caught entering the country unlawfully.

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GOP Bill Aims To Fund Southwestern States' Border Barriers

By Rae Ann Varona

States along the southwestern U.S.-Mexican border looking to build physical barriers or update existing ones could receive federal grants to do so under new legislation from a pair of Republican members of the House of Representatives.

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Tribes And Groups Urge 9th Circ. To Uphold TikTok Ban Pause

By Crystal Owens

Free speech and internet advocacy groups, as well a Native American nonprofit and two tribes, are urging the Ninth Circuit to uphold a lower court's decision that blocks Montana from banning social app TikTok, arguing that First Amendment protections include such media platforms.

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PE In The Crosshairs Of Public And Private Antitrust Enforcers

A series of decisions from a California federal court in the recently settled Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, as well as heightened scrutiny from federal agencies, serve as a reminder that private equity firms may be exposed to liability for alleged anti-competitive conduct by their portfolio companies, say attorneys at Axinn.

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'Fat Leonard' Case Shows High Bar For Rescinding Guilty Plea

Prosecutors’ recent move in the “Fat Leonard” bribery case, supporting several defendants’ motions to withdraw their guilty pleas, is extremely unusual – and its contrast with other prosecutions demonstrates that the procedural safeguards at plea hearings are far from enough, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.

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How Courts Are Interpreting Fed. Circ. IPR Estoppel Ruling

In the year since the Federal Circuit’s Ironburg ruling, which clarified the scope of inter partes and post-grant review estoppel, district court decisions show that application of IPR or PGR estoppel may become a resource-intensive inquiry, say Whitney Meier Howard and Michelle Lavrichenko at Venable.

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5 Climate Change Regulatory Issues Insurers Should Follow

The climate change landscape for insurers has changed dramatically recently — and not just because of the controversy over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related risk disclosure rules, says Thomas Dawson at McDermott.

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Series

Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

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Analysis

In Story Of Sex And Lies, Can Cohen Write Final Chapter?

By Phillip Bantz

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has told a story of scandal and scheming to the jury in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, setting the stage for the prosecution's star witness to take the stand and wrap up the narrative.

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Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Cops To $1.5M Theft From Firm

By George Woolston

McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP's former chief financial officer admitted Wednesday to embezzling more than $1.5 million from the firm and failing to pay income tax, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced.

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Lewis Brisbois Atty Fatally Shot In McDonald's Altercation

By Ryan Boysen

A Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP attorney was fatally shot at a McDonald's in Houston after reportedly stepping in as a good Samaritan and attempting to calm down an irate customer who'd been arguing with staff at the fast food restaurant.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Lieff Cabraser's Kelly Dermody

By Irene Spezzamonte

A semester off from Harvard University in the late 1980s meant for reflection instead turned into a pivotal moment in Kelly Dermody's life, settling the roots for her successful career during which she has become a lighthouse for employment and discrimination cases.

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ABA Will Study Rape Questions' Necessity For Bar Applicants

By Cara Bayles

An American Bar Association commission will issue a report and recommendations by August on the practice of requiring would-be lawyers to disclose and discuss their experiences of sexual violence during the attorney licensure process.

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ABA Directs Attys To Avoid Sharing Client Info On Listservs

By Emily Sawicki

It is in the best interest of clients for their legal counsel to avoid sharing information related to representation while seeking advice in an online listserv forum, if the comments or questions could be connected to a client's identity, according to American Bar Association guidance published Wednesday.

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Ga. Appeals Court Will Review Trump DQ Bid In Election Case

By Kelcey Caulder

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday agreed to review a judge's ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis to continue prosecuting the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.

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Fani Willis Is Outraising Primary Challenger More Than 5 To 1

By Chart Riggall

Less than two weeks from the first hurdle in her bid for reelection, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis is boasting a​​ campaign war chest more than five times heftier than her Democratic challenger's, according to campaign finance disclosures filed this week.

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Biden Picks US Magistrate Judge In Fla. For 11th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday his intent to nominate U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry J. Kidd to the Eleventh Circuit.

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Robins Kaplan File Flub Bad Look For Both Sides, Panel Says

By Rachel Scharf

A Manhattan appeals panel expressed concern Wednesday that Robins Kaplan LLP had poked through an opposing party's Dropbox database that was accidentally shared in investor litigation, while also criticizing the other side for failing to catch the error.

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NJ Justices Approve Measures For Helping Atty Well-Being

By Emily Johnson

The New Jersey Supreme Court has accepted several recommendations from its committee focused on attorney well-being, paving the way for the committee to examine how attorneys can briefly postpone court dates or possibly receive an extension to meet deadlines so they can handle pressing wellness needs.

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Colo. Judges Urge Attys To Take On More Pro Se Cases

By Thy Vo

A group of Colorado federal judges tried Wednesday to recruit more lawyers to help pro se litigants, who file about a third of the district's cases each year, with the judges recounting tactical mistakes and case delays that attorneys could have prevented.

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