Ga. Judge Blows Whistle On Football Squad's League Flip

By Chart Riggall

After a false start last month, a Georgia federal judge on Monday granted an indoor football league's request to block one of its former teams from jumping ship and competing in the rival Arena Football League, adding to the AFL's growing troubles just two weeks into its season.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ex-DeKalb Ethics Officer Wants Race Bias Suit Kept Alive

By Kelcey Caulder

Attorneys for a former DeKalb County Board of Ethics deputy ethics officer told a Georgia federal judge Monday that a magistrate judge ignored "key facts" when recommending the dismissal of her suit alleging she was fired for complaining about racial discrimination. 

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

13 Judges Boycott Columbia Clerks Over Protest Response

By Lauren Berg

A group of 13 federal judges told Columbia University's president Monday they won't hire students who attend the university or its law school as clerks, calling it an "incubator of bigotry" for its handling of student protests over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a copy of their letter that U.S. District Judge Alan Albright shared with Law360.

Letter attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Convicted Ga. Sheriff Hit With Civil Rights Suit From Detainee

By Chart Riggall

Former Georgia Sheriff Victor Hill, who was convicted in 2022 of violating his detainees' civil rights by leaving them strapped to a chair for hours at a time, was hit with a federal lawsuit Friday by an alleged victim of Hill's methods who testified against him in his criminal trial.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ga. Insurance Agency Hit With Suit Over 'Unwanted Calls'

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia-based insurance agency was hit with a proposed class action Monday alleging it makes "aggressive" telemarketing calls to seniors advertising final expense and life insurance products, even when the seniors are on the national do-not-call list or ask that the calls stop.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DeSantis, Ousted Fla. Atty Clash Over Reinstatement Powers

By Madison Arnold

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and ousted prosecutor Andrew Warren have offered dueling takes over whether federal courts have jurisdiction to reinstate suspended state officers in competing briefs filed with the Eleventh Circuit.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Hall Booth, VeraSafe Attys Head To Baker Donelson In Atlanta

By Emily Johnson

Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC has expanded in Atlanta with a onetime Hall Booth Smith PC partner and a former technology attorney from global data protection and privacy company VeraSafe LLC, the firm announced Monday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

Mark Johnson and Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler discuss notable insurance class action decisions from the first quarter of the year ranging from salvage vehicle titling to rate discrimination based on premium-setting software.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Opinion

Viral Deepfakes Of Taylor Swift Highlight Need For Regulation

As the nation grapples with addressing risk from artificial intelligence use, the recent circulation of AI-generated pornographic images of Taylor Swift on the social platform X highlights the need for federal legislation to protect nonconsenting subjects of deepfake pornography, say Nicole Brenner and Susie Ruiz-Lichter at Squire Patton.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Northeast Firms Harris Beach, Murtha Cullina To Join Forces

By Christine DeRosa

Midsize law firms Harris Beach PLLC and Murtha Cullina LLP on Tuesday announced plans to combine starting next year, creating one firm with a footprint across Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and nearby states.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Titans Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Susman's Brook, Shackelford

By Sydney Price

Susman Godfrey LLP attorneys Davida Brook and Stephen Shackelford Jr. learned very early on in their working relationship that they needed to trust each other. That concept, they say, has been foundational to their success as defamation attorneys, and those who have worked alongside them say everyone else has reason to trust them, too.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Florida Judge Delays Trump's Classified Docs Trial Indefinitely

By David Minsky

The Florida judge overseeing the criminal case that accuses former President Donald Trump of holding onto classified documents upon leaving office extended indefinitely the planned May 20 start of the trial, citing "myriad and interconnected pretrial" issues regarding the Classified Information Procedures Act, according to a federal court order filed on Tuesday.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Stormy Daniels Tells NY Jury 'Fear' Drove Hush Money Deal

By Frank G. Runyeon, Stewart Bishop and Rachel Scharf

Adult film star Stormy Daniels detailed for a Manhattan jury on Tuesday how a sexual encounter with Donald Trump in 2006 led to an alleged $130,000 hush money payment in 2016, describing how it was "fear and not money" that led her to make the deal.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Coverage Recap: Day 9 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

By Rachel Scharf, Stewart Bishop and Frank Runyeon

Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from day nine.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Prepetition Waivers Sway Invitae Judge On Kirkland Hire

By Vince Sullivan

A New Jersey bankruptcy judge approved the retention of Kirkland & Ellis LLP as bankruptcy counsel for debtor Invitae Corp. Tuesday, the same day he approved a $239 million sale of its assets to Labcorp.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Atty Dons Muppet Head To Open Sesame Place Race Bias Trial

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A federal jury in Philadelphia on Tuesday gazed at the googly eyes and blue fur of an attorney who donned the head of Sesame Street's Grover to tell them that performers wearing the fluorescent bodysuits of other beloved Muppets discriminated against children at a Pennsylvania theme park because of the color of their skin.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Remote Atty Is No Reason For Mistrial, 10th Circ. Says

By Emily Sawicki

In a published opinion Tuesday, a Tenth Circuit panel ruled that the remote court appearance of a plaintiff's attorney who contracted COVID-19 was not grounds to declare a mistrial after a Black utility worker lost his Title VII workplace discrimination case in Kansas, finding that the plaintiff could not show that he was prejudiced by his lead counsel's absence.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »