Top Stories

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  KKR To Pay 'Record' $250M To End DOJ Merger Notice Suit

  By Lauren Berg

  KKR & Co. has agreed to pay a $250 million civil penalty to resolve allegations that it hid key documentation an...(read more)

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  Shoals Wins $96M Patent Infringement Verdict Against Rival

  By Hayley Fowler

  A federal jury in North Carolina on Wednesday awarded a solar components company $96.38 million in damages after...(read more)

• Blake Lively's 'Blunderbuss' $8M Atty Fee Bid Nets $407K

  By Hailey Konnath

  A New York federal judge Wednesday awarded Blake Lively $407,452 in attorney fees and court costs in her defamation dispute with her "It Ends With Us" co-star Justin Baldoni, significantly less than the $8 million she had requested, citing her "blunderbuss approach" and flaws in records she submitted.

• Bankrupt Villages Health System Agrees To $541.5M FCA Deal

  By Hailey Konnath

  Florida-based The Villages Health System has agreed to shell out more than $541.5 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by submitting false diagnosis codes to get more money from Medicare, conduct that it disclosed itself, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday.

• 'A Bad Argument': Southwest's Filing In FMLA Suit Irks Judge

  By Bonnie Eslinger

  A California federal judge on Wednesday criticized counsel representing Southwest Airlines in a certified employment class action for filing an untimely and overbroad motion, saying Southwest's attorney was making "a bad argument" and telling counsel, "You guys should not have done that."

• Meta Judge Quickly OKs $17B Deal Over Social Media Harms

  By Dorothy Atkins

  A California federal judge overseeing a bellwether trial over claims Meta hid social media's harms to youth on Wednesday approved its $17.1 billion deal with 29 states, after a hearing in which she pressed lawyers on details of the deal and raised concerns about how Meta was handling attorney-client privilege issues.

• Urban Farm Startup 80 Acres Files Ch. 7 With $100M-Plus Debt

  By Emily Lever

  An Ohio-based vertical farming startup, 80 Acres Urban Agriculture, filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in Delaware with several affiliates and listing $100 million to $500 million each in assets and liabilities. 

• Meta Makes $17B Deal With States Over Child Harms

  By Matthew Santoni

  Meta has agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion and enact reforms to Facebook and Instagram to resolve sprawling social media addiction claims, in the midst of a high-stakes bellwether trial over whether the company hid or downplayed its platforms' allegedly harmful impact on minors, state enforcers say.

• 4th Circ. Blocks FCC Campaign Ad Pricing Guidance

  By Lauren Berg

  While political candidates are entitled to the lowest advertising rate radio and television stations can charge, political parties and joint fundraising committees with noncandidate members are not, a split Fourth Circuit ruled Tuesday, wiping out recent Federal Communications Commission guidance.

• 'News To Me': Instagram CEO Unaware Its Attys Deleted Data

  By Dorothy Atkins

  Instagram's CEO appeared to be taken by surprise Tuesday during a California federal jury trial over claims Meta hid social media's harms, after the states revealed that Instagram's in-house counsel removed data from a teen-safety presentation before presenting it to minimize his "litigation exposure risk," saying "this is all news to me."

• Trump Diversity Visa Freeze Lacked Basis, Judge Says

  By Britain Eakin

  A D.C. federal judge ruled in favor of several diversity visa selectees in consolidated suits challenging the Trump administration's decision to halt the program, saying on Tuesday that the government did not provide a reasoned explanation for its sweeping refusal policy.

• Ghislaine Maxwell Loses 'Frivolous' Bid To Nix Guilty Verdict

  By Craig Clough

  A New York federal judge on Tuesday rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's attempt to overturn her sex trafficking conviction and 20-year prison sentence, finding her arguments largely "frivolous" or procedurally barred, and concluding that purported new evidence unearthed in the release of the Epstein files does not help her case.

• Even Dolly Could've Been Barred By Drag Ban, Judge Says

  By Lauren Berg

  On the same day the world lost Dolly Parton, a Texas federal judge invoked the iconic singer and philanthropist to again block a law widely seen as a ban on drag performances, saying it's so broad that her "big hair, flamboyant clothes and breast exposure" might run afoul of the measure.

• Mass. Sheriff Pressured Pot Co. For Pre-IPO Stake, Jury Hears

  By Carolyn Muyskens

  A federal prosecutor told a Boston jury Tuesday that a local sheriff used his position to demand a stake in a cannabis company, explaining "that's what corruption looks like here in Massachusetts."