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Appellate
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April 19, 2024
PE Exec Can Recoup $1M 'Varsity Blues' Forfeiture
A private equity executive whose conviction in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions case was almost entirely wiped out by the First Circuit is entitled to a refund of $1 million he paid to the scheme's ringleader, a federal judge ruled Friday.
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April 19, 2024
DC Circ. Won't Reverse Wash. Tribe's Recognition Order
A D.C. Circuit panel has rejected a bid by a Washington tribe to vacate an order denying it federal recognition for the fourth time while barring it from raising any further jurisdictional arguments to collaterally attack a lower court's dismissal of the case.
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April 19, 2024
Texas Justices Open Door To Axing $14M Truck Crash Verdict
What started as a monster $80 million trucking crash verdict but later was reduced to $13.7 million was put in further jeopardy Friday when the Texas Supreme Court found that a lower appeals court erroneously declined to hear challenges to how the injured truck driver's employment status was determined.
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April 19, 2024
DC Circ. Backs GOP Operative's Election Finance Conviction
The D.C. Circuit on Friday upheld a political operative's conviction for illegally funneling money from a Russian businessman into Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, ruling that a law enacted in the wake of the Enron accounting scandal can be used to prosecute certain campaign finance crimes.
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April 19, 2024
Sentence For Pandemic Funds Theft Seems To Split 2nd Circ.
A three-judge panel of Second Circuit jurists seemed split Friday over whether a Connecticut man's eight-year prison sentence for stealing COVID-19 funds from the city of West Haven was too harsh, with one judge expressing skepticism and two hinting it was likely appropriate.
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April 19, 2024
Vegas Paper Wants Antitrust Suit Paused For Appeal
The Las Vegas Review-Journal asked a Nevada federal judge to pause the Las Vegas Sun's antitrust suit against it, pending an appeal to the Ninth Circuit over the core agreement between the papers that the Review-Journal says the judge wrongly cleared.
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April 19, 2024
Justices Seek Cornell's Response To ERISA Fee Suit Petition
The U.S. Supreme Court asked Cornell University to respond to a March petition by a group of current and former workers seeking to revive a class action against the university alleging retirees' savings were saddled with unnecessarily high fees, in a sign that the case has drawn the justices' attention.
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April 19, 2024
Mich. Panel Backs GM's Win In Supplier Pricing Spat
A Michigan appellate panel has refused to reinstate a supplier's lawsuit claiming General Motors underpaid for five years' worth of deliveries, saying Semco Inc. didn't have the written evidence needed to hold GM to a promise to rectify the alleged shortfalls.
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April 19, 2024
Up Next At High Court: Abortions & Presidential Immunity
The U.S. Supreme Court will return Monday for the term's final week of oral arguments, during which it will consider several high-stakes disputes, including whether a federal healthcare law can preempt state abortion bans and whether former President Donald Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal charges related to official acts.
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April 19, 2024
Insurers Push To Arbitrate Hurricane Damage Case
An arbitrator should decide whether a Louisiana property owner's hurricane damage claims must be arbitrated, a group of surplus lines insurers argued in urging the Second Circuit to reject a New York district court's reliance on the circuit's precedent to find the arbitration clause at issue unenforceable.
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April 19, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Revive J2 Investor's Suit Alleging Insider Deals
The Ninth Circuit declined Friday to revive a proposed securities fraud class action alleging that J2 Global Inc. hid underperforming acquisitions and dubious investments that benefited company insiders, finding the plaintiff investor did not sufficiently plead scienter as to alleged nondisclosures or that purported misstatements caused his losses.
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April 19, 2024
Fla. Can't Wage Real Estate War On Foreigners, 11th Circ. Told
A group of Chinese citizens and a brokerage firm urged the Eleventh Circuit on Friday to block Florida from enforcing a law prohibiting certain foreign nationals from owning land while they challenge the statute's constitutionality, saying it's discriminatory and preempted by federal authority.
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April 19, 2024
Atty Says False Testimony Justifies Chrisleys' Acquittal
Attorneys for Todd and Julie Chrisley of the reality television show "Chrisley Knows Best," who are in prison after being convicted on federal charges of bank fraud and tax evasion, urged the Eleventh Circuit to undo their convictions on Friday, arguing prosecutors knowingly presented false, prejudicial testimony at trial.
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April 19, 2024
Trump's Trial Is Unprecedented. Attys On Juries? Not So Much
With two BigLaw attorneys tapped for the jury box in Donald Trump's first-in-history criminal case, Law360 spoke to trial vets who said their own experience in this tables-turned situation shows lawyers can make for highly engaged jurors under the right circumstances.
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April 19, 2024
Nevada Justices Stop Block On State's Ghost Gun Ban
The Nevada Supreme Court has reversed an order blocking enforcement of state laws blocking the sale of so-called ghost gun kits, saying the lower court was wrong in finding the laws were unconstitutionally vague.
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April 19, 2024
Del. Justices Revive Margolis Edelstein Malpractice Suit
Delaware's Supreme Court has reversed a lower-court decision that let Margolis Edelstein off the hook on claims that its incompetence caused GMG Insurance Agency to have to settle a case for $1.2 million, saying more consideration is needed to determine whether the firm was negligent.
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April 19, 2024
Lawyer Too Late To Collect Fees From Aretha Franklin Estate
Michigan appellate judges have upheld the denial of a bid for attorney fees for a lawyer who complained he was not properly paid for work he did for Aretha Franklin, with judges determining the claims were time-barred.
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April 19, 2024
Climate Lawsuits Aren't The SEC's Only Legal Headache
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been grabbing headlines over the past couple of months as it attempts to fend off a host of lawsuits challenging recently enacted climate disclosure rules, but the agency has been no stranger to litigation brought by business groups opposing everything from new stock buyback disclosures to the agency's growing private fund oversight to its hands-off approach to crypto rule writing.
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April 19, 2024
Paxton Can't Duck Ethics Suit Over 2020 Election Challenge
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton must face the State Bar of Texas' ethics lawsuit over his attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election since the suit is against Paxton in his personal capacity and does not violate the separation of powers, a Texas appellate court has ruled.
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April 19, 2024
Law Firm Warns Mich. Justices Of Malpractice Fee Deluge
A Michigan law firm has urged the state's Supreme Court not to lower the bar for seeking attorney fees as legal malpractice damages, saying doing so would invite clients to find reasons to sue their lawyers to recover fees even when they won the underlying case.
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April 19, 2024
The Week In Trump: NY Trial And A High Court Date Loom
Despite a few snags, jury selection for Donald Trump's hush money trial in Manhattan unfolded relatively quickly, clearing the way for opening statements Monday in the historic case as the former president prepped for a U.S. Supreme Court debate over his supposed immunity.
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April 19, 2024
NYT Inks Revised $2.4M Deal In Auto-Renewal Case
A class of New York Times readers who sued over the newspaper's automatic subscription renewal charges has asked a Manhattan federal court for initial approval of a roughly $2.4 million settlement, after the Second Circuit shot down an earlier agreement due to concerns about attorney fees.
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April 18, 2024
Ex-BigLaw Atty Can Stay Free During OneCoin Fraud Appeal
A Manhattan federal judge Thursday granted a former Locke Lord LLP partner's motion for bail pending appeal of his 10-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of laundering around $400 million in proceeds from the global OneCoin cryptocurrency scam, saying he does not pose a flight risk given his medical conditions.
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April 18, 2024
Conoco Tells 3rd Circ. It Can Target Citgo For $8.5B Award
ConocoPhillips urged the Third Circuit to nix Venezuela's challenge to a ruling paving the way for the oil company's participation in an auction for control of the U.S. oil giant Citgo to enforce an $8.5 million debt, arguing that the country can't prove that it's been acting in bad faith.
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April 18, 2024
BofA Keeps Win Against Movie Website's TM Suit At 10th Circ.
The Tenth Circuit on Thursday affirmed a lower court's ruling that Bank of America's virtual assistant "Erica" did not infringe on the trademark of an online movie database, saying the plaintiff failed to establish that the service mark "E.R.I.C.A" was directly associated with the search services offered on the website.
Expert Analysis
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Bid Protest Spotlight: Standing And A Golden Rule
In this month's bid protest roundup, Victoria Angle at MoFo examines one recent decision that clarifies the elements necessary to establish prejudice and federal claims court standing in multiphase protests, and two that exemplify a government procurements golden rule.
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Employer Trial Tips For Fighting Worker PPE Pay Claims
Courts have struggled for decades to reach consensus on whether employees must be paid for time spent donning and doffing personal protective equipment, but this convoluted legal history points to practical trial strategies to help employers defeat these Fair Labor Standards Act claims, say Michael Mueller and Evangeline Paschal at Hunton.
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Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout
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.
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Opinion
Gilead Ruling Signals That Innovating Can Lead To Liability
A California appeals court's ruling last month in Gilead Life Sciences v. Superior Court of San Francisco that a drug manufacturer can be held liable for delaying the introduction of an improved version of its medication raises concerns about the chilling effects that expansive product liability claims may have on innovation, says Gary Myers at the University of Missouri School of Law.
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Grant Compliance Takeaways From Ga. Tech's FCA Settlement
Georgia Tech’s recent False Claims Act settlement over its failure to detect compliance shortcomings in a grant program was unique in that it involved a voluntary repayment of funds prior to the resolution, offering a few key lessons for universities receiving research funding from the government, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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Series
Competing In Dressage Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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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High Court Case Could Reshape Local Development Fees
If last month's oral arguments are any indication of how the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, it's unlikely the justices will hold that the essential nexus and rough proportionality tests under the cases of Nollan, Dolan and Koontz apply to legislative exactions, but a sweeping decision would still be the natural progression in the line of cases giving property owners takings claims, says Phillip Babich at Reed Smith.
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Employer Lessons From Nixed Calif. Arbitration Agreement
A California state appeals court’s recent decision to throw out an otherwise valid arbitration agreement, where an employee claimed a confusing electronic signature system led her to agree to unfair terms, should alert employers to scrutinize any waivers or signing procedures that may appear to unconscionably favor the company, say Guillermo Tello and Monique Eginli at Clark Hill.
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Ch. 11 Ruling Highlights 'Two-Step' Challenges In 4th Circ.
A North Carolina bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Bestwall’s Chapter 11 case, and the decision's interpretation of Fourth Circuit law, suggests that, compared to other circuits, it may be more difficult to dismiss so-called Texas Two-Step bankruptcy cases within the Fourth Circuit, say Brittany Falabella and Kollin Bender at Hirschler Fleischer.
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EEO-1 Ruling May Affect Other Gov't Agency Disclosures
By tightly construing a rarely litigated but frequently asserted term, a California federal court’s ruling that the Freedom of Information Act does not exempt reports to the U.S. Department of Labor on workplace demographics could expand the range of government contractor information susceptible to public disclosure, says John Zabriskie at Foley & Lardner.
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What Retailers Should Note In Calif. Web Tracking Suits
As retailers face a deluge of class actions alleging the use of conventional web analytic tools violate wiretapping and eavesdropping provisions of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, uncovering the path toward a narrow interpretation of the law will largely depend on how these cases proceed, say Matthew Pearson and Kareem Salem at BakerHostetler.
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Sentencing Shift Might Not Help Most White Collar Defendants
Many have lauded the new zero-point offender adjustment in the U.S. sentencing guidelines, which may provide a pathway for noncustodial sentences for first-time offenders — but given the types of cases federal prosecutors often pursue, it likely won't offer much relief to white collar defendants, says Saurish Appleby-Bhattacharjee at BCLP.
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Del. Ruling Adds Momentum For Caremark Plaintiffs
The Delaware Supreme Court's recent opinion in Lebanon County Employees' Retirement Fund v. Collis could be viewed as expanding plaintiffs' ability to viably plead a Caremark claim against directors, so Delaware companies should be on heightened alert and focus on creating a record of board oversight, say attorneys at V&E.
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What's At Stake In High Court NLRB Injunction Case
William Baker at Wigdor examines the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to hear Starbucks v. McKinney — where it will consider a long-standing circuit split over the standard for evaluating National Labor Relations Board injunction bids — and explains why the justices’ eventual decision, either way, is unlikely to be a significant blow to labor.
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Opinion
High Court's Gifts Problem Taints Public Corruption Cases
A history of U.S. Supreme Court justices failing to disclose luxurious gifts from wealthy donors coincides with a troubling line of court precedent overturning jury convictions in public corruption cases, indicating that perhaps justices aren't presently fit to be making these decisions, says Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.