Corporate

  • March 21, 2024

    9th Circ. Partially Backs Meta Class Cert. In Ad Reach Row

    A split Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday affirmed certification of a damages class of Meta Platforms advertisers who were allegedly deceived about Facebook's "potential reach" tool, but upended certification of an injunction class, telling the district court to take a fresh look at whether the lead plaintiff actually has standing.

  • March 21, 2024

    Autonomy Jury Hears Of 'Handshake Deal' To Pad Revenue

    A onetime Autonomy Corp. customer took the stand Thursday in the California federal criminal trial of former CEO Michael Lynch, describing a "handshake" deal to pay the company $7.5 million with the understanding the funds would be returned — part of an alleged plot to fraudulently inflate Autonomy's revenues.

  • March 21, 2024

    LinkedIn Must Face Monopoly Lawsuit

    A California federal judge refused Thursday to toss a proposed antitrust class action accusing LinkedIn of using online interface access to pay off would-be rivals, even as he signaled potential trouble ahead once the factual details of those access agreements come into play.

  • March 21, 2024

    US DOT Eyeing Airlines' Consumer Privacy And Data Security

    The U.S. Department of Transportation said Thursday it will conduct a privacy review of the country's largest airlines, focusing on their collection and use of passengers' personal information in response to consumer complaints that airline employees and contractors have mishandled their data.

  • March 21, 2024

    Sen. Warren Wants SEC To Probe Musk Control Of Tesla Board

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., urged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday to investigate whether Tesla's board of directors is independent from CEO Elon Musk, saying recent reports suggest the billionaire controls the board for his personal benefit.

  • March 21, 2024

    Atty Takes Fight Over VLSI's 'Extortion' Claims To Fed. Court

    A Minnesota lawyer and a company he is affiliated with are taking their dispute with patent outfit VLSI Technology to Virginia federal court in an effort to fend off accusations that he is behind an "extortion" effort disguised as a petition to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

  • March 21, 2024

    SpaceX's Severance Agreement Is Illegal, NLRB Attys Say

    The National Labor Relations Board's Seattle office claimed SpaceX's severance agreement included confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses that violate federal labor law, according to a complaint copy obtained by Law360 on Thursday, with board prosecutors asking for a recorded notice reading scheduled for workers across the country to attend.

  • March 21, 2024

    Chief Of Bogus PE Firm Gets 6 Years For $10M Affinity Fraud

    The Colorado-based CEO of a purported investment firm faces nearly six years in prison after pleading guilty to securities fraud in connection with a $10.4 million scheme targeting West Point grads and involving claims he planned to invest in a trio of Italian cycling companies.

  • March 21, 2024

    4 Things To Know About DOJ's Apple Antitrust Showdown

    As Apple prepares to fight state and federal prosecutors' monopoly claims filed Thursday, consumer advocates say it's high time allegations that the company stifles competition in the smartphone and app markets be taken to court, but Apple warns that a win for the government would harm its users.

  • March 21, 2024

    Microsoft, Meta, Others Say Apple Violating Court Order

    Major developers including Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Spotify have told a California federal court that Apple is not complying with an order secured by Epic Games barring Apple's use of anti-steering rules in the App Store.

  • March 21, 2024

    Ford Says $350K TM Jury Award Can't Be Boosted To $15M

    Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday urged a Michigan federal court to deny a tech company's request to boost an unfair competition award against Ford from less than half a million to $15 million because the tech company didn't challenge Ford's sales and profit data at trial. 

  • March 21, 2024

    Ex-CEO Says Social Media Profiles Are Tied To His Personality

    The former CEO of the company that makes Bang Energy drinks argued Thursday in a Florida federal court that a bankruptcy judge wrongly took away ownership of three social media accounts he created for the brand, saying his persona used in them was instrumental in successfully marketing its products.

  • March 21, 2024

    Conn. Judge Awards $59M Damages Payment In Crypto Feud

    A Connecticut state court judge has ordered an overseas business partner and his companies to pay $59.4 million to a bitcoin mining venture after he allegedly lied about both his criminal history and the legal woes of several other companies he controls while siphoning revenue and causing lost profits.

  • March 21, 2024

    Calif. Panel Revives Diner's COVID Sanitization Coverage Bid

    A California state appeals court revived a diner's bid for property insurance coverage of COVID-19 losses after it determined the restaurant credibly alleged direct physical losses and that the policy's language covering losses attributable to a virus applied to COVID-19 sanitization efforts.

  • March 21, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Rethink Apple App Store Rival's Antitrust Suit

    A split Ninth Circuit panel has refused to rehear a rival app store developer's bid to revive an antitrust suit alleging that Apple monopolizes the market for app distribution on iOS devices with its App store.

  • March 21, 2024

    Unabomber Prosecutor To Probe FTX's Sullivan & Cromwell Ties

    The Delaware bankruptcy court overseeing the Chapter 11 case of FTX Trading Ltd. has approved the appointment of a former federal prosecutor, whose experience includes work on the Unabomber case, to delve into accusations Sullivan & Cromwell is conflicted as debtor's counsel.

  • March 21, 2024

    Pot Co. Seller Says Chancery Must Decide Curaleaf Dispute

    A court needs to determine which corporate records Curaleaf Holdings Inc. should turn over in its $13 million price adjustment dispute with the seller of a multistate cannabis dispensary before it goes before an independent accountant, the seller told Delaware's Court of Chancery on Thursday.

  • March 21, 2024

    Chicago Restaurant Biz Sanctioned For Missing Discovery

    A Cook County judge on Wednesday sanctioned the former management group behind celebrated Chicago eatery Maple & Ash and two associated entities for discovery violations, ordering them to pay attorney fees and costs spent seeking their compliance to information requests and warning that escalating penalties could be imposed if violations continue.

  • March 21, 2024

    Home Depot Reaches $20M Class Deal In False Blind-Ad Suit

    Home Depot has reached a roughly $20 million proposed class settlement to resolve allegations that it falsely advertised window treatments as discounted on Blinds.com and other websites, even though the products had never been offered at full price.

  • March 21, 2024

    Kroger's 'Smoked Gouda' Is Indeed Wood-Smoked, Judge Says

    Kroger Co. has defeated a proposed class action alleging deceptive labeling on its "smoked gouda," as an Illinois federal judge granted summary judgment Wednesday in an order referencing a declaration from the source company's president that the cheese goes through a wood-smoking process.

  • March 21, 2024

    Exxon Wants Mass. Oil Purchase Docs In Greenwashing Suit

    The Massachusetts attorney general's office told a judge Thursday that Exxon Mobil Corp. is attempting to relitigate already-barred defenses in an alleged "greenwashing" case by seeking documents from at least a dozen state agencies, including ones concerning decisions by those agencies to purchase the energy company's products.

  • March 21, 2024

    CFPB Head Sees Flaws In Capital One-Discover Deal Rationale

    The head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau pushed back on Thursday against the notion that an industry's biggest firms must be put in check through mergers between other large players in that sector, offering an indirect rebuttal to the reasoning floated by Capital One in its bid to buy Discover Financial for $35.3 billion.

  • March 21, 2024

    12 Ex-Constantine Cannon Attys Launch Whistleblower Firm

    A dozen attorneys who have represented whistleblowers from Facebook, Theranos and Boeing have left Constantine Cannon LLP to form their own stand-alone boutique to support whistleblowers and boost corporate accountability globally, according to a Thursday announcement.

  • March 21, 2024

    8th Circ. Wins SEC Climate Rule Litigation Lottery

    The wave of cases against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently finalized climate disclosure rules will be consolidated and proceed in the Eighth Circuit, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered Thursday, after the agency requested a random draw.

  • March 21, 2024

    USPTO Expands Types Of E-Signatures Allowed For Patents

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will allow filers to sign patent documents using a wider range of third-party electronic signature platforms, including DocuSign and Acrobat Sign, starting Friday.

Expert Analysis

  • Del. Segway Dismissal Suggests Execs Not Liable For Biz Risk

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    While the debate continues within the Delaware Chancery Court over whether Caremark liability applies to matters of pure business risk, the court's recent rejection of Segway’s suit against the ex-president who oversaw financial difficulties suggests the court is uninterested in undermining the deference the business judgment rule grants corporate fiduciaries, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Mass Arb. Rule Changes May Be A Hindrance For Consumers

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    The American Arbitration Association's recent changes to its mass arbitration supplementary rules and fee schedule, including a shift from filing fees to initiation and per-case fees, may reduce consumers' ability to counteract businesses' mandatory arbitration agreements, say Eduard Korsinsky and Alexander Krot at Levi & Korsinsky.

  • ChristianaCare Settlement Reveals FCA Pitfalls For Hospitals

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    ChristianaCare's False Claims Act settlement in December is the first one based on a hospital allegedly providing private physicians with free services in the form of hospital-employed clinicians and provides important compliance lessons as the government ramps up scrutiny of compensation arrangements, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Exxon ESG Proxy Statement Suit May Chill Investor Proposals

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    Exxon Mobil’s recent use of a Texas federal lawsuit to intimidate shareholders into withdrawing a climate-friendly proxy proposal could inspire more public companies to sue to avoid adopting ESG resolutions — a power move that would chill activist investor participation and unbalance shareholder-corporate relations, say Domenico Minerva and James Fee at Labaton Keller.

  • Texas Ruling Clarifies That Bankruptcy Shields LLC Rights

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    A Texas bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in In re: Envision makes it clear that the Bankruptcy Code preempts a section of Delaware state law that terminates a member’s interest in an LLC upon a bankruptcy filing, clarifying conflicting case law, say Larry Halperin and Joon Hong at Chapman and Cutler.

  • 3 Principles For Minimizing The Risk Of A Nuclear Verdict

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    In one of the latest examples of so-called nuclear verdicts, a single plaintiff was awarded $2.25 billion in a jury trial against Monsanto — revealing the need for defense attorneys to prioritize trust, connection and simplicity when communicating with modern juries, say Jenny Hergenrother and Mia Falzarano at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.

  • Freight Forwarders And Common Carriers: Know Your Cargo

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    Freight forwarders and other nonprincipal parties involved in global cargo movement should follow the guidance in the multi-agency know-your-cargo compliance note to avoid enforcement actions should they fail to spot evasive tactics used in supply chains to circumvent U.S. sanctions and export controls, say attorneys at Venable.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • Series

    In Focus At The EEOC: Protecting Vulnerable Workers

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    It's meaningful that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's strategic enforcement plan prioritizes protecting vulnerable workers, particularly as the backlash to workplace racial equity and diversity, equity and inclusion programs continues to unfold, says Dariely Rodriguez at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

  • The Latest Antitrust Areas For In-House Counsel To Watch

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    The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission's increasingly aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement means in-house counsel should closely monitor five key compliance issues, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • Bitcoin ETF Approval Doesn't Mean SEC Approves Of Crypto

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    While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's approval last month of 11 applications for spot exchange-traded funds tracking bitcoin is a landmark moment for the crypto-asset industry, investors who are hopeful that the SEC will approve similar crypto-based ETFs may be disappointed, says attorneys at Mintz.

  • Planning A Defense As IRS Kicks Off Sports Losses Campaign

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    Sports team owners and partnerships face potential examination under the Internal Revenue Service’s recently announced sports industry losses campaign, and should be preparing to explain what drove their reported losses and assembling documentation to support their tax return positions and accounting methods, say Sheri Dillon and Jennifer Breen at Morgan Lewis.

  • Exploring The Foreign Discovery Trend In Delaware

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    Despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the use of Section 1782, recent trends from a Delaware federal court suggest that Delaware remains an appealing forum for such foreign discovery requests, says Florentina Field at Abrams & Bayliss.

  • Navigating New Regulations In Healthcare And Other M&A

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    While notice requirements recently enacted in several states are focused on the healthcare industry for now, this trend could extend to other industries as these requirements are designed to allow regulators to be a step ahead and learn more about a transaction long before it occurs, say Kathleen Premo and Ashley Creech at Epstein Becker.

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