SEC Disgorgement Powers Stay Intact After High Court Fight

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday said that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could collect ill-gotten gains from alleged fraudsters without having to identify victims who were financially harmed by the fraud, declining to place further limits on the agency's disgorgement powers six years after it last did so.

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Justices Say FCC Fines Can Stand Without Jury Trial

By Christopher Cole

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Federal Communications Commission's authority to issue monetary penalties Thursday, knocking down challenges to nearly $200 million in fines against the Big Three wireless carriers for failing to protect consumer data privacy.

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Supreme Court Shuts Down 'Skinny Label' Drug Patent Suit

By Ryan Davis

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ended a patent suit over Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.'s generic version of a heart drug that uses a so-called skinny label, saying Amarin Pharma Inc. had not plausibly alleged that Hikma encouraged healthcare providers to infringe its patents.

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Deepfake Mocks Judge Spearheading Judiciary Deepfake Rule

By Jeff Overley

The New York federal judge developing policies for phony audiovisual materials revealed Thursday firsthand experience with the subject: an artificial intelligence video on social media that depicts him as a maniacal Nazi who recently sentenced a private equity executive to prison "for being a Republican."

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5th Circ. Unblocks Texas App Age-Check Law During Appeal

By Lauren Berg

The Fifth Circuit on Thursday paused an injunction halting a Texas law that requires app store owners to verify users' ages and block minors from downloading apps or making in-app purchases without parental consent, saying the state will likely succeed in showing the district court erred in blocking the law.

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Blanche's AG Bid Could Face Rocky Path In Senate

By Courtney Bublé

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will be tapped for the permanent role, but he might not have a smooth path to confirmation.

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NY AG Must Preserve Cohen Docs In Trump's Civil Fraud Case

By Frank G. Runyeon

The New York state trial court judge overseeing President Donald Trump's civil fraud case granted his request to preserve notes from private meetings between state litigators and Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen after the key witness said he felt "pressured" to testify.

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EPA Unlawfully Delayed Methane Rule, Groups Tell DC Circ.

By Elaine Briseño

Environmental groups told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated the Clean Air Act by extending without justification compliance deadlines for initiating requirements aimed at reducing methane pollution from the oil and gas sector.

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Ecobee's $11.5M Thermostat IP Trial Loss Erased By Fed. Circ.

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Thursday threw out an $11.5 million award against Ecobee Technologies in a smart thermostat patent infringement suit from Ollnova Technologies, citing problems with the verdict form and how jurors were instructed to look at the patents.

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Fed. Circ. Solidifies Google, Oath Wins In Arendi Patent Suits

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Thursday upheld Google LLC and Oath Holdings Inc.'s wins over Arendi SARL's lawsuits that accused them of infringing various data system patents, agreeing with a Delaware federal court that the patents weren't valid to begin with.

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Fed. Circ. Homes In On 'Adherence' In Canvas Duty Appeal

By Jack McLoone

A Federal Circuit panel considered conflicting interpretations of an antidumping order on artist canvases Thursday as it reviewed whether the U.S. Department of Commerce properly found a company's products to be in scope, focusing questions on what it means for canvases to promote "adherence" of paint.

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Fed. Circ. Invalidates Spinal Implant Patent Claims

By Elliot Weld

The Federal Circuit on Thursday invalidated patent claims covering parts used to make expandable implant devices in spinal fusion surgeries that were the basis of a $9.5 million jury verdict against Life Spine Inc. and that had been upheld by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

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Fed. Circ. Seems Iffy On Reversing Atty Fees In Patent Case

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Circuit didn't seem convinced Thursday morning that it should overturn a lower court's decision to make network testing company Viavi Solutions Inc. pay another company's attorney fees after Viavi unsuccessfully sued it for patent infringement.

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Feds Appeal Trade Court's Emergency Tariff Refund Order

By Dylan Moroses

The federal government has appealed the U.S. Court of International Trade's order requiring refunds on all duties paid under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after the U.S. Supreme Court struck them down this year, according to filings in the trade court and Federal Circuit.

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USPTO Mulling Certain Patent Apps After 'Atypical' Case

By Adam Lidgett

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is asking why it should keep reviewing patent applications that would not end up giving their owners rights to assert against alleged infringers, following a Federal Circuit decision in what the appellate court called an "atypical" appeal.

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Floor Importers Failed To Fight Fight Duty Rate, Fed. Circ. Told

By Dylan Moroses

Importers appealing a U.S. Court of International Trade ruling sustaining revised antidumping duties on Chinese wood flooring missed their opportunity to challenge the rate reached by the government, a U.S. Department of Justice attorney told the Federal Circuit on Thursday.

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2nd Circ. Rejects Bid To Rehear $16B YPF Argentina Ruling

By Caroline Simson

The Second Circuit will not review its decision this year reversing a New York judge's $16 billion judgment against Argentina arising from its nationalization of YPF SA, the country's largest oil and gas exploration company, despite arguments that the ruling was "profoundly misguided."

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4th Circ. Revives Inmate Suit, Citing Deleted Prison Video

By Elizabeth Daley

An inmate whose prison disciplinary conviction for indecent exposure led to his transfer to a maximum security facility should not have lost his case without having his sanctions request over destroyed video evidence reviewed, a Fourth Circuit panel said Thursday, vacating and remanding a lower court's decision.

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5th Circ. Prods Feds On Controversy In Texas Dream Act Suit

By Spencer Brewer

A Fifth Circuit panel pressed Texas and the federal government to explain where the controversy existed in a suit seeking to end a state law allowing in-state tuition for unauthorized immigrants, saying Thursday the parties "desired the same result."

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Flyers Ask Full 5th Circ. To Rehear CrowdStrike IT Outage Suit

By Linda Chiem

Airline passengers have asked the full Fifth Circuit to review a panel decision rejecting their proposed class action alleging the cybersecurity firm behind 2024's crippling global IT outage should be held liable for stress and physical injuries they suffered while stranded by delayed or canceled flights.

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6th Circ. Rejects Scotts Bid To Block P&G Weed Killer

By Ivan Moreno

The Sixth Circuit on Thursday affirmed a lower court's refusal to block Procter & Gamble from selling its Spruce weed killer, holding that Scotts failed to show its Miracle-Gro packaging is distinctive enough to support trade dress claims or that the products are likely to confuse consumers.

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Pot Business Tells 6th Circ. Mich. City Defied Court Order

By Susan Smiley

The clerk of a Michigan city intentionally sabotaged a plan to revitalize a deserted shopping center to prevent cannabis businesses from operating there, a real estate company told a Sixth Circuit panel Thursday in hopes of reviving its suit over the delays and setbacks.

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7th Circ. Upholds Drug-Premises Enhancement In Meth Case

By Parker Quinlan

The Seventh Circuit has upheld a nearly 16-year prison sentence for an Indiana man, finding that a home he used primarily to sell drugs makes him eligible for a prison sentence increase under the federal sentencing guidelines.

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9th Circ. Backs FMCSA Block On Calif. Bus Driver Break Rules

By Rachel Riley

A Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday validated the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's conclusion that national hours-of-service regulations trump California's meal and rest break rules for bus drivers, saying the agency was justified in finding that the Golden State rules strain interstate commerce.

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Meta Says 9th Circ. Needn't Revisit Facebook Genocide Ruling

By Mike Curley

Meta Platforms Inc. is fighting a petition from two women asking the Ninth Circuit for a full court rehearing of their suit alleging that Facebook's 2009 algorithms contributed to the destruction of their villages during the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, saying the circuit's interpretation of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act doesn't need revisiting.

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Analysis

Generics Cos. Get More Freedom In High Court Patent Ruling

By Ryan Davis

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Thursday shutting down a patent case involving a generic heart drug that uses a so-called skinny label establishes a road map for generics companies to avoid such suits and creates hurdles for branded companies pursuing infringement litigation, attorneys say.

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Phone Sex Caller Can't Be Sued Over Fatal Big Rig Crash

By Y. Peter Kang

A Texas appeals court on Thursday affirmed the dismissal of a suit accusing a woman of distracting a commercial tractor-trailer driver with a phone sex call to his cellphone, causing him to strike and kill another driver, with the court saying remote callers have no duty to control a driver's conduct behind the wheel.

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Panel Unsure Fraud Suit Against Conn. Atty Was Late

By Brian Steele

Connecticut appellate judges suggested Thursday that an attorney may have waived the right to claim a three-year statute of limitations protected her from a client's fraud suit, which resulted in a $27,000 verdict, by failing to correctly raise the issue in a trial court.

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Fla. High Court Backs Accounting Methods In Utility Rate Hike

By David Minsky

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the state Public Service Commission's order approving accounting mechanisms used by a natural gas company in a rate increase plan, ruling that the regulator wasn't inconsistent with internal policy and within its discretion to approve the measures.

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Wash. Justices Won't Review Card Processor's Tax Refund

By Michael Nunes

Washington state's high court declined to review a lower court decision finding that the state's tax agency wrongly included fees charged by issuing banks in a credit card processor's gross income calculation.

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Federal Officer Removal After Justices' La. Pollution Ruling

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Chevron USA v. Plaquemines Parish, companies seeking to use federal officer removal to move litigation out of state court should ask three questions, focusing on government contract language, federally directed activity and related conduct, say attorneys at Hollingsworth.

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2nd Circ.'s Embedded Video Ruling May Protect Publishers

The Second Circuit's recent decision in Richardson v. Townsquare, dismissing an infringement claim arising from an embedding of a YouTube-hosted interview, reaffirms a potent defense for publishers who regularly use social media platforms' embed functionality, says Amanda Harris at Jassy Vick.

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Series

Competing At Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Playing poker in male-dominated rooms taught me to treat skepticism as background noise when my opponents seem to underestimate me, to apply pressure when it matters and to adapt without losing strategic discipline — skills that are all indispensable in restructuring and insolvency matters, says Alexis Gambale at Pashman Stein.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Megan Norcott

The past week in London has seen the U.K.'s oldest Indian restaurant launch an appeal against King Charles III's property company in an effort to stop its eviction, trustees of a bankrupt former EY tax partner file a claim against his wife, and 37 leading insurers bring a lawsuit against agrichemical company Syngenta over an insurance dispute. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Katten Is Latest Firm To Match Milbank Associate Pay Raise

By Kevin Penton

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP has joined the growing list of firms that are largely matching a new pay scale for associates set earlier this week by Milbank LLP, with attorneys set to see annual pay increases of $10,000 to $20,000.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week, investor advocates have questioned the legality of the SEC's plan to withdraw corporate climate disclosure regulations, and an insurance broker's report found claims made under policies for mergers and acquisitions have risen in frequency and severity.

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North Korea Sanctions Case Ends In Plea After 2 Mistrials

By Phillip Bantz

A Chinese national pled guilty on Thursday in D.C. federal court to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. in a sanctions evasion scheme involving North Korean tobacco smuggling, bringing an end to a protracted prosecution after two separate deadlocked juries.

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ICE Atty's Bid To Ax Contempt Order Is 'Absurd,' Amicus Says

By Emily Sawicki

A court-appointed amicus curae has told the Eighth Circuit that a Minnesota federal judge was right to hold a government attorney in contempt after finding that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flouted a court order, leading to a detained man being released hundreds of miles from his home without legal identification.

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Morgan & Morgan Explores Private Equity Investment Options

By Emma Cueto

The nation's largest personal injury firm, Morgan & Morgan, is exploring its options with regard to a potential private equity investment, with the firm saying Friday it is in the early stages of understanding what such an investment might mean and whether it is a good opportunity or "fool's gold."

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Winston Taylor leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ended a patent suit over Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.'s generic version of a heart drug that uses a so-called skinny label.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Morgan & Morgan's John Yanchunis

By Matt Perez

John Yanchunis of Morgan & Morgan PA has been at the forefront of data privacy litigation for nearly three decades, but what stands out to his colleague Ryan McGee is not the litany of wins but the attorney's humility.

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Legal Job Market Surges With Special Litigation, Gov't Work

By Tracey Read

The legal sector saw 1,200 more jobs in May after gaining 1,900 positions the month before, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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First Democrat Returns A Blue Slip For Judicial Nominee

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is the first Democratic senator in the second Trump administration to return a blue slip for a judicial nominee.

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DLA Piper Urges 2nd Circ. To End 'Vexatious' Malpractice Suit

By Emily Sawicki

The Second Circuit should uphold the dismissal of a Chinese software company's legal malpractice suit and $635,000 in sanctions against it and its lawyers, DLA Piper has argued, citing previous favorable rulings in the matter by a federal magistrate judge, district court judge, state justice and five-judge panel of the New York state appeals court.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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