9th Circ. Halts 1 Of 2 Calif. Corporate Climate Disclosure Laws

By Rachel Riley

The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday blocked a new California law requiring large companies to publicly disclose financial risks tied to climate change, barring enforcement as an appeal by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups challenging the policy unfolds in federal appellate court.

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Delaware Chancery Atty Fee Awards Under Fire In New Report

By Jeff Montgomery

Attorney fees in Delaware's Court of Chancery lack "consistent benchmarks" and, for big awards, may fail to reflect "risk or performance," according to a report Tuesday that potentially ratchets up pressure on state lawmakers wary of jeopardizing Delaware's standing as the national hub for corporate law disputes.

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JPMorgan Seeks Fast-Track End To Javice's Fee Advancement

By Lauren Berg

JPMorgan Chase & Co. asked the Delaware Chancery Court on Monday to cut off any more legal fee advancements to Charlie Javice, the convicted founder of college financial aid startup Frank, saying her demands for fees to appeal her criminal conviction "exceed any semblance of reasonableness."

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Chancery Rejects Mary Kay Founder's Fee Bid

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court has rejected the demand of Mary Kay Holding Corp.'s co-founder for corporate advancement of legal fees tied to a Texas trust battle with his son, concluding that the billion-dollar dispute stems from personal trust-administration issues, not the executive's service as a company director.

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Brief

Rumble Alerts 9th Circ. To Recusal Bid Over Google Ties

By Emily Sawicki

Days after Rumble asked a California federal judge to consider recusal in the event the Ninth Circuit revives its antitrust lawsuit against Google, the video-sharing site flagged its recusal bid to the Ninth Circuit itself, filing a motion for judicial notice of the district court judge's friendship with Google's top in-house litigation chief.

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Ex-PetIQ Exec Cops To Insider Trading Ahead Of Acquisition

By Sarah Jarvis

A former executive for Idaho-based PetIQ has pled guilty to insider trading after using another person's brokerage account to purchase stock in his company ahead of its planned acquisition in 2024, court filings show.

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NJ Township Seeks To Revise $2.5B DuPont PFAS Settlement

By Mike Curley

Carneys Point Township, New Jersey, is aiming to intervene in the state's federal suit against E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and others over PFAS contamination, saying a settlement of more than $2.5 billion interferes with its own claims against the company.

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Ex-FDA Chief Accuses J&J Of Hiding Talc Risks For 50 Years

By Craig Clough

A former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration spent a contentious day under cross-examination Tuesday in a Los Angeles bellwether trial over claims that Johnson & Johnson's talc products caused two women's ovarian cancer, accusing the company of hiding the products' health risks for over 50 years.

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Mass. Judge Axes Co.'s 'Second Bite' Dairy Trade Secrets Suit

By Elliot Weld

A Massachusetts federal judge has dismissed trade secret theft allegations brought by a dairy farm products company against two former business partners, saying an ongoing case between some of the same parties in Minnesota was too similar.

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Cognizant Accused Of Retaliation Over Ex-Worker's Claims

By Zach Dupont

A former employee of Cognizant Technology Solutions US Corp. claimed in Colorado state court Monday that the company retaliated against him for reporting a "make good" arrangement the company had with a client that he described as potentially illegal.

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Redfin Investor Denied Atty Fees For Rocket Cos. Merger Suit

By Sydney Price

A Washington federal judge has denied a Redfin investor an award of $450,000 in legal fees to counsel at Monteverde & Associates PC and Wohl & Fruchter LLP after the judge determined that the investor failed to show that his efforts produced material benefits for shareholders voting on Redfin's merger with Rocket Cos. Inc.

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Ex-Dechert Moscow Office MP Joins BCLP's DC Office

By Jack Rodgers

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP has hired the one-time managing partner of Dechert LLP's Moscow office, whose practice focuses on advising corporations, banks, investment funds and other clients on mergers and acquisitions matters, cross-border transactions and matters related to emerging markets, the firm announced Tuesday.

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SEC's Dual Share Class Approval Signals New Era For ETFs

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent approval of the dual share class structure marks a landmark moment for the U.S. fund industry, opening the door for asset managers to benefit from combining mutual fund and exchange-traded fund share classes under a single portfolio, say Ilan Guedj at Bates White and Brian Henderson at George Washington University.

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Navigating Sanctions Against Colombia's Head Of State

To limit their exposure from recent sanctions that prohibit dealings with Colombia’s president and specific officials, it is critical that U.S. companies gain a fulsome understanding of potential touchpoints, establish controls to avoid engagement and, if necessary, seek U.S. government approval, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

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Litigation Funding Could Create Ethics Issues For Attorneys

A litigation investor’s recent complaint claiming a New York mass torts lawyer effectively ran a Ponzi scheme illustrates how litigation funding arrangements can subject attorneys to legal ethics dilemmas and potential liability, so engagement letters must have very clear terms, says Matthew Feinberg at Goldberg Segalla.

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Bonus Spotlight

Cravath Unveils Associate Bonuses, Multiple Firms Follow

By Aebra Coe

Multiple firms swiftly fell in line Tuesday evening just hours after Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP announced associate bonuses in line with those offered last year, continuing a long tradition of BigLaw firms following Cravath's lead on compensation.

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Pillsbury Winthrop Latest Firm Targeted By Data Breach Suit

By Hailey Konnath

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP on Tuesday was hit with a proposed class action stemming from a data breach the firm says happened in April, adding to the growing litigation firms are facing in the aftermath of cyberattacks.

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Analysis

Perkins Coie's Trump Fight Doesn't Scare Off UK Suitor

By Chris Villani

Perkins Coie LLP's ongoing fight with the Trump administration did not deter a proposed combination with British law firm Ashurst, signaling that the legal community is not worried about fallout from the president's suspension of the firm's security clearances.

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Republican Senators Seek Judge Boasberg's Suspension

By Courtney Bublé

Six Republican senators, three of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, are asking that Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of the District of Columbia be administratively suspended while Congress considers his impeachment.

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Sanctioned Atty Convinces Mo. Court Errors Not Caused By AI

By Emily Sawicki

A Missouri federal judge sanctioned former counsel for Liberty Mutual Personal Insurance Co. Monday for including citation errors in a motion this fall, finding that, although the attorney likely inserted the errors herself without the use of AI software, "such carelessness, exacerbated by a lack of internal guardrails, is entirely unacceptable."

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Brief

Conn. Atty Fined $500 For AI-Generated Errors In Wage Suit

By Emily Sawicki

In an order that noted an attorney's remorse, a Connecticut federal judge sanctioned a solo practitioner $500 this week for submitting a brief packed with false, AI-generated case citations, finding the fake authorities wasted court resources, risked misleading a pro se litigant and undermined trust in the judicial system.

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Disbarred NC Atty Must Pay $5.2M For Escrow Fund Misuse

By Abigail Harrison

A disbarred attorney was ordered to pay $5.2 million in restitution and serve four years of probation during a Tuesday sentencing hearing in North Carolina federal court, after he pled guilty to a criminal wire fraud charge related to the misuse of escrow funds.

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Judge Upholds NY Law Blocking ICE Courthouse Arrests

By Andrea Keckley

New York beat back a federal lawsuit challenging the state's policy barring immigration officials from arresting people near its courthouses, after a federal judge rejected the U.S. Department of Justice's preemption claims.

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NY AG James Blasts 'Outrageous Conduct' Behind Indictment

By Adrian Cruz

New York Attorney General Letitia A. James has told a Virginia federal court to dismiss the U.S. government's indictment of her, calling it "patently unconstitutional" and "outrageous conduct."

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McGuireWoods Is Delaying Defamation Case, NC Justices Told

By Hayley Fowler

The former CEO of a managed care organization who alleges McGuireWoods and one of its ex-partners defamed him during a press conference more than seven years ago has told North Carolina's top court not to take up the case, panning their petition as yet another stalling tactic.

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Brief

Missouri Federal Judge To Take Senior Status

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge Douglas Harpool of the Western District of Missouri has given notice he will take senior status upon the confirmation of state Judge Megan Benton, whose nomination to the federal bench President Donald Trump announced Friday.

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CFPB's Gradler Takes Deputy Post Amid Agency Uncertainty

By Jon Hill

Geof Gradler, a former industry lobbyist who recently joined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's front office, said that he is taking over as the agency's deputy director, a job that positions him as a potential successor to acting director Russell Vought.

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