Latham DQ'd From Sleep Apnea Device Co.'s Patent Fight

By Madison Arnold

A Delaware federal court has disqualified Latham & Watkins LLP from representing the creator of a sleep apnea implant in its patent dispute after the firm served as counsel to the rival's underwriters, saying the "appearance of impropriety is glaring."

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Med Co. Sellers Urge Del. Justices To Revive Suit

By Jeff Montgomery

An attorney for former investors in urgent care provider CityMD urged Delaware's Supreme Court on Wednesday to reverse a lower court's dismissal of claims they were coerced into giving up purported rights to the same consideration a private equity controller received in a 2021 merger.

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Pirate-Ship Venture Ruling Tested At Del. Supreme Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Supreme Court pressed attorneys Wednesday on whether a Chancery Court ruling correctly upheld decades-old stock issuances and sidestepped a final determination on a joint-venture agreement at the center of a saga involving the Whydah pirate-treasure venture.

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La. Gets Access To BEAD Funds, 17 Other State Plans Get OK

By Nadia Dreid

Louisiana has become the first state to gain access to Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program funds, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which said it has also given the green light to 17 other states and territories' final plans.

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Pool Co. Directors Hit With Derivative Suit In Del.

By Jeff Montgomery

Three stockholders of pool equipment company Hayward Holdings Inc. sued the company's directors and officers in Delaware's Court of Chancery late Tuesday, seeking derivative damages based on claims that — after thriving during the pandemic — the company failed to report ballooning customer inventories as insiders traded on bogus, upbeat news.

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Food-Ingredients Sellers Say Buyer Sabotaged $72M Earnout

By Jarek Rutz

A holding company and two members of the family that built its subsidiary food business have accused the company's buyer in the Delaware Chancery Court of deliberately stripping them of promised operational autonomy and sabotaging its performance to avoid paying an earnout of up to $72 million.

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Dallas Stars Ask Bankruptcy Court To Stop Mavericks Suit

By Ben Zigterman

The owner of the Dallas Stars hockey team asked a Texas bankruptcy judge to reopen the club's 2011 bankruptcy case to enforce its confirmation order and stop a suit from the NBA's Dallas Mavericks seeking to remove the NHL team from their American Airlines Center arena lease.

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Bonus Spotlight

BigLaw Begins To Fall In Line With Cravath Bonuses

By Aebra Coe

Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, McDermott Will & Schulte LLP and Dechert LLP are among the law firms following the lead of Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP on year-end associate bonuses this week, with at least five large firms matching the market leader within a day of Cravath's Tuesday announcement.

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Troutman Owes $3.7M In Atty Fees After $1M Malpractice Loss

By Jake Maher

Troutman Pepper Locke LLP must pay $3.7 million in attorney fees to a healthcare tech company that won on malpractice claims against the firm in 2024 after six years of litigation and an eight-day bench trial, a New Jersey state judge has ordered.

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Dissent Accuses Redistrict Ruling Of 'Judicial Misbehavior'

By Spencer Brewer

A Fifth Circuit judge denounced the judge who penned a federal court order blocking Texas' newly redrawn congressional map, saying in a Wednesday opinion the order blocking the redistricting amounts to the "most blatant exercise of judicial activism" he had ever seen.

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Halligan Says Grand Jury Never Saw Final Comey Indictment

By Jared Foretek

U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan acknowledged Wednesday that the full grand jury in the James Comey case never saw or voted on the final version of the indictment that was handed up to the court in the case. An attorney for Comey said the clarification was grounds for dismissal.

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Alaska Senator Pushes For Better Vetting After Judge Scandal

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said on Wednesday that after a federal judge in his state resigned in disgrace last year, he decided he had to revamp his selection process for judicial nominees.

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Pillsbury Asks 2nd Circ. To Guard $4M Client Fee From SEC

By Aaron Keller

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP on Wednesday urged the Second Circuit to allow it to keep a $4 million advance payment retainer from the since-convicted former CEO of a bankrupt cybersecurity company, but the law firm conceded it should have clarified its rights after the government sought an asset freeze.

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The House's Plan B For Repealing Provision On DOJ Lawsuits

By Courtney Bublé

If the Senate does not take up a bill to repeal a provision in the government funding package allowing senators investigated by former special counsel Jack Smith to sue for damages, a Republican House member is already making contingency plans.

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Justices Told Presidential Firing Limits Is An 'Originalist' Idea

By Katie Buehler

A bipartisan collection of current and former government officials has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a 90-year-old ruling that empowers Congress to prohibit the president from firing certain agency officials at will, claiming the precedent has roots that date back to the country's founding and reflects key separation of powers principles.

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