Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week delivered a packed mix of fraud allegations, merger fallout, corporate-governance reforms and jurisdictional fights, while a new academic report ignited debate over attorney fee awards in Delaware's influential corporate forum.

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Chancery Delays Settlement Ruling In Peloton Risk Suit

By Jeff Montgomery

Saying she wants to "get it right," Delaware's chancellor indicated on Monday she would rule before year's end on the Court of Chancery's part in a proposed multicourt settlement of derivative claims accusing Peloton's top officials of cashing in on inside information about an impending treadmill recall.

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Phoenix Suns Minority Owners Lob Mismanagement Claims

By Lauren Berg

Minority owners of the NBA's Phoenix Suns on Monday filed counterclaims of mismanagement and misconduct in a Delaware Chancery Court suit brought by majority owner Mat Ishbia, alleging he has "decimated the company's finances" since purchasing the team in 2023 while refusing to disclose the terms of significant transactions.

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Analysis

3 Federal Circuit Clashes To Watch In December

By Ryan Davis

The Federal Circuit's argument calendar for December includes a festive $71.4 million patent dispute about artificial Christmas trees, as well as a software company's bid to revive a nine-figure trade secrets and contract verdict against Ford that was slashed to a nominal $3.

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21 States Get Judge To Halt Trump Cuts Of 4 Fed. Agencies

By Joyce Hanson

A Rhode Island federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from eliminating four federal agencies that support museums and libraries, minority businesses, organized labor, and homeless services, handing a win to a coalition of 21 states that challenged the legality of the cuts.

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Mass. Judge Says States Can Fight Planned Parenthood Cuts

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday chided a Trump administration lawyer for continuing to argue that a coalition of states lacks standing to seek to block what it says is the effective defunding of Planned Parenthood, even as it only just received a lengthy list of new requirements for Medicaid reimbursement.

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PJM Says FERC Wrongly Nixed Grid Planning Change

By Keith Goldberg

PJM Interconnection has told the D.C. Circuit that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission wrongly rejected a plan the regional grid operator brokered with transmission owners to make grid planning decisions without the approval of its members committee.

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Biotechs Go To Del. Chancery Over Cancer Drug Rights

By Jarek Rutz

A contract battle has broken out in the Delaware Chancery Court between two biotechs, each accusing the other of materially breaching a decade-old collaboration agreement governing rights to the cancer drug Jemperli.

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Investor Alleges Real Estate Fund Fraud In Del. Suit

By Jeff Montgomery

Alleging Ponzi scheme-like conduct, limited partners in Florida-based Whitestone Real Estate Fund III (GP) accused the business and its affiliates of shuffling through hundreds of related party transactions without board approval, in an 11-count Delaware Court of Chancery suit that includes fraud claims and seeks appointment of a receiver.

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American Signature Furniture Hits Ch. 11 With Sale Plan

By Vince Sullivan

Home furnishing retailer American Signature Furniture filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware on Saturday with a plan to close 33 of its stores and sell the remainder of its business to affiliates of its current owners.

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Ophthalmic Co. Hits Ch. 11 With $64M Debt, Eyeing Sale

By Emily Lever

Clearside Biomedical, a company developing treatments for eye diseases, has filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware bankruptcy court with $64 million in debt, saying it will attempt to sell its business during the case.

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Brief

Full Fed. Circ. Rejects Bayer Petition In Xarelto Patent Case

By Elliot Weld

The full Federal Circuit on Monday declined a petition from German pharmaceutical giant Bayer asking the appeals court to take a look at reviving patent claims related to its blood thinner medication Xarelto.

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Pittsburgh Paper Can't Beat Healthcare Order As Strike Ends

By Braden Campbell

Workers who returned to work at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday after a three-year strike must be reverted to their old healthcare plans, as the Third Circuit denied the company a stay of an order making it comply with a National Labor Relations Board ruling.

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What To Know As Rulings Limit NLRB's Expanded Remedies

Two recent appellate decisions strongly rebuke the National Labor Relations Board's expansion of remedies beyond reinstatement and back pay under Thryv, which compensated employees for all direct or foreseeable pecuniary harms, signaling increased judicial skepticism toward the board's broadened remedial authority, says Shay Billington at CDF Labor.

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Series

The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Making The Case To Combine

When making the decision to merge, law firm leaders must factor in strategic alignment, cultural compatibility and leadership commitment in order to build a compelling case for combining firms to achieve shared goals and long-term success, says Kevin McLaughlin at UB Greensfelder.

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Bonus Spotlight

5 BigLaw Firms Match Prevailing Year-End, Special Bonuses

By Anna Sanders

BigLaw continues to dole out extra cash for attorneys just in time for the holidays, with five more firms matching the year-end and special bonuses previously announced by their peers.

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Feds' Claim Against Judge Weighing Trans Troops Ban Tossed

By Lauren Berg

The D.C. Circuit's chief judge tossed the U.S. Department of Justice's misconduct complaint against the federal judge overseeing litigation challenging the Trump administration's ban on transgender troops serving in the military, saying judicial misconduct proceedings are not the appropriate avenue to address concerns about a judge's impartiality.

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Comey, James Defeat Charges Over Halligan's Appointment

By Ryan Boysen

A federal judge on Monday dismissed the headline-grabbing indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, finding the controversial prosecutor handling both cases was not properly appointed.

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Calif. Personal Injury Law Firm Sued Over Ransomware Attack

By Gina Kim

A former Adamson Ahdoot LLP client lodged a proposed class action in California state court on Friday over a Nov. 3 ransomware attack, alleging the law firm failed to protect his personal information despite touting on its website that it follows industry standards to do so.

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Feature

Prep, Panic & Poise: Inside An Associate's First Oral Argument

By Jeff Overley

Fraser M. Holmes followed a long professional path to a Texas court's lectern. He'd been a baseball blogger, travel writer and social studies teacher before appellate law beckoned. After years of toil, a milestone moment — his first oral argument — finally arrived, but as justices took the bench, his heart sank: "Oh, my God. I think I've just forgotten my entire argument."

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Google Calls Rumble's Recusal Bid Irrelevant To Its Appeal

By Andrea Keckley

Google is urging the Ninth Circuit to disregard concerns Rumble has raised about the trial judge's relationship with the tech giant's litigation vice president, saying Friday that the information is irrelevant to the YouTube rival's appeal of the court's ruling that its antitrust lawsuit was filed too late.

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Oversight Chair Seeks USPTO Briefing On Litigation Funding

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is seeking a briefing by the end of the month from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on third-party litigation funding and reforms the agency is working on.

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8th Circ. Won't Force Judge's Recusal In Pork Price-Fixing Case

By Matthew Perlman

The Eighth Circuit has denied a mandamus petition from Agri Stats Inc. and major pork producers who are seeking a Minnesota federal judge's recusal in price-fixing litigation based on a law clerk's previous work on a related case.

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