Nexstar Slams DirecTV's 'Speculative' $6.2B Merger Challenge

By Dorothy Atkins

Broadcast giants Nexstar and Tegna urged a California federal judge on Thursday to allow their $6.2 billion merger to proceed as state attorneys general and DirecTV challenge the tie-up, arguing that their allegations of harm are "generalized and speculative" and that DirecTV is merely trying to maximize its leverage in future negotiations.

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Walgreens Vendor Sanctioned Over Scripted Testimony

By Cara Salvatore

An Illinois federal judge has sanctioned Zeikos in its contract action against Walgreens, after the electronics maker's corporate representative testified from a prepared statement and made substantive changes via errata.

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UNITE HERE Healthcare Fund Beats SoCal Workers' Rate Suit

By Emily Brill

A union healthcare fund has beaten back a class action accusing it of wrongfully charging Southern California workers higher rates than Las Vegas workers, with an Illinois federal judge holding that the class hasn't shown the fund violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

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CFTC Sues Ill., Conn., Ariz. Over Event Contract Enforcement

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission continued its bid to assert "exclusive jurisdiction" over prediction markets on Thursday with a trio of suits against Arizona, Connecticut and Illinois regulators over the states' attempts to shut down certain event contract trading as unregistered gambling.

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Analysis

Judicial Scrutiny Of Counterfeit Suits Forces Brands To Adapt

By Ivan Moreno

Federal judges are placing new restrictions on so-called Schedule A lawsuits that brand owners initiate to sue dozens and sometimes hundreds of online sellers allegedly peddling counterfeit products at once, demanding more than shopping-cart screenshots to establish jurisdiction and pressing plaintiffs to justify mass joinder and damages claims.

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1st Circ. Won't Let HUD Cut Homelessness Grant Funding

By Isaac Monterose

The First Circuit rejected the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's bid to pause two lower court orders that prevented the department from cutting funding for its grant program for homelessness services such as permanent housing.

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$25M Verdict Over Woman's ER Death Upheld In Ill.

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois state appellate panel has refused to unwind a jury's $25 million verdict for the family of a woman who died from blood clots that caused her heart and lungs to stop functioning in a hospital emergency room.

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DLA Piper, Vax Refuser Reach Deal To End Religious Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

DLA Piper has struck a deal to wrap up a Christian former employee's lawsuit claiming he was fired for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine because of his religious beliefs, an Illinois federal judge said Thursday.

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Series

Ultramarathons Make Me A Better Lawyer

Completing a 100-mile ultramarathon was tougher, more humbling and more rewarding than I ever imagined, and the experience highlighted how long-distance running has sharpened my ability to adapt to the evolving nature of antitrust law and strengthened my resolve to handle demanding, unforeseen challenges, says Dan Oakes at Axinn.

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Bondi Out As Attorney General After Contentious Time At DOJ

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday Attorney General Pam Bondi will be leaving her post. 

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Goldstein Allowed To Move Out After Marriage Falls Apart

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge on Thursday allowed SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein to relocate for the duration of his home confinement, after Goldstein's attorneys said his marriage had fallen apart and it no longer "makes sense" for Goldstein and his wife to share a residence.

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Raskin Blasts DOJ Bid To Shield Attys From State Bar Probes

By Courtney Bublé

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said Thursday the U.S. Department of Justice's endeavor to preempt state bar investigations of department attorneys is a "get out of jail free" card.

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Feds Say Habeas Ruling Could Spur More 'Illegal Orders'

By Jared Foretek

The Trump administration has asked the Fourth Circuit to reverse a district ruling that upheld a standing order from Maryland federal judges barring immediate removal or transfer of immigrant detainees, arguing the ruling sets a dangerous precedent for district court standing orders.

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Schneider Wallace Fights Uphill For Bigger Cut Of $75M Fees

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal magistrate judge appeared skeptical Thursday about Schneider Wallace Cottrell Kim LLP's bid to increase its cut of a $75.4 million fee award for representing plaintiffs in a $228.5 million Sutter Health antitrust deal, saying lead counsel Constantine Cannon LLP's allocation of $1.4 million to Schneider Wallace seems fair.

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Puerto Rico Bankruptcy Stymies Paul Weiss, ACLU Fee Bids

By Carolyn Muyskens

American Civil Liberties Union and Paul Weiss attorneys who successfully eased restrictions on voting by mail in Puerto Rico during the COVID-19 pandemic cannot collect fees for their work because they were discharged in Puerto Rico's bankruptcy proceeding, the First Circuit has ruled.

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Process Server ABC Legal Inks $2.5M Deal Over Cyber Breach

By Ben Adlin

Seattle-based ABC Legal Services LLC, which bills itself as the nation's largest network of legal process servers, would pay $2.5 million under a tentative deal to settle workers' putative class action claiming a 2024 cyberattack exposed their personal information, the plaintiffs told a Washington federal court Wednesday.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen data giant Sportrader face action from software company Altenar over alleged market abuse, Mexican billionaire Ricardo Pliego sue a man who allegedly defrauded him out of $415 million, and Warner Bros. bring a copyright claim against a YouTuber who leaked set footage of the upcoming Harry Potter series. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K. 

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