Trump Says Epstein Birthday Letter Is Fake In $10B WSJ Suit

By Carolina Bolado

President Donald Trump maintained Tuesday that a "bawdy" birthday letter sent to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that purportedly bears Trump's signature is phony and argued that the Wall Street Journal's decision to write about the letter despite his assertions that it was fake shows actual malice.

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Ed Sheeran Can Challenge Copyright On 'Let's Get It On'

By Elliot Weld

A Manhattan federal judge said Tuesday that she would allow Ed Sheeran to challenge the validity of a 2020 copyright on elements of the Marvin Gaye track "Let's Get It On" before the copyright holder is permitted to amend its suit alleging Sheeran's hit song "Thinking Out Loud" infringes it.

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Combs' Defamation Suit Unlikely To Be Tossed, Judge Says

By Pete Brush

Sean "Diddy" Combs' $50 million defamation suit accusing a grand jury witness, a lawyer and Nexstar Media Inc. of spreading falsities is likely to survive the defendants' motion to dismiss, at least in part, a Manhattan federal judge said Tuesday.

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Kiss' Gene Simmons Sings Praises Of Radio Pay Bill

By Theresa Schliep

U.S. lawmakers are revisiting an effort to get FM and AM radio broadcasters to pay artists when playing their music, with key members of a Senate subcommittee speaking at a hearing Tuesday in favor of a measure that also garnered enthusiastic support from Kiss singer Gene Simmons.

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Judge Won't Nix Alleged AI-Tainted Award In Gaming Fight

By Caroline Simson

A California federal judge on Tuesday dismissed on technical grounds a closely watched case in which a consumer sought to vacate an arbitral award favoring Valve Corp., the company behind the PC game marketplace Steam, over the arbitrator's "outsourcing" of his adjudicative role to artificial intelligence.

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HBO Max Subscribers Sue To Stop Netflix-Warner Bros. Deal

By Nadia Dreid

HBO Max subscribers slapped Netflix with one of the first proposed class actions seeking to halt the streaming behemoth's $82.7 billion plan to buy Warner Bros.' studio and streaming business, calling the deal "one of the more audacious horizontal mergers in recent memory."

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Suns Seek $250M Capital Call Confirmation Amid Buyout Row

By Lauren Berg

The majority owner of the NBA's Phoenix Suns on Tuesday maintained that a $250 million capital call and a subsequent additional funding round this summer were properly issued under the LLC agreement, amid two minority owners' allegations of mismanagement in Delaware's Chancery Court.

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Sens. Propose NIL Accounts To Help Students Grow Earnings

By Tom Lotshaw

Two U.S. senators introduced legislation Monday to allow the growing number of college student-athletes inking name, image and likeness deals with companies to create tax-advantaged investment accounts to save some of their earnings.

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NFL's Lions Want Suit Over Goff Photos Out Of California

By Alex Lawson

The Detroit Lions are looking to snuff out a photographer's copyright case in California federal court over the team's use of photos he took of quarterback Jared Goff, raising doubts about the dispute's ties to the Golden State.

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Minor Consented To Arbitration In Illegal Gambling Suit: Judge

By Caroline Simson

A California federal judge on Tuesday sent a proposed illegal gambling class action against the Israeli owner of popular mobile game Coin Master to arbitration, ruling that the minor plaintiff had sufficient notice of the arbitration provision when she registered to play.

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Judge Says Betting Case No 'Slam Dunk' For Kalshi Or Mass.

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts judge said Tuesday he's unlikely to decide before January whether state gambling regulators can pursue claims that prediction market operator KalshiEX is flouting sports betting laws, and if so, whether he should grant the state's request for an injunction.

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Judge Questions DraftKings Evidence Of 'Bonus' Fine Print

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts state judge on Tuesday said she had "a lot of questions" about the admissibility of a re-created screen image DraftKings wants to rely on to demonstrate that the lead plaintiff in a proposed class action was shown the terms of an allegedly deceptive bonus offer.

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CoStar Urges Justices To Review Revived Antitrust Claims

By Matthew Perlman

CoStar is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit ruling reviving antitrust counterclaims from a rival commercial real estate platform, saying the appeals court accepted a novel theory of what constitutes exclusive dealing.

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3rd Circ. Won't Let Post-Gazette Duck Benefits Injunction

By Emily Brill

A Third Circuit panel is standing by its decision to let an injunction against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette remain active while the newspaper appeals, saying it won't reconsider its Nov. 24 refusal to stay an injunction requiring the paper to restore its workers' pre-2020 benefits.

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Mobile Game Maker, Investors Get Final OK For $6.5M Deal

By Emilie Ruscoe

Mobile game developer Playstudios Inc. and its investors have gotten a final nod for their $6.5 million settlement of claims the company failed to disclose issues with a game it projected would be lucrative as it prepared to go public via merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

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DOJ Gets OK To Unseal Epstein Grand Jury Docs In NY Case

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday secured a Manhattan federal judge's permission to unseal grand jury materials related to the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, following a new law passed by Congress that requires the agency to release its files on the late sex offender.

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Ad Analytics Co.'s Brass Face Investor Suit Over Bot Traffic

By Emilie Ruscoe

Current and former officers and directors of digital advertisement measurement services DoubleVerify Holdings Inc. kept the company from disclosing artificial intelligence-driven industry shifts that hurt its bottom line, including the company's own failures to detect increasingly sophisticated bot traffic, a shareholder derivative action alleges.

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Republican FCC Commish Signals More 'Delete' Reg Actions

By Christopher Cole

A Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday the agency is looking at even more ways to reduce clutter on the telecom regulatory landscape.

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More Than 160 State Lawmakers Call For BEAD Fund Release

By Christopher Cole

A bipartisan group of more than 160 state legislators wants the Trump administration to quickly release money from a $42.5 billion federal internet service deployment fund that hasn't been spent yet on deploying infrastructure.

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Brief

'Policy Corps' Aims To Promote Widespread US Connectivity

By Christopher Cole

A pair of public interest groups on Tuesday started a broad advocacy push for universal service reform and deploying more broadband to underserved areas.

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AI Evidence Rule Tweaks Encourage Judicial Guardrails

Recent additions to a committee note on proposed Rule of Evidence 707 — governing evidence generated by artificial intelligence — seek to mitigate potential dangers that may arise once machine outputs are introduced at trial, encouraging judges to perform critical gatekeeping functions, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

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Bonus Spotlight

MoFo, Kellogg Hansen Exceed Prevailing BigLaw Bonus Scale

By Anna Sanders

Morrison Foerster LLP and boutique law firm Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick PLLC both recently unveiled above-market bonuses, according to a MoFo in-house memo and a media report. 

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Analysis

Hagens Berman's Novel DOJ Referral May Have Chilling Effect

By Emma Cueto

A Pennsylvania federal judge's unusual decision to refer prominent plaintiffs firm Hagens Berman LLP to the U.S. Department of Justice for possible criminal investigation over its pursuit of claims related to morning sickness drug thalidomide could have a chilling effect on lawyers' advocacy, law professors and attorneys said.

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Trustee Says Winston & Strawn Is Liable For $1.7B Fintech Bust

By Lynn LaRowe

The trustee of the bankrupt self-styled "anti-woke" financial technology startup GloriFi said Winston & Strawn LLP shouldn't be allowed to escape a malpractice lawsuit over the company's $1.7 billion failure, saying the firm was a knowing participant in the allegedly unlawful activities of its then-CEO.

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Consulting Co. Says Law Firms' Malpractice Cost It $10M

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado consulting company told a state court that an Am Law 200 firm and a now-dissolved law firm committed legal malpractice that cost the company $10 million in a lending transaction. 

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Uber May Win Sanctions On Atty Who Disclosed MDL Docs

By Bonnie Eslinger and Mike Curley

A California federal judge said Tuesday it appeared an attorney for plaintiffs claiming Uber failed to protect passengers from sexual assault "acted in a cavalier manner" with a protective order in the multidistrict litigation, but didn't rule on Uber's requests for monetary sanctions nor its bid to kick the attorney off the plaintiff steering committee.

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Brief

Democrats Push For $1.76B To Fix Defender Budget Shortfall

By Courtney Bublé

Almost 50 Democratic lawmakers are urging congressional appropriators to fix the long-standing budget shortfall for federal defenders in the upcoming full-year budget.

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DOJ Says It Could Indict Comey Again

By Jared Foretek

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday said it may once again seek charges against ex-FBI Director James Comey, asking a D.C. federal judge to dissolve a temporary restraining order that bars prosecutors from using evidence seized from Comey's former attorney.

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Analysis

FERC's Fate Uncertain As Humphrey's Executor Teeters

By Keith Goldberg

The future of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may hinge on whether the U.S. Supreme Court will remake its 90-year-old precedent that protects members of independent agencies from being fired at will by the president.

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Senate Confirms 3 Judges For La., Miss.

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Senate confirmed three judicial nominees Tuesday for federal courts in Louisiana and Mississippi.

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