Celebrity-Owned NY Entertainment Venue Hit With Wage Suit

By Benjamin Morse

A New York City sports and entertainment venue owned by Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake improperly relied on a tip credit, kept a portion of employees' gratuities and paid overtime at the wrong rate, according to a proposed class and collective action filed in New York federal court.

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Blue States Say HHS Conditions Funding On Anti-Trans Bias

By Grace Elletson

A dozen Democratic state attorneys general sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday, claiming the agency's threat to withhold billions of dollars in funding from states that don't hew to an executive order declaring that gender is immutable conflicts with antidiscrimination law.

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Jordan Card Forgery Case Just A Grading Dispute, Jury Told

By Pete Brush

A Washington man accused of a $2 million sports and trading card scam told a Manhattan federal jury Tuesday that he was charged in a "misguided" prosecution after a dispute with the major player in the card-grading world over a Michael Jordan rookie card.

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BofA Again Moves To Ax Epstein-Related Trafficking Claims

By Gina Kim

Bank of America urged a New York federal judge to dismiss an amended proposed class action alleging it enabled Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking operation, arguing Monday that the plaintiff's "second bite at the apple" still fails to state a claim under the Trafficking Victim Protection Act and "adds nothing of substance."

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4th Circ. Combines DOJ Appeals Of Comey, James Dismissals

By Jack Karp

The Fourth Circuit has granted the Trump administration's request to combine its previously separate appeals of the dismissals of prosecutions against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

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States Lose Bid To Freeze EPA Solar Grant Funds, For Now

By Rae Ann Varona

A Seattle federal judge Tuesday denied a coalition of states' bid to preliminarily block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from cutting solar power grant programs as they challenge the agency's termination of its $7 billion Biden-era "Solar for All" program.

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Ex-CIA Analyst Says FARA Case Is Flawed, Unconstitutional

By Stewart Bishop

A former CIA analyst, White House official and foreign policy expert on Tuesday urged a Manhattan federal judge to throw out the criminal case accusing her of secretly acting as an agent of South Korea while in the United States, calling the charges defective and unconstitutional.

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Accused Gilgo Beach Killer Tries To Sink First Murder Charge

By Elizabeth Daley

Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann has filed a sprawling motion in New York state court urging the toss of the earliest of seven murder charges against him and seeking information on a similar Long Island murder case, among other requests.

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NY Judge Vacates Eletson's $102M Arbitral Award

By Emily Sawicki

A Manhattan federal judge has vacated a $102 million arbitral award issued to international shipping company Eletson Holdings, saying, "The evidence is clear and convincing that Eletson committed fraud in the arbitration," and misled the arbitrator.

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Tesla Beats Model 3 Driver's Suit Over Defective Touchscreen

By Y. Peter Kang

A New York federal judge has dismissed a suit alleging a defective Tesla touchscreen caused a motorist to crash after her Model 3 sedan hydroplaned, saying the woman failed to properly establish how the touchscreen's design caused or worsened the crash.

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DLA Piper Can't Counsel Hudson Hotel In Ch. 11, Judge Says

By Alex Wittenberg

A Delaware bankruptcy judge Tuesday rejected a bid by two bankrupt entities tied to the former Hudson Hotel to retain DLA Piper LLP as special counsel in their Chapter 11 case, saying the law firm's work for the entities' lender presented a conflict of interest.

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Gov't Didn't Allege Formula Was Contaminated, Abbott Says

By Emily Field

Abbott Laboratories has urged a Michigan federal judge to throw out a suit brought by the federal government over the 2022 infant formula shortage, saying the government is trying to recoup a "belated windfall" and no tainted formula left its plant's doors.

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DOJ Again Demands That Pa. Turn Over Voter Data

By Elizabeth Daley

The U.S. Department of Justice again demanded that Pennsylvania turn over voters' driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers, saying in Pennsylvania federal court that the information is required to be delivered under Title III of the Civil Rights Act, the Help America Vote Act and the National Voter Registration Act.

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2nd Circ. Hints Ex-Luxottica Worker Has ERISA Standing

By Brian Steele

Second Circuit judges sounded sympathetic Tuesday to the idea that a former Luxottica employee has standing to pursue changes to its defined benefit pension plan, expressing skepticism at the company's notion that her case is barred because she is seeking unavailable remedies.

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NY Firm Challenges OFAC's $7M 'Death Sentence' Sanctions

By Sarah Jarvis

A New York property management company has sued the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control for imposing a "corporate death sentence" in the form of a more than $7 million fine over payments it received that were linked to a sanctioned Russian oligarch, arguing the fine is arbitrary and unjustifiable.

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KuCoin, Chainalysis Beat RICO Suit Over Hack Proceeds

By Emilie Ruscoe

The cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin and its blockchain analysis contractor no longer face proposed class action claims they turned a blind eye to money laundering on the platform, though a Manhattan federal judge found one of the alleged hack victims could revise certain claims against KuCoin.

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Manufacturer To Pay $2.2M Settlement Over COVID Loan

By Ganesh Setty

The U.S. Department of Justice said on Tuesday it had reached a $2.2 million settlement with a manufacturer of automotive die casting components over claims it unlawfully obtained a Paycheck Protection Program loan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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DiDi, Investors Can Notify Class Of Proposed $740M Deal

By Emilie Ruscoe

A proposed $740 million settlement between Chinese ride-hailing app DiDi and its investors has moved forward after a New York federal judge approved a notice to class members and scheduled a settlement hearing over the plan to resolve shareholder claims the company hid enterprise-threatening regulatory risks during its 2021 initial public offering.

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Google Gets 6 Ad Tech Rivals' Complaints Consolidated To 2

By Bryan Koenig

The six antitrust lawsuits from Google's advertising placement technology rivals will soon be consolidated into two, under a New York federal judge's ruling Tuesday combining the four suits originally filed in Virginia and pairing up the two filed in New York.

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The Atlantic Sues Google In Latest Ad Tech Antitrust Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

The Atlantic became the latest publisher Tuesday to launch an ad tech antitrust suit against Google LLC, accusing the search engine giant in New York federal court of cutting the publisher and ad-tech companies out of billions of dollars in revenue by monopolizing the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets.

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AI Infrastructure Firm Exascale To Go Public Via $500M Deal

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Exascale Labs Inc., an artificial intelligence computing infrastructure platform, has announced plans to go public through a $500 million merger with special purpose acquisition company D. Boral ARC Acquisition I Corp.

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Ex-Standard Int'l CEO To Start Helbraun Levey Hotel Practice

By Andrea Keckley

Hospitality-focused law firm Helbraun Levey said it has hired the former CEO of Standard International to launch its new hotel practice.

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Ex-US Atty Leads Cleary FCA Team Amid Rising Enforcement

By Andrea Keckley

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is launching a False Claims Act task force, led by the former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace, citing increased enforcement activity from the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Where States Jumped In When SEC Stepped Back In 2025

The state regulators that picked up the slack when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission scaled back enforcement last year should not be underestimated as they continue to aggressively police areas where the SEC has lost interest and probe industries where SEC leadership has actively declined to intervene, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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2026 State AI Bills That Could Expand Liability, Insurance Risk

State bills legislating artificial intelligence that are expected to pass in 2026 will reshape the liability landscape for all companies incorporating AI solutions into their business operations, as any novel private rights of action authorized under AI-related statutes signal expanding exposures, say attorneys at Wiley.

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5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2026 And Beyond

2026 will likely be shaped by issues ranging from artificial intelligence regulatory turbulence to potential evidence rule changes, and e-discovery professionals will need to understand how to effectively guide the responsible and defensible adoption of emerging tools, while also ensuring effective safeguards, say attorneys at Littler.

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No Jury Yet In Goldstein Trial, But Celeb Witnesses Possible

By Jared Foretek

Day two of jury selection in Tom Goldstein's tax and mortgage fraud case wrapped without a jury being seated Tuesday, but did reveal that the government could call celebrities Tobey Maguire and Kevin Hart to the stand.

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Ex-Duane Morris Tax Partner Charged With Murdering Wife

By Hailey Konnath

A former tax partner at Duane Morris LLP's Chicago office has been charged with killing his wife a little more than a year ago, according to an announcement made Tuesday by Illinois prosecutors.

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Beasley Allen Talc Work Sends 'Bad Signal,' J&J Says

By George Woolston

Johnson & Johnson's talc unit told a New Jersey appeals panel on Tuesday that a lower court's ruling permitting Beasley Allen Law Firm attorneys to represent plaintiffs in multicounty litigation over its talc-based baby powder "sends a very bad signal" to the state bar.

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Ex-Atty, Others Charged In Staged New Orleans Crash Scheme

By Hope Patti

A disbarred attorney was hit with new charges claiming that he induced a witness to commit perjury and obstructed justice in the federal investigation of an insurance scam involving staged car crashes in the New Orleans area.

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Halligan Blasts Court's 'Inquisition' Over US Atty Status

By Ryan Boysen

Lindsey Halligan said Tuesday that she is still the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia despite a recent ruling to the contrary, dismissing a federal judge's questions about why she's still using the title as an "inquisition" and a "gross abuse of power."

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Approach The Bench: Judge Bough On Ethics

Years of experience as a plaintiff's attorney influenced U.S. District Judge Stephen Bough's disclosure rules for litigators appearing in his court.

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Sen. Whitehouse Presses AG On Boasberg Complaint Results

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., ranking member of the courts panel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is calling for Attorney General Pam Bondi to release the results of the disciplinary complaint she filed against Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia when the investigation wraps up.

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Jack Smith To Testify Publicly Next Week

By Courtney Bublé

Former special counsel Jack Smith is slated to testify publicly before the House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 22 after, according to his attorney, having been "ready and willing" to do so for a while.

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