A Washington state appeals panel won't let the former CEO of boating company Harley Marine Services Inc. reinstate a $75 million defamation verdict against his former business partners, finding that the comments that formed the basis for the verdict are covered under the state's "absolute" litigation privilege.
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TOP NEWS

Ex-Tugboat CEO Can't Reinstate $75M Defamation Verdict

By Mike Curley

A Washington state appeals panel won't let the former CEO of boating company Harley Marine Services Inc. reinstate a $75 million defamation verdict against his former business partners, finding that the comments that formed the basis for the verdict are covered under the state's "absolute" litigation privilege.

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Tennis Org. Ordered To Pay $9M For Sexual Abuse Negligence

By Alex Lawson

The U.S. Tennis Association has been ordered to pay $9 million to tennis pro Kylie McKenzie, who has waged a legal battle against the organization over its failure to shield her from sexual abuse at the hands of her coach at a Florida training center.

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AIG Insurers Near Deal With Foam Co. Over MDL Coverage

By Hailey Konnath

Firefighting foam company Tyco Fire Products LP and a group of AIG insurers have reached a tentative settlement that would resolve a dispute over coverage of multidistrict litigation involving Tyco over so-called forever chemicals, according to a notice filed Tuesday in South Carolina federal court.

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Panera To Nix 'Charged' Drink At Center Of Death Suits

By Jonathan Capriel

Panera Bread Co. will soon no longer serve its "Charged Lemonade," the caffeinated drink at the center of two lawsuits that claim the restaurant chain is liable for the wrongful death of two patrons.

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Dave Chappelle Attacker Sues Hollywood Bowl Over Injuries

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Los Angeles County man who says he was beat "ruthlessly" by security after he rushed the stage and tackled Dave Chappelle at a Hollywood Bowl show in 2022 to protest the comedian's "discriminatory" jokes has sued the venue for negligent security and battery.

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3rd Circ. Unsure Miss. Law Saves Kavanaugh Classmate's Suit

By Matthew Santoni

Weighing whether New York or Mississippi law controls a libel lawsuit that Justice Brett Kavanaugh's former classmate filed against The Huffington Post could be moot if neither state's law offers an extension for refiling claims dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction, a Third Circuit panel suggested Tuesday.

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Boeing Can't Widen Ethiopian Airlines Test Case Pool

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois federal judge chose six cases Tuesday for a November trial over the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash and gave Boeing the power to decide the order in which they'll face a jury, finding a middle road between sides sparring over how to select the bellwether cases.

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MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

Appeals Court Won't Block Live Nation Astroworld Deposition

By Catherine Marfin

A Texas appeals court declined to block the deposition of Live Nation's CEO and president on Tuesday as it continues to weigh whether the first trial in litigation stemming from the deadly Astroworld crowd crush will be paused pending the resolution of an appeal by Apple.

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7th Circ. Ruling Imperils Anonymity In NCAA, Netflix Cases

By Rose Krebs

Anonymous plaintiffs suing the NCAA and Netflix in separate cases in Indiana federal court must explain why they should be allowed to keep their identities hidden following a recent Seventh Circuit ruling that established "a stringent standard" relating to anonymity, a magistrate judge has ruled.

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ENFORCEMENT

9th Circ. Revives Removal Fight Over Justices' Notice Ruling

By Rae Ann Varona

A Honduran woman who received a notice to appear in immigration court without a time specified can resume fighting her deportation after the Ninth Circuit leaned on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring all court hearing information to be on a single document.

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Russian Charged Over $100M LockBit Ransomware Scheme

By Elliot Weld

Federal prosecutors said Tuesday they have charged a Russian national with founding and heading the prolific ransomware group LockBit, which is accused of stealing more than $100 million from its victims.

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LITIGATION

Yale Can View Deposition In Fraudulent Insemination Suit

By Brian Steele

Entities tied to Yale University can see a transcript of a deposition taken from a retired fertility doctor accused in two court actions of secretly using his own sperm for inseminations in the 1980s, as the school tries to shield itself from possible litigation, a Connecticut judge ruled Tuesday.

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Hospital Can't Force Nurse's Retaliation Suit Into Arbitration

By Grace Elletson

A Texas appellate court said Tuesday that a former nurse does not have to arbitrate claims that she was fired after reporting that a patient slapped her buttock, stating that a recently enacted federal law barring sexual assault-related claims from out-of-court resolutions applies to her case.

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Birth Control Cos. Can't Dodge Conn. Injury Suit, Court Told

By Ryan Harroff

An Illinois woman who sued after her Filshie Clip birth control device migrated inside of her and "wreaked havoc on her body" has urged a state court not to let the manufacturers of the device and the seller's parent companies dodge her claims.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Analysis

In Story Of Sex And Lies, Can Cohen Write Final Chapter?

By Phillip Bantz

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has told a story of scandal and scheming to the jury in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, setting the stage for the prosecution's star witness to take the stand and wrap up the narrative.

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Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Cops To $1.5M Theft From Firm

By George Woolston

McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP's former chief financial officer admitted Wednesday to embezzling more than $1.5 million from the firm and failing to pay income tax, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced.

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Lewis Brisbois Atty Fatally Shot In McDonald's Altercation

By Ryan Boysen

A Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP attorney was fatally shot at a McDonald's in Houston after reportedly stepping in as a good Samaritan and attempting to calm down an irate customer who'd been arguing with staff at the fast food restaurant.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Lieff Cabraser's Kelly Dermody

By Irene Spezzamonte

A semester off from Harvard University in the late 1980s meant for reflection instead turned into a pivotal moment in Kelly Dermody's life, settling the roots for her successful career during which she has become a lighthouse for employment and discrimination cases.

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ABA Will Study Rape Questions' Necessity For Bar Applicants

By Cara Bayles

An American Bar Association commission will issue a report and recommendations by August on the practice of requiring would-be lawyers to disclose and discuss their experiences of sexual violence during the attorney licensure process.

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ABA Directs Attys To Avoid Sharing Client Info On Listservs

By Emily Sawicki

It is in the best interest of clients for their legal counsel to avoid sharing information related to representation while seeking advice in an online listserv forum, if the comments or questions could be connected to a client's identity, according to American Bar Association guidance published Wednesday.

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Ga. Appeals Court Will Review Trump DQ Bid In Election Case

By Kelcey Caulder

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday agreed to review a judge's ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue prosecuting the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.

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Fani Willis Is Outraising Primary Challenger More Than 5 To 1

By Chart Riggall

Less than two weeks from the first hurdle in her bid for reelection, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is boasting a​​ campaign war chest more than five times heftier than her Democratic challenger's, according to campaign finance disclosures filed this week.

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Biden Picks US Magistrate Judge In Fla. For 11th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday his intent to nominate U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry J. Kidd to the Eleventh Circuit.

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Robins Kaplan File Flub Bad Look For Both Sides, Panel Says

By Rachel Scharf

A Manhattan appeals panel expressed concern Wednesday that Robins Kaplan LLP had poked through an opposing party's Dropbox database that was accidentally shared in investor litigation, while also criticizing the other side for failing to catch the error.

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NJ Justices Approve Measures For Helping Atty Well-Being

By Emily Johnson

The New Jersey Supreme Court has accepted several recommendations from its committee focused on attorney well-being, paving the way for the committee to examine how attorneys can briefly postpone court dates or possibly receive an extension to meet deadlines so they can handle pressing wellness needs.

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Legal Access Program Being Set Up For Separated Families

By Alyssa Aquino

The Biden administration has tapped the Acacia Center for Justice to manage a court-ordered legal access program to help migrant families stay in the U.S. after they were separated under a Trump-era policy to prosecute anybody caught entering the country unlawfully.

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Colo. Judges Urge Attys To Take On More Pro Se Cases

By Thy Vo

A group of Colorado federal judges tried Wednesday to recruit more lawyers to help pro se litigants, who file about a third of the district's cases each year, with the judges recounting tactical mistakes and case delays that attorneys could have prevented.

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Series

Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

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Promo that reads Law360 2024 Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar Promo that reads Law360 Pulse 2024 AI Survey

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Aidala Bertuna

Alston & Bird

Arnold & Itkin

Baker & Hostetler

Ben Martin Law

Bradley Arant

Buchalter APC

Caldwell Carlson

Carmody Torrance

Clifford Law Offices

Cohen & Malad

Collins & Lacy

Corsiglia McMahon

Covington & Burling

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Doyle Dennis LLP

Faegre Drinker

FeganScott

Fitzpatrick Hunt

Ford O'Brien

Gibbons PC

Greenberg Traurig

Griffin Durham

Halloran & Sage

Hamberger & Weiss

Haynes & Boone

Hunton Andrews

Jackson Lewis PC

Jenner & Block

Kline & Specter

Koskoff Koskoff

Kreindler & Kreindler

Law Office of Timothy F. McGoughran

Levinger PC

Lewis Baach

Lewis Brisbois

Lieff Cabraser

MacGill PC

Marino Tortorella

McElroy Deutsch

McNaul Ebel

Munger Tolles

Nelson Mullins

Newsome Melton

Outten & Golden

Perkins Coie

Pierson Law LLC

Pillsbury Winthrop

Podhurst Orseck

Robins Kaplan

Saul Ewing

Shook Hardy

Susman Godfrey

Vorys

Weil Gotshal

Wheeler Trigg

Williams & Connolly

Winston & Strawn

Wise Carter

Zuckerman Spaeder

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AlixPartners LLP

American Bar Association

American International Group Inc.

Apple Inc.

Center for Justice

Collins Aerospace Inc.

CooperSurgical Inc.

Crown Central LLC

Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise

Getty Images Inc.

HMS Holdings Corp.

Harley Marine Services Inc.

Harvard University

HuffingtonPost.com LLC

Johnson Controls International PLC

L'Oreal SA

LinkedIn Corp.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

Los Angeles Rams

McDonald's Corp.

National Collegiate Athletic Association

Netflix Inc.

New Jersey State Bar Association

New York University

Panera Bread Co.

Starr International Co. Inc.

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights

The State University of New York

Trump Organization Inc.

United States Tennis Association Inc.

Utah Medical Products Inc.

Walmart Inc.

Yale University

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Executive Office of the President

Georgia Supreme Court

Los Angeles Superior Court

Manhattan District Attorney's Office

New Jersey Supreme Court

Texas Supreme Court

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of State

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York

U.S. Postal Service

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana