Analysis

Federal Courts Choosing To Stay Out Of Texas Grid Fights

By Keith Goldberg

The Fifth Circuit has again refused to wade into fights over actions taken by Texas' grid operator during a 2021 winter storm, further underscoring federal courts' reluctance to disturb the historic independence of the Lone Star State's electricity sector, attorneys say.

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Texas Law Firm's Claims Partly Tossed In Click-To-Call Ad Suit

By Lynn LaRowe

A Texas federal judge has partially dismissed a Houston-based personal injury outfit's claims against a legal referral service it accuses of buying internet keywords that infringe the firm's trademarks in a "click-to-call" scheme meant to steal clients and business from the firm, finding some of the allegations were "conclusory" and that others were unsupported by the facts.

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Google Founder And CEO Eyed In Texas Deposition Push

By Peter McGuire

Texas and allied states have pressed a Texas federal judge not to release Google co-founder Sergey Brin and CEO Sundar Pichai from sitting for depositions in a suit alleging the tech company illegally dominated the online advertising market.

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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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50 Cent Accuses Ex-Partner Of Making False Rape Allegations

By Catherine Marfin

Rapper 50 Cent has accused his former romantic partner of a "calculated plan" to prevent him from obtaining full custody of their child, saying in a Houston defamation lawsuit that she falsely accused him of rape after a New York suit against rapper Diddy claimed she was previously a sex worker.

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DOI Gives States And Tribes $148M For Drought Resiliency

By Joyce Hanson

The U.S. Department of the Interior has said it has invested nearly $148 million to help states and Native American tribes prepare for water reliability challenges due to drought and other scarcity concerns, saying the money will go to 42 projects in 10 states.

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Top Dem Cuts Cuellar Slack Not Given Santos, Menendez

By Courtney Bublé

House Democratic leadership has continued its defense of Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, following the recent bribery indictment against him and his wife, saying the situation is different from the indictments last year against Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.

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DOJ Says Cross-Border Antitrust Trial Must Stay In Houston

By Alyssa Aquino

Prosecutors have advised Houston's federal court against transferring a criminal case closer to the border, saying their witnesses fear testifying against defendants charged with using violence to control the cross-border sale of used vehicles and other goods in Central America.

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Energy Dept. Says Red States Can't Block LNG Export Pause

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The U.S. Department of Energy has asked a Louisiana federal judge to toss a group of Republican-led states' lawsuit challenging a pause on reviewing applications to export liquefied natural gas to non-free trade agreement countries, saying the states have created a "false narrative" about the move.

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Law Firm Must Face COVID Test-Kit Fraud Suit, NJ Court Told

By Emily Sawicki

A medical supply business has urged a New Jersey federal court to reject a Texas law firm's bid to walk away from or transfer a more than $2.45 million lawsuit alleging it took part in a scheme to dupe the company into paying for COVID-19 test kits that were never delivered. 

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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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5th Circ. Urged To Reject Challenge To Board Diversity Rule

By Jessica Corso

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund urged the Fifth Circuit not to upend a Nasdaq Stock Market rule meant to encourage corporate board diversity, saying in a brief Monday that the rule's opponents have staked out a "radical" position on the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution that threatens to "entrench ... barriers to opportunity."

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NLRB Signals Appeal Of Joint Employer Rule Spat To 5th Circ.

By Beverly Banks

The National Labor Relations Board is fighting a Texas federal judge's decision striking down the board's 2023 joint employer rule, telling the court on Tuesday that the agency will appeal the ruling to the Fifth Circuit.

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Steward Health Gets Ch. 11 Loan, Says It Plans Hospital Sales

By Rick Archer

A Texas bankruptcy judge Tuesday allowed Steward Health Care to take out $75 million in Chapter 11 financing to meet its next-day payroll after being told the hospital chain plans to sell facilities to pay down its $9 billion in debt.

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Analysis

Hytera Sanctions Show Strength Of Antisuit Injunctions

By Dani Kass

The Seventh Circuit's decision upholding $1 million a day in sanctions against Hytera Communications for violating an order to drop trade secrets and copyright litigation in China highlights the difficulty for lawyers when working alongside Chinese courts, while affirming to patent attorneys how powerful antisuit injunctions can be.

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Patent Damages Jury Verdicts Aren't Always End Of The Story

Recent outcomes demonstrate that patent damages jury verdicts are often challenged and are overturned approximately one-third of the time, and successful verdict challenges typically occur at the appellate level and concern patent validity and infringement, say James Donohue and Marie Sanyal at Charles River.

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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 T. 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 T. 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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