Ex-Judge Loses Bid To Undo ICE Obstruction Conviction

By Britain Eakin

Former Wisconsin state judge Hannah Dugan has failed in her attempt to use a Fourth Circuit decision to vacate her conviction for helping a defendant in her courtroom evade immigration agents, with a federal judge ruling Tuesday the decision involves fact patterns that differ from her case.

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J&J Talc Trial In LA Ends With Deadlocked Jury

By Craig Clough

A mistrial was declared Monday by a Los Angeles state judge in a two-month trial over allegations Johnson & Johnson's talc products caused a woman's deadly mesothelioma after the jury deadlocked during deliberations, according to counsel for the plaintiff.

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SCOTUSblog Founder Goldstein Denied Acquittal Or Retrial

By Alison Knezevich

A Maryland federal judge on Tuesday denied SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein's bid for an acquittal or new trial, rejecting his claims that issues with jury instructions and excluded evidence warranted a do-over in his tax evasion and mortgage fraud case.

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J&J Fails To Undo $65.5M Verdict In Minn. Talc Cancer Case

By Emily Field

A Minnesota state judge on Monday upheld a $65.5 million verdict awarded to a mother of three children who had claimed that Johnson & Johnson's talc products exposed her to asbestos and contributed to her cancer, saying that the jury's decision was supported by the evidence at trial.

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LA Disputes Dodgers Fan's $11.8M Win After Injury By Police

By Hailey Konnath

Los Angeles and a pair of L.A. Police Department officers asked a California federal court to set aside an $11.8 million jury verdict in favor of a Dodgers fan who was shot with a police projectile that permanently damaged his vision, arguing the verdict isn't backed by evidence.

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Del. Judge Won't Touch Jury's $83M Diagnostics IP Verdict

By Dani Kass

A Delaware federal judge on Tuesday upheld a jury's 2023 verdict finding that Guardant Health Inc. should pay TwinStrand Biosciences Inc. $83.4 million for willfully infringing diagnostic patents, refusing to overturn or enhance the award.

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Justices Asked To Revive $77M In Trade Secret Damages

By Elliot Weld

Plastics manufacturer Trinseo Europe GmbH has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to restore a verdict of more than $77 million that it won stemming from trade secret misappropriation allegations against a former Dow Chemical Co. employee and engineering firm KBR, saying the Fifth Circuit went against precedent when it endorsed an approach to damages that "is the antithesis of flexible."

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9th Circ. Rejects FCA Bid To Pause Headrest Class Trial

By Joyce Hanson

The Ninth Circuit has rejected outright Fiat Chrysler's bid to pause class action proceedings over supposedly defective Jeep and Dodge headrests during the automaker's preparation of a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court as it pushes for arbitration in the case.

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Cigna Loses Privilege Bid Due To 'Inaccurate, Redundant' Log

By Brian Steele

Cigna "improperly asserted privilege" over hundreds of documents that three laboratories sought as part of the discovery process in federal payment litigation in Connecticut, according to a special master appointed by the judge in the consolidated cases.

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NY Judge 'Doubtful' Of Oil Co.'s Suit Against Ex-Florida Rep.

By David Minsky

A New York federal judge said Tuesday he was "doubtful" that a breach of contract lawsuit filed by the U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company can go forward, given the agreement's potential invalidation following a trial that resulted in the conviction of a former Florida congressman last month.

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Judge Won't Nix Minor's Guardian In Ethiopia Crash Suit

By Mike Curley

An Illinois federal judge won't remove a court-appointed independent guardian for the minor child of a victim of the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash, saying the litigation behavior of the child's grandparents in opposing the appointment has only reinforced the need for one.

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Calif. Panel Upholds $19.5M Verdict In Bicycle Crash Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

A California state appeals court has affirmed a $19.5 million verdict against a motorist who ran a red light and struck a bicyclist at a crosswalk, rejecting the driver's argument that the sum was excessive because the jury heard prejudicial testimony about her not wearing her prescription glasses.

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Chamberlain Hrdlicka Gets New Look At $700K Award In Texas

By Lynn LaRowe

The Texas Supreme Court has granted a request from Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry to review lower court rulings that left the firm on the hook for $700,000 in a breach of contract dispute with a cost-cutting consultant, which the firm claims should have received no more than $40,000.

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The Paradoxical Duty To Adopt AI When You Can't Bill For It

Both billing for hours saved using artificial intelligence and preserving billable time by not adopting AI may violate rules of professional conduct, but until bar associations' ethics rules catch up to this emerging economic dilemma, firms must decide how to adjust fee structures themselves, says Ines Lassalle at Peyrot & Associates.

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Full Fed. Circ. To Hear Immigration Judges' Firing Challenge

By Ganesh Setty

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday agreed to conduct en banc review over the firing of two immigration judges, after the Merit Systems Protection Board ruled that they constituted inferior officers who are subject to at-will removal by the president.

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No Discipline For DOJ Atty's 'Lapse Of Judgment' In ICE Case

By Emily Sawicki

A Rhode Island federal prosecutor who knowingly withheld information about a detainee's criminal history at the behest of immigration enforcement, leading to an "unfounded attack" against a federal judge by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the detainee's release, violated his duty of candor but will not face discipline, the district's chief judge determined.

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Trump Halts Clayton Director Hearing Over Blue-Slip Dispute

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump directed Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, not to appear for his confirmation hearing Wednesday on his nomination to be director of national intelligence, in part over a blue-slip issue.

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Maya Kowalski Sues Ex-Atty Over Fees, Funding Loan

By Carolina Bolado

Maya Kowalski, the subject of the Netflix documentary "Take Care of Maya," filed a malpractice suit against her former attorney on Wednesday, accusing him of charging excessive fees and improperly orchestrating an advance funding loan after winning a $213 million judgment.

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Sanctioned IP Atty Tells Fed. Circ. 'Integrity' On The Line

By Elliot Weld

An attorney who was sanctioned in a trade dress infringement case due to what a judge said were his repeated misrepresentations has asked the Federal Circuit to lift the penalties against him and his client, saying his "professional and personal integrity, and my family, depends on it."

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Bosch Receives First DOJ Declination Under New Policy

By Sarah Jarvis

German technology company Bosch on Wednesday became the first company to avoid criminal prosecution under a new U.S. Department of Justice enforcement policy after it cooperated with the federal government and agreed to pay $36 million to settle allegations it improperly exported technology products to sanctioned Chinese company Huawei.

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DOJ's Pot Shift Leaves Key Questions For Cannabis Industry

By Sam Reisman

The Trump administration's recent moves to relax federal restrictions on marijuana through the administrative process will have unclear ramifications for all industry players unless Congress steps in to rewrite cannabis law, attorneys heard Wednesday.

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