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April 25, 2024
5th Circ. Axes Class Claims Over Anadarko's $900M Write-Off
The Fifth Circuit on Thursday decertified a class of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. shareholders who claim they lost money on the company's bad oilfield bet, ruling a lower court judge didn't allow the company to respond to an expert report that tied a stock price drop to a $900 million write-off disclosure.
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April 25, 2024
McDermott Judge U-Turns, Says Some Investors Deserve Cert.
A Texas federal magistrate judge reversed his recommendation that investors be denied class certification in litigation over McDermott International's $6 billion merger with Chicago Bridge & Iron, saying a former CB&I shareholder class "should be certified now" and a putative McDermott stock purchaser class be created for subsequent consideration.
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April 25, 2024
Crypto Co. Sues 'Crusading' Gensler Over SEC's Ether Stance
Cryptocurrency software company Consensys Software Inc. sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday in Texas federal court over the agency's treatment of the Ethereum network's ether token as a security after the company received a so-called Wells notice that agency staff intends to recommend an enforcement action over its products.
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April 25, 2024
Real Estate Exec Can't Escape Shareholder's Self-Dealing Suit
A California federal judge ruled that a derivative shareholder suit accusing the president of a real estate management and investment firm of misusing nearly $35 million of company revenue now passes the so-called Zuckerberg test since the plaintiff sufficiently pled that demand on the company's board members would be futile.
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April 25, 2024
Biden Admin's Gas Venting Curbs Are Illegal, ND Says
A North Dakota-led alliance of states has accused the Biden administration of pushing through limits on greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector illegally disguised as a rule to reduce industry waste, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.
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April 25, 2024
PHX Minerals Stockholders Sue In Del. To Change Bylaws
A proposed class of PHX Minerals Inc. stockholders has sued the natural gas and oil mineral company and its board in Delaware state court, arguing that the company's bylaws must be changed to bring them into compliance with the Delaware General Corporation Law.
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April 25, 2024
Texas Doc Can't Avoid Woman's Suit Over Son's Brain Injury
A Texas appeals court on Thursday declined to throw out a woman's suit alleging an anesthesiologist wrongly administered an epidural during delivery and caused her son to suffer a brain injury, finding the judge did not find the woman's expert report deficient despite giving her a month to amend it.
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April 25, 2024
SEC Says Texas Crypto Mining Co. Execs Ran $5.6M Fraud
A crypto asset mining and hosting company and two of its principals face U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims they defrauded about 64 investors with an unregistered securities offering that raised $5.6 million, spending investor funds lavishly on themselves while neglecting to set up, or in some cases even buy, the mining equipment they had said they would get.
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April 25, 2024
3 Accused Of $36M COVID Test Fraud Scheme In Fla. Case
Three owners of laboratories spanning the U.S. were indicted by a grand jury in Florida on federal charges that they conspired to defraud the U.S. government by more than $36 million in a scheme that involved submitting false COVID-19 testing claims to healthcare benefit programs.
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April 25, 2024
Houston Surgeon OKs Order For Docs In Wrongful Death Suit
A transplant surgeon at Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center in Houston and the families of three patients who died while on the hospital's liver transplant waiting list told a judge Thursday that they had agreed to a temporary restraining order preventing the doctor from deleting or altering any documents related to the families' wrongful death claims.
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April 25, 2024
US Says Seizure Power Erodes Landowner's Border Wall Suit
The federal government told the Fifth Circuit that its eminent domain authority should defeat a landowner's claims that she owns a $6.5 million section of border wall that was allegedly built on her farm without authorization in 2008.
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April 25, 2024
Patent Holder Settles Transfer Fraud Case Tied To $17M Win
The holder of a patent on a device that prevents New York City subways from flooding on Thursday settled a case adjacent to a $17.8 million infringement feud by agreeing to accept $850,000 from an individual and two companies accused of helping siphon money away from the infringers.
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April 25, 2024
Travis Scott Denied Early Win Ahead Of 1st Astroworld Trial
Rapper Travis Scott and a host of entities behind the 2021 Astroworld festival have been denied pretrial wins in litigation stemming from the fatal crowd crush, less than two weeks before the first case in the sprawling multidistrict litigation is set to go before a Houston jury.
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April 25, 2024
Mr. Cooper's $3.6M Convenience Fee Settlement Gets Final OK
A D.C. federal judge on Thursday gave the final nod to a nearly $3.6 million settlement to resolve class action claims that Mr. Cooper unlawfully charged processing fees to borrowers who made mortgage payments over the phone.
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April 25, 2024
Judge Puts Texas Arrest Law Case On Ice During Appeal
A Texas federal court has paused the Biden administration's lawsuit challenging Texas' controversial law allowing state officials to arrest and deport migrants crossing the border unlawfully until the state's appeal of the court's temporary block on the law concludes.
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April 25, 2024
Attys, Insurance Agent Found Guilty Of Tax-Avoidance Scheme
Two St. Louis tax attorneys and a North Carolina insurance agent on Thursday were found guilty on all counts of conspiring to defraud the federal government and aiding in the filing of false tax returns for their role in a tax avoidance scheme that prosecutors claim cost the Internal Revenue Service more than $4 million.
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April 25, 2024
Valero Seeks $75M In Tax Refunds For Fuel Mixtures
Energy company Valero asked a Texas federal court for $75 million in excise tax refunds, claiming the Internal Revenue Service failed to recognize that its production of specific fuels such as butane blends and biomass derivatives qualified for the alternative fuel mixture credit.
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April 24, 2024
Tax Fraud Case Skewed By Prosecutors' Spin, NC Jury Told
Prosecutors and defense attorneys in a tax fraud trial against two lawyers and an insurance agent traded final barbs Wednesday in a North Carolina courtroom before sending the jury to deliberate, with the defendants again defending the tax plan at the center of the government's case and accusing prosecutors of making up facts.
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April 24, 2024
3 Takeaways On How AI Is Forcing Publicity Rights To Evolve
As digital replicas of someone's voice, image or likeness become easier to create with the help of artificial intelligence, this new era of deepfakes is shining a spotlight on the nation's patchwork of right-of-publicity laws and raising questions over when Congress may act to pass a national framework.
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April 24, 2024
World Cup Workers' Abuse Suit Still Falls Short, US Cos. Say
A Texas engineering company and a Colorado subsidiary have asked a federal court to dismiss claims from Filipino workers alleging they were subjected to inhumane labor conditions when helping construct stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, arguing the workers' latest attempt doesn't even show the defendants recruited or hired them.
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April 24, 2024
SpaceX Stalling Case's Launch To Calif., NLRB Says
The National Labor Relations Board told a Texas federal judge it should disregard SpaceX's "last ditch" effort to keep a case challenging the employment agency's constitutionality in the Lone Star State, arguing that the rocket company is revisiting arguments the court already decided.
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April 24, 2024
Texas Appeals Panel Partially Reverses Atty's Fee Victory
An Austin, Texas, trial lawyer who defeated a breach of fiduciary duty claim brought after he represented one half of a business partnership that went sour has had part of his victory overturned, with a Texas appellate court Wednesday determining that the trial court overstepped when also throwing out a fee claim against the attorney.
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April 24, 2024
Foxtrot, Dom's Kitchen Closures Violate WARN Act, Suit Says
Former employees of Foxtrot Market and Dom's Kitchen & Market hit the stores' parent company with a lawsuit in Illinois federal court Thursday, alleging it failed to give workers 60 days' notice of mass layoffs as required by federal law when all 33 locations abruptly shuttered Tuesday.
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April 24, 2024
DOJ Wants To Weigh In On Texas Google Ad Tech Discovery
The U.S. Department of Justice asked a federal judge Wednesday for permission to file a statement of interest in a Texas-led lawsuit accusing Google of anticompetitive conduct in the display advertising market, writing that the states' request for certain discovery items may violate an order in a substantially similar suit the DOJ is pursuing in Virginia.
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April 24, 2024
Forex Trader Must Pay $11.8M For Ponzi-Like Scheme
A Michigan federal judge on Tuesday said a purported forex commodity pool operator and its agent must pay more than $11.8 million in penalties and restitution for bilking participants in a Ponzi-like scheme, after the defendants ignored a Commodity Futures Trading Commission suit.
Expert Analysis
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Prepping For OSHA Standard On Violence Risk In Health Care
Though the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has yet to create a new standard to address violence against health care workers, employers can prepare for coming federal regulatory changes by studying existing state rules and past OSHA citations, then taking steps to improve their safety programs, say attorneys at Ogletree.
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Sales Reps In The Operating Room: How To Manage The Risks
While having a medical device sales representative providing advice during a surgery can be helpful, especially as medical technology continues to advance, their presence can also create exposure to tort claims and litigation alleging unauthorized practice of medicine, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Opinion
Has The NCAA Not Learned NIL Policy Lessons Of The Past?
The NCAA has applied its heavy hand — which has been slapped back by courts and legislatures — again, saying that colleges must comply with its name, image and likeness policies even if they conflict with state laws, but recent antitrust decisions might caution against its reasoning, says Kenneth Jacobsen at Temple University.
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Opinion
3 Ways Justices' Disclosure Defenses Miss The Ethical Point
The rule-bound interpretation of financial disclosures preferred by U.S. Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas — demonstrated in their respective statements defending their failure to disclose gifts from billionaires — show that they do not understand the ethical aspects of the public's concern, says Jim Moliterno at the Washington and Lee University School of Law.
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Mitigating Risk In US Liquefied Natural Gas Contracts
Recent increases in demand for liquefied natural gas in both European and Asian markets will present logistical, economic and legal challenges for suppliers, which will need to mitigate risks posed by both short-term and long-term contracts, says C. Thomas Kruse at Arnold & Porter.
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What To Know About Duty To Settle Insurance Claims In Texas
Laura Grabouski of Holden Litigation examines the parameters of Texas insurers' duty to settle liability claims within the limits of the primary policy, as knowledge of the requirements — and the potential exposure from insureds, judgment creditors or excess creditors — can pay dividends in the era of nuclear verdicts.
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What Courts' Deference Preference Can Mean For Sentencing
The Fifth Circuit’s recent U.S. v. Vargas decision deepens the split among federal appeals courts on the level of deference afforded to commentary in the U.S. sentencing guidelines — an issue that has major real-life ramifications for defendants, and is likely bound for the U.S. Supreme Court, say Jennifer Freel and Michael Murtha at Jackson Walker.
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Caregiver Flexibility Is Crucial For Atty Engagement, Retention
As the battle for top talent continues post-pandemic, many firms are attempting to attract employees with progressive hybrid working environments — and supporting caregivers before, during and after an extended leave is a critically important way to retain top talent, says Manar Morales at The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance.
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What To Watch As Justices Take Up Title VII Job Transfer Case
With its recent decision to hear Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether an involuntary job transfer can count as employment discrimination under Title VII — an eventual ruling that has potential to reshape workplace bias claims nationwide, says Adam Grogan at Bell Law Group.
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Opinion
3 Principles Should Guide MTC's Digital Products Tax Work
As the Multistate Tax Commission's project to harmonize sales tax on digital products moves forward, three key principles will help the commission's work group arrive at unambiguous definitions and help states avoid unintended costs, say Charles Kearns and Jeffrey Friedman at Eversheds Sutherland.
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5th Circ. Ruling Will Spur Challenges To No-Action Letters
The Fifth Circuit's recent Clarke v. U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission decision that withdrawing no-action letters constitutes a final agency action subject to judicial review means federal agencies should expect more challenges to the practice, which has been criticized for failing to provide clear standards and enabling agencies to change course abruptly, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Serta Simmons Ch. 11 Expands Split On Credit Agreements
The recent confirmation of Serta Simmons' Chapter 11 plan by a Texas bankruptcy court judge furthers a split in case law between narrow interpretation of credit agreement provisions and a more holistic approach focused on the practical effect of the uptiering transaction on minority lender rights, say attorneys at Schulte Roth.
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How High Court Is Assessing Tribal Law Questions
The U.S. Supreme Court's four rulings on tribal issues from this term show that Justice Neil Gorsuch's extensive experience in federal Native American law brings helpful experience to the court but does not necessarily guarantee favorable outcomes for tribal interests, say attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney.
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In-Office Engagement Is Essential To Associate Development
As law firms develop return-to-office policies that allow hybrid work arrangements, they should incorporate the specific types of in-person engagement likely to help associates develop attributes common among successful firm leaders, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.
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Perspectives
A Judge's Pitch To Revive The Jury Trial
Ohio state Judge Pierre Bergeron explains how the decline of the jury trial threatens public confidence in the judiciary and even democracy as a whole, and he offers ideas to restore this sacred right.